SPA Modeler

The base works really well, that is a cool idea. The color works really well with the aircraft.

The "Top Gun" MIG-28 idea sounds crazy good to me; and the photos look quite the business. In 1/72 scale are you going to make the F5 black or do you use some other color formula? I worry about using too much black in 1/72. I worry about using too much paint in 1/72.

Bruce / speedgraflex

speedgraflex wrote:The base works really well, that is a cool idea. The color works really well with the aircraft.

The "Top Gun" MIG-28 idea sounds crazy good to me; and the photos look quite the business. In 1/72 scale are you going to make the F5 black or do you use some other color formula? I worry about using too much black in 1/72. I worry about using too much paint in 1/72.

Bruce / speedgraflex

Hey Bruce,
Concerning the painting I am a bit unsure. On the one hand it is already difficult, to make a 1:72 plane such size looking realistic in black. On the other hand the kit has almost no details and is crying to be re-scribed and further detailed.

Current idea is to re-scribe it, additionally with some typical MiG-characteristics and use a dark tank gray as black. Some details will get a green, some others the interior green/blue. I am also thinking about a dark gray / black camouflage. Maybe I do a pre-shading in light grays and silver, then I'll put on thin layers of black and dark gray to get a more realistic look.

Decals and stencils: I am going to use an unused decal-sheet of Italeri’s MiG-37 Ferret. I am only missing the yellow circles around the red star as shown in Top Gun.

It looks like an easy build, but when you start thinking about it, it is getting complicated...

Regarding black colored models:

Several years ago I built a Matchbox Dauphin and painted it in glossy black. It looked boring just in black, so I added some Decals and some Details last year.
With that tiny additional work, it looked better and more realistic.
Nevertheless this proofs that it is very difficult to make a small black model realistic...

Wonderful displays.

Bolleken wrote:
Hey Bruce,
Concerning the painting I am a bit unsure. On the one hand it is already difficult, to make a 1:72 plane such size looking realistic in black. On the other hand the kit has almost no details and is crying to be re-scribed and further detailed.

Current idea is to re-scribe it, additionally with some typical MiG-characteristics and use a dark tank gray as black. Some details will get a green, some others the interior green/blue. I am also thinking about a dark gray / black camouflage. Maybe I do a pre-shading in light grays and silver, then I'll put on thin layers of black and dark gray to get a more realistic look.

Decals and stencils: I am going to use an unused decal-sheet of Italeri’s MiG-37 Ferret. I am only missing the yellow circles around the red star as shown in Top Gun.

It looks like an easy build, but when you start thinking about it, it is getting complicated...

Hey Bolleken, thanks for the reply. I learned a lot from studying what you wrote, and your follow-up post with photographs, as well. This is a very intriguing point; I have seen so many models that are just too dark; even though the painting is beautiful and representative of the color of the craft. When you mentioned using a "dark tank gray," that was really useful. Straying from colors designed for this or that is my mantra, Bolleken. I do it all the time.

Cheers,

Bruce

Bolleken wrote:Regarding black colored models:

Several years ago I built a Matchbox Dauphin and painted it in glossy black. It looked boring just in black, so I added some Decals and some Details last year.
With that tiny additional work, it looked better and more realistic.
Nevertheless this proofs that it is very difficult to make a small black model realistic...

I wanted to single this image out from all of them. They are all outstanding but this one has such a great angle. Did you set the model on a stand for this? How high was it? After you added decals and details, your Dauphin looks pretty incredible. You avoided the boring black issue that way. Did you also gloss coat with Future?

Bruce

speedgraflex wrote:

Bolleken wrote:

I wanted to single this image out from all of them. They are all outstanding but this one has such a great angle. Did you set the model on a stand for this? How high was it? After you added decals and details, your Dauphin looks pretty incredible. You avoided the boring black issue that way. Did you also gloss coat with Future?

Bruce

Thanks again for this nice reply, Bruce.

To take this picture, I put a chair onto a table on my balcony. Then I fixed the base onto the chair. The chair has an angle of 20° on the used armrests. So the front edge of the base was in a height of roundabout 1.80 meters. That's why it was so easy to take this picture (with the mobile).
And yes, the Dauphin was brushed with future. It also was painted by brush, no airbrush, with Humbrol 21 gloss black enamel. Lucky incident, when I put on future, a bit of silver color remained on the brush which lead to a "light" metallic effect.

With this post I wanna give you a short overview of my most exhausting project: Anigrand’s Hughes XF-11 in 1:72 scale.

Scratching, 3D-modeling and printing, ....

I have been working on that one for years now, with some long breaks. But someday, it will be finished. The examples show e.g. the scratched wheel wells.

Beautiful scratchbuilding on your XF-11. Now that is a tempting kit... regarding our black paint conversation, what color do you intend to paint the anti-glare panel?


Courtesy UNLV Online Library

I understand what you mean about spending the time on a project, I wish you the best!

Bruce

Bruce, I guess for the anti-glare-panel I am going to use a very dark green or olive. There are some pictures of the first prototype, which show, that the frame around the canopy is really black and differs massively from the anti-glare color.
BR Marius