S-3B Viking finally finished

It's been a long time coming but it's finally finished. I actually started this project back in 2006 but with the amount of work it was going to need I soon got bored and the project stalled until the middle of last year when I felt the need to finish it.
So here it is, my interpretation of  Lockheed S-3B Viking (BuNo159413) call sign 'Beefsteak Seven-zero-zero' from VS-21 'Fighting Redtails' onboard the USS Kittyhawk during it's 'WESTPAC 99' cruise;

The base is an old Verlinden US aircraft carrier one that I bought years ago and finally opened today :)
The model threw up some challenges during construction and finishing, the one thing I'm pleased about is the tail seeing that the decal broke apart and would'nt conform to the contours. There are a few mistakes on it such as the canopy overhanging on one side (I think the ejection seat was pushing it out) which I did'nt notice until the model had been painted, and some silvering on the decals is noticeable in a couple of places.
Other than that I'm quite happy with it!

S-3 Viking

I'm in the middle of doing the panel lines using Migs Panel Line Wash. I got a couple to see what the fuss is all about but actually I'm quite pleased with the results so far;

After the washes are done the model will be matt varnished and I can move onto more weathering. Getting there slowly!

S-3 Viking

As you will recall I had some issues with the large decals breaking on the fin and upper fuselage walkway. The lightning bolt decal was more problematical as the black fin showed through in places plus it would'nt conform to the top (which I knew would be an issue).
To seal the decal I sprayed the fin with Tamiya X-22 Clear and when dry I VERY carefully masked the white outline with Tamiya masking tape and used paper to cover the 'NF' code letters and the five chevrons before taping over the top of them;

The 'double nuts' (or 00) and eagle emblem were masked with Winsor and Newton masking fluid, bearing in mind I had a nightmare with the stuff on the Miniman SS-23 a while back however with the design on the decal I had no other choice.
I mixed a near-as-dammit match of Tamiya XF-7 and white with a couple of drops of X-22 to give it some shine and sprayed the fin. After this I VERY carefully removed the tape as it could have easily ripped the decal and at this point things were either going to go very well or very badly (and usually for me it's the latter).
Therefore I'm pleased to say that it worked! I did rip a small part of the white trim but touched it in with Vallejo paint. YAY for me!!

This is a good as it gets and the model will be what I call a 'four-footer' (i.e it will look great from 4ft or more), anyway I can now get on with the weathering and try and get it finished.
Maybe next time I won't pick such complicated colour schemes :o)

S-3 Viking; Decals are on

I've managed to get the decals on the model yesterday evening and this morning and even these decided to put up a fight. The smaller decals were OK to apply (apart from folding up on themselves a few times) but the main decals for the fin and upper fuselage broke into a couple or more pieces. I knew I would have problems with fitting the decal around the fin top but I did'nt expect it to break apart.
I was hoping to get away with just touching in the fin top after the decal was applied but what this now means is after cleaning up the fin top I have to get a paint match to fill in the areas that broke, which should be fun as masking will be tricky;

The main thing is that the decals are on so the model will get a further coat of Tamiya X-22 to protect them while the model is weathered and to assist the masking of the fin;

Edit; No going back now;

I've trimmed off the excess decal and all I need to do now is get an exact match of red paint. How hard can it be? :o)

S-3 Viking painted

Today I got the model painted totally, all it needs next is a coat of gloss varnish ready for the decalling and weathering;

After spraying the model with Mr Hobby H308 (FS 36375) it was lightened with white and sprayed with a random mottle pattern in between the panel lines. The two panels behind the cockpit were sprayed with H307 (FS36320) and the gear bays and wing fold insides sprayed white.
Another mix of the base coat was made using a couple of drops of Dark Earth and this was sprayed over the radome and various other panels. This was done to try and create a patchy finish as the aircraft I am modelling had a very worn paint scheme.
Once the decals are applied I will be using various grey panel line washes and then with a sponge or brush I will attempt to add the patches of light grey spray paint that you see on US Navy aircraft as a measure against corrosion control.
To be honest I'm very pleased with the finish as I've had major problems at this stage with a grainy or sandy texture in paint and I've put it down to either air pressure, paint drying out too fast as it leaves the airbrush, the distance from the model when spraying, over thinning paint, under thinning paint etc etc etc.
I had sort of solved it with the addition of acrylic retardent and flow improver liquid to paint mixes but after the ease of spraying this particular model I'm now wondering if there is a problem with Tamiya paint quality.

