Zeus III Demo Part Three

Having done all the lightning on the wind, the tail is now the main focus and the most difficult part of the built for the following reasons:-
1. The flag has to fly over the tail and must match both sides
2. The Zeus statue must be mirror imaged while the words are not
3. The lightning flashes must be painted in interim and starting at the same spot on  both sides
4. The small lightning bolts and the starts that needed replication are not on the same spot

The dorsal fin was first sprayed blue on the edge as it si the base for the white stripes.

The tail lines have to match the body lines for the flag of Greece

The orange lightning bolt was added with white, followed by yellow and then by orange.

The the Zeus outer glow was marked out with the airbrush. At this stage nobody told me that the blue patch is only good for one flight as the pictures I received were all with the blue patch.

Then the tail stripes are matched onto the models. I ensured that the tail fin, although, will not be glued but will stay as a tight fit.

The white and blue went back and forth until I am happy that the folds and lightning bolts are lined up properly.

The greys were marked out and the first lightning too. Care is taken to replicate it to scale and stay within the boundaries of the lightning bolts/ As you can see by now that I have masked and sprayed on the Zeus name on both sides.

I applied the highlights of the figures. I decided to do this as the plane is much darker than the actual plane and is subjected to scrutiny. So I took care as not to overdo it.

Comparing to the original to make sure that I have almost everything as close as possible.

The whole right hand side is completed. Now I have to repeat it on the left hand side.

When the left is finally also completed, I had to add in the stars and blue patch.

Then I started to paint in the star of Verginia.

Then the tail fin is glossed over and prepared for sanding. HAF also notified me that the frontal blue patch is only for the first flight and it was subsequently removed. So I had to remask and respary the area with the lightning bold that is orange and redo the Zeus letter Z.

The completed tail was placed in the hot 34 deg Celsius sun for 2 hours to cure the Gunze Clear UV Cut gloss lacquer.

Testing the paint without flash photography

Testing the paint with flash photography. Quite happy with the reflectivity of the paint.

I went on to do up the tail fins, the undercarriage, the pilot and the canopy. Thereafter completed the project and readied it for Moson Model Show, which I was very badly punished by the Czech and Italian racist judges that gave me and Jerry Huang a Highly Commended, and US Master Modeller Desmond Lee who was Moson's guest demonstrator nothing just to make sure that Asians do not win any medals at the show.

The Zeus finally was welcomed back home at the 36th Athens Hellas IPMS. It landed with good acceptance and was placed 1st in the Jet Category, Gold in the Masters Category and Best Hellenic Theme Aircraft category. 

In gratitude to the high support of Zeus by the Hellenic Air Force and Greek modellers, I had a small discussion with my wife and decided to donate the model to be a permanent display at the Hellenic Air Force Academy Headquarters in Athens. As the real aircraft has walked into history after being painted back in camouflage and returned to service, I hope the display of the model at the Academy HQ will bring back fond memories for most cadets and officers of the Academy.

I also met up with the designer of the Zeus III who has signed a nice autograph on the Military Tattoo Poster of the Zeus III Demo and calling me FRIEND.

 

And Dimitris Santapoulous gave me the Demo Patch and two mugs as a souvenir as a respect of our gift to Greece and acknowledgement of his work.

Proud moment for me with the designer of the actual aircraft and owner of Miliprint who made these beautiful Tee Shirts of the beautiful plane. I had bought 3 pieces to support him. One for me, one for a good friend in Singapore, Larry and one for the Taiwanese hero who created the Asia's largest model competition and winner of 2016 Best of Show at Moson, Fan Cheng Bin.

Proud moment for me to with one of the 2 Brigadier General Dimitrios Koutsourakis of the Hellenic Air Force and I made good my promise to donate the Zeus III who was in the running for the Best of Show at Athens to the Hellenic Air Force Academy Headquarters in Athens.

At the Best Of Show competition table with IPMS Hellas President, retired Hellenic Air Force, Stavros Soulis. Here we see the Zeus with 3 awards to its name. A very happy moment for me to have come up on top of almost 600 aircraft model entries of which many are world class. It was a duel to the finish and I am glad to have so many who loved it and I dared not garner all glory for myself. I felt that the Zeus III is a part of the history of the Greek people and it belonged there where thousands will see it in the years ahead rather than to sit in my model display at home.

