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Here's the underside. The decals for the forward sensor area (the little irregular white patch) really do make that area pop out - I'm glad that I spent the time to mask that irregular shape out - I think it would be worth it. In the end, I am going to but dabs of blue transparent colour into the camera lens openings. The decals for this area came as three sections of little stencils, all held together with decal film. I again trimed this off and applied each stencil separately - if you leave the film on, I am afraid it would cover some neat details and a camera lens or two. (I'll do a shot close-up of this when I finish it off with the camera lenses - I also painted the lens housing in a silver). At this resolution it doesn't look like much, but all those little black smudges are separate stencils!! I'll let you know how the flat-coat goes in a little while!

A brief update while I let my clear-coat dry. Wow... holy micro decals Batman!! I think I need a few seconds to let my crossed eyes adjust!! Well, after the decals on the last Bandai kit (Yukikaze Superslyph) were generally oversized (more like 1/72 than 1/100) well, they more than made up for it on this kit. These are tiny, in fact most of all the warning stencils were so small that they turned to be little blurs or smudges. As insane as it was, I spent the better part of the day applying all these little smudges - you may not be as crazy as this, and still the kit would be pretty much unchanged <_< Oh, well too much time on my hands. I did cut out all the decal film between the red walkway lines on the wings - it was just too much film to hide. However, when you did this, you are left with a "U" shaped red stripe that was extremely difficult to get laid down in the proper geometry. I spent a good 1/2 hour on each of these red lines and a lot of water to keep them moist while I fiddled with one section or the other. But I believe the end result is worth it, a huge decal that were to cover most of the wing would have been easy to put on, but looked pretty bad in the areas between the red lines especially if the text and round emblem was to go on top of that too. What killed my eyes were trying to trim around the excess decal film around all the little stencils - but if you don't you'll end up with blobs of decal film around all these little smudges which is worst! Because the decals were so small or fragile, I applied them with water, brushed them into position with a damp brush, then dried the brush to "wick" out the excess water, and dabbed MicroSol setting/solvent solution on the edges once they were in position to help hide the decal film edges.

Hey guys - I'm back, Took a break to go to Wonderland because it was such a nice day yesterday - Man was it crowded!! Back to decalling today - hopefully I'll post some pictures today. Just got a brain-wave last night - I plan on masking after the decals to do some shades of flat clear-coat on this bird to bring back the lighter green-grey - but I was cautions because the last time I masked after I applied the decals was my Elintseeker's radome (those of you who follow or care remembers what a nightmare that became when I pulled of chunks of decal). I thought I would clear-coat the decals, then use Post-it notes - the sticky back is much less - well see how it goes. I get my Future at a supermarket, Loblaws was the last time I checked - in the floor cleaning aisle. For those of you in the GTA, I saw a bunch of Future on sale up in Scarborough at Bamburgh Circle in the Chinese supermarket at Steeles and Warden on Saturday. Thanks Cmd McBride for the nose white markings comments, I feel a little better about them now. When you build these things and put such effort into them - you are never happy of how it turns out - there are things I wished I did differently on each and every one of my models. Its part of what gives me the drive to continue builidng models - the promise that I will not do that particular mistake again on the next one! Again for those of you in the GTA, Northstar Hobbies in the west end carries Tamiya masking tape as well as Collector's Lane Hobbies in the east end. I have started to see them poping up in local Anime stores such as Pacific Hobbies in the Pacific Center. Lastly, the post shading. I used a neutral grey this time - since its a shade lighter than the underbelly sky grey. I always use a shade darker than the base coat I want to post-shade over. I dilute in with Tamiya thinner more than usual 2:1 paint:thinner to get a very viscous consistency. This helps to not lay down a lot of paint and allows the airbrush to achieve a finer line. Then I very lightly (key here is build up in layers - SUBTLETY - error on the light side - its always easier to add then fix if you put too much) airbrush as fine of a line as I can - "tracing" around all the panel lines and any contours I want to highlight. Its kind of like shading a 3-d sculpture and its a bit of taste to determine where you want it and where you don't. Since this is a relatively new aircraft, I did it very lightly. I find when you over postshade stuff, it looks more anime like kind of like the Gundams we see everywhere. Once you are complete - immediately seal it in with a clear-coat. This post-shading layer is very delicate, since its such a light misting, it can scratch off easily. Hope to post soon. Good luck!

