Andy's 1/35 Meng K-4386 Typhoon, for Simon

[Steve Jones]

I'm so sorry Andy. I could have sworn I commented when you started this build. It looks an awesome kit. Your doing a terrific job with it. Keep up the great work my friend

[Jim R]

Hi Andy
Amoured glass has worked a treat. Nothing wrong with the seats or the dash.
Jim

[Guest]

Thanks chaps, I'm chuffed with the glass too.

Steve - no worries mate, I'm sure there are still some group builds I haven't visited yet.

Jim, just a bit dirtier than I was going for really. I'm going to have to sludge up that pristine white interior to match :smiling5:

[Lee Drennen]

Andy. Looking good to me

[Guest]

Thanks Lee.

I ended up dry brushing some paint over the seats, which cleaned them up a bit. More to my liking now.

Here they are with the dash & steering column fitted too.

[ATTACH]403968[/ATTACH]

I've also been working on the base for the unmanned turret. Lots of fiddly pieces for something that'll hardly be seen. The hand controls and screen for the rear seat passenger had a fair few tiny decals too.

[ATTACH]403969[/ATTACH]

Here's a view from the back. Snug!

[ATTACH]403970[/ATTACH]

The rear door is quite inset, with lockers and equipment either side. Painting it like this would be a nightmare so it's all just dry fitted for now and will get a coat of primer at least before assembly.

[ATTACH]403971[/ATTACH]

And the fuel tanks / storage lockers, similar both sides. Again these were primed before fitting as there's no way I'd get any paint down those deep narrow gaps. Once painted at least any bare patches will just look like shadows.

[ATTACH]403972[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Not much to show again today, but then compared to some of the cracking scratch work this GB is producing, there never will be lol :smiling5: But since it's a group build, I'll keep bombarding you with build pictures :smiling3:

Upper and lower halves were married together, then I started adding the plethora of brackets and grab rails, the screen visor and snorkel

[ATTACH]404143[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]404144[/ATTACH]

Tow poles and aerials have been cleaned up and put together. They should be fitted by now but they'll just get in the way, and aren't body colour anyway, so I'll paint them separately

[ATTACH]404145[/ATTACH]

The autocannon & MG needed a lot of clean up before assembly, and I took the time to drill out the barrels and muzzle break, following the moulded dimples the kit would have you accept.

[ATTACH]404146[/ATTACH]

And test fitted on the turret. The cannon uses a large keyed slot, and the MG a poly cap, so they'll be easy to fit after paint. The turret still needs the smoke launchers and lifting eyes fitting, but I've left them off until I've finished filling the seams & joints.

[ATTACH]404147[/ATTACH]

[Mini Me]

Really liking this Andy.......very straight forward approach.
Rick H :thumb2:

[Guest]

Cheers Rick.

Yes, nothing fancy schmancy about this build I'm afraid, but it's a well made kit for those that like modern vehicles.

[Guest]

I know many of Simon's builds never made the paint stage, but it's probably my favourite part, so here we are.

After an overall coat of black primer I did some pre-shading. I went quite heavy as in the past I've had a tendency to bury it with the paint.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n[/ATTACH]

Then on with the green, which I ended up ordering from John, and handily arrived today. Slightly darker and less yellow than the 4B0 I was going to use.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n[/ATTACH]

Thankfully I've not hidden all of the pre-shading work for a change. I'll have a look at it in daylight tomorrow and decide if it needs another coat, but for now I'm happy. Then I need to decide whether to brave the camo :surprised:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Hey thats looking good Andy.
Like the methods used, painting the interior like that is the way, when you said you weren't happy with the dashboard wash on one side I though use that paret in the shadows !
Paint work re the shading is good, I'd leave it alone, you know what happens when we play with finishes.
Go straight for the camo, you can do it.

[Guest]

Thanks John. I still wasn't really happy with the interior, hence gluing the doors shut lol.

Masking those sharp lines around all the seams and rivets will be the biggest problem. Any creep under the tape will blow my mind. I have a trick for that, but I won't get too cocky until I've seen the result. Doing it on a small scale is a different kettle of fish to full size cars :smiling5:

[Guest]

So I took the plunge and went for camo scheme. The masking took 7 hours altogether, but I had to do it in several sittings as my stool is no good for the old back!

[ATTACH]404500[/ATTACH]

I've been trying hard to keep my bench tidy, but it was a bit of a write off afterwards...

[ATTACH]404501[/ATTACH]

I sprayed it over in the green first, in an effort to seal any gaps in the masking, then a few light coats of the not-quite-black

[ATTACH]404502[/ATTACH]

Then after another hour or so masking, the lighter colour went on. I used Mr Color #45 "Sail", as it looked pretty close to what I needed, and saved me buying / mixing something specific.

I'd lost one of the flexible side step extensions here, but only noticed after seeing this picture. It took some finding as I'd got no idea when or where I'd knocked it off, but thankfully it turned up.

[ATTACH]404503[/ATTACH]

Then after some very careful peeling, the final result. There were only a couple of (noticeable) issues where paint had crept through. I blew in one on the bonnet straight away, and will touch up the other on the rear wheel arch.

[ATTACH]404504[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]404505[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]404506[/ATTACH]

I'll give it some time to harden up then give it a coat of varnish. I know many say there's no need and one can weather straight over lacquer paints, but I've had plenty of issues in the past so I'll play it safe.

[Nicko]

The thought of seven hours of masking :surprised:....

I'm amazed that some of you guys manage to turn round your builds so quickly!

Turned out lovely though. :thumb2:

Nick

[Guest]

Thanks Nick.

Lots of days off work, locked down, and bad weather meaning I cant really do much else = plenty of bench time.

[Guest]

That has come out really well. Can’t have been easy to mask, but worth the effort, if you ask me.