My painting process has been quite standard now for a while with minor variations depending on the subject at hand and how ‘beat up’ I want the end result to be.
As usual I began with a stealth coat of black. For this buld, I sprayed Mr Surfacer Black thinned with Mr Levelling Thinner outdoors. Thinned 3:1 (3 parts thinner to 1 part Surfacer) it sprays very easily and I ended up with a smooth glossy basecoat. Why outdoors? Because the combination is very stinky.
Changing up the usual marble coat I went first with Tamiya XF-2 Flat White and XF-72 JDSDF Brown. The brown will hopefully add some warmer patchy tones when I finally get to the main color.
To replicate a bit of underway maintenance work I then pre-shaded various panels with XF-2 Flat White.
Based on various photos I’ve seen, I focused most of the pre-shading around the tail area.
F-14s from VF-41 were a single color of F36440. I used AK Interactive Light Gull Grey which is FS16440, a glossy version of the same color. I worked in very light thinned coats, slowly building up the opacity.
I stopped after I feel I have enough coverage and the underlying marble coats subtly shows through.
The tonal differences are still quite stark at this point but should tone down once weathering and final coats come into play.
At this point I notice that the front windscreen’s join to the fuselage is not right: there’s an obvious bulge that I can’t unsee.
So I sanded down the bulge, buffed, painted and re-scribed the area. It looks much better now.
Painting the details is next. Decals are provided for the walkways but I decided to mask and spray them instead.
The walkways were sprayed Model Air Aggressor Grey.
The vents on the back were also masked off.
And painted with Game Color Gunmetal.
Next were the intake lips.
Which were also painted Game Color Gunmetal.
The fuel dump pipe on the beaver tail was painted Mecha Color Red.
The masking tape around the shrouds are now removed and well… it’s not good. There’s paint bleed and residue from sanding.
So I carefully sanded the area down, buffed and repainted.
The rest of the parts were painted without any issues.
So major painting is now done.
I just need to fix some paint bleeding and tighten some spots.
Work has been going on swimmingly so far. Finishing is next.
Build Log
Part 1 – Construction | Part 2 – Construction | Part 3 – Painting | Part 4 – Finishing
