Well, I finished a build today. Woohoo! I’m clearing out a bunch of Closet Queens, to make room for more Closet Queens when we get back from Modelpalooza next month. New on the shelf is a Revell 1/48 scale F-105D. The build is my rendition of Major Buddy Jones F-105D, Memphis Belle II. This build is my first attempt at painting an SEA camouflage. I used Aero Masks F-105D masks. Those masks made painting the camo pretty simple, actually. I liked the kit’s low parts count and the fit was generally good throughout the build. Not too much filler needed at all. So, without further ado, here’s the Memphis Belle II. Oh yeah. The decals are from KITS WORLD. All the way from England.
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Great looking build Frank. SEA is a bit of work given 4 colors but sure looks good. How did you do the yellow canopy framing?
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Landed with a “Thud”! Very nicely done, and great job with the SEA camouflage!
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keavdog, this is the mask I used on the canopy, EX143. The set has masks for the canopy seals and masks for the camo colors.
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Outstanding work, Frank. That really is a beautiful build. The SEA camouflage came out especially well, and that’s actually what caught my attention.
I’m really interested in the Aero Masks you used. I’ve got at least a couple of SEA camouflage projects coming up, including an F-100, so this could be very useful to me.
One thing I can’t quite tell from the photos: did the masks give you a hard edge between the camouflage colors, or is there a slight soft/feathered edge? And if it is feathered, did the masks create that themselves or did you have to lift them slightly off the surface?
Beautiful work, and thanks for introducing me to another masking option I didn’t know about.
That is pure Beauty too me…
Yeah, the Aero Masks will give you a hard edge. I couldn’t think of a way around that.
Also, look at DN Models masks. They may offer a little more flexibility. This F-105 build was practice for an upcoming Academy F-4C Phantom build. The idea is to build a replica of the F-4 on display on the southeast corner of Orlando Executive Airport. This is an F-4 flown by Joe Kittinger. BTW: Kittinger was the first man to jump from a balloon at 100,000 ft. plus
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Thanks, Frank. That answers my question.
One thing that might help if you ever want to soften the edges: I did something similar on my F-4. I made my own masks for the camouflage pattern and used little rolls of Blu Tack to lift the edges slightly off the surface. That gave me the pattern I wanted but still allowed the paint to feather underneath the edges.
That was fairly easy on the F-4 because I only needed the masks for the wings. Creating an entire camouflage pattern that wraps around the fuselage, wings and tail would be a much bigger job.
That’s where I can really see the advantage of the Aero Masks. They’ve already done the work of creating the pattern, and I could still use the Blu Tack trick to soften the edges.
I’m definitely going to look into these for my upcoming SEA camouflage projects.
And I love the history behind the F-4 you’re planning. That kind of connection to a specific aircraft and the people associated with it is what usually inspires me to build a particular subject in the first place.
For me, knowing the story behind the airplane makes the model a lot more interesting than just building an F-4 because it’s an F-4. I’ll be looking forward to seeing that one come together.
How about transferring the lines with a pencil and free hand airbrushing with a .3 tip?
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This is pretty much what I did with my Panzer II Ausf F “Paint Mule” and truly wish I had done it with the Panther G for which it’s doing some"forward scouting" on techniques @Samphoto
If there’s an exact colour field say for a specific aircraft number you’re trying to replicate, there’s nothing to stop you using masks to get that colour blocked in, and then do a follow up pass unmasked to feather the edges
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I tried that on my Harrier, I found it to be challenging to get it to be precise enough. Maybe I just don’t have the airbrush skills yet.
I’ve actually tried something similar using a pencil to lay out the camouflage pattern, and I didn’t have very good luck with it.
The pencil lines were harder to remove afterward than I expected, and I could still see them through the paint until I had put down a couple of coats. I wasn’t particularly happy with the result.
That’s one reason I’ve been leaning more toward masks. I like the idea of having the pattern physically established without having to draw anything directly on the model.
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Well, Pj, I’m 80 years old. My hands really aren’t that steady anymore. Templates and masks actually work in my favor.
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Great 105, Frank! I have the Monogram 105 in the stash. You’ve given me an example to follow.
Gary
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Gary, the kit is pretty easy project.Go for it.
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Nice work Frank!
Modelpalooza? I’ll be there as well! Def for the Saturday and not sure about staying over until Sunday. I hope to see you there!!
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I’ll be wearing a blue USAF Veteran cap.
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I’ll look out for you! My oldest son just retired from the USAF. He was OSI/CSI after two Afghan and one Iraq visits as Security Forces. I usually wear my black ‘Curtiss’ hat with the old logo in white.