GusMac

Looking forward to this Danny. You have a great selection of references to help you there. Just tried a beer from down the road from you tonight. Pawel Kwak from the brewery in Buggenhout - lovely but you couldn't have too many at 8.4%!

Sorry to hear about the ribs Dennis. Hope it doesn't hurt too much. I laid down the gloss primer tonight so will hopefully get the first of the metallics down tomorrow. The Vallejo paints certainly don't smell badly at all so the mask was barely needed. If you are looking for one I can heartily recommend the 3M masks - very reasonable as well. Working in healthcare has a few perks, one of which is easy access to a ready supply of latex gloves. This is the first big Tamiya kit I've done and it is very nice but I've previously done Revell Ju88 and Ju87 and you do get a lot for your money with those. Thanks for the help with the missile, hopefully the dog stays well away this time.

Hi Dennis, sounds like you have plenty on your plate. How are the Revell F15E kits? The Tamiya is very nice but definitely has a few fit issues, well certainly in my paws. The new uber kits like the F4 Corsair seem to be pretty flawless in comparison. I got a 3M mask which has a full set of organic filters and is comfortable even with glasses and an optivisor on! Have certainly read plenty about how noxious the Alclad is so have avoided it, although the results do look pretty spectacular on some of the NMF builds you see. It's the Mr Levelling Thinner I find grabs the throat without the mask. I am going with the Vallejo Metal Color acrylics for the rear areas so fumes shouldn't be an issue. Plan is to start that tomorrow night. What I don't know is how much to thin these for overcoating the base colours to try and replicate the heat effects. Thanks for the info on the salt. I think l will stick with the acrylics as I know just how far I can push it with thinning them. Wouldn't plan to leave the salt on overnight anyway so hopefully shouldn't cause issues. How do you paint a T Rex? Surely it's all guesswork as no skin pigment survives in the fossils? Have seen some pretty cool looking builds on varioous forums though! Anyway, hopefully have some more progress soon. Cheers, Gus

Ah, the curse of the 'box set' strikes again!

Lovely, the polished wood looks like those gorgeous cruisers you see on Lake Como.

Oops, anyone else spot the c*** up!? Just started masking for the gloss black primer on the metallic areas and realised I've left too much of the upper surface unpainted. The metallics should start at the panel line approximately 1/3 back from the leading edge of the fins rather than at the leading edge as it currently is sitting. Time to crack out the airbrush and fix that before we proceed. Have been following a great build of a 1/48 F-15I over on MSC who made the same error and even that didn't ring any bells that I'd done the same thing! Ah, well, no real harm done.

Ok, here's a bit more progress. Apologies the photos are a bit over-exposed - took them outside to take advantage of some nice Autumnal sunshine but it was a bit too bright. Not often a problem up here in October! The difference between the greys is quite subtle but that seems to be true for the IDF aircraft of this era. Have ordered some Maketar masks for the main insignia as I want to paint them on before the salt fading. On that subject does anyone have any advice as to the best enamels for this? I've used Tamiya and Gunze acrylics since I came back to the hobby but they seem to react 'funny' with the salt according to what I've read. I thought I'd try enamels but the last time I used any was the old Airfix and Humbrol pots ladling it on with a brush 30+ years ago. Any thoughts comments as to the best brand for this and thinning materials would be welcome. Cheers, Gus

Lovely Micha. A very unusual subject, beautifully done.

Nice, the cockpit looks suitably worn and grubby!

Very, very nice. I'm currently building one of these so this is seriously inspiring. Just as a matter of interest did you mask the two tone grey patterns or just freehand it? I'm approaching that stage and thinking of just going freehand but not sure if that's best. Gus

Looks great Wouter. Some serious work involved there, but the end result should be more than worth it.

Looks great Jeroen. Beautifully finished and displayed. A nice bit of inspiration over the bench.

Watching this with interest. No real knowledge of the aircraft but the colour schemes and reviews are very tempting.

That is one weird looking little machine, but beautifully built.

Wow, very impressive work on a vac kit. Nice weathering too.

Looks great.

Right, here are some pics of the progress made before I ran out of paint. Slight goof where I got a bit carried away and started marbling the areas which will be bare metal - the gloss black primer which will have to go down should sort that out. I'm pretty happy with how it looks at the moment. I'm also going to try some salt fading on this and some oils, so hopefully it'll add further variety to the surface. Extra paint has arrived but I'm waiting for a respirator I ordered before I have another big painting session. This is too big for the paint booth and the fumes were pretty noxious. I run every day and age is slowing me down enough without adding chemical-induced asthma! As always, all comments and suggestions welcome. Cheers, Gus

Thanks Jim. I've seen similar on the UK site, so I will make the investment.

Hi all, discovered today my spraybooth is too small for beasts like the 1/32 Eagle, so can anyone recommend a decent, affordable respirator. Failing that, what level of protection is needed? I spray Tamiya acrylics and Mr Hobby mainly with Mr Levelling Thinner Thanks, Gus

I usually sum it up as 'the human is the weak link in the system'! Anyway, got a good few hours at it today and made some decent progress until I ran out of paint, oops. Will try and post some progress pics. Also found my spray booth is way too small for this so may have to invest in a respirator.

Hi Dennis, thanks for the post. Basically, I'm fairly happy with the effect so I'm going to try and replicate it on the full thing. Hopefully should get a good session at it tomorrow so should have some progress to show. I work as a medical imaging physicist and lecture on it as well and one of the things I always emphasise to students is that you can tweak and optimise the imaging system all you want but you always have to consider the human observer who will look at the image. It's their report that determines the outcome so you have to consider the way they perceive things. There are so many factors that have to be considered and we have spent years trying to mathematically model the way humans look at images and it is nigh on impossible. As you say 'each to their own' about sums it up!

Nice fix Bevan, you'd never know that the holes had been there.

Ok, no progress with the Eagle directly just some confidence boosting. First up some playing around with the Vallejo Metal Color acrylics using an old Tamiya 1/48 Skyray my son gave up on. Used the gloss black primer with Magnesium of the wingtip, Pale Burnt Metal on the leading edge, Jet Exhaust on the trailing edge and Engine Manifold in the centre. They spray nicely without thinning but I had the pressure a bit high, hence the 'splodges' towards the back - good learning points for the real thing though. Definitely now have a plan about how to go about the exhausts and rear metalwork on the F15. Next up was practising the marbling and top coat for a monochrome finish with the black basing. Matt McDougall's recent tutorials on this and general airbrushing were invaluable. Paint was thinned to roughly 2.5:1 thinner to paint which is waaaaay beyond anything I'd thought of using before but once I'd got the pressure and trigger point on the airbrush settled I was amazed how straightforward it is. I'm not sure if the top layer is still too translucent or whether that is the contrast with the unpainted primer, so if any of you more experienced guys have opinions I'd love to hear them. It looks ok to my eye but probably better towards the outer wing - looks too patchy towards the fuselage. Certainly a lot happier about tackling this now but I'd love to hear any comments, critiques, etc as I'm keen to keep pushing my skill-set on.

Time for a steady hand and the swearbox close by Cees. Good luck!

Good luck with the move Tom. The radome looks great and the ribbing is just spot on - can't believe you got it so symmetrical and consistent.