My wife, celebrating our 25 years of marriage with the prizes from the generous people of Greece!

Zeus III Demo Part Two

The next step was to add the MXU 486 Travel Pod. Scanning the internet of a supplier, only one company produces it. When I contacted them, it was out of stock and production! So I have to do something about it. No choice, I have design and 3D print it myself.

Sim Chen Nam my friend saw my drawings and converted it into Solidworks and allowed it to be printed out of Nylon material. The only 4 pcs left in the market! And its not for sale as I have to keep it for future use for Version IV of the Zeus which was set to come.

For the bottom and the front of the aircraft it was painted as usual colours and weathered like most Hellenic Air Force fighter jets normally are.

I did the usual patchy works that I demonstrated in Athens Hellas IPMS show, using 3 tones of grey to blend into one colour. Then weather it with the usual suspects.

I painted the red line using the Tamiya flexi tape together with the other masking tape types. I coated it with white then over coat it with red.

The bottom weathering continued with earnest till I am happy with the results and looks of the plane.

It looks set so, I sprayed the top part of the mural with Gunze surfacer white. I mark out the Greek flag lines with a pencil, planning the curves as it would.

The whites must be masked so that I can do the blues. Taking care to note the shapes and allowances for the flying folds in the flag.

The other half was masked off and sprayed with GAIA black primer. Taking care that the whites are not covered. So tracing the pencil lines were most critical.

Blue in earnest. There will the use of 3 tones of blue to depict the colour of the Greek flag, as Dimitris Palassis told me that the paint is pearlescent with glass powder added. So, I added Pearl pigments so that it mimics the reflectivity of flash lighting like the real plane.

Then I had to work on the folds when the flag is flying. It has to have deeper blue and lighter blue to create the waves that has depth and height.

 Matching the folds to the CFTs was quite tricky. I have to touch up back and forth a few times to get them to match.

The lines of the whites needed touch up to smoothen the flow so that the flag looks natural and not jiggered. Then work started on the spinal area with grey murals and greyish blues.

Matching the folds now I have to plan the white folded parts with 2 tones of grey. Masking will be difficult and I have to keep the whites extremely clean all the time. Using the trusty erasers.

Here you can see me trying to match the fold lines to prepare for the greys on the flag to match the blues.

Spraying the greys on the white in earnest. I did a two tone shade to create a sense of depth and 3 dimensional feel. I use cards to prevent oversprays.

The flag looks almost completed but the white stripes still needed some touch up to line up properly.

Finally I added all the blues and I needed whites to go back on the blues so I needed to hand paint those with Vallejo paints by hand. Very diluted glazing, about 7 to 8 coats to get a solid colour.

Once that is done away with I started to finish off the spine area with the lightning bolt and the nape. Only when the model is finished I realised that I needed one more sawtooth. But all is too late. So I left the nape as it is.

Then I marked out the Zeus word following the photos the HAF sent me. I sprayed on the blue outer glow highlights on hte blackish grey background. 2 coats are needed to get a good colour contrast.

Then I started to mask out the actual letters that I wanted to paint white. Low pressure and alternate letters. Patience is golden here.

Three coats are needed to get a solid colour. The whites are put on by using very low pressure and very careful not to overspray as its on black background, it would ruin the whole wing.

Comparing with the photo, I am quite happy that we are almost there, not 100% but close.

Then I masked and spray white, yellow then orange to get the lightning bolt done.

After the first bolt is completed I started to work on the 2nd bolt and at the same time, try out some grey washes to see if I can bring out the rivets and details on the black portion.

Finally the masks are taken off. There was some work that needed to be done to patch up the bolt ends. So I used Vallejo paint and mix up the exact tone and brushed it one a few thin coats till I get the correct transition.

Next I needed to do the electrical discharges. It is done with the same procedure as the Zeus words, blue highlights first, then draw in the white lightning bolts.

Taking a step back and admiring the work till this stage was exhilarating to say the least.