1/72 Hasegawa VF-0S Step-by-step...

[Akula]

I like it... it makes it look less factory-new, and more like it's been used for a while, as opposed to a few-month-stand-in for the VF-1s soon to be issued.

[onezero]

I've been around my share of US naval aircraft, and David's right - you don't so much see the panel lines , especially from a distance. Stains, paint patch-ups and (if the light's right) screws and rivets ... but panel lines tend to disappear til you're right up on 'em. If anything, you notice more the way the metal skin fits over the 'skeleton" of the plane/helo ... but even that's subtle and depends on the angle of the light.

That said, a model looks toylike if it's faithful to what you would see on the real thing from the appropriate scale distace away. (IMO, of course) I really like the way you've approached weathering this bird, Wm. If mine looks half as good I'll be quite pleased.

Very nicely done.

[Sam]

Man this is gorgeous...! The weathering on the rivetts with those pastel/chalk pencils is awesome, Im excited to try it out on something!

The metal effect is unbelievable, did u only use aluminium and steel for its colouring? Base alu with steel shade?

Have you ever made a bad model? It looks like u keep finding new ways of doing even better job all the time. Did you have a pic of all the models uve done in a lineup at any stage, it would be interesting to see your evolving skills my friend, cuz everytime i see one amazing thing i think cant be outdone, u lift the bar level of skill again

I really need to read this thread each day, its so much to take in in one go

Whats ur next project after this William?

Sam

[Noyhauser]

remember that VFs probably see completely different conditions than regular fighters, they often walk on ground, skim at very low altitude, swim (god I can't belive Kawamori allowed it to swim......) ect. I'd expect the weathering to be far more advanced than regular fighters.

[Greyryder]

remember that VFs probably see completely different conditions than regular fighters, they often walk on ground, skim at very low altitude, swim (god I can't belive Kawamori allowed it to swim......) ect. I'd expect the weathering to be far more advanced than regular fighters.

The main reason you don't see a lot of wheathering on military aircraft is becasue they are incredibly well maintained. The dirt and grime gets cleaned off before it has a chance to acumulate, and any leaks are fixed ASAP.

I know the reference to freight trains was made, and it fits here, too. In the days of steam locomotives, tehe engines (and even some rolling stock) was much cleaner than the diesel electrics of today, despite the heavy black coal smoke they threw into the air. Back then, they cleaned them nearly everytime they came in to the main station.

Same goes for planes. (I think even tanks get washed more often than train engines, anymore) I imagine the carrier based planes get cleaned even more often, since corrosion is a much bigger issue for them.

Still, the grime certainly looks cool on a model.

[wm cheng]

Wooohoo! decalling stage - my next favourite step

These decals are quite thin, compared to the other Hasegawa stuff. They are very good, but I was kind of used to the other stuff and lathered on the MicroSET liberally and was a bit rough with them, as a result, I ripped a few here and there before I got the hang of the new thinness of these decals. They are great, don't get me wrong, just a little thinner than I was used to from Hasegawa. They are also a bit over sized - I'm not sure whether they are actually oversized or that in combination with the MicroSET softening them and being thinner, that they stretched a little bit. As you can see here at the legs, the black stripe is supposed to end at the knees but there should be some white showing on the lower bulkhead - the black is only supposed to be on the part that bulges out. I already had too much MicroSET on them to neatly trim off the excess length, so I just kept them as clean as I could, luckily the profile of the black stripe matches the knee portion perfectly so to the "undecerning" eye it looks intentional.

Unfortunately the photo doesn't show all the little details that must telegraph through these black stripes. I used a bit of MicroSOL on the panel lines and those triangular recesses near the knees to get them to show through the decals properly. I think the next time I do this, I might just mask and paint the black stripes on the legs - its a pretty easy shape and all the details will show through.

I chose to decal this first since I want to glue the legs onto the fuselage as soon as possible (just anxious). I will probably omit the numerious warning stencils on the inside of these legs (keep them as spares for my decal box) since they are totally obscured when the legs are attached. The ones that do show are still accessible after the legs are glued in.

[wm cheng]

I thought I'd do all the big black areas first.

[wm cheng]

I love the fact that Hasegawa has thoughtfully provided so much of the black markings that otherwise would be another few days of masking.

I finally glued the legs in!! I love how this plane looks! Its a shame I have to put landing gears on it and ruin the sleekness - oh well, I just might have to build another one with the gears up.

[wm cheng]

Here's a parting shot - maybe some more decalling tonight...

[David Hingtgen]

Ever tried trimming a decal with a NEW blade after you've clearcoated them? Usually works quite well if a decal ends up being too long. I slice applied decals all the time.

PS--could you give a comparison for the decal thickness? Home-made/laser-printer, microscale, cartograph, etc.

PPS--what color did you use for the dark grey areas right behind the wings, where they sweep?

Edited April 27, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[Stamen0083]

PPS--what color did you use for the dark grey areas right behind the wings, where they sweep?

