Rock

Started trying making blu tac snakes to mask the camo and quickly found that that was a waste of time and ruined my foundational efforts. Freehand it is relying of preshading techniques and thinned overcoats. Edit: cant attach pic it seems via mobile

Maverick finally being okay with passing the torch and being a leader to the next generation. He kind of started going down this path by being the instructer in TG2, but in the end he reverted back to being just an ace pilot. I don't think Tom Cruise would allow that though as he tends to always be the main action hero, not playing 2nd or 3rd string. I defiantly would like to see Maverick's studemts returning. Hangman, Rooster, Pheonix, and Bob were great!

Just pay attention to you paint. If they are PE sheet thin stencils, don't try to scrub them clean as you'll bend them up in the process. Soak in appropriate (paint type dependent) thinner.

I don't enjoy painting black kits or I'd consider. Blackbird, Stealth Bomber, and a handful of Yukikaze kits in the stash have placeholders for a black finish amd that is enough for me. I still have 2 cats to build, one will have to be a Jolly Rodger Bombcat, the other is my grail kit, one with every pannel opened up for service (late 90's Tomcatters.) Highly rec the Trinity stencils over freehand marbling. You can over thin your paint to use less materials. Also resulting in way less paint filling the (Tamiya super thin) panel lines while you build up layers. There is also the fact you can do a whole 1/48 bird in about an hour! Keen eyes will spot some early A exclusive parts!

You can buy gold and bronze flake to mix into something like Tamiya clear yellow/orange. Even if you used gold laquer paint as your first layer you would just need to dust enough of it onto the inside of the canopy to give the illusion of a metallic diffusion before coming in behind it with you clear color acrylic paints. Or you could possibly can grab some Mr. Metal Primer, which is clear as your base layer. Dusting. Let fully dry. Light coat. That is what some of the FSS modelers use for clear resin parts when trying to preserve the translucency before moving to pearlescents. Many options.

A very well known, photographed Ali Cat carrying very unique payload! One doesn't always get a snow day, but when you do, there is no better way to kill it than painting! All a bit premature when I still have some work to do finishing up the bay doors and another unique feature. Still in love with my Black Mr. SURFACER 1500! 1:2:0.5 paint, ak high combatability thinner, and mr color leveling thinner. Just a dream to airbrush at 15psi on large surfaces! Thin, smooth and fast drying!

Light mods to the oob pilots to get them into the slightly smaller resin cockpit amd to get them to look more like IRAF pilots rather than repainted Navy aces. Some harnesses/seatbelts for the bandits using a few layers of some tape and buckle details from some PE belts I had stashed away. Good enough for a closed canopy.

On it. Basic colors in all that is left is cleanup, detail painting and washes/weathering. Closed canopy with pilots so nothing too crazy. Just trying out different options with each Tamiya build I do. It [Eduard] looks really nice and fits together like a dream... that being said Tamiya's is no slouch either. If you have a min look up yhe recent book, "Super Detailing the F-14 Tomcat." It just released late 2023, is dual language, and is 1000% bat-crap crazy on what you can do the the 1/48 OOB cockpit!

Quickie to start off the year. Eduard's Brassin vs. OOB Tamiya parts. No 3d decals, all hand painting this time!

Our Treasure is releasing an 1/100 GTM Z.A.P. sculpted by Akira Tani! Pre Order starts today, Merry Christmas! https://automaticflowers.ne.jp/

Also a base ram-jet version of the Mave. Getting a bit lame that they are releasing the same kit with minor yweaks for the hindreth time instead of giving a nice plastic kit in a larger scale similar to their 1/144 kits. https://www.hlj.com/1-72-scale-supersylph-yukikaze-maeve-yukikaze-ramjet-ver-plzx-16

It is the Gundam Stombringer (P-Bandai Naoki fam design kit) modeled to resemble the FA-78.

You should just do yourself a favor and buy a quart of polyester body filler from your auto parts store. SMC, Evercoat and Bondo are all acceptable brands. Same 2 part polyester putty as Tamiya, Mori Mori and H.Mio bit with a way higher volume to cost. Just make sure you stay away from 'lightweight' body fillers. Not that they are bad, its just they used air pockets to fill volume, and in the hobby word you want a denser (stronger/finer) putty.

Water based putty?

Yes, based around the Banpresto head. Here a link to twitter from a while back where I showed it in a rougher state. That little gundam bust at the bottom is the 1/100 MG Proto Wing Zero EW, if you need a reference for the size. https://twitter.com/Kiskay1/status/1505329346227101698/photo/1

Back to my 1/20ish Wing Zero bust this week, put away everything but the upper torso and have had some time refining the shapes. I'm satisfied with everything enough to move onto smoothing and detailing. The only real hangup I see is correcting my boob duct size. I was undersized and with semi-hollow shapes back filled with CA glue... it makes for interesting challenges.

But, that is the best part. CA accelerator spray will unclog any nose during allergy season. This way I can tell the misses that modeling is the medicine!

It is 1/100 reissue with new markings

Well, this is what I get for not finishing my build. Welcome!

I've got feedback, I'll take one in 1/48 scale please and thank you!

Sure the parts are large without enough reinforcement on the backside so there is warping on the 2 large nose halves. The pegs they have for the most part are extremely loose fitting and will require tape to even test fit together. Suprisingly even with the male/female pegs being so large. You have very little wiggle room if the parts are under tension. Most of my complaints stem fro. Their decision to do a multipiece cocpit on the VF-31. The front is a single clear piece but the back half is 2 clear parts, a black frame and a black bow. If you've ever had a kit with a multi piece cockpit instead of a single clear one you paint the frame on, you'll know how much a paint they can be. You slowly have to clue around the frame, which is deformed/warped and then a ton of clean up on the clear plastic. After your gaps are fixed you usually find the entire assembly no longer fits as well as the single piece option would have. Have to remember Max Factory's target isn't modelers with this line so color seperation>having to paint. Well they do have a posable, soon to be released Alto figure that may fit in one. The issue may also be that they clearly reused the vf-25f cockpit parts instead of designing new. A few extra leftover parts on the runner confirmed it. I expect the seats i. The anime are power adjustable like a car or something, but the model has the seat base moulded to the structure and the floor of the cockpit moulded to the backside of the landing gear bay! You have to remenber they use ex gear cockpits, sadly the arms don't fit into the gear and it makes her body position look way too unnatural. Compromises. Cut out and move the front of the interior forward to clear he knees. I fee the legs look perfectly angled for some pedal controls to come. I lowered the floor a little under a quarter of an inch so she didn't have to amputate/loose her feet too. Shocker after cutting the landing gear doors off to close the bay... they don't fit either. Hopefully I can get them blocked off enough so a minimal ammount of filler will be required. I have zero plans to any custom work on the exterior. Just want to detail up the insides using a few references (and some make believe.) Depending how it goes, I may try to led lighting effects, not that I'm very fond of them.

In!

Hack 'n Slash and she still doesn't fit even with 3mm out of her torso, her butt cut off amd her ponytail mia!

Mirage wasn't too bad, but wow does the nose cone leave a lot to be desire in the way of fitment and details. I really want to get her in the pilot seat. Can't build in peace these days either! Any future parts that drop off the table are GONE!

Really love scale mixing to create a complete scene! Great way to display the nose cones too!