Decided to start modeling with my 5 year old son after not building anything since I was a kid. Even then, I never painted anything back then so this is all really new to me.
After hours of watching youtube videos (thanks Andy's Hobby HQ) on different techniques, this is my second build, the old Tamiya F-15C. I could of done some more puddying and sanding in some spots and I had a decal issue on the back. That's why the EG and AF504 aren't real world right, should be the 33rd decal but it screwed up during weathering. But for sitting on a shelf, it's accurate enough IMO. I need to get some more white paint, so that's why the missiles still aren't on.
Some of the techniques I used:
1) Used nato black to spray the panel lines prior to painting to highlight them. I haven't used a primer on my first two builds and haven't found it necessarily. 2) Everything but the smallest parts are airbrushed, as I just can't get a good look with hand brushing. I know it's a difficult technique to master, i.e. thinning the paint properly and using the right touch + lots of coats. Easier to just load up the airbrush. 3) The camoflauge was done with masking tape I pre-cut on a hand drawn template prior to transferring to the model. 4) Sprayed it gloss prior to the decals, then finished it in dullcote. 5) The canopy was masked with tape. In the future, I'll use liquid mask I think, as I did have to do some cleanup with thinner after. 6) Weathering was done with Tamiya's panel liner + a cue tip w/ thinner to take the excess off. Then I used streaking grime to dirty it up some with everything done front to back so it looks wind blown.
My first build was a Panther, which looks pretty good, but I'm waiting on a few more products to finish the weathering on it.
All in all, this was a very difficult build + paint job compared to building the Panther. There's so many more intricacies and things to mask with planes compared to tanks. Also a ton more decals to worry about screwing up. Plus the clear parts to deal with. Given that I seem to enjoy weathering more than anything, I'll probably stick to tanks more than planes, but I do have an A-1H and A-6M (Zero) coming to do over the next few months.
Also, even though I know people trash them, my airbrush is the cheap $35 kit with the mini-compressor and it works fine. I'll probably get a better airbrush in the future for finer detail shooting, but for just spraying coats of acrylic, the pressure with the mini-compressor does the job and I had no hiccups. I did clear lacquer coats with the Testor's spray can and see no reason to use an airbrush for that stuff.
I have a Paasche mini compressor, and it also works fine for me. As a sort of "make-believe" airtank, I attached a common yellow coiled plastic air hose (between the compressor and my output flow valve). This will fill with compressed air, and actually does a decent job (IMO anyway) of buffering the tendency of my mini compressor to "puff".
WARNING: This post contains opinions produced in a facility which also occasionally processes fact products.
Looks awesome bonchie, the camo turned out really crisp and the weathering is excellent. Nice build man!
Thanks. It was touch and go for a while trying to get the masking right. After googling pictures of F-15Cs trying to find an American one that didn't have the camo (so I could justify not doing it), my minor case of OCD got the best of me and I went ahead and took the time to get it right.
UNDERSTEER - is when you hit the wall with the front wing. OVERSTEER - is when you hit the wall with the back wing. HORSEPOWER - is how fast you hit the wall. TORQUE - is how far you can take the wall with you.
I have a Paasche mini compressor, and it also works fine for me. As a sort of "make-believe" airtank, I attached a common yellow coiled plastic air hose (between the compressor and my output flow valve). This will fill with compressed air, and actually does a decent job (IMO anyway) of buffering the tendency of my mini compressor to "puff".