Italeri 1/72 F-35 B Lightning II

[yak face]

The paint i mentioned earlier is the ‘ have glass ‘ grey in the Hataka US Greys set ive got , I’ll get it out and have a look at it and let you know what its like chris , cheers tony

[Guest]

Well, this is where we are.

What do we think? Passable?

[Tim Marlow]

Yep, passable :thumb2:

[Jim R]

What do we think? Passable?

Most definitely.
Jim

[yak face]

Heres the Hataka ‘ have glass ‘ grey chris . I painted it on a piece of white paper to try and give you an idea of what it looks like . Its basically a dark grey with a metallic sheen , in otherwords a dark gunmetal . If you didnt want to go down the route of buying the hataka paint then i reckon a mix of vallejo Model color basalt grey and model air Gunmetal in a ratio of maybe 90 / 10 should give something like . Obviously you’ll have to experiment with the ratios but if youve got the colours then it should be fairly straightforward , hope this helps , cheers tony

[Guest]

Interesting....thanks Tony.

Repainting is out of the question, but perhaps a little gun metal in the varnish might work?

I’ll think on it.

[Guest]

Have spent some time mucking about with a few varnishing tests.



In each image there are four patches of three coats of the following (top left clockwise):

1. 2/1 gloss varnish / gun metal
2. 3/1 gloss varnish / VMC real steel
3. 2/1/1 gloss varnish / VMC real steel / VMA black
4. 2/1 gloss varnish / VMC real steel

Bottom row has had a matt varnish, which will be satin on the real thing judging from real examples.

Combination 1. gives a good effect, neutralising the colours at an angle, but it's too bright. I'm trying to dull them down a bit and this is doing the opposite.
On the other hand, combo 3 is too dark and adding any pigment creates streaking which I definitely need to avoid.

Overall I think combo 2 is the best.

[scottie3158]

Chris,
I'm not a wingy person but I recognise great work when I see it.

[Steven000]

Wow, looks like a nigthmare to mask and paint, you did a nice job so far Chris :thumb2:
have fun!
Steven

[Guest]

Update No. 13 - Painting cont'd

I said I might not, but I couldn't ignore it. So I spent another collection of hours masking the underside and painting it.




Just prior to painting I found a clog in my airbrush in the collar that sits between the trigger and the paint cup that was grabbing the needle and keeping it open, so while I was cleaning this with nail polish remover, disaster struck. I toppled the bottle in a clumsy swipe of the arm and splashed the corrosive solution all over the place.
Thankfully the model was not completely doused. I started to try to dab it off but realised quickly that the best thing to do was to leave it to evaporate.

Some repairs to the top will be necessary.

[Tim Marlow]

That’s unfortunate Chris. Looks like you can fix it though.

[Guest]

I'll definitely be able to fix it, but through my own inability to control my limbs I have added a 5th round of paint application to something I hoped would be 2 rounds!

Feels like it will never end at the minute!

[minitnkr]

Some beautiful work though. PaulE

[Guest]

Some beautiful work though. PaulE

Thank you Paul. I would describe it as pain staking, emphasis on the pain!

[scottie3158]

Chris,
Glad to know that the accident with the nail varnish remover didn't right off all your hardwork.