The whole model was given a stinko GAIA earth destroying black primer pre-shade. This also served to bring out the necessary faults so that it can be rectified as early as possible.
The sides particularly needed extra attention as the intakes are light in colour and almost quite clean. The pressure is lowered and the paint thinned further and given 3 passes per line.
Fault lines start to show up near the position where the transparent part lies next to the grey fuselage part. So, thinned putty is painted over and the area masked for sanding.
The model takes up a huge space and my 2mX1.5m desk is almost not coping.
Masking tape is used to protect the transparent part and super glue as well as thinned Tamiya Putty is painted to fill in the gaps. The door for the refueling pod is then scribed. For this model, Trumpeter tried to make open options which required very thin edges and parts without making thicker optional closed parts for structural stability. Which makes the latter option very clumsy with gaps and warped parts abundantly endowed in every optional door or panel made. This is a shame for a kit this size with such packaging.
Tail fins are masked and the tips to be painted Tamiya Yellow to serve as an opaque base for the thin decals which we will apply over it.
MAKING OF THE ANTI SLIP SERVICE WALKWAYS
Instead of the usual thin decal sheet or paint, I decided to make the anti slip textured. The area was masked and thinned Tamiya Putty is used and liquid cement is dabbed over it to give it a textured look.
2 coats were used to make sure it has enough depth to it.
Masking removed. Quite happy with it.
What I was trying to do is to replicate this surface taken from the actual aircraft that I found on a Japanese site.
PAINTING STARTS
I decided to do the bottom first. Using Tamiya X20 Naval Grey and X19 Sky Grey, I clouded the whole undersides as well as the sides and then I salt masked it with salty solution.
This is then hair dryer forced dry to form water marks. Then the whole underside was coated with a 20% white added to the X20 Grey for highlights.
The salt needed a few rinses to make sure the white salt is completely eradicated. Patience is key. The above shows the model after 2 washings. It took a further 2 more to get rid of the white stains of brine.
After all the salt has been completely been removed, it was looking quite pleasing. The two pictures showed the difference this process makes. The top is salted and highlighted and the bottom shows highlights and before the watermarking by salt masking. Next I masked these areas and got on the Gunze 16, 307 and 308 routine for the top turtle backs.
Here we find the wing after 4 washings with a thick brush to scrub off the residuals. The results are quite pleasing too. So the whole model is coated with gloss. I found out that if we use Future, it will react with the Gunze Mark Softener to form a white stain that is quite permanent until clear is applied.
This is what happens. So, I decided to coat the entire model again with diluted GAIA STINKO EARTH DESTRUCTION Gloss!
The rest of the model was salted and highlighted and glossed over. As the model was huge, I had to do it one part at a time.
Decals are now added and blended over with satin finishes. Matt is unsuitable as it will stick to dust and pigments, making it very stubborn to work around.The top surfaces being washed and toned with filters and pin washed from the two Tamiya Panel Line Accentuators.
German Panzer grey was used to create priming patches and these are highlighted with 307 with a tint of white to depict repair patch marks. A filter of red seinna was used to tone different panels to make the surface a little more interesting.
The wing area are sprayed and masked for movement oil stains at the roots.
The LANTIRN was given Gunze 38 grey and the intake was painted white. Decals were added after glossing and pin washes and filters were added before the Copper plate colours were painted to simulate multi-coated glass.
Weapons are prepared and the AIM54s are given 2 colour schemes to make the aircraft a little more interesting while the 2000 lb GBUs were pigmented and washed to give patchy and dirty look. I wanted to put in the JDAMs but it is so far mounted towards the rear it will not allow AIM54s to be added. So, I decided to discard them, even though it took me 3 days to make 2 of them! The weapons and tanks looks ok to me at the moment/ The wing root parts needed a lot of work as the mounting holes needed to be carved out of the fuselage and the provisions are too small for the studs found on the rails. So, with lots of filing and cutting to finished parts(!!!!!), I managed to muscled them to fit. These were taken apart again and prep was made to do the arrestor sections and radar lock sensors.
Here we see the patchwork done on the two tone grey parts forming the doors and arrestor hook assemblies. These will then be blended like the whole model to give it a more homogeneous look with black and brown Tamiya washes.
The tip was drilled with a 1.2mm diameter drill to fit the wire with housing in. The steel wire used is the binder type used in gardening.
The wire is inserted with superglue and the joint is smoothed and filled with liquid putty and subsequently sanded and primer filled to achieve a nice transition. It is then glued onto the model with liquid cement, the joint sanded smooth and painted with Vallejo glazes to manage its transition to the bodywork and painted silver. Washes in black and brown finished the job.
The Pitot tube was a plastic affair that breaks easily on handling. So, I cut it off to make a metal replacement that is more resilient.