Dave Ward's 1/48 Revell/ICM Mig-25 RBT Foxbat 'B'

[Dave Ward]

The instructions indicate 25g of weight as ballast. Instead of my normal load of ball bearings, I used 9 X 1p coins ( best use I have made of these! ) I rolled them in silver foil, and fastened into the nose with 5-Minute epoxy[ATTACH]314182[/ATTACH]

Undercarriage legs assembled, and painted, I'll leave these off until I've painted & masked the exterior.
[ATTACH]314183[/ATTACH]
Wheels - the 2 main wheels are the largest I've ever fitted to an aircraft!
[ATTACH]314184[/ATTACH]

I'm going to have a think about the masking, there are 3 main colours - grey, aluminium, and gunmetal, and the order in which I do them needs consideration................
Dave

[Fernando N]

Looking very nice Dave, like the office a lot.:thumb2:
Good luck with the final assembly and paint work.

[Dave Ward]

Wings and nose finally added, the nose joint needs a bit of filler to blend in nicely. The elevators will be left off at the moment - they'll get in the way of the painting.[ATTACH]314264[/ATTACH]
The model is a little too big for taking decent pictures on the work bench! I'll have to clear stuff away to get final pictures!
I sprayed the rear underside & sides with Vallejo Metal Color Aluminium[ATTACH]314265[/ATTACH]

I hope that masking over the ally paint will be OK. Dielectric panels painted dark grey, ready to be masked.
That BIG fuel tank, also sprayed with Vallejo Aluminium
[ATTACH]314263[/ATTACH]
Now that the nose & wings have been added, you can appreciate what a big brute of an aircraft this really is
Dave

[Dave Ward]

I spent most of the morning carefully masking the aluminium panels etc, and stuffing paper tissues into the engine inlets & exhausts & wheelbays. I primed overall, then painted the anti glare panel black. I did a partial spray of the upper surfaces, to see how the paint covers
[ATTACH]314445[/ATTACH]
I'm using Vallejo Model Air 339 - Russian AF grey No.3 - it's one of those paints that has a big tone change as it dries. Next will be masking the anti-glare panel & completing the grey basecoat.
Dave

[Dave Ward]

Basecoat applied, and all the masking removed. A little bit of bleeding, and paint has lifted in a few places, so touch up will be needed, otherwise, not bad.
[ATTACH]314487[/ATTACH][ATTACH]314488[/ATTACH]
Next up will be the gunmetal section at the rear of the fuselage. Note: The grey on the tail fins IS asymmetrical! Getting towards a finish, not many bits left in the box..............
Dave

[flyjoe180]

Nice paint work Dave.

[RM6239]

Looking good Dave.
cheers
Ross

[papa 695]

Very nice paint work Dave.

[Steve Brodie]

looking very nice.

[Dave Ward]

I decided to assemble the exhaust 'petals' - the inner petals onto the aircraft, and the outer petals to the final fuselage piece.......................
[ATTACH]314519[/ATTACH]
This was to allow me to airbrush the nozzles - WRONG
I tried to dry fit the outer petal assembly over the inner petals - not a chance. I had to remove the carefully fitted inner petals, then re-attach them after assembling the outers to the airframe - it just goes to show that the instructions are sometimes in that sequence for a reason
[ATTACH]314520[/ATTACH]
Onto tricky masking for the gunmetal rear fuselage section............
Dave

[wotan]

Nice job Dave. Great inspiration for my little build.

John

[Dave Ward]

Gunmetal sprayed, and masking removed. The Vallejo Gunmetal Grey was not very good to spray, it seemed to cover poorly, and when I peeled the masking off, the gunmetal had crept under! - so more touching up will be needed - so much for my careful masking
[ATTACH]314532[/ATTACH][ATTACH]314533[/ATTACH]
When all the touching up is completed, I'll seal all in with a coat of varnish, then there are a lot of decals to add..................
Dave

[scottie3158]

Dave,
Coming on very nicely.

[papa 695]

Gunmetal sprayed, and masking removed. The Vallejo Gunmetal Grey was not very good to spray, it seemed to cover poorly, and when I peeled the masking off, the gunmetal had crept under! - so more touching up will be needed - so much for my careful masking
[ATTACH]314532[/ATTACH][ATTACH]314533[/ATTACH]
When all the touching up is completed, I'll seal all in with a coat of varnish, then there are a lot of decals to add..................
Dave

Hi Dave after masking I usually spray the same colour again over the masking tape, so if there is a small gap the paint will fill it. That usually stops any bleed of whatever colour your using next.
Nice work so far by the way.

[Dave Ward]

All sealed in with gloss varnish - rather than masking the rear of the fuselage, I used Bare-Metal Foil for the section in front of the petals
[ATTACH]314601[/ATTACH]
Canopy painted - no masking, just holding my breath......... ( needs a little touch up )[ATTACH]314599[/ATTACH]
I decided to do the panel washes before adding the decals, here's the wing underside without a wash[ATTACH]314600[/ATTACH]
And with a light panel wash..............
[ATTACH]314602[/ATTACH]
I find it best to do smallish sections, then remove excess wash with kitchen towel, wait too long, and it can take a bit of effort to clean off, too early, and you can wipe it clean out of the panel lines.
Dave