A great view!! Its decal time soon, as soon as I let the clear coat dry!! Ya!

The weathering on the top is really subtle - I didn't want it to look battle-worn, just tie all the colours in a bit (the photo doesn't really show subtelty well). There will be another light dusting of grey after the decals to tie those in - so its always best to error on the side of caution. You can always add more, over-doing it is a harder fix. This photo shows the other missiles (I decided to paint the bodies/shaft white - like the Superslyph, but haven't decided on a fin colour yet - I don't think I'll take the instructions pale purple) the centerline tank (which there are no paint instructions - but I did the Alclad Steel because I like the finish so much - in hindsight, this will be my Alclad test model ) and off-course the cockpit pod.

Here's a shot after I wiped off the excess oil paint and did a light little post-shading on the panel lines with Neutral Grey. I darkened the forward edges of the white with the grey, and this had the effect of darkening the white while lightening the dark green/grey which reduced the contrast of the white markings to blend them in a bit (they did stand out a bit starkly - bullseye )

This shot is a close up of the different greys - the black wash for the engines and dark moveable surfaces and the lighter grey for the regular panel lines.

Starting the old wash...here's my spotted bird.

Hey LTSO - I updated my signature to include my old website (well directory only - I haven't had time to learn any HTML) sorry I don't think there are any pics of the Elintseeker there but here's the address to the old boards: http://www.macrossworld.com/cgi-bin/mwf/ik...ct=ST;f=20;t=33 http://www.macrossworld.com/cgi-bin/mwf/ik...t=ST;f=8;t=6198 I think Rob did the PDF write ups at: http://www.robsthingies.com/ Hey does this mean you are starting on the YF-19 - if so please post..

1/72 = 0 1/60 = 3 1/48 = 1 (2 more soon)

This is where I'll let the plane stand overnight for the clear-coat to dry. (Must keep hands off - before I ruin any other paint finish) I can be so impatient especially when I get to this point where I would do the oil wash, post shading and decals. I have repaired the wing-root hinge area and put lots of coats of clear-coat over that area as well as paint the wing pylon details in metallic steel as well. I think my plan is to tone down the white and light grey with a neutral grey when I do the post shading phase. Then at the end - after the decals and clear-coat to protect the decals, I will remask the light green and spray those with a flat/matte finish. So I will keep the semi-gloss of the darker shade and engines, but get a flat sheen on the lighter green areas - hopefully that will restore the original contrast between the two colours.

This shot shows the "bumps" better - I don't know how to get a smoother line?

Well here it is, not too bad, but not great, if you look closely, the edges isn't perfectly smooth. The overall contours are right and there is no overspray, but there are areas where the adhesive on the Tamiya masking shows through as a fewy little bumps - normally I wouldn't look this closely - but its such a small plane - I mean this line is only an inch long! So any imperfections will show up large in scale comparatively. Aftermarket decals would be great for this bird!! This really should of been a decal! What's next, Bandai will want us to spray the stencils "no step" in 1/100 scale

Yes we are spoiled with Tamiya I'll have to try this Future soon. - how is it for finger prints after its on? Tamiya smoke sounds great for panel lines - its basically thinned down black. I might try it on the engine portions - but I'll stick to a darker shade whenever its available. I think the darker shade is a little bit more forgiving since it won't be so bold. Well here's my day - trying to get this nose stripe on right took several trys especially trying to get both sides to be symetrical - and off course everything is a curve!!

Hey Sam, I use Tamiyas too, but use ModelMaster Acryl Clear Coats, they come in flat, semi-gloss and gloss, I highly recommend them - and can tell you that they are safe with the Tamiya undercoat as well as the oil wash above. I would be careful when you thin down the oil wash - any artist oils will do, but the thinner is important. I use low-odour Varsol, which is a mineral spirit based thinner but really weak. The weaker the better - look for low odour stuff, they are generally less potent.

