With the main cabin completed on the Pavehawk, I got to work on assembling the fuselage halves and moving onto more advanced stages of construction. While I had thought that I had gotten through the majority of the construction phase, I soon learned that I still had quite a bit of work cut out for me.
The main reason for this was my decision to completely re-rivet the model to accurately depict the HH-60’s raised rivets. my initial plan was to just apply the rivets directly over top the recessed holes, however I quickly found out that this solution wouldn’t work for two reasons. The first was that although close, the Qunita rivets I’m using don’t have the exact same spacing as seen in the molded detail. This would mean that after a number of rivets, they would no longer be covering over the molded details. The second was that in using decal setting solution to get the rivets to adhere to the surface, I found that the film would sink too far into the rivet holes and would be too noticeable when paint was applied.
All of that was a long winded way of saying that I was going to have to putty over top the rivet holes before applying the decals.
This was something that I had desperately wanted to avoid. Other than the fact that this was going to take forever, the added complexity of cleaning the putty up had the possibility of obscuring detail.
I opted for Vallejo’s acrylic putty which has quickly become one of my favourites to work with. While it doesn’t have a good surface finish or sand easily, this putty’s greatest strength is that it is acrylic and dissolves in water. This was suitable for this application because it meant that I could apply it to the rivets, let it dry for 30 seconds, and then wipe away the excess with a wet cotton bud, leaving only putty in the rivets.
This approach made puttying over the rivets a viable strategy and while it was still time intensive, it was now an approach that was doable. I was able to completely re-rivet the fuselage in around two weeks, taking one week to putty the model, and the other to apply the decals. While there was still some left to apply, the majority were on the fuselage which was where the bulk of the work was.
Needing a break from endless riveting, I turned my attention to another phase of the build, the engine and gearbox assembly. This assembly is applied to the top of the fuselage and is where the rotor head sits. I had thought that this would be something that I could sort out in a night or two however I found that this was a somewhat complex process and required about a week of work to ensure that the fit was correct and all the necessary parts must be painted before installation. This assembly also required the construction of the main rotor head, of which I used the Reskit part.
The rotor head installed on top the main gearbox. The head has been left unglued to facilitate painting.
A ugly mixture of olive drab, dark brown, and grey was used to recreate the brown-green colour of USAF Blackhawk rotor heads.
A light dry brushing of RLM 02 was used to highlight detail.
At this stage I also got to work on the gear assemblies and refuelling boom. These were thankfully straightforward, if a bit fiddly, assemblies. Reference photos indicated the top of the cabin underneath the gearbox was painted in a yellow green colour which I applied before adding the gearbox. This will practically never be seen however I felt that the detail was needed here.
I then moved on to getting started with masking. Tidy masking work was going to be crucial considering how many holes were present in the fuselage and the big piece of clear styrene up front. Early on I decided that I would be using the kit doors as masks as I felt that they would give the best chance for a seal as opposed to taping off the openings. I decided to use masking fluid to seal off the edges, running a qtip along the openings allowed the masking fluid to perfectly seal these parts in place. I was a bit suprised with how well this approach worked.
With the majority of the construction and masking phase completed, I could finally move on to painting and weathering the model.
Now that the painting, decaling, and weathering was completed on my F-14A, I could bring everything together in a final assembly. With plans in mind for taking this model to various shows and competitions, I left several parts unglued and detachable for easier transport.
The canopy, fuel tanks, stabilizers gear and wings are all detachable and held in place with either friction on small magnets. This meant that final construction of this project went pretty smoothly and without issue.
For modellers wanting to build up a 1/35 scale UH-60 and its variants, the various offerings from Kittyhawk are often the only game in town. Released just before 2020, KH’s family of UH-60 kits are often infamous for their fit issues while being somewhat expensive solely due to the fact that these are rare subjects, especially in 1/35th scale.
The Pavehawk: An Introduction
The HH-60G Pavehawk has long been an icon of the U.S Military, seeing service from 1982 to 2021. Primarily tasked with Air Force search and rescue operations as well as Pararescue medivac, Pavehawks have participated in wide ranging operations from the jungles of Panama to the mountains of Afghanistan.
The Kittyhawk offering
Kittyhawk kits have an unfortunate reputation among modellers due to several issues, ranging from general poor fit to fuselage warping. Despite these shortcomings, there really isn’t much selection for modelling large scale UH-60’s with older Academy and MRC moldings offering more basic variants of the Blackhawk. ICM has recently released their own 1/35 UH-60 however at the time of writing, there hasn’t been any further sub variants of this kit released yet.
