Tag: 1:48

After the paint was down, it was time to clear coat. I’m always on the hunt for a better product or method for sealing a model as it’s my least favourite part of model building. I find that adding a gloss coat is the step I always have the least control over and it has the most ability to fuck up all the hard work I’ve put in the model, I learnt this the hard way when I built my Mp4/13 a few years back:

As such, I’ve always tended to choose a “low risk, low reward” method for clear coating. For the longest time that was Tamiya clear + Mr. Color levelling thinner (MCLT) as it was always a pretty safe way to get a clear coat on the model and didn’t take too much thinking beforehand. I switched to VMS clear a little while ago as the application was even more simple, just drown your model in it and it’ll shrink down into all the panel lines no problem. For a while VMS was my go to but I found it wasn’t the most chemically stable, it frosted very badly over a week-old layer of paint and nearly ruined a Spitfire I was working on:

As a result I switched back to Tamiya clear but still wasn’t quite happy with the results I was getting out of it. I found that I wasn’t able to get as smooth surfaces as I’d like with it. I then discovered Mr. Hobby GX 100 Super clear III. GX 100 is to other clears as what MCLT is to other thinners, the stuff is absolutely fantastic in so many ways. Easy to apply, durable, chemically neutral, and most of all a fantastically smooth surface.

I shot a layer of 50/50 Gx100/MCLT then misted straight MCLT over the still drying first layer. This technique can be a bit difficult to achieve but basically you want to spray the straight MCLT on the model until the very point in which the surface becomes “wet”. You want to avoid drenching the model because you are spraying straight thinner onto the finish and can burn through the paint if you’re not careful, this is a very “hot” method of painting. The end result looked a little semi-gloss rather than gloss in the final result but it was still the smoothest (in terms of feel) finish I’ve ever had, which is what really matters for the decals.

Speaking of decals, I used the “Combat Hornets” set by a local company, Leading Edge Models. If you want to depict a combat Cf-18, this is the set to get. You get options from the early 90’s to present day and enough stencils to build two jets. It includes specific markings for almost two dozen aircraft and the ability to depict any Cf-18 with the assorted numbering (which is what I did) They are durable and settled down excellently there is no competition in this category right now, These are the best Cf-18 markings out there right now hands down.

Oil paints, as always, were used entirely for the weathering process. I first hit the model with a mixture of very dark brown and dark grey oil wash. This mixture had the intended effect of not being super noticeable over the grey finish, which is typically desired for more modern aircraft finishes. I sealed the initial wash with VMS Satin before moving on more detailed oil work. I used Abteilung Bitume oil paint in this stage, it’s by far my favourite oil shade to work with. I taped off where I didn’t want the oil effect to appear and stippled the paint in order to get a smooth transition.

I like to use this tactic because it’s so versatile IMO. If you want only a very subtle effect you can load your brush up with thinner and blot out 95% of the paint. On the other side you can leave most of it and it’ll create a very striking contrast. After that I also did some various streaking effects on the wing. This is a common effect to create for Cf-18’s as the streaking fluid is typically very visible in a lot of reference photos. I hit the model with a coat of VMS Matte and the weathering stage was complete!

With the cockpit and gear bays completed, work could get started joining the two fuselage halves and other assemblies before spraying paint. I have to admit, I wasn’t looking forward to this part as Kinetic’s nose assembly is rather infamous for it’s fit and this build is no exception.

The whole nose and front windshield assembly is such a bear to build, It’s really quite frustrating that they built it the way that they did. none the less I was able to complete it after a lot of sanding and swearing and got it to a place where I was reasonably happy with it.

Seeing as I’m opting to represent a early 1990’s Hornet, I also removed the nose antenna and opted for the early style antennas on the spine of the aircraft. Mr. Finishing surfacer black was the primer of choice (my default choice) and I got to work on the main painting process.

I also started with the main painting process by marbling the control surfaces. They are all being painted separately and I typically use them as a test bed for practicing before committing to the main body. I chose three main shades for the marbling xf-23 light blue and xf-65 field grey were used as the grey and green shades along with a mix of xf-10 flat brown and xf-57 buff for a brown shade. Both the xf-23 and xf-65 were lightened with white before applying them to the model. It’s important to lighten the marble colours before applying them in my opinion as if they are took dark then it is difficult to get coverage with the main coats and as a result the main coat must be a shade lighter. By preshading and marbling with a slightly lighter shade you can avoid this and spray the exact desired final colour.

For the first blend layer I used Mr. Color 308 (FS36375) and 337 (35237) for the lower and upper surfaces respectively. I sprayed a very thinned mixture as I really didn’t want to overpower the pre-shading/marbling. After blending the finish I sprayed Tamiya flat white through a torn up scour pad to get some surface highlights and additional variability. The end result set me up quite nicely for the final coats of paint.

After unifying the surface I was left with the finish below. I’m quite happy with how this main round of painting has gone although I do want to go a bit further with various post shading effects. This was my first Cf-18 and all in all this was the overall effect I was searching for.

For my next major project I decided on building a CF-18 Hornet, I’ve always wanted to build one and really wanted to utilize everything I’ve learned over the past year.

After doing some research on the available options, I settled on the 1/48 offering from Kinetic. The brand wasn’t my first choice, but they are the only manufacturer that has a somewhat new mold of a legacy Hornet.

I wanted to do a somewhat fresh take on this subject and so opted to build an early 90’s bird that participated in the 1991 Gulf War and in the scheme prior to the distinctive “Canada” wordmark (fellow Canadians will know what I’m talking about this logo is everywhere).

Construction unsurprisingly starts with the cockpit. I took my time here, spending a few extra days to get all the details I wanted added. Lots of extra wiring was added to the resin Aires seat and the end result really paid off. Lead and copper wire was used (0.1, 0.2 widths ) along with brass micro-tubes from Albion alloys. Some 3d Printed avionics from Anyz were also used. I coiled 0.1mm copper wire to create a avionics cable in roughly the same position it is in real life.

The cockpit was painted over a few days, It was surprisingly straightforward. After adding the X-22 clear coat, the real fun could begin, dealing the cockpit. For this I used Anyz and Airscale decals. Anyz makes really great “miscellaneous” decals and cockpit switch selector indicators. Airscale has good warning and dial decals.

Overall I’m very happy with how the decaling went for this project, it’s time consuming work, but not difficult by any means

For the weathering, I wanted to keep it restrained but obvious that the jet was working in a desert environment. I felt that it would be reasonable for dust to accumulate in areas of the cockpit. The key would be to keep it very subtle. I used dusty shades of oils to brighten up the surface and pickout highlights.

Kinetic’s gear bays are quire well detailed OOB. None the less, I still wanted to add some extra detail here for the experience. After looking at various reference photos I could tell that they were incredibly busy and complicated, and the extra piping would help increase the realism. I found it difficult to work in the nose gear wheel well as there really isn’t a lot of space to work in. As such, most of my detailing efforts went into the main gear bay. I painted the bays in standard Tamiya white and picked out details with various metal shades along with Tamiya black.

I added various Anyz and Airscale decals to the wheel wells and I feel that having lots of placards in the area really adds to the realism. For the weathering I think that I may have overdone it in same regards. I first did a very light brown (tan coloured really) oil wash in order to simulate dust buildup. I then followed that up with a very dark brown/black pinwash in crevices to pickout all the details. I then spreckled the surface with MIG’s oil and grime effect to simulate oil spots. Is it overdone? yup, that’s ok though it not too off the mark IMO but this result is on the dirtier end of the spectrum for sure.

To return to the cockpit, all that was left to complete on it was to add the sidewalls and Anyz dials to the build. Suffice to say I’m very happy with how the cockpit turned out.