Hey thanks so much for the step-by-step. This is great!! I am only worried that right now, my landing gear is a bit loose (with no modification). When I push it to roll it, the forward gear pivots back a bit - slightly, I am worried that if I eliminate the seam, then that makes my existing problem worst - especially when the fast packs come out and the bird is always nose down slightly adding to the problem. Is there an alternative solution that will even tighten up the landing gear lock-down and prevent the diagonal seam for splitting? Thanks though. (I will definitely be referring to this thread often)

Thanks for the alcohol clean up tip, I'll try it, but that stuff (Future) seems pretty thick to be airbrushed straight. I'd love to see a photo of that S-37 Demonstrator scheme. The Alclad primer is fantastic (you have to spray at low pressure though 12-15psi) but it comes pre-thinned to airbrush consistency! I've used Tamiya paints almost exclusively and have never had too much problems with the white. I've used the Tamiya Flat White here on this model, and it had to cover some pretty dark colours. I've noticed that the Flat colours had a bit better coverage than the gloss. I would suggest thinning it a bit less than darker colours, like 4:1/3:1 paint:thinner and spraying a raither "dry coat" (higher pressure - farther away like 5-6 inches) so that the paint is almost dry when it hits the model. This helps in two ways, it prevents seepage under your mask, and it covers better when its dry rather than a thin milky liquid. Also, do it in thin layers, and allow to dry in between layers (its should never look like a liquid on the model). OK, I did my in one go, but after a lot of practice and its a small area, if it were bigger, then I would of done it in individual coats. I ran across this excellent article on the web on Tamiya paints: http://www.ecpmod.com/Articles/article2.html

I definitely cut the tape first, then apply it. Don't cut it while on the model - you might go through and cut into the paint - it would chip or flake off if you do. Alclad loves a clean glossy surface - the smoother it is, the better the finish. That is exactly how I tint the canopy - I spray with Tamiya Smoke (its a transparent colour) I let dry then dunk. I dunk several coats to get rid of the pebbly surface the spray on Smoke gives to get back that acrylic shine. Any answers to my questions on airbrushing Future - how to thin and clean the airbrush? What thinners or solvents?

Fantastic work SAM!!! Keep up the great work and keep showing us - good progress. Exactly what types of paints are you using - and what type of clear coat is warping the paint underneath? In addition to the black oil wash, you could also start experimenting on a lighter dry-brush technique to pick up the highlights. Try it out on some piece of crap first - it works out best on flat finish paints though. Looking forward to more!!

Hi all, That diagonal seam along the front nose fuselage splits when I extend the front landing gears on my Roy's VF-1S - it really bugs me. Has someone successfuly opened up the fuselage and filed/sanded down the protruding part from beneath the cockpit and still have the landing gear lock properly in the down position? How about a step by step photos of how to take this baby apart?

Hey I would also like to see how you did it - especially if you have done any in-flight stands - I'd like to see those.

Finally we are all caught up again... I just couldn't resist putting the pod in and zooming it around a bit. Brand new spanking plane!! I think the next steps are to clear-coat this layer, mask the forward nose section for the white markings and yah!! off to the oil washes to pick out the engraved panellng details and a "subtle" post shading.

Here's the underside - I like the forward sensor pod white marking - although hell to mask, at least there were panel lines this time to follow.

Here's the bird with the bandages taken off at the white details stage. I purposely haven't masked the very distinct nose white markings yet. Its late in the afternoon - and I want to devote a whole day to that masking and paint job tomorrow. Its one of the most important parts/marking for this aircraft. Overall I am pleased, however, the two tone grey-green is too muted and the white seems to be so bright and contrasty. I'll tone it down later with a bit of grey, but it will be hard not to tone the whole plane down - the grey-green is already fusing into one colour - I hope that giving it a separate flat finish will restore it back to the shade I had when I first applied the paint.

Here we go with the masking agian...