My HH-60G build:
Construction starts with building up the cabin using the floor, ceiling, and side bulkhead parts. Right off the start I found the fit for these parts to be particularly tough and I had to spend some time sanding and slicing away material to ensure that these parts would join together smoothly. Getting good fit is important with the cabin parts because any conflict here will lead to further issues down the road. Next, I moved on to adding my own detail to areas that I found were lacking. From my reference photos I could see that there was some structural ribbing underneath the gunner windows that was not replicated by the kit. I decided to try my hand at recreating this detail and to do so I cut out some styrene sheets and added some decal rivets over top. This is a really small detail, but I’m glad I spent the hour or two recreating it.
I then moved on the overhead cockpit panel, taking a knife to the the molded on detail here. The kit has excellent molded detail, however I decided to go through the trouble with adding Anyz switches and dials so this existing detail would need to be removed. I then drilled out where the new switches would have to be with a 0.2mm drill bit.
After this initial scratch work was completed, I then moved on to paint. These parts were primed in my go-to primer, Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black before some SMS Lacquer U.S Medium Grey was sprayed over in a uniform coat. I masked off the sections of the cabin ceiling according to my references which nicely adds some visual interest. I then hit the overhead control panel with a subtle dark grey dry brushing to bring out some definition to this area.
I then got to work on the floor and sides of the cabin. The fuselage sides went together fairly straightforwardly, and were assembled out of a few pieces that must be aligned correctly with one another. I made the mistake of assembling this part before painting. Doing this necessitated some tricky masking between the green sections and the black cockpit parts. Nonetheless, I was able to complete the required painting and moved on to the cabin floor.
The cabin floor was definitely the most tedious part of this phase of the build, largely due to the fact that some excessive masking was needed to recreate the wear strips present on the floor of the cabin. These strips are always heavily worn in photos and I used the hairspray method to recreate this wear pattern. After this job was done, I sealed everything in a GX100 Gloss varnish in preparation of weathering.
With my previous work sealed under a varnish, I could then start the weathering process for the painted surfaces. I chose to keep things simple here and limited myself to a dark brown oil wash to highlight the surface detail yet not overwhelm it. After all, this is a modern aircraft and unlikely to get too dirty. I then sealed my work in a GX114 Matte clear coat.
After all my prior work had been sealed, I then got to work on the cockpit section. I had deliberately set this section aside, with the intention of painting and weathering it separately from the main cabin. References showed a fairly deep black as the cockpit colour, so I opted for Tamiya’s Flat Black instead of my standard NATO Black. I got started on the weathering right away and first applied some Vallejo Black Grey paint chips with a sponge. These are really subtle and only show up in the right light, however I fell that they accurately depict superficial scuffs that would be seen in this area. I then moved on to more substantial chips with Tamiya’s Zinc Chromate paint, followed by some silver. From my references I was able to see that many of the bolts and screw heads had had paint entirely worn off which I tried to recreate in my build. I then moved on to some more scratch work, adding detail underneath the seats. References again showed that this area was a maze of avionics and cables. I chose to recreate this mess with some styrene rectangles and lead wire.
With the cockpit floor completed, I was then able to move on to other various subcomponents, namely the instrument panels and seats. As with the overhead panel, I opted to use Anyz switches and dials to enhance the cockpit and give a more tactile feeling to this area. I started with the front panel, first painting it flat black before applying a grey drybrushing to highlight raised surfaces. I then added various instrument dial decals from a Jira-GIO decal sheet, which were then sealed over with some clear UV resin. I added some photography film to replicate the displays and declared this part complete. I didn’t want this part to appear too dirty so I kept the weathering very minimal.
I next moved on to the large centre instrument panel. This part is very much a focus point as it takes up a lot of space in the cockpit and is filled with many different switches and dials. I built up this part the same way I make many of my cockpits, I first scraped away the existing detail before drilling out where the new switches would be placed. The painting was done the same as the front panel, with flat black followed by a grey dry brushing prior to decal application. Minimal weathering was done on this part as well.
The seats were somewhat fiddly assemblies without great alignment. In reference photos I saw that these seats often had a fuzzy, soft material that I wanted to replicate. To do this, I added some Mr. Surfacer 500 paste which I stippled to create a rough surface on the seats. After a quick layer of black, I applied a light grey dry brushing to bring out the texture of the fabric. The cabin seats were also difficult to assemble with unclear angles for gluing. I used oils to depict a dirty, stained surface on these parts.
