Started 25/09/2005
Intended Livery - Superscale #72620 [1990 Desert Shield]
28/09/2005
Whilst researching the weapons / stores used during Operation Desert Shield, I have broken out the box and started to take parts off the sprues for cleanup. I then remembered I had bought one of Eduards' new detail sets for this aircraft. On ripping open the packet I found these 3 sheets of photoetch.
The first sprue has prepainted parts for the cockpit, so I thought why not try it out on this build. I immediately put away the beavertail with closed speed brakes I had assembled and swapped the parts with another kit in my stash. So far these are the parts I have added so far.
14/10/2005
Getting there...Cockpit 90% done. All I can say about the Eduard PE set is its great. Unfortunately, in this scale some of the bits are so small, I lost my patience with them after losing some to the "carpet monster", numerous times, so most of the parts are there, just not some of the small bits. The seats are the kits with various precoloured PE attached. I just have to start painting the internals of the main body before moving on to the final assembly before painting.
Heres a shot of the 4 aircraft as of today.
29/10/2005
Construction of the rest of the fuselage went well, and I prepared for paint by adding an Aclad Gray primer base. First up was the exhaust cans, the gun muzzle and the leading edges of he wings. I used Alcad II Aluminium as a base and then went over them with various other shades of Jet Exhaust, Steel and Magnesium. These were masked off and the canopy was given a coat of Tamiya Flat Black.
Then I sprayed Xtracrylix FS16440 overall. Then I masked off the skunk stripe and the two tail supports and sprayed Tamiya Gloss Black. Upon removing all the masking, not only did some of the Xtracrylix come off, but also some of the Alcad on the exhuasts and gun muzzle. I tried touching up the Xtracrlix by hand brushing, but it came out a different shade. So back to the paint booth and touchups done.
I used the Superscale markings, but the don't provide any of the stencils, so I had to dig out the Hi-viz Stencils from the CAM sheets I have in the decal stash. After cleanup I applied a few light coats of Klear to seal in the decals.
The next step was an Oil wash using Winsor & Newton "Winton" Raw Umber and Distilled Turpentine. After application of the wash, I left it for 24 hours and cleaned it up. Pictures show as it looks at the moment.
Detail shots of the main wheel wells with the Eduard PE walls.
Some of the other PE enhanced details.