S-3 Viking, E-50 with Heimdall turret and Jagdtiger

The S-3 has got some paint on it at last! YAY!;

The base coat is Mr Hobby FS26375 (2 at the front because it's semi-gloss). I was aiming for a patchy effect as this aircraft will be weathered, the fin is masked off as this will stay in the black primer along with the cockpit canopy and wingtips.
Regarding the wing tips, the decal placement instructions show these as grey but I've found picture reference that shows them black, the only thing is the time frame as the decals are for an S-3 onboard the USS Kittyhawk on its Westpac cruise from April to June 1999 and the pictures I found are dated from September onward. Anyway they are staying black!
These two are up to the same stage in the weathering process;

The  Jagdtiger at the top is Dragon (kit number 6827) and was a proposed variant fitted with the longer 128mm PaK 80 L/66 gun however it never went into production. To enclose the breech of the bigger gun the rear of the superstructure would have been extended so really this kit is complete bollocks, luckily the original 128mm barrel is included so you build it as a regular Jagdtiger.
The E-50 has had the MG mount on the engine deck painted in Dunkelgelb to add some contrast to the scheme. The Jagdtiger has had a pin-wash of dark brown applied and I will be doing the same on the E-50 later tonight.
As an experiment I tried the new acrylic Vallejo wash of dark brown on the engine deck of the Jagdtiger. I apply a coat of gloss varnish to tanks as without it pin washes just leave tide marks in my experience and it's something I would like to get away from if possible so after watching a Youtube vid about these washes I got some to play with.
The Jagdtiger was left unvarnished so I applied the wash, wetting the area with water and working in small areas as shown in the vid. This was the result;

As you can see the wash is everywhere and looks pretty crap so the engine deck was resprayed then the model was given a coat of gloss varnish. Once dry I went back to the trusted Mig brown wash and the results are far superior as I could easily clean up any excess;

I just could'nt control the Vallejo stuff at all and as it is acrylic it was drying far too quickly. I will try again on a test subject as it is the way to go in future and next time I will mix it with acrylic retardent to see if it makes a difference to controlling the wash, however for now I'll be adding gloss varnish to base coats and sticking to Mig washes.

S-3 Viking and Trumpeter E-50 with Heimdall turret

I'm still not happy with the join at the wing root so I've filled it again;

Instead of using Mr Surfacer 1000 I've gone for the 500 grade stuff as it's thicker so *hopefully* the join will disappear when sanded down.The E-50 has been touched up here and there and I've decided on utilising the old modelling cliche of having rusty metal panels. These will be the four covers over the engine air intakes so I sprayed them black prior to applying various rust colours;

And that is that for another year! I started a few projects but most of them have ended in disaster for one reason or another (Airfix C-47), proved troublesome (Dragon Fokker E.V/ D.VIII) or I just became bored with them and they have ended up on the Shelf-Of-Doom.
I did actually finish two models this year, the Trumpeter E-25 and Revell Leopard I;

At this point I WOULD like to say I won't be buying any more kits as this year alone I received around 30+ for review plus all the ones I bought but you KNOW that will never happen.
Thank you to everybody who has taken an interest in my work and ramblings for the past twelve months, it is very much appreciated that so many people look in and hopefully I've been able to provide some hints and tips to you.
2017 will still see me trying to finish stuff started this year, the E-50, S-3 Viking and Fokker E.V/ D.VIII plus currently being looked at is the Revell 1/32 Hawker Hunter FGA9 and Tamiya 1/32 Mosquito FB VI. Quite where I'm going to store them (if I finish them of course) is anybody's guess but what the hell :o)
Happy new year people!

S-3 Viking

Further to the mini-disaster with the port wing breaking away from the fuselage, the joint has been filled, sanded, sprayed with primer, filled again, sanded and finally resprayed with primer;

And after all that there is STILL a bloody visible line in the joint so another rethink is required about carrying on with it. The plan at the moment is to spray the overall grey top coat but when dry mask off the wings where they join the fuselage and spray them in a slightly different shade....either that or drown the bloody thing in black primer!

S-3 Viking

After a bit of swearing and throwing my toys out of the pram the wing was eventually fixed back into place, this time using cyano glue and left overnight to set. There was a bit of a step between the wing and fuselage so this was sanded back and the wing joint filled with Milliput which was smoothed out using a soft brush and water;

This will be left to cure for a couple of days, the area will be polished to get any scratches out and  resprayed with primer to check for any gaps that may have been missed then MAYBE I can start painting the thing.

S-3 Viking

Well that was'nt supposed to bloody happen;

I was priming the model with Games Workshop Chaos Black and while handling the model the port wing came loose...so much for using epoxy resin glue for strength!
I pulled the wing off completely, cleaned off the epoxy resin and stuck it back on but this time using superglue and I now have a nice gap to fill both sides;

This is made even more awkward as the engine pylon is in the way so this should be fun. I was going to do it tonight but it's best I step away from the bench for awhile.

S-3 Viking

By the Power of Greyskull the thing is built! The various blade aerials found on the machine will be added after painting as they will only get knocked off when the model is handled plus the pile of bits to the side will be painted seperately and added later;

The model will now be washed down with warm water and detergent to get rid of any greasy paw prints and dust. When dry the the side windows will be masked and the model will receive a coat of primer spray.
This is the part of the show I'm dreading to be honest as previous attempts at painting an aeroplane have resulted in disaster for various reasons so we'll see what happens.
If you hear a loud bang then you'll know what happened :o)

S-3 Viking

Time to get this thing nearer the finishing post so the bang seats were fixed into place and the canopy glued on;

The actual fit of the canopy is'nt brilliant and it had a tendency to pull in at the bottom either side so small shims of plastic strip were glued to the cockpit bulkhead and painted in the cockpit colour. The canopy was glued into place using GS Hypo cement (Jewellers use the stuff) as superglue will fog clear transparencies unless coated beforehand with Johnsons Kleer or similar.
By the way the canopy part does actually have a tint but to me it's not dark enough so the inside of the canopy got a coat of Tamiya X-19 Smoke as the tint is pretty strong on the S-3.

