Yaks ‘Century series’ in 1/48 part 5 - the Republic f-105 Thunderchief

[Guest]

Shiny!

[yak face]

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 .

[papa 695]

Looking very good Tony.

[stona]

Excellent stuff!

Good to see the make-up bag still serving its purpose too

[adt70hk]

Coming on very nicely indeed.

[yak face]

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 .

[Guest]

Shinier!

[Tim Marlow]

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]

Tony,
Really looking nice mate.

[yak face]

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.

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 .

[Tim Marlow]

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!

[yak face]

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 .

[Tim Marlow]

Nice work Tony. That will add interest to the finish.

[yak face]

Nice work Tony. That will add interest to the finish.

Cheers tim , i hope this shows the durability of these paints , a good low tack tape such as Tamiya / kabuki can be used with no dulling or marking of the surface , something i never achieved with model air metallics .

[AlanG]

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.