More fantastic work. The body preparation looks spot on and the confetti gun sight is a real head Turner....
Yaks ‘Century series’ in 1/48 part 5 - the Republic f-105 Thunderchief
- Thread starter yak face
- Start date
Got a little bit more done today . I gave the airframe a quick wipe over with IPA , stuffed some foam in the intakes , front wheel well and up its exhaust (! 
)
It was then given a coat of Halfords grey acrylic primer straight from the can , once this has dried I’ll be able to see if anything needs further attention before the gloss black base goes on
)It was then given a coat of Halfords grey acrylic primer straight from the can , once this has dried I’ll be able to see if anything needs further attention before the gloss black base goes on
Jim R
SMF Supporter
Hi Tony
Great job so far. That cockpit is superb. Needed a very steady hand. Well done with the modifications needed. Looking forward to the metal finish. Something I've never done.
Jim
Great job so far. That cockpit is superb. Needed a very steady hand. Well done with the modifications needed. Looking forward to the metal finish. Something I've never done.
Jim
Gave the grey primer a polish up with a very old , worn bit of 1200 grit sanding sponge . Once the airframe was nice and smooth it got a quick wipe with a lightly dampened ( with IPA ) bit of kitchen roll. Its now had a coat of UMP black gloss primer , along with all the other bits that are going to be silver. Tomorrow i can see if the black needs any bits polishing up before the silver goes on
Neil Merryweather
SMF Supporter
just caught up on this Tony, it's looking fantastic. Jets aren't my thing so I'm not aware of the the Thunderchief but what a beast!
Now given the airframe a buff up with a nail polishing stick ready for the silver and masked and sprayed the olive drab anti glare panel ,which goes from the nose all the way back to nearly the tail fin . This will be masked off as will be the black nose cone . Before i spray the silver im going to attach the airbrake petals . These were a unique feature of the Thud and all four could open up 90 degrees to slow down the aircraft . The top and bottom ones however didnt operate when the undercarriage was lowered , to avoid ground strike and interfering with the braking parachute . The kit supplies the bottom petal in lowered position , something only seen on the ground when hydraulic pressure has been lost , i want to do it raised so ive got to chop the actuating hinges and reposition them . 
Looking very good Tony.
Silver now on , Vallejo metal color - semi matt aluminium . Once this has cured overnight ill be able to decide which ,if any, parts need a different shade . The airbrake petals were fixed before the spray job , the bottom petal needing a touch of filler on the actuating arms after they were cut off and repositioned . Pleasantly surprised that all the alterations and removal of lumps etc hasnt shown any areas that need attention too .
Looking very nice. How does the VJ metal colour spray? I’ve just picked some up and haven’t yet sprayed it. It brush paints like a dream though, it just flows like normal paint.
scottie3158
SMF Supporter
Tony,
Really looking nice mate.
Really looking nice mate.
Personally i find it great tim . For years I sought a good usable natural metal finish - Tamiya , sprayed well but pigment flakes too coarse and changed colour when overcoated with clear , vallejo model air , sprayed beautifully but again changed colour when clear coated and too fragile to mask over if not , alclad , just couldnt get on with this at all , didnt suit my spraying style ,terrible coverage rate , very expensive and stinks !
Finally tried the metal colors and so far theyve been excellent . Covers well over a black gloss base , if you like you can mist it on in thin layers , once cured overnight very resistant to handling and light masking doesnt leave marks , most importantly , the brightness doesnt diminish when clear coated with their metal color varnish . At last im now able to do different shades on a NMF .
Just what I wanted to hear Tony. Personally I find Alclad excellent, but the PPE requirement and cellulose clean up puts me off using it for any but the biggest jobs. The Vallejo metal colour range looks like an excellent substitute then. Allied to the fact that it brush paints so well means it can become my go too metallic paint, replacing the Dark star and Alclad stuff I’ve been using over the last five or so years. I just wish they did a few more gold/bronze type colours to use in figure painting. Here’s hoping!
After looking at lots of pictures of natural metal f105s it looks like there are a few areas that need to be done in different shades . I made a start with the elevators which have a darker stripe running down the middle and a darker end piece . These were done in dark aluminium ,which actually looks more like stainless steel / chrome ?! ,anyways it gave the required tonal contrast .A few more parts were masked up - the square panel in front of the tail and an A shaped area on both sides of the fin - and sprayed in metal color chrome as I wanted these to be lighter / shinier than the aluminium. I also did a small square panel just behind the nose cone with the dark alu .The contrast doesnt show up as much in the pics but its there . I’ll do a few more bits tomorrow . 
Nice work Tony. That will add interest to the finish.
Tim i can only 2nd what Tony has said about the 'new' VJ Metal colours. I think they are great and whilst Alclad can take a little more rough treatment when handled. The VJ isn't as PPE intensive or expensive.