Bolleken's 1:72 stuff

[Stuart]

It's such a nice looking aircraft, and has a bit more flair that the Eurofighter Typhoon (which isn't a bad looking aircraft in it's own right). I sometimes think we Brits would have been better off going French with the Rafale for our new carriers, rather than getting the F-35B. Mind you - That's a great idea for a what-if.


Stuart

True... the Rafale is far more elegant in looks. But if the F-35 can do half as well as advertised....

I hope so stik - becaue we've only got four of them! Actually TBH I'm not an F-35 hater, I actually think it'll do a fine job in service. I don't think anything that's been said about it hasn't been said about any other 4th/5th gen fighter over the past 20 years.

[Stuart]

Portman—Let me know if you set up a mood board; I'd like to se it. I'm doing two right now: one for work/the other for the ZM 1/48 Ta 152 H-1. I know ZM makes a printed book, a concept album, but the whole idea with advertising boards is fluidity—pinning imagery in connection with different types of stock photos, illustrations and copies from anywhere, playing music with images, finding patterns—and there is something to be said for good old paper stock.

I will do - It might have to be a 'Mood book' as I don't have any free wal space - unless I can create some in the garage.

[Stuart]

Hi guys,

Here is the progress I made yesterday night on the Rafale. I started decaling it and the Heller kit has the most horrible decals I have ever used. They are a bit too dark, very thick, they crack when you just touch them, some items are out of position. That’s why I lost the biggest decal, a blue stripe for the underside. I am not sure how to get a replacement, probably I have to airbrush it. Very disappointing!

She's a beauty; the hard stripes accentuate the lines very well. Your first photograph is my favorite of the series you made. Decals make me a little nervous, to tell you the truth. You handled the stripes like a pro despite the thickness of the kit decals. How are you planning to paint the hard line on the bottom or do you know anyone who makes decals? When I was building the 2001 spaceships I had Jim Botatis make a page of silver which I could cut up into smaller panels and move into place much easier than painting—especially at the scale here maybe that will be an option—sometimes the cost will be too much and it is more effective to paint. This is a really beautiful model, Marius!

[Stuart]

I think this MiG 28 as an aircraft carrier plane needs some stabilizers on the front. So I cut some aggressive looking ones from plastic sheet and attached them with tape just to show u.

MATCHBOX!!!! I love MB kits - that's going to look really cool in Black.

I built the F-5B earlier in the year. I really enjoyed it - it was a fun kit.

[Bolleken]

Hey portman, thanks for reading and also for your comments.

Regarding your thoughts about a Royal Navy Rafale. Do you know that EADS once thought to offer a carrier version of their Eurofighter to India? Google and you’ll find some pictures. 

Next, I assume you like my Rafale….

Your F-5B by Matchbox looks fantastic, I have one F-5B on stock too, but I doubt that it will ever look that great.
Well, my F-5 as MiG-28 started because the original Matchbox canopy was not in the box. Then I saw Top Gun again…that’s how it all started. Now it becomes more and more a growing What-if. Usually I don’t like that on my Matchbox kits. They are classic as they are and I love them too.

@Bruce: If I go with painting the blue strip, it is just masking the area and I think this would be easy. Not that easy is to match the blue color of the decals. Today I order a blue decal sheet on Ebay, maybe this will be an option too. I don’t think I’ll make some big progress during the next days and on Sunday we’ll start Easter vacation over there in Scotland. I guess there will be a break here...

To all of the diligent readers and posters here: Thank you very much for participating. I have a similar thread in a German board: same pictures, same story – but no replies or any big interest.

[speedgraflex]

@ PORTMAN

We also use binder clips to make flip books and an old boss would recycle the "flip sides" by gluing the pages into note pads, anything goes, just update when you build one, if ye please!

@ BOLLEKEN

What will be your masking technique? Does anyone "pre-harden" the tape with base color first to make the edge crisper? Maybe this is not necessary with Tamiya tape? How did you cut such a clean line between black and white? My work is never as crisp as what I see from you - and your work, too Portman! I have been experimenting with a dual layer of tape; one light coat down then gently remove the tape and let the paint cure a little, sand, redo the tape, paint, repeat. Regarding the lack of written replies on your German site, I may be too new at forum reaction factors to answer, so I would like to turn the question around to ask you: why do you think that is? I would like to know what you think. SPA Modeler was the first forum I felt was going to be great to ask questions and make mistakes and not receive harsh criticism about wanting to use any medium available to build and paint. Maybe that, maybe bias against the scale -- sorry if that is the case or worse some form of "secret club" behavior. Let me know.

[Duke Maddog]

Bolleken. that Rafale looks amazing! Exceptional job; I can see no issues that you had with the decals. And you still kept your white perfect!

As for the3 MiG 28, I'm thinking maybe you could try moving the forward canards from the nose to the sides of the intakes just above and in front of the wings. That would probably give even more stability by improving the airflow over the wings. Just a crazy idea. I think it would also look better, but hey; it's your model. You are doing far better than I do so build it like you want it to look.

I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[Stuart]

Hey portman, thanks for reading and also for your comments.

Regarding your thoughts about a Royal Navy Rafale. Do you know that EADS once thought to offer a carrier version of their Eurofighter to India? Google and you’ll find some pictures. 

Next, I assume you like my Rafale….
.

Dude - I love your Rafale!

I'd heard about the Naval Eurofighter - another possible what-if.

[Bolleken]

Hi guys!

@Bruce:

If I go with the painting for Rafale’s blue stripe on the bottom I would do it as I usually do: Taking Tamiya’s yellow tape fix it finally with a cotton swab. To get fine but hard edge you only need to make sure that every panel-line, which crosses the tape is fully covered. Another option is much cheaper tape from a home-improvement store. Best results I got with Kip fine tape No. 308. It is also a yellow tape looking similar to Tamiya. Or even cheaper, I use a similar product by Obi. To get freeform shapes of tapes or special cuts and in general as knife for my models I use disposable scalpels. You can get different shapes of blades and they are available in a box of 10 scalpels for roundabout 9 €. Cheap and effective. When it is too difficult, you have not found the easy solution yet… 


Regarding non response to my input in the German board: I guess the guys are not really interested in my stuff because of topics e.g.: They are more interested in brand new model kits, not this old stuff I build. Further I almost never buy any add-ons, because I try to find cheap solutions instead of buying resin- or pe-accessories.
When you present a build like an Eduard MiG with all available stuff, they are very very interested. But that’s not my cup of tea. Then I guess they are bored off my projects: I started the XF-11 there more than 10 years ago. For me this is a hobby and not a religion. Additionally, and that is typical German: They are often jealously. When something is really a hot build, some guys look for every mistake you made. Then they start fighting and at the end, they are complaining to each other about spelling mistakes in their posts. On the other hand I like this German board because you can see a lot of impressing results and sometimes interesting discussions.


@Duke: That’s a cool idea with the canards. I am really thinking about it, but currently I would go with the front stabilizers. But who knows. Maybe I sand them done if I think you had the better looking idea. So thanks for the input.

@portman: If you like the EuFi-What-if, go ahead and build one. I’d like to see one. Very interesting…..

@all: The MiG-28 has now ist NATO-code: Flagtail (swellshark)!!!

[speedgraflex]

Hi guys!

@Bruce:



When something is really a hot build, some guys look for every mistake you made. Then they start fighting and at the end, they are complaining to each other about spelling mistakes in their posts. On the other hand I like this German board because you can see a lot of impressing results and sometimes interesting discussions.

Your description is similar to how the rabid dogs behave on the scifi/star wars/star trek/studio scale modeling forums. These old dogs are not willing to permit derivation from accepted norms of design and execution. On the one hand, their skills are formidable; they know how to build, but the personality is so difficult that it is impossible to hold a conversation. To complain over spelling mistakes is really the last straw.


photo: USAF Museum

I started masking to paint the Horten and thank you for your description of your masking method; this is very useful to me right now with so many panels to articulate in either natural metal finish or thin application of scale RLM colors. I have at the moment three boxes of Tamiya AS colors so I was wondering if I should use Luftwaffe Blue for the wooden wings/lower fuselage—RLM 76—with bare metal areas in AS-12 bare metal silver.