(There are several videos instead of a single, lengthy video. Please see the individual sections for those videos.)
In the previous post I assembled and painted the air intakes. This post covers painting the fuselage.
Description
Other than the filling and sanding, this was the most time-intensive part of the build so far. It feels good to see the model starting to look like an real aircraft now. It was fun to experiment with the metallic paints for the airbrush and make the exhaust area look fairly realistic.
Underbody
The instructions don’t specify a color for the underbody, so I used another F-4 build video as a guide. Using 20 psi on the airbrush, I thinned some acrylic Tamiya flat white (XF-2) for the entire underbody. Several coats provided an even coverage.
This is my first time with Tamiya paints and I’m thoroughly impressed. The coverage is good, and for some reason the paint seemed to go farther (meaning I didn’t have to refill the airbrush).
Behind the scenes… 16 minutes of model work, about 60 minutes of video editing, yielding a final video of 2:13.
First color
The Tamiya light sea gray (XF-25) used on the air intakes looked too dark, so I mixed it with the flat white until I was satisfied with the color.
The topside of the aircraft received several coats of what the instructions called “light ghost gray.” (Yes, I ended up painting this lighter color over what the intakes had from the previous step.)
Behind the scenes… 22 minutes of model work, about 70 minutes of video editing, yielding a final video of 3:16.
Second color
This was my first foray into detailed masking; I probably could have used less tape, and it took me some mental effort to figure out what to mask and when. The goal was to cover up anything light grey and what would eventually be aluminum. I’ll improve with practice.
I used two widths of Tamiya masking tape and the instructions as a guide to determine what should be “intermediate blue.” For some of the odd angles and the curved pattern near the aft, I used a thin metal template (Hasegawa Trytool). The color used was Tamiya neutral grey (XF-53).
After the second color dried I could remove some of the masking to see how it went. I was disappointed to slowly peel back the tape to watch the paint and primer being pulled up with it. So frustrating! I have a plan to address that… I’ll cover up the white patches with a smoke color, given this is a battle-damaged plane. For next time, I need to remember to put down a gloss coat to protect the paint before masking.
Behind the scenes… 87 minutes of model work, about 160 minutes of video editing, yielding a final video of 10:17.
Third color
After another round of masking, I used Alclad Lacquer dark aluminum (ALC 103) in the areas specified on the instructions.
The shiny metallic color against the flat acrylic looks excellent.
Behind the scenes… 47 minutes of model work, about 131 minutes of video editing, yielding a final video of 6:58.
Exhaust and nose cone
For me this is where the magic happens — there are different colors of metal and weathering effects at work around the “business end” of the aircraft.
I reviewed an F-4 build video, found another technique video (F-16), and this post (which I didn’t end up using, but saved for reference), then I got to work.
After lowering the airbrush to 15 psi (these are pre-thinned lacquer paints), I started with Alclad Lacquer steel (ALC 112). Note to self: This was considerably darker than I thought it would be; I even wondered if I needed the other colors. Next I used Alclad Lacquer jet exhaust (ALC 113) inside the exhaust ports and within the nearby panels. Lastly I used Alclad Lacquer burnt iron (ALC 121) closer to the ports.
In the end, I was about 70% satisfied with the look. My guess is that because this aircraft is 1/72 scale, there’s so little space for detail and contrast. To touch things up, I hand-painted some of the Alclad aluminum over the outside of the ports, then used jet exhaust on the depressed parts of the ports.
For the nose cone, nothing fancy here — a bit of black at the very front. Some masking and Vallejo Air black (71.057) worked well. The challenge was taking a straight tape around a curved surface.
Behind the scenes… 32 minutes of model work, about 72 minutes of video editing, yielding a final video of 4:00.
Takeaways
- Sand surfaces that will need masking before applying primer.
- Look for a tutorial on masking a nose cone.
- Consider getting some rust-colored metal lacquer to make more realistic heat discoloration.
- Applying masking tape with gloves on is not worth the effort of keeping fingerprints off the model.