GB-44 1/48 CF-104D - Military A/C of post-war time

[Gnomey]

Nice work so far George!

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Hugh. Working on the drop tanks now and a bit more complex than the single seaters. Note the lack of locating holes and pins. I was going to mount these before painting but they will be painted red and the masking at the wing-tip will be a little complex

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Drop tanks are done and as expected were a pain in the keester. The right one needed sanding to get the seams evened up. The left side needed mud on both sides, not because of a lip but small valleys. Just placed on for a photo op.

 

[Crimea_River]

I think the tanks make the plane. Looking good.

 

[rochie]

I think the tanks make the plane. Looking good.

i agree, kind of looks not finished without the wing tip tanks.

very nice Geo

 

[fubar57]

Thanks guys. Started painting tonight but the prep work started around 10 this A.M. The instructions say to paint the lower surface of the wings "Aircraft Grey". Revell wants them painted semi-gloss white. Off to the "RCAF 1968 - 2004" book says "....and Grey 501-109 lower wings was carried on into CAF use." What the hell is 501-109? A shufti through this site RCAF/CAF and CDN Army Aircraft shows a colour chip (don't start on cpu renderings), a description of what its used on and how to attain it...

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XF-12....I have that....and its in the old large bottle. An oooooooooooooooooooooooooooold bottle. I look through the glass and see about 3mm of paint left. I tilt the bottle.....the paint doesn't move. I open the lid and look in.....there are cracks running across the paint. I poke a toothpick into it and it is still soft. I've already been through my paint stock, three times and no other bottles of XF-12. I've got other bottles of light grey but nothing with a "bluish-grey appearance". Desperation time. At 11 A.M. I pour about 3-4mm of 99% IPA into the bottle, close the lid and start shaking. I keep shaking on and off until about 3 P.M. and open the lid....the IPA has turned grey. I grab a toothpick and start stirring, I can feel the bottom of the bottle. I lift the toothpick and the paint drips off, roughly the same consistency as good paint. I transferred some to the AB cup and put an equal amount of IPA in. Success though its hard to see. I did one single seater at the same time.

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The bottle has been sealed tightly in case touch-ups are needed. Once all is said and done, the bottle will be chucked and a new one will take its place. Offhand I think the bottle was close to or over 15 years old. Taking a tip from Andy, I'll gloss coat the later and continue on.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Crimea_River]

Looks good Geo and I like that resource. Went back and checked on what I did and I used 2 parts Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey to 1 part XF-23 Light Blue. Wish I'd known about the XF-12.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Wayne and Andy. Going down to spray the white on both 104s shortly; upper wings, stabilizers and two-seater tip tanks. Stabilizers were painted red on 104s stationed in Canada. Hasegawa wants the tip tanks to be red. According to the above mentioned book, "The wing tip fuel tanks were Orange (fluorescent) 609-401 on two-seaters only in Canada.

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[T Bolt]

Good save on that old paint jar

 

[fubar57]

White has been sprayed on aforementioned parts....its white

 

[Crimea_River]

Gonna do the thin bare metal strip on the leading edge?

 

[fubar57]

Wing or stabilizers. I've got nothing on the wings....

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Can't find a good shot of the stabilizers yet

 

[Crimea_River]

Not the stab, the main wing. Look really close at the last image you posted and you can just make it out. Here are some other shots:

What I did, very thinly masked:

 

[fubar57]

Doable. Glad I didn't attach the drop tanks yet

 

[fubar57]

Red and 609-401 are on. I used Tamiya X-7 Red for the stabilizer and for the tanks I used what was left in the cup and added X-6 Orange. That was taking a while to get the right shade so I added some X-8 Lemon Yellow into the mix. I have no idea on the ratios but I was trying to get close to this photo...

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I think I got pretty close

 

[Airframes]

Looks good to me.

 

[Crimea_River]

Me too.

 

[rochie]

Very sharp