Moments of Zen

[TheChronicOne]

WELCOME to Vacation. 


You deserve it and about time, too, as it cools down.

Glad there is a Viper in the works. 

You going to "erase" the exterior frame work on the bogus canopy? Glorious masking work, by the way!

[DogfighterZen]

WELCOME to Vacation. 


You deserve it and about time, too, as it cools down.

Glad there is a Viper in the works. 

You going to "erase" the exterior frame work on the bogus canopy? Glorious masking work, by the way!

Thank you, brother!
It is getting cooler, finally!! I surely need it cause on the 2nd of November i go back to work and i've got work waiting for me, for starters there's a 8/9 meter tall Palm tree to bring down and cut up, and after that i go into sprinkler system and lawn replacement work again.
This time it will be done on the most important area of the estate where i work at, and that will be hard work. Will be easier than last year's job cause it won't envolve chainsaws on top of such tall trees and i've got 2 Brazilian guys to help with the digging and clearing out the rubbish.

I thought of sanding off the framing but that was after i tinted it... But i'm still considering it, though... if i do it, i'll lose the outside tint coat but maybe the coat on the inside is enough to have the desired effect. Anyway, if i do it, i'll do after i've sprayed the simulated interior framing with Tamiya XF-1.
It's now 10.30 am here in Portugal, i'm now in my cave, sitting at the bench, ready for the 3rd R of S'ing the P out of the YF-23...

[NARSES2]

Glorious masking work, by the way!

Absolutely, I'm impressed with anyone who can mask the inside  I struggle with the outside 

Enjoy your holiday

[DogfighterZen]

Thank you, Chris! Let's just hope i didn't end up scratching the inside of the canopy with the tweezers, that would simply ruin all the work done on it so far... but anyway, the YF-23's elevators are now finished, now i have to glue the tails back on cause i just could't deal with doing all the PSR with them in place.

[zenrat]

IMO life is too short to paint the inside of canopy framing.
But to each his or her own.

[DogfighterZen]

IMO life is too short to paint the inside of canopy framing.
But to each his or her own.

It isn't that much work, it's just a simple strip on the inside and the technique used is pretty much the same i use on the outside, which is to use tweezers to place the bits of tape in the right place. It was the first time i did it and before this, i wasn't too keen on the idea, but it was as easy as on the outside. Just used smaller bits of tape instead of trying to cover it all in one go, the tape wouldn't conform to the curvature following a straight line and would leave areas were it wouldn't settle down enough to work well but, you can be sure this won't be a perfect job...

[TheChronicOne]

WELCOME to Vacation. 


You deserve it and about time, too, as it cools down.

Glad there is a Viper in the works. 

You going to "erase" the exterior frame work on the bogus canopy? Glorious masking work, by the way!

i've got 2 Brazilian guys to help with the digging and clearing out the rubbish.

Daaaaaamn, that's a lot of guys!!!      NYUK NYUK NYUK NYUK!!!!!


EDIT: Oh, and yeah, I bet it will look just fine once painted.. I wouldn't run the risk of sanding it either with the thin TINT and all. (Good God, I wonder about my typing some times)

[DogfighterZen]

Well, one has a shorter leg...  but he's a good worker and does more than most guys with no handicap that i've had helping me in the past.

Regarding the interior canopy masking, i'm only doing it like this because i'm not doing it on the outside, although i've decided to leave the framing as is, won't waste more time with it, maybe i'll try to do it when i build the other Italeri F-35 in the stash... which won't be anytime soon after this one.

Got the YF-23's tails glued back in place and i just have to glue the HUD in place, retouch the IP cover's paint and glue the windshield on. Now, from what i've seen from the dry fit of the windshield, there will be a small amount of putty needed to make it flush with the fuselage...
After that is taken care of, there's only the lower nozzle paddles to install and maybe add a few details around them to make them look more integrated with the fuselage, not just stuck to it.

I've also been considering finishing one of the builds i have going in flight mode, i just have to chose which one... I only have another good F-22 kit, the Fujimi which is a very well detailed kit so would make more sense to me, to build that one wheels down, canopy open, etc..
The Hasegawa F-35 kit has a great stand and, unlike the Academy and Orange Hobby kits, it doesn't have option for open weapons bays so that will be the wisest choice for an in flight display.
The YF-23... i still have 2 of the same Italeri mold and a Dragon kit so it could be done on another occasion with a bigger stand than the one i have available now... Looks like i might end up going with the Raptor in flight mode...

The Academy Viper was started with it's plan already defined, it's going to be built mostly OOB with aftermarket CFTs from CMK products. Will be another PoAF whif, much like the other i've built in the past just with slightly different colors so i imagine it won't be of much interest for many folks here. Some of you know i just love F-16s... i want to build a bunch of them so this is just to have another one with a different loadout and color... And it will also be the first Block 50/General Electrics powered Viper in the display, meaning it has all the subtle differences from all the other small mouth intake Block 15/42/52s i've built so far...

No real plan and no work done so far on the ICM Mig-29... Have no clue of what to do to it... Another PoAF whif scenario? If Portugal had turned Communist in the 1975 coup d'état attempt, maybe we'd have had help from the Soviet Union throughout the years...

Enough for today, tomorrow there's work to be done...

[TheChronicOne]

Is a Brazillian more than a billion though? 

PoAF MiG 29 sounds good.  Interested in this ICM kit, been looking for a good, accurate Mig 29 for over a year now.

And I ALWAYS want to see more Vipers!!

[DogfighterZen]

Is a Brazillian more than a billion though? 

PoAF MiG 29 sounds good.  Interested in this ICM kit, been looking for a good, accurate Mig 29 for over a year now.

And I ALWAYS want to see more Vipers!!

Depends on the variant you wanna build, AFAIK, ICM only makes the 9-13. I think the ICM kits are accurate enough and of a good mold, might not be as good as the new Trumpeter Mig/Sukhoi kits but i think it's very good for the price asked in most places.
Full air to air missile load, drop tanks, nice panel line engraving and surface detail. The Swifts' boxing is the cheapest and the sprues are the same as in the Russian/Ukrainian markings box.
It's around the same price as the Italeri Mig-29A(9-12, first variant), and you also have the Zvezda kits, cheaper than Trumpeter's kits but are also good kits. IIRC, Zvezda makes all Mig-29 variants, the A/9-12, S/9-13, SMT/9-19.
I suggest you read some reviews and make your choice after that cause it will always depend on how much you wanna spend or on the deal you can find.

Ok, compressor is on, airbrush connected and paint jar is being shaken...

[TheChronicOne]

Get after it!!!!!!!   

I do believe the version I wish to make is the 9-12...   the livery I'm going to put on it is the special one they painted on for the last flight of the GDR Fulcrums.

 

So far I've been eyeing the Italeri one (the good one).

[DogfighterZen]

Yup, that's the 9-12, and the Italeri kit is fine for it's price. I remember it was one of the kits i drooled over at the LHS back when i was a kid... then i bought it and destroyed it with Loctite super glue...
I haven't seen the 9-12 by ICM, don't think they have one, and beware, the Russian/Ukranian box is of a different tooling, which is supposedly much worse than the kit inside the Swifts box. Check out this build: http://www.arcair.com/Gal9/8701-8800/gal8786-MiG-29-Green/00.shtm

Anyway, i've tested my H&S Evolution and all i can say is that it's sweet! Sprays beautifully with very smooth trigger action... and it's easy to take apart, clean and put together so it's more than approved!!
So glad i was lucky enough to win this. Still, i'll be using the other 2 cheap airbrushes(0,2mm and 0,3mm) until they start giving me problems, i don't want to have to shell out more than 100 euros for a good airbrush and the H&S will be used whenever i feel the need for a more refined paint job, which will be easier to achieve with the smoother trigger it has. It will only become my regular AB if i buy something better and that's not happening anytime soon...

Now, painted the interior of the F-35's canopy, for the F-22 i've painted an Airfix clear stand from the old F4D Skyray kit and, also painted the rear cockpit cover that goes behind the ejection seat of the YF-23, on which, i used up the rest of the XF-1 matte black on pre-shading the control surfaces on the wings and tails.
Now i'll proceed with work on that and the F-35, the F-22 is a bit behind schedule because of the panel lines left to engrave, mostly just to make the weapons bays doors visible...

[zenrat]

Italeri MiG 29 was reboxed by Tamiya.  Just so you know.

[DogfighterZen]

Italeri MiG 29 was reboxed by Tamiya.  Just so you know.

Yup, sure was, and they're normally cheaper than Italeri boxes on ebay.
I know that a lot of the 1/72 warbird series by Tamiya are reboxed Italeri kits. Besides the two i'm building now(YF-23 and F-35), i've got the Mirage 2000, and the X-35. I've also built the Italeri 1/72 F-16C/D Night Falcon, F4U-4B and SU-27 Flanker D, which were also reboxed by Tamiya, but they've had their own mold of the F4U since the early 2000s, and the beautiful F-16CJ since 2014.
There are some that are Tamiya's own tooling but AFAIK, i haven't seen Tamiya kits being reboxed by Italeri... Maybe cause Tamiya kits are normally better and more expensive than Italeri's. I think they marketed these kits in Japan before they had their own kits of those aircraft, making it cheaper for the Japanese market... and they're prolly gonna keep reboxing the ones they're not planning to make in the near future..
I still wanna get more of Tamiya's WWII birds, it's a great bunch of kits. I have the P-47D Razorback, missing the Bubbletop version. Also have the Mosquito but also wanna get the P-51D, the F4U-1A, and also a few Japanese fighters. One WWII fighter that i wish they'd make is the P-38... L version to be more specific... if the academy kit is good, i can only imagine what a Tamiya kit would be like...

Regarding my builds... i've taken the mask of the F-35's canopy and it looks good, the masking worked perfectly but as the framing is molded on the outside, it almost looks like it's also painted on the outside... Now it's just simple masking on the outside and painting can begin.
All the YF-23's lost panel lines were rescribed and i only need to finish the cockpit to close the canopy, and that's what i'm doing now...

[DogfighterZen]

So, this afternoon i got some work done on the YF-23, gave it a second coat of XF-24 dark grey and gloss coated it for what i've decided to do. It won't have the original one color scheme, i'm adding XF-69 nato black to the mix. A couple of days ago i googled YF-23 schemes and i was particularly interested in the layout of a skin for some pc simulator, that reminded of US Navy F-4, Tomcats and Hornet schemes so that's what i'm taking inspiration from.
I'm just waiting for the gloss coat to dry up before masking it up for the rest of the scheme. It still won't be colorful but i think it's more interesting.
The markings will be the original ATF ones just with a different serial number, can't wait to see what this is gonna look like when it's done...

All other builds are now on hold until the YF-23 is finished.