Well, my wife got this for me 3 years ago for my birthday and I’ve finally got all the ideas for it flushed out so i can get going. I started with the stand on this one. I bent the acrylic rod with my heat gun. Found the plastic bolt and nut in the specialty fastener bin at Home Depot. when it’s done I’ll put a mirror under it so you can see the Thunderbird graphics below as well. Today I got the seemless intakes fitted up. These are a huge savings in filler!
Best part of the week was going up to Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland. All these years in the area and i never knew they had a Thunderbird and Blue Angel F-4 on display out front! I got lots of close ups to help with the details and painting. Mine is the 1/32 Tamiya F-4E.
Well i started slow but have made some progress as of this weekend. Here’s a whole bunch of pics all at once!
I’m trying to simulate the exhaust nozzles.
…and here’s what mine look like…They were still shiny after applying Valejo Matt varnish so I hit them with Testors dullcoat and that took the shiny right off them.
And I am putting in lights from Magic Scale Modeling to simulate lit engines
The cockpit is coming together. I need to touch it up some spots. I tried to drybrush a lighter color gray to simulate some wear on the switches. Any help on this technique would be appreciated.
Then while the other parts were drying I shot the top of the cockpit
I got quite a bit done this Weekend. Here’s a few shots of what i have done dry fit together. Yesterday i did the pe in the cockpit, all that’s left is the seats and pilots now. Today i put the intakes on and lined things up.
Made some progress on the cockpit this weekend. I have to save the right arms for after i put it in the plane so you’ll see them laying amuck…it wasn’t a Wookie that tore them off.
I added some white to the royal blue and drybrushed the uniforms. Next I plan to use a wash to try and bring out some shadows in the creases. Any advice on how to make it all look sharper would be great.
That is looking nice. I am working on the 1/32 Revell RF-4C. Very slowly as I am also working on a Spitfire. Decided to PE up the cockpit. This is my first real foray into PE. I am currently working on aftermarket seats. Sort of a love hate feeling. Is that a seamless sucker intake? If so worth the money? I really like the job you did on the exhaust. Kit or aftermarket? Can you go into a bit of how you painted them? Thanks Martin
Hey Martin, thanks for the compliment on the exhaust. I primered them with Citadel’s chaos black…because i found the vallejo primer peeled right off the resin parts. I used Vallejo metal colors - Black as the base, i handpainted it on To try and add some texture both inside and outside. I used jet exhaust on the inside exhaust flaps. I applied tamiya clear green on the outside of just the rectangular stiffener style pieces at the end of the nozzle flap, not sure what they are called but they have the bolts on them, then put jet exhaust over that to get the color in the photo. I used duraluminum to represent how the flaps scrape the paint off each other as they open and close. I tried to stroke the brush around the nozzle to get the worn affect to look like it was from the motion of the flaps against each other. Then i put 2 coats of matt varnish on everything because it still looked too shiny using the metal colors.
i used GT Resins for the exhaust and the seemless intakes. Both sets are of course way more detailed then the kit parts. The value is really evident on the intakes because the 3-piece kit parts would only look ok after hours and hours of work.
I have to agree with you on the PE! This is my 2nd time using it and it has been better than the 1st. I still lost 2 parts that committed suicide by jumping from my tweezers. So far on this size model I really find it adds something to the kit. On my 1/48 scale kit most of it seemed to be lost to sight.
I had to decide whether to line up the panel lines or mount the intakes aligned with the top of the fuselage as recommended. Since i know how to putty and sand but nothing about rescribing i took the safe route for me on this build. Here’s what it looks like before the final coat of primer…
I have the metal done on the stabilizers now. I put down citadel chaos black as the initial primer. its used alot for figures I’m told. I like it for the smooth, thin coat that goes on. I seem to have better luck with vallejo paint sticking to it rather than using their primers right on the plastic. So next i put on the vallejo gloss black primer for metal colors. Then matte aluminum on the stabilizer and magnesium for the center section. The center section almost matches the royal blue on the display bird. I laid out all my metal colors trying to find the best match. After this dries I’m going to try and do some weathering so it matches the real thing better.
I can’t comment on the rest because you’re nailing it all, literally picture perfect. What can be said? Lol
But to answer your pilot question, they look great. I would only try a medium- dark blue wash to give the flight suits some added depth. Otherwise I wouldn’t change a thing.
You have a serious eye for realism! I am seriously impressed with that skill!
Thanks Mike! This thread is becoming my progress based on all the questions im asking in the forums. Ive had a few redos so it’s great to hear its looking good as i go through each bit of assembly. I’m going to try your idea for the blue wash as I’m not happy with the black pinwash i tried. It didn’t seem to add anything.
A black pin wash is good for defining separations between the sleeve cuffs and gloves, but I wouldn’t try it over the entire figure. The results, if heavy enough, will make the figure look more like a cell animation than a life-like figure.
But a wash with a darker tone of the base color will add more definition and get you more realistic results.
I tried a wash of dark blue tonight. This is roughly 1/1/4 water/dish soap/acrylic paint. I waited 20 minutes and then moistened a paper towel and rubbed the surface gently to remove wash from the flat surfaces. I put down a gloss clear first btw.
I roughed up a toothpick tip and Dabbed some stars on the back of their helmets. Appropriate for 1/32 scale lol this may need improved later but when i look at pilots in the cockpit you can’t tell their stars right?
I made significant progress this week. I have the lights mounted for the afterburners and I have the fuselage fitted and glued together! The fit has been just great. I was also thrilled I didn’t break anything while doing this. Seems like alot of work to get the fit the way I want it but I keep saying it’s worth it. Now I just have to relax and go find something else to do so I don’t go fiddling with it while it dries.
