the ready room

Painting and finishing the cockpit

2009-10-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

Well, most of the cockpit re-work is complete. Now it's time to add some paint and bring this assemble to life! Before painting, some pre-planning was done; I selected a resin pilot from my stash with a Gentex Helmet from product #MH013 and I chose an appropriate ACES II Seat #MH007 also from my product line. I started on the cockpit, armed with my reference book, "Warbird-Tech Series", Volume #25 by Dennis R. Jenkins; used my favorite Tamiya paints and began painting.

*Tamiya brush painting tip

It is possible to get good results using Tamiya acrylics for brush painting. My method is to thin the paint with 91% Isoprophol Alcohol. I also use Iso for airbrushing too and it works excellent! For bush painting I despense a few drops of color into my paint pallet, then add one to two drops of 91% ISO into the paint. The ratio I use for brush painting is always approx: 3:2 (3 drops paint) to (2 drops 91% Iso). I mix the paint and thinner together and begin. It's important to note that the 91% Iso will evaporate rapidly, so you may need to frequently add more, usually only 1 drop additional thinner if the mix starts to thicken. Anymore than 1 drop and you can easily over-thin the mix.

Cockpit, Pilot and Ejection seat

I airbrushed the cockpit floor and walls FS36231, approx. Tamiya (XF-54). I then masked these areas and airbrushed the instrument panels Flat Black. I then dry brushed with Tamiya Titainum Silver (X-32) to add a bit of wear. I then drybrushed the raised details to make them stand out. For the display screens I mixed a small batch of Light Green (X-15) and Neutral Gray (XF-53) and I mixed a bit of Titainium Silver and black to brush paint the FLIR. Next up was the pilot. I made up a painting guide with mixing formulas several years ago to help me remember the proper colors for the flightsuit, helmet, Nomex gloves, oxygyn mask, straps and visor:

*Tamiya pilot paint guide:

Helmet

-USAF (Light Gray)/ XF-66 (1) + X-2 (1)

-US Navy/ Marine Corp. (White) X-2

*Helmet Panels: (Dark Gray)/ XF-66 (2) + XF-1 (1)

Flight Suit

-Olive Green (XF-58) *highlights (XF-58 lightened with white)

Nomex Gloves

-(Light Gray)/ XF-66 (1) + X-2 (1)

Oxygen Mask & hose

-(Khaki Drab)/ XF-51 and/ or (Light Gray) XF-66

Flight suite Straps

-(Light Sea Gray)/ XF-25 *lightened w/ white

Visor

-(Gloss Black)/ X-1 *over coat with Future

Using the guide I painted the resin pilot to depict a USAF pilot of the period (Circa 1991) flying the F-117 during Operation Desert Storm. I kept it simple due to the fact that once the cockpit, pilot and fuselage halves are closed up, visibility is limited. I finished off by painting the ejection seat, added the pilot and secured them into the cockpit with small drops of superglue. As an Added detail, I drapped seat harnesses in a natural fashion over the pilots shoulders using thin strips of masking tape and painted them to finish.

Back on track

2009-09-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

You may have read from the main web site that I've re-launched the site, taking new orders and are in full swing with projects both already on the drawing board for release and new stuff on the way. I'm excited and glad to be back in the modeling mix again. Also on the site I mentioned that I will be launching a new line of HUD's for your 1/72nd scale modern jets! It's true and I tested my new F-117 HUD on a model I'm currently working on! Follow along here with me and comment on the build! Go to www.modernhobbiesllc.com for product infomation and ordering for items mentioned in this build. Also check the my modeling links for other items!

The model

Well, not wanting to sacrifice a Hasegawa kit I have in the stash, instead I recruited an old Revell kit to be the test bed for the HUD. I also wanted to challege myself a bit, knowing that I would have to improve and/ or correct some kit errors and such. The Revell kit#04333 isn't too bad overall, but the kit cockpit features an inaccurate one-piece molded-in ejection seat assembly, poor pilot figure and a snap-in canopy. In a word..yikes! The kit is great for an intermeadiate modeler but advanced modelers should stick to the Hasegawa kits available.

Improvements

I started work on improving the kit with the cockpit. The model was going to be an in-flight model like the others in my collection and the casual observer would not see a whole lot inside the cockpit once the model was built. I just couldn't stand looking at the kit cockpit, and in order to place one of my Modern USAF Seated Pilots inside and an acurate ACES II ejection seat, I would have to do some major surgery and scratchbuild a large portion of the kit cockpit. I used styrene stock, Apoxie-Sculpt and other bits to build-up the sidewalls, rear bulkhead, new front panel and CRT screens and other minute details. I also installed my new F-1117 resin HUD. In the photo compare the kit original (top) and the re-work (bottom). *Click any of the photos for a closer look!

Once this was done I checked the fit with one of my USAF ACES II seats.

Additional photos

In the next installment I'll paint and finish the re-worked cockpit tub, pilot figure and further prepare the kit for assembly. Keep the radar on!

2009-09-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hello all, welcome to "The Ready Room!" Let me first lay the ground rules for the blog. This is a family-oriented modeling blog. I'd like to encourage discussion, tips, techniques, building, finishing, and enhancing of 1/72nd scale modern military aircraft modeling. So then, lets get this blog going! All pilots have been cleared for flight, get to the flight-line, man your jets!