Rather than use model filler and creating yet more dust on clean up I used black Milliput for the gaps and smoothed it out with water (this is an old tip by the way and I take no credit for it).

Once dry I maybe able to finally get some paint on it after a clean down. Exciting times! :o)

S-3 Viking

Wow more progress! Today was spent fitting the engine pods to the wings, spraying the canopy interior with Tamiya X-19 Smoke (the real aircraft had quite a heavy tint) and making better fairings for the windscreen wipers.
The engine pylons had the locating peg cut down substantially as the indents in the Wolfpack wings are very shallow, this applies to the stores pylons too. Also the curve underneath must be shallower than the kit wing as there was a huge gap between the pylon and wing;

To save destroying any surface detail I stuffed Milliput into the gaps;

The Milliput was then smoothed out using a brush and water and left to set;

The windscreen wiper fairings in the kit are a bit of a funny shape and after gluing them to the fuselage forward of the canopy I decided I did'nt like them. I found alternatives in the shape of 1/72 Mk82 bombs from an old Airfix A-7 Corsair that were in the spares box so a flat was filed on one side of two bombs then the noses were cut off and glued into place on the Viking after removing the kit ones;

Far better! New wiper blades will be made from scratch and added after painting. You may notice a hole next to the left fairing and this is for a navigation light that will be glued in after painting.
As I said above the canopy got some extra tint and this will be fitted when I glue in the overhead instrument panel.

S-3 Viking

A bit more progress on the S-3 and this time it's the turn of the air intakes. The kit is pretty naff in this area as the insides of the intakes need building up with Milliput and new fan blades making. I decided to make covers to hide these areas so some Milliput (the white superfine stuff) was rolled out thinly and a narrow strip placed around the circumference of each intake, triangular pieces were put in four places (I used a drawing compass for measuring where they went) then some more Milliput placed over the openings, smoothing it all out with water and a brush.
When dry the Milliput was sanded down then 5amp fuse wire was used to make the triangular fastenings for the covers with 1mm strips of a double layer of masking tape put between the fasteners and covers. For a first attempt at making covers I'm quite pleased with the final result;

The sonobouy tubes were also finished off and this area looks MUCH better now I feel;

Hopefully I can get the build finished soon and be able to get on with painting the model.

S-3 Viking

Progress is glacial as per usual and last night was spent figuring out where the support struts are fitted for the folded wings. The weight of the resin wings is giving me some cause for concern as I don't think the hinges will take much to break, especially when moving the model around so I need to add the struts which means drilling holes in the wings and top fuselage.
After some research I've decided where the holes will be (well as near as dammit anyway) and this pic will give you some idea what the model will look like with the wings folded (without the sanding pad of course);

Still lots to do though!

S-3 Viking

I bet you all thought I'd forgotten about this did'nt you? I've had a rest from the bench for a week or so but last night I was looking at those damned sonobuoy tubes and come up with this solution;

I drilled out the holes in the fuselage and inserted short lengths of 2.5mm (outside diameter) styrene tube which in turn was drilled out to reduce the thickness on the tube inside. Once dry the tube was cut flush with the lower fuselage and using a dentists burr the lip was thinned a bit more.
I think it looks much better than it did originally, only another 40 odd holes to do :o)
Told you those sonobuoy chutes were bugging me :o)

S-3 Viking

When I fitted the Wolfpack inner wings there was a slight step between them and the wing roots on the fuselage so after some filling and sanding they look a bit more acceptable. The engraved panel lines did'nt quite match between the resin wings and fuselage so the upshot of all the sanding was their removal so these were re-scribed and liquid glue was then run into the lines to clean them out;

I'm waiting on some styrene tube so that I can line that hole in the base of the fin but the build is'nt THAT far away from completion...I think....then again I'm still pondering on those sonobuoy tubes.

S-3 Viking

I've had enough of detailing the main gear bays and it's time to get moving with this build so tonight I've started to glue the inner Wolfpack wings to the fuselage. As they are quite a big chunk of resin I'm using a two-part epoxy resin glue for strength as for something this heavy I do not trust cyanoacrylate;

It's a five-minute epoxy resin glue but it won't be fully cured for at least 24 hours so I'll repeat the process tomorrow night. Although I've had enough of detailing the gear bays those sonobuoy tubes underneath are still bothering me so I need to have a think about them :o)

S-3 Viking

I've done a bit more to the bays, this time I've added hinges to the upper gear bay doors;

They hang a LOT better than if I had glued the doors directly to the fuselage. I drilled holes into the roof of the gear bays and although it looks a bit naff you won't see them unless you turn the model upside down.
All that is needed is connecting rods from the doors to those white round bits with sticky out bits attached to it during the final assembly after painting.
Trouble is I keep looking at those sonobuoy tubes as they are starting to bug me....hmmmm.....