The next part of the cabin assembly that I moved onto was the internal fuel tank that many HH-60’s have fitted. This was a fairly easy part to build up, although I complicated it by swapping out the ratchet straps included int he kit with photo-etch ones from Czech manufacturer Miryoku. The specific aircraft I’m building, SN# 26206, was indicated as having a large American flag applied to this tank which I thought was particularly striking.
With the majority of the internal components completed, I could then start to think about starting to bring everything together. I did several test fits to ensure that the parts fit together well and that there wouldn’t be any conflicts when the cabin was sealed into the fuseluage.
Bringing everything together:
I first attached the middle and rear bulkheads to their respective spots on the floor and ceiling. Next, I then glued the fuel tank into place and attached the straps to their attachment points. I then installed the cockpit parts and the cabin section was complete!
With the primary paintwork done on the F-14, I could finally seal everything up with a GX100 gloss varnish. The decals I chose for this project was the Furball Aero-Designs part II set. I’ve been wanting to try out a Furball set for white a while now and was pleased with how the performed, having both excellent detail and setting good characteristics.
For this build I did opt to try to sand the excess lip away created by the decals. I went about this by spraying on subsequent layers of gloss varnish before sanding over the decal. I don’t do this for every build as it can be somewhat time consuming but for subjects that have large, prominent decals, I think that the additional time spent here is worth it. I started out with 6000 grit sanding sponges before moving on up to 8000.
Weathering
With the decals squared away, I turned my attention to the weathering. Initially I had thought to keep weathering minimal and try to complete the process as quickly as possible with the finish line so close. After taking a day to think things over, I decided that trying to rush things right at the end was not the right decision.
With the model currently in a gloss coat, I settled on starting the weathering with some oil streaking effects. I decided to start on the underside of the model where mistakes would be less obvious, and where the real subject would be more likely to build up dirt and grime.
I started the oil effects by brushing slightly diluted dark brown oil paint in the areas I wanted streaks to occur. I allowed the oils to dry for a few minutes before dragging a fan brush moistened with oil thinner over top the streaks. I particulary like this technique at the start of weathering as this effect serves as an anchor for future work.
I continued this effect throughout the rest of the model, although I opted to limit it somewhat on the upper surfaces of the aircraft as I felt that overly prevalent streaks would be distracting and overwhelm the viewer. Although it took a bit to get the look right, I’m fairly happy with how it turned out as this was a good start to replicating a heavily worn Tomcat.
I then chose to seal the oil in a satin varnish. This was required because the oils are very fragile to damage and alteration. In fact, even after dry for several days, they never really dry off completely and as such need to be sealed underneath a varnish to completely fix them into place. I chose a satin varnish as well because there were some subsequent effects that I wanted to try out that would perform better on top of a satin finish rather than a gloss.
The first effect I applied was a dark grey pinwash over the models panel lines. While the panel lines were somewhat subject to a wash when the black ink layer was applied, I found that the effect had been diminished somewhat and I wanted to bring out the prominence of the lines again. To do this, I made up a dark grey oil colour and applied it sparingly over the model’s various panel lines, and was cleaned up with a paper towel.
Following the panel line wash, I then got back to further streaking effects, this time with pastels. I had never used pastels before as a weathering medium, however I saw them used in an interesting way to re-create subtle streaking effects that I thought was worth trying to replicate. I first used my hobby knife to scrape off some of the pastels before loading up a silicone shaper tool with clumps of the pastels. I would then drag the shaper over top the model which would create a subtle streaking effect. One thing that I like about this approach is that the pastels take a long time to build up and it’s easy to not take things too far. It’s a very forgiving technique.
I largely used this process on the wings and again on the underside of the fuselage, this time adding volume to the earlier oil streaking effects. The technique works particularly well when the top of the panel is taped off, creating a very nice contrast with the unaffected surface.
After completing work with the pastels I then moved back to oils for some select weathering in specific places. The first place I focused on was the hinges for the flaps and ailerons. I had done some colour modulation in this area and felt that it could use some more work. I applied some minimally diluted dark brown oil paint to the hinge before working over it with a larger brush. I took care to wipe away any grime that had moved up the wing as I felt that this area would not have gotten as dirty.
Next, my attention turned to the anti slip surfaces on top of the intakes. I had chosen to used the included decals for this area and as such they were not looking weathered at all. To fix this, I again utilized oils and faded them around the edges to recreate dust and dirt buildup that had accumulated due to foot traffic.
The final weathering effect that I applied to the model was the anti-corrosion paint touchups that were applied by crews while on deployments. These touchups are very prominent on weathered Tomcats and I wanted to recreate them on my build. I opted to create this effect with two methods, with metal templates and free hand airbrushing. I started applying paint through the template to get a good feel for how the airbrush was spraying prior to trying to freehand onto the model. I think that this approach turned out well as it recreated fairly accurately how paint touchups were applied to the real life aircraft.
