The
Plane
In the early part of February 1957, NAS Moffett Field, transitioned from
the F2H-3 Banshees of VF-213 “The Black Knights” to the newer, sleeker F4D-1
Skyrays. In the Fall of that same
year, from October 11 to 26 and again in December 6 to 20,
the squadron deployed to NAAS Fallon, Nevada. During its stay, the Skyray
held the title as the best scorers in aerial gunnery at that time.
The
Kit
This is the Tamiya 1/48 scale F4D-1 Skyray.
Upon inspecting the kit, one will discover nicely engraved panel lines
which scale pretty close to actual technical manuals and reference photos I’ve
found. The kit is molded in the
every popular gray injected styrene. The
kit comes with an assortment of payload options, like the 2.75 inch rocket
canister, sidewinder missiles, two
drop tanks, one with the extended refueling probe and a NavPac.
The kits provides the builder with an option for folded wings, open or
closed canopy and a moveable pitch
trimmer.
The
kit’s decals are provided for VF(AW)-3.
Construction
Construction began with the cockpit.
Although, the kit’s cockpit is well done, I opted to install Cutting
Edge’s resin cockpit detail set. The
set is a gem and fits nicely. Instead of using the CE instrument panel, I used
Eduards photo-etch set.
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cockpit and seat were painted with a mixture of flat black and some dark
gray. I don’t like using
flat black by itself, it seems too dark and you loose the detail.
Once that was done, I dry brushed with the same mixture black but
with a few more drops of the gray paint to lighten it up a bit.
All the dials and switches were then picked out with a OO paint
brush using a mixture of light gray with a bit of white.
Underneath the windscreen, I added some wires to represent the
cables which are quite prominent on the real aircraft. |
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Before
the kit fuselage was assembled, I assembled the rear afterburner can
bracing (the ring surrounding the exhaust can with the perforations) and
exhaust pipe, which is all photo-etched.
This too was painted black and dry brushed before assembly.
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With the two fuselage halves put together, I began to tackle the wings.
When I say tackle, I mean TACKLE. I
wanted to display my plane with the wings in the ready flight configuration.
However, when I attached the outer wing tips to the main wing, I found
that the joint here was something left to be desired. There was a large step between the two join halves.
I remedied this by filling the join lines with Magic Sculpt putty.
In my humble opinion, one of the best products out there for the modeler.
Further on that product in a future article.
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Once
the putty cured, I sanded the joint and re-scribed all the lost panel
detail with a sewing needle in a pin vise.
While we’re on the subject of scribing.
I and many of my modeling buddies all agree that the best scribing
instrument, and cheapest, is a needle and pin vise.
I’ve tried all those expensive scribing tools by those other
manufactures and found that they tend to leave trenches and vallies rather
than a clean sharp line. But
that’s just my opinion. |
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With the majority of my building time focused on the wings the rest of
the construction went pretty straight forward with no other major problems.
Painting
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the plane was assembled, I sprayed a light coat of Model Master’s light
gray as a primer and to check for fit and seam lines.
Once all corrections have been made, I spray
a pre-shade of flat black
along all the panel lines. Once
all the panel lines are done, I’ll go over the entire model with the
primary colors. In this case,
I sprayed MM flat white on the under side in light coats until the dark
panel lines are barely discernable. For
the top of the plane, I sprayed Gloss Gull Gray in light coats as well. I then take the Gull Gray color and lighten it up
approximately 30% with white and spray the inside of each panel. At this point, I stop and stand back for about 10 to 15
minutes. This gives my eyes a
chance to rest and better see the color tones. |
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By now you should have a defined dark panel outline with very lightened
panels. At first, this may seem too
drastic, but bare with me. I now
take the original Gull Gray, and thin it to about 30% paint to 70% thinner.
I now go over the model and mist the entire plane lightly, stopping every
so often and stepping back for a few minutes to see my progress.
This now becomes a matter of taste. You can keep spraying until you feel
the right balance between the dark panel lines and the lighter panels.
Try to keep it subtle. The metal finish for the tail cone was sprayed
with MM Steel and Exhaust.
Now that the model is painted, I shot the entire model with Future floor
acrylic to seal the paint and prep it for washing and decaling.
Weathering
and decaling
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With the model left to dry for two days after the Future treatment,
I mixed a wash of flat black and dark gray with thinner and painted every
panel line. I let the paint
dry for approximately 5 minutes and with a clean T-shirt, dampened with
thinner, removed the excess. Again,
the plane was left to dry for about a day before a started decaling.
The decal for VF213 came from Cutting Edge also.
Although a little thick, most of the decals went down with Solvaset
solution. Once the decals
conformed to the raised and engraved detail, I went back with a hobby
knife and cut the decals along the panel lines. |
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then with a second treatment of Solvaset.
This ensured that the decal snuggled all the way down into the
panel lines. Then taking my
wash, I went along the top of the decal and panel line and wiped away the
excess as before. With all
the decals and panels properly washed and allowed to dry,
I shot the entire model with Testors Flat coat.
I won’t go into each individual weapon and stores, safe to say
that the techniques discussed here apply to them as well. |
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The Remove Before Flight tags were taken from the spare decal box and
attached to the weapons and pylons with thin gage wire.
The FOD cover was measured to the inside intakes and cut out of sheet
styrene with a wire handle attached. And
there you have it. I hope this
short article gave you some helpful tips which will aid you in your next
project. By the way, I took the
pictures with a Nikon Coolpix 995 using a blue poster board for a background.
Henry
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