ScottsGT

Must be all that Canadian Whiskey doing it to you!

That’s awesome Ernie! A true work of art.

Here we go.

I’ve been reading this subject online for years now. It’s almost like walking into a discussion on religion or politics. There are some very passionate folks that take this seriously. Way back in the early days the BA’s mixed paint they had on hand. I think it was Insignia blue and white. Cannot remember the ratios though. But I think it was with the Phantoms they went with a commercial paint color. Seems that no one will share the actual paint code. It has been discussed that the BA’s ground crew uses an off the shelf Krylon spray bomb for touch ups in the field. A few years back I went rummaging through the Krylon rack at the local Ace hardware and found it. Gloss true blue. Yep, perfect. Went home, started my A-4 Skyhawk project and even got the Krylon applied after decanting and airbrushing. One slight problem with Krylon. It’s very brittle when it cures all the way. It wants to chip off in flakes if you slightly bend the plastic. Crap. Skyhawk is still on the SOD. Back to the internet for more reading. It seems that there were some mixing formulas using the now defunct Testors Model Masters lineup. Besides, speaking of religions, mine is now lacquers only! It seems that all of the BAB paint offered by our favorite manufacturers is based off FS15050. This is incorrect. Even my Yellowhammer Models decal sheet says, and I quote “ One thing is for sure, FS15050, the accepted “Blue Angels” blue is completely wrong……” They suggested FS15052. Of course no one makes that. Of course they suggest mixing Testors enamels. Yuk! So back to the Internet. Someone suggested Tamiya spray bomb lacquer TS15. So for giggles, I ordered Mr. Color FS15050, SMS Blue Angels Blue, Tamiya bottled lacquer LP-6 “pure blue” and a can of Tamiya TS-15 spray. I also bought a paint mule kit. An old crusty 1/48 Phantom. I’ll just say, I never had to open the LP-6. I divided the model into three parts. Back end I sprayed with the Mr. Color FS15050, wing and center of fuselage with SMS FS15050 and the front end with decanted Tamiya TS-15. all were laid on with 4 coats and then a good wet coat of about 98% Leveling Thinner to smooth it out. Not sure how good you can see in the pic, but the SMS looks pretty good. Still a little too gray as Yellowhammer said. Almost a green shade to it. The Mr. Color on the tail, just not right looking at pics online. But the front end with the decanted TS-15, I think we have a winner! It’s more of a true blue color that looks like online pics. Here’s the pic in my paint booth. I’ll take it outside and get more pics in the sunlight. Wish me luck. We’re having 25 MPH winds today.

And ready for the paint shop!

Not bad!

Wow! Look at the shadows from the rivets. Those things must have been huge.

Looks great. Somewhere I’m hiding one of those kits. I should dig it out.

I remember a few years back someone was working on a 1/32 Fairey Gannet kit. I was excited to hear about that one, but it seems to have fizzled out. Ah yea, Flying S Models. Still on a back burner it looks like.

Man, that’s looking great.

Tamiya USA is great. I’ve read online that folks in other parts of the world are not so lucky. When I was building my 5 F-16 Thunderbirds display using the old Revell kits I was ordering decal sheets from them. They were dirt cheap, like $12 per set. Guys on eBay were asking upwards of $50 per set. I still cannot figure out why Tamiya (Japan) pulled that kit off the market. Even rekitted as something other than the T bird it would be a big seller.

Winner winner! Chicken dinner!

I’ll give everyone one guess. The Tamiya tape will be the other color going on it. No AM intakes for this one. Hoping for a quick build and I think FOD covers will look sharp in yellow too. BTW, pulled the kit out of the stash last night and got busy at 7:30 this morning with coffee in hand!

😡

Link to completed builds.

It’s the wrong scale! I know the Trumpeter kit has the turned down exhaust as well. Not sure about oleos though. (Stupid auto correct wants Oreo. Damnit. Now I want Oreos too)

And tucked away in the display.

Forgot one

Finally! This kit has been patiently waiting in the stash for 3 or 4 years to get built. Of course after buying it I start reading a few issues presented when building it. It’s true! So I kind of pigeon holed it until the USAF introduced the newest Splinter scheme last year. I finally found a source for vinyl masks and decals and of course “Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!” One bit of AM I bought years ago (and panicked at first when I couldn’t find it right away after the move) was the Kopecky exhaust. Kit part is just way too small. Unfortunately Kopeckey doesn’t provide instructions with the parts and after digging online I kind of figured it out. The kit wheels and tires were an absolute joke. More like flat tires. So ResKit to the rescue there. I also splurged for the Quinta interior set. Kit issues, other than too small of an exhaust and flat tires….bad sink marks everywhere. Some almost unfixable unless you want to spend the next three years sanding off the RAM details around gear and weapons doors, correcting sink marks and replacing ram edges with Evergreen stock. Gear doors were not called out correctly and the nose gear door arms won’t even reach the glue points. I had to epoxy the doors to the fuselage. Cannot install the landing light since it would get in the way of the door. PE rail in the canopy with the grips just would not go in place. I don’t know, maybe I’m just that bad of a modeler? Wing gaps were horrible. I’ve seen some builds where they added Evergreen stock to fill them in. I simply used sprue goo. Same with the tail feathers. Big gaps and an unusual way of designing them. Kopeckey makes replacements for these as well. I highly recommend over kit parts, but I was too hard headed to realize this until it was too late. I’ve seen these kits up for sale cheap after someone got started. I almost snagged one to build a “What If” Thunderbird. Nope. No way. Not gonna happen now!

Only reason I did this one clean is because I don’t think Splinters carry load outs. Just cat and mouse games training pilots. My B and C models will be dirty. Actually thinking of doing folded wings on the Navy bird. Someone got me hooked on the folded wing look. 🤡

Calling it done! Sneak preview of it completed. Once I clean the bench I’ll start another thread in the right area. With more photos of course.

Carl, one dropped right into place. The other took some massaging into place using a file and a sanding stick.

Todays lesson boys and girls?? Don’t trust kit directions! Went to install landing gear doors. It shows this is how it’s done. Just to make sure door angles were correct I went online and looked at pics. Yea, like a P-51’s inner doors, only open during gear movement. This is how it should be. Thus would have been another one of those plan ahead moments.

Made it out to Yosemite in the fall one time. Everything was dry and there was nearby forest fires. Everything was smoky and hazy. Made for cool pics of Half Dome and El Capitan. Spring is apparently the time to visit Yosemite. We did Jackson Hole (tourist trap, would never go back) Grand Tetons and Yellow Stone in July. We actually got snow flurries at the Grand Tetons. Those would all be great places to go if it wasn’t for all the tourist like us. Hugely crowded! Most photographed barn in the nation. The wife… Of course we do the fly out and rent a car thing. We would probably kill each other if locked up that close in an RV for that long of a trip from the east coast.