With this final step in the weathering process completed, I sealed my work in a matte varnish. With this major stage complete, I was able to move on the penultimate steps before completing the build!
I have to admit, I’ve been looking forward to this phase of the build for some time now. The Tomcat’s TPS scheme weathers in a very interesting way and painting it was going to be a blast.
As with all my models, this phase started with Mr. Surfacer 1500 black. I did pickup some seams in the primer, so I sanded them down and resprayed some more Mr. Surfacer. After here however, I took a very different direction in the painting of this model. I decided to use the Layered ink patina technique popularized by modeller Kris Sieber (@Luftraum72) instead of my standard marbling/preshading approach. What this called for was the application of solid colour over top the primer before stippling liquidex inks over the paint.
Few paints spray as smoothly as SMS and it almost felt criminal covering these layers up. To start, I brushed X-20 Acrylic thinner over top the paint in preparation of the Liquidex Titanium White being brushed over top. After the correct about of ink had been applied I quickly began stippling the ink with a coarse stippling brush. It’s important to work fast here, the ink drys quickly and once it does it’s set in its pattern. You can add more x-20 onto the dried ink to activate it again however this is a hit and miss technique and should not be relied upon.
Following this layer, I diverged from the established process and wanted to re-entroduce to panel line variation in the finish. To do this, I masked off some sections and painted them in diluted grey, black, brown and white. It’s important not to go overboard in this step as it will take away some the contrast from the white acrylic ink. Following the panel line variation layer, I apply an approximately 60% opacity layer of the blue grey colour. This is to tint the section back towards the desired colour tone. The last step is to apply Liquidex Carbon Black ink and stipple it in the same manner as the titanium white. The carbon black is allowed to dry before it is almost entirely wiped away with X-20 thinner. I mist one final coat of blue grey before completing the specific section I am working on.
Below you can see various parts all at different stages of this gathering process. The Fuselage has been painted in Blue grey with no colour modulation. The wing has been stippled with white ink, had specific panels shaded, and the 60% opacity grey layer added. The stabilizer is complete with the Black ink and the final grey mist layer. This photo does a really good job at demonstrating the stages of this weathering process.
With the sub assemblies well on their way, I got to work painting the main fuselage. I had painted this section here and there whenever I had some spare Blue grey in my airbrush but eventually the time came to finish this task of the build.
As always, the SMS paint went on buttery smooth and provided a nice base for further work with the acrylic inks. I did however, chose to deviate from the process followed during the wing and stabilizer painting and chose to highlight some panels prior to applying the white ink. I did this because I felt that shading after the ink was applied was covering it up too much and wanted to see if shading specific panels would still be visible after several ink applications and shading.
Following the panel variation effect, I applied the first layer of Liquidex Titanium white, as seen in the earlier steps, then a layer of colour modulation over top. I decided to introduce a new process at this point, adding a random panel line pre-shade with a dark brown/black colour. I continued with the pre-shading, adding some SMS Gunship Grey in order to highlight select pannels.
After the preshading was completed, work could move on to blending the layers together. First, I needed to seal in the previous work with a Lacquer satin varnish. This step is crucial because further inks will be applied and if done without the varnish they will begin to re-activate the underlying Titanium White layer.
With the Titanium White ink sealed in, I then got to work applying a 2/1 mixture of Carbon Black and Titanium White ink in the same manner of the initial layer (stippled on with a stiff brush, over top X-20A). After the ink has had a chance to dry, A paper towel moistened with X-20A is rubbed over the surface, removing the majority of the black in, with it remaining in very limited parts of the surface.
At this stage, the Model is very near to its finished colour however some final tuning is required to get the look that I’m after. If left in its current state, the model would be somewhat over weathered. To remedy this, I Apply a very diluted layer of more SMS Blue Grey in order to achieve the final colour of the F-14. I am essentially slowly blending everything together in the same shade that I started this process with. The end result is a highly realistic TPS finish that has already been weathered somewhat.
After completing the final Blue Grey blend coat, I could turn my attention to the scheme elements for this specific F-14. The specific aircraft I’m building was a VF-33 bird in the squadron’s farewell livery, featuring black tails and a black cockpit accent. This necessitated some masking as I wanted to paint these section prior to spraying the gloss coat. This process was pretty straightforward and just required some tedious masking and minor colour variation effects.
With the completion of the primary paintwork, this portion of the build was complete! I then gloss coated the model before starting the decals.
