WIP: Hasegawa 1/48 VF-1S Valkyrie Fighter

[JNordgren42]

I love oil weathering. It's my favorite technique by a wide margin. Just remember that a tiny bit goes a looooong way. I've used a toothpick to add a speck of oil that can be blended into a pretty large area. The good news is you can always remove any extra, but it's easier to start with too little than too much.

Here's a 3D printed Sandtrooper I just finished. All weathering was with oils and some dry-brushing.

Amazing job on your sandtrooper!

Less is more certainly seems to be the mantra for oils. It will be fun to try.

 

[JNordgren42]

Another good building weekend in the books! I finished up the decals on the fuselage and wings and they came out great. I also did some careful carving and sanding on the landing gear parts and started experimenting with oils.

Fear the bones!

The nose ended up being pretty packed with markings, but I like how it came out.

My first go at oils was some smoke staining on the gun pod. It was remarkably difficult to get a good pic of this and I think it looks much better to the eye. I used some raw and burnt umber in addition to black and it gives a great variation and richness that just isn't being picked up here.

Another go at oil weathering on the right hand shoulder.

And a little more on the arms. I'm trying to keep things pretty subtle.

 

[modelerdave]

Love it.

 

[edge10]

Your low viz painting technique is Sierra Hotel.

 

[JNordgren42]

Your low viz painting technique is Sierra Hotel.

Thanks! If you haven't run across it, the tutorial by Luftraum/72 on the technique is well worth checking out. It takes some practice and experimentation, but it definitely pays off. And it's relatively inexpensive, at most, you'll probably need a new brush if you don't already have a deerfoot stippler, a couple of bottles of the Liquitex acrylic ink, and some Tamiya X-20A. The only potential downside is that he recommends using a lacquer based paint because some of the steps are potentially hard on the undercoat. I use lacquers anyway so it wasn't a problem for me.

Tutorial Link

 

[Analyzer]

Love the weathering!

 

[JNordgren42]

I've got all of the primary painting done including an enamel grime wash, and an all over semi-matte coat on the big assemblies. And I've started on some additional detail work on the accessory parts. I sanded off the rudimentary molded in hydraulic lines on the landing gear and am replacing them with a couple of different sizes of wire. I also hollowed out the pivot A-arms on the nose gear strut and drilled out some of the smaller details on the main gear.

 

[JNordgren42]

It's been slