Moments of Zen

[Zen]

Thanks, guys! Should have news on this one and a few more pretty soon.

[hayabusa]

Fine enhancements. :-) I'm waiting for next news from Your workbench.

[Zen]

Fine enhancements. :-) I'm waiting for next news from Your workbench.

Thank you!
Here's the news for today...



Didn't have the time i thought i would during the weekend so no airbrush session...

[Zen]

Ok, after a few days with no modeling done, i finally got to spray some paint on the XL, i was trying to do something like the Have Glass V, it's a mix of Tamiya's XF-16 aluminum matte and XF-50 field blue. Radome and intake lip painted with XF-66.
Got it gloss coated and decals are finished, just the ordnance and landing gear to go.

[Dazzled]

That's looking really good Zen. Great work

[Zen]

Thanks, Dazz!
Slow progress on this but today i finally got it on it's wheels. Weapons are painted but still need the markings and i still have to paint a bunch of small details and the drop tanks...

[ShaunW]

That is coming on a treat Zen, great work!

[Zen]

Thanks, Shaun! I'm finally going to have this beauty on my collection! The XL was one of the models i really wanted to build since i got back into the hobby. This one along with the F-16E/F/I, YF-23, F-22, F-35C... Well, easier to show you a pic of my "Holy Grails" stash...



This is the 1/72 stash, obviously, minus 1 Monogram XL now. Not show is the Fujimi 1/72 F-22 Raptor and most of the 1/48 kits, Kinetic F-16F and I, Hasegawa F-16E and the SkunkWorks F-16XL. It's obvious that i suffer from a condition that i call Viper syndrome...
Now that i'm almost done with my first XL, the others will wait until i manage to improve my skills a bit more.

[ShaunW]

A great collection of US jet kits that we can look foward to seeing you build Zen. You certainly like your F-16s!

[Zen]

Yes, sir, i sure like the Viper. But i think that the next on my bench will be a Black Widow...

[Zen]

EDIT: The F-16XL is finished, i'd posted the pics and backstory here earlier but there's no point in having the same post in two different pages on here, so i'll just leave a pic here and the link to my finished models page here: http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=201& ... 01#p292301;




Now i'm thinking of my next builds, besides the 6 models still on the bench, that is... Maybe i'll try the YF-23 now...

[Zen]

Well, after taking a good look at my bench, i've decided to do some work on the Revell 1/72 Me-262, which had been given to my best mate's son but he couldn't finish it, so he asked me to do it...

I disassembled the few parts glued with CA and assembled the whole kit again. Had to be in-flight mode cause the kid lost/broke the small bits. The canopy was a real mess of CA glue chunks and i couldn't get it to be transparent again, after a few good sanding and polishing sessions, i gave up. I'm just going to mask the canopy framing and paint the glass area black.
Masked it yesterday...



Today i went ahead with my first airbrushed WWII german camo mottling. Mixed a bit of Tamiya's XF-2 and XF-19 and sprayed it on the underside, trying to let the previous dark grey coat to act as pre-shading for the panel lines...



I then worked my way up to the fuselage sides, but when i thought it was good enough and removed the top mask, i found the edge too hard and the difference between the camo and light grey was too obvious, so i free-hand sprayed over the hard edge to blend it a bit more. This is how it came out...





After a coat of gloss varnish...



Not perfect but i'm rather pleased with the result, considering it's my first attempt at this scheme. Pretty fun stuff to do with the airbrush, i'll sure be trying more stuff like this very soon.

[jssel]

I think the camo work on the 262 is very impressive. Nice work.

[Zen]

I think the camo work on the 262 is very impressive. Nice work.

Thanks, Jeff! It's getting it's decals tonight.

[gnomemeansgnome]

That's amazing looking camo. Classic kit for the 262.