I think those are decals.

[wm cheng]

Hmm, trimming them after a clear-coat eh, what does the clear-coat do? I am tempted to try, but I'd hate to make a mess of it. I am afraid the combination of the SET and SOL has "fused" the decal to the paint. It would be fantastic if it just came off - flaked off - but I'm afraid I might need to scrape it, and I might damage the paint underneath.

I'm not sure about the home-made stuff, it kind of depends on the brand and how many coats of decal film was applied to it afterwards. It certainly is not as thick as Anasazi's decals for the Yamato 1/48. It is thicker than Microscale, that's the thinnest stuff I've ever used. In fact some of it has desintergrated right in my decal box over time. I'd say its like Cartograph (from a few years ago - the last time I have had the pleasure). I'd say its great thickness, not too thin, not too thick - its just that I wasn't used to it, I was expecting the practically indestructable VF-1 type decals.

Yes, those sweep areas behind the wings are decals.

[Myersjessee]

William...man oh man...its going to be beautiful!!!

I had some luck trimming decals on my angel birds...I used a new xacto blade and cut down instead of sliced. I also waited till they were tacky...it was touch and go though so I don't know if I would recommend it.

[wm cheng]

Thanks Jesse,

What do you mean by cutting down not slicing - won't that tend to rip the decal? And what do you mean by "tacky" - do you mean before its dried? Unfortunately mine is very dried, and "fused" in there with lots of SET and SOL to get it to conform to the crevice. So any help would be good. Maybe I can try to very cleanly slice it, and use tape to lift it up off the plastic - without scraping it with a knife (learnt from that old radome mistake on the VE-1 - maybe it will be good for something afterall ) I'll let you know - otherwise you may hear me swear all the way through the internet

[Myersjessee]

I'm afraid what I did (to only some success) wont work...what I did was wait for the decals to be like 2/3rds dry....mostly dry but not stuck..then with a new blade I pushed down through the decal. I did not drag across it (or to be clearer...I tried that first and it tore) so I used the knife more like an onld school paper slicer...pushing down gently through the decal...hardly any force was required to slice it...then I applied for decal sol and used tweezers to lift away the cutsection. Once it is dry....ouch...perhaps a very light sand and then touch up airbrush? Or...perhaps just leave it...its so minor. ( I know...thats quitting...but I always hate to see a nice paint job wrecked.

[wm cheng]

So did you guys hear my screams through cyberspace! Well, it didn't work out very well at first, man that SET and SOL combination really "fused" the decal like "paint" - no amount of tape was pulling it off - just little bits and chunks, really made a mess of the whole situation. To pour salt onto wounds, I was pressing down with the tape to lift some more of the decals up, and SNAP! one of the lower ventral fins (black & grey) snapped off - DAMN! I knew it was a weak joint, so little surface area to connect the fins to the legs - I thought of re-inforcing this area with pins like with a resin kit, but I was anxious and wanted to get on to the next stages, so I coped out and used liquid cement thinking it would be less sanding later on. Well... now I know, I would suggest re-inforcing this joint next time - or at least use tube solvent glue liberally, and then sanding the seam down before painting. I hate these repairs.

Well, a few hours later, the fin is back in place, the joint is not ideal, but less noticable than I thought it was going to be, the black decal hides a host of sins And as with all repairs, it will be weak, so I have to watch out for it. The decal mess being too long was then solved by soaking a bit of MicroSOL on it for a bit and using a stiff bristle brush, carefully scrubbing the extended portion of the decal away without going too far into the paint finish. Thank God for the clear-coat underneath. Anyways as you can see, it looks okay - I didn't bother with the one on the inside of the legs, you can hardly see it anyways.

[wm cheng]

I wanted to glue all those loose parts lying around on to the bird as soon as possible - I just know they'd be lost soon - plus I'm impatient

I thought it might be cool to angle the intakes like the F-14 intake ramps a bit and partially obscure the intake spinners. What I didn't really like on the YF-19 was how flat these intake covers look when glued right up against the top of the intakes. So I bent the last segment of the cover up a bit (careful, you don't want to snap it off, just a bit) and I glued a cut-off piece of sprue underneath it to wedge it up a bit.

[wm cheng]

So now they look like a moveable piece. I wasn't anal enough to extend the width of the intake covers to both ends to meet the walls of the intake - but it just looks like something that moves in the intakes (artistic licence )

[wm cheng]

Here's a 3/4 angle close up.

[wm cheng]

Not huge difference, but I like it.

[wm cheng]

Here's a close up of the airbrake, its easier to weather with it in place and decal it so that they all recieve the proper placement. I just decalled right over the holes - then when its semi-dry, I dabbed some MicroSOL right over the holes, and the perimeter decal just kind of "melted" right into the holes. Just the center hold remained, but a few more drops of MicroSOL, and a little encouragment from a small brush and the center hole gave way.

[wm cheng]

Now here's a delema, and I still don't know which way to go if I were to do it again.

These side stripes on the forward fuselage have two very fine black line tails that goes back towards the intakes - a shorter one above the black and yellow LEX/canards and a longer one under. Man were they a bitch to get on straight. The thin decals kept curling and going all over the place. It took 20mins each to get them in place properly (DO NOT USE ANY MicroSET or SOL on this) use tons of water to allow yourself plenty of play time to get these suckers in place.

Now if the fuselage was not glued in, and was a separate piece, then it would be a piece of cake to get them positioned correctly without the intakes, chestpiece or LEX/canards in the way. But if the forward fuselage section did not mate with the main fuselage perfectly - then there would be really no real way to fill and sand this joint - since it would already be painted and decalled. The VF-1s mated perfectly - this kit doesn't, I may have glued my LEX/canards in at a slightly wrong angle, but I can't see a way to get the perfect angle.

Anyways, I don't know which is the proper order of construction for this piece - again its six or one half dozen - but it worked out this way for me, just 40 minutes of holding my breath

[wm cheng]

Well... here we are tonight before I go to sleep. Nighty night VF-0, dry well without my medlesome hands and fingerprints all over you. Till tomorrow...

[Grayson72]

Nighty night VF-0, dry well without my medlesome hands and fingerprints all over you. Till tomorrow...

Ohhh WM you've been spending a bit too much time with your little plane. You've definately gone to plaid .

Looks great though.

[Jawjaw]

Nice job on the weathering. It gives it a more dated, rough look in which goes good with the design. I'm starting to like the VF-0S more and more watching you build this kit.

[Nani?!]

gosh.

I have so much anticipation for this peice to finish.

Awesome job Will

[godfather]

Whoa!

[Angel's Fury]

It looks beautiful Will!!!

[wm cheng]

Just more decalling... man are there ever a lot. Here's the head. I brushed the Tamiya chrome marker silver on the head light piece first, then brushed Tamiya clear red over it, it makes it catch the light a bit better than just clear red - it would of been nice if there was a clear part made for this. The black and yellow decal doesn't fit quite right - luckily this is the only piece that doesn't fit well, as I have mentioned before some of the other pieces are a bit oversized, but this piece is a bit undersized. Well its in the belly of the aircraft anyways, so I made sure the top of the head was aligned, which left a little white gap near the visor. I used a lot of MicroSET to get it to conform to all the irregular surfaces. Unfortunately, a excess piece of carrier film that I trimed away made it under the decal in this one spot, and I didn't notice it until it dried. When it catches the light in a certain way, you can just see it in the photo - oh well... no biggie.

[wm cheng]

Here's a progress shot with a few more decals on. I really love the yellow V.Stab tips, they fit like a glove. I recommend painting the nav lights silver first, then a clear red and blue. Then decal the yellow tips one side per fin first. The decal cleans up any mess painting the nav lights would of done - since the yellow will hide and make the red/blue areas perfectly straight.

Doing one side of each fin, allows you to properly fold over the excess yellow to the other side. I used a lot of MicroSET first to soften up the decal and allow it to fold over properly. Then when most of the SET is semi-evapourated, but the decal is still soft and moist, I brush on MicroSOL along the edges (fold-over) panel lines/revits and the rear little antenna protrusion. Let it wrinkle up (DO NOT TOUCH AT THIS POINT) the wrinkles will dissappear when the SOL sets. Once one side is completely dry, then do the other side allowing the decal to fold-over the fin to connect up with the previous side. I find this is the best way to decal these two side conditions where the colour must wrap around to the other side. I love it, my only comment is the night formation lights on the tips do not line up exactly to the decals (no biggie) and the black fins are a little large, so if you line them up to the lower panel line on the V.stab, then they fall past the upper panel line by a smidge (which is what I did) but the yellow decal placed afterwards do straighten up this mis-alignment, however if you look very closely, you can make out the black underneath the yellow.

[David Hingtgen]

I see you went with blue for the nav lights.

Anyways---how do you airbrush the silver marker paint? (or more specifically--how do you get it out of the marker, thin it, and what do you use to clean the airbrush afterwords?)

[Stamen0083]

Here's a trick I use to get a good chrome silver going.  I have yet to find any paint that is a reflective as this.  I use a Tamiya paint marker (its a laquer I believe, because it cleans up with Mr. Color solvent) and I shake the marker with the cap on, and I use the brush to dab at the tip to get some silver.

David:

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/uploads/po...-1078103458.jpg

I'm guessing that he's not airbrushing the silver.

Edited April 29, 2004 by Stamen0083

[David Hingtgen]

Whoops, I just mentally added "air" to "brushed". I haven't tried a Tamiya silver marker, I currently use a Sakura one for things like that, though I think I'll buy a Tamiya, it does look to leave an even brighter silver.

[Myersjessee]

man oh man!!! Nice recovery on the decal...looks great!

[wm cheng]

Here's a shot of the tail decals in place - becareful to make sure you press the decals into the light engraved details, since those details has to read through at least two layers of decal.