ODS: Tamiya 1/48 F-117

You're not wrong VD. Thanks again for the link.

Cool pic Woad, and great timing. I was just deciding if I should put the red in the top FLIR housing or not. I guess I will.

So a little more work today. A little conflicted about building a machine of war on the day we commemorate those who lives and died during the conflicts we have been involved in. Finished the PE in the cockpit. Maybe not the best job but I learned a bit being my first PE pit. I also painted a little green circle on the HUD base to represent the lens

Put the pit in the fuselage to test the fit before gluing it in. Seat is just sitting there and wont go in till after paint.

Then it was on to the PE for the bang seat. Because I would be using super glue for this. I cut all the pieces out first and lay them on the instructions where they would be placed. This way I wouldn't have to worry about the superglue drying while I was cutting and folding the next part.

God these PE parts are fiddly and I have the hand steadiness of a 5 year old after eating a bag of lollies. I also had a couple of parts ping off to the carpet monster, and I don't even have carpet at the work bench. One was a seat belt and another was one of the ejection handles at the front of the seat. It's really cool that the PE comes with spares, but the paint came off the first ejection handle I put on, and so I grabbed the spare only to have it go "PING!" and never be seen again. We wont talk about the parts I stuck to my fingers

I really wasn't sure how to attach the HUD "glass" so Ive just used PVA. Probably way too much, but this is a first for me too.

Finally before I sat down to watch Game of Thrones, Decided to test the difference between Mr Hobby Masking Sol Neo and R by putting a little of each on the clear sprue. I may use one of them for the landing lights.

grover wrote:

That pit looks fantastic. Are you leaving the canopy open?
Also, the extra PVA should wash off - the stuff is water soluble even after it dries - so a wet cotton-bud should sort it out.

Cheers Powder. Yeah I'll be leaving the canopy open, but I'm not sure how much you will be able to see.
I primed a bunch of the parts black in preparation for the white coat. Should I be painting gloss white or matte?

A number of other parts got primer too including the inside of the canopy. I'll be leaving it primed like this. I'll be tacking it down for the body paint.

Great work Kane! looks like its coming together well!

grover wrote: I primed a bunch of the parts black in preparation for the white coat. Should I be painting gloss white or matte?

It looks to be pretty dull in the pictures Terry posted, but if you're planning to do any washes to bring out the detail then that'll work better on a gloss coat - then you can hit it with a matt clear-coat afterwards.

Terry wrote:

What do you think is on the left of this shot?
They look like stickers of cartoon characters and writing in felt pen - it looks like the fridge door at a primary school - but I'd guess some of what's written there would probably get a kid a week of detention.

Good day of progress Grover

Cheers Andrew.
And lol Malcolm, I guess the maintenance crew put their mark on all planes.
I have just sprayed the bomb and gear bays in un-thinned Tamiya X2. They should be OK for fitting tomorrow but I think I might weather them first while I can lay them in the way that any wash will pool in the right areas. I really need to learn patience with weathering though and to build things up slowly.

I also painted the exhaust fins in Burnt Iron and the boarding ladder in semi-matt aluminium, both the new Vallejo Metal Colour paints. They will both get more weathering but I think it's a good base.

Wow, quite a bit of progress made here, looking good man. That pit really does look good, nice detailing.

Looking very neat and tidy there Kane. Keep the good work up.

Cheers K2 and Steve.

Cheers Bishop. Im trying to do a good job.

I put the nose weight that comes with the kit in. It's a nice addition and well implemented.

Then after a light wash with AK Gear grease I glued in the bays. The weapons bay took a couple of attempts to get seated properly due to the partition running down the centre. I had to really force it down.

Last week I bought one of those Tamiya weathering kits that someone will mistake for makeup at some point. I wanted to see what it was like and so I used a rust on the exhaust fins. I also tried a Mr Metals Buffable Iron on the section to the aft but it didn't really work, so I think I'll bite the bullet and spray a metaliser on there. May do Alclad as I think the Jet Exhaust is the effect I want, but I'll have to protect it unless I so that as a final step. Will see how well I can mask to protect the fins which will dictate the order of painting I'm guessing.

Finally I brush painted the joins on the boarding ladder. Later I will clear coat it and give it a very subtle wash.

Got a little bit more done tonight. I made up the 2 GBUs. I'll have to find some build threads or videos about the best way to paint / weather weapons as I've never done any before. I can't imagine it will be too hard but it would be good to know some tips before hand. I also installed the exhaust fins and masked them. I hope I'll be able to get the tape away at the end of the build. It's not exactly accessible and some parts are wedged in the join. I suppose another option would be to use white tack or a larger piece to mask more of the exhaust area. I should have a play with that tomorrow before I close up the fuselage halves.

Along the masking theme, I started filling up the wheel wells. I used wite tack to try and hold the bomb bay doors in place but there were too many gaps and the bomb bay would have needed a full respray after the main paint job...

So I went with tape folded over and around the sides to hold in the doors. Still no where near perfect, but there should be a lot less leakage this way, and a lot less cleanup at the end needed. I should be able to button this up tomorrow and have it almost ready for primer.

Wow, looking good there Kane.
Cockpit detail is just awesome.
Watching
Dave

Looking really nice mate, wheel wells look pretty cool as well.

I haven't really done a lot of weapons in my part, but I always had it in my head that missiles would be on the aircraft quite new, and to me they wouldn't really be "weathered" - drop tanks however... I'm probably wrong though

Nice progress K1. That photo etch cockpit looks awesome. May have to get something similar for mine when the time comes to build it

Thanks Gary. Will have a good read of the build. Thanks also K2, VD and Dave,

Looking great K1.
The kit even comes with a ladder - very cool. I've never noticed that in a kit before - I guess I need to spend a bit more on the kits I buy

Cheers Malcolm
I actually decided last night to mask off the exhausts differently. The masking i had was going to be almost impossible to remove cleanly, and I would risk knocking in the exhaust fins. I think it will probably be easier to mask off this area and paint it after the main body has been painted. So after re-seating and re-gluing the exhaust fins, I set about joining up the fuselage halves. I hope to god I haven't forgotten to install something inside.

I took it slow, doing small bits at a time. Really pleased there is hardly any seam. I'll clean up the glue marks and then probably put a minimum amount of filler in there, just to smooth any bumps.

She's going to be a good test of painting in the confines of the spray booth given her size and the large models I have lining up behind this build. I wonder if wifey would entertain me getting a 2nd booth and having them side by side???? No .... no ..... I don't think that will happen. Best keep that between us.

Nice progress mate and cool to see the fuselage together.
I hate that "what have I forgotten" feeling as well and is why I mark off the parts and steps on the assembly instructions as I go now.

Great to see it all together mate, looking good!

And just do it, get the 2nd booth

Xtr3meNZer wrote: And just do it, get the 2nd booth

Got to get some income first lol

Looking good!

When I was building the F-14 I didn't forget to put something in it, I forgot to take something out... an ice block stick I had stuck to the inside of the upper fuselage section to make handling easier when I painted it. I only realised this when it came to slotting the wings in and saw it still in there

A long time ago some friends and I had a running joke about odd things that happen - just like the ice-block stick.
We used to wonder what the Alien archaeologists would make of it when they moved to earth in 10000 years time.

'The concept of miniature modelling we understand - but the significance of the ice-block stick - now that's got us beat - those humans must have been so advanced'

Powder wrote: A long time ago some friends and I had a running joke about odd things that happen - just like the ice-block stick.
We used to wonder what the Alien archaeologists would make of it when they moved to earth in 10000 years time.
'The concept of miniature modelling we understand - but the significance of the ice-block stick - now that's got us beat - those humans must have been so advanced'

hahaha, yes as they study the gods we wordshiped JB or Justin Beiber

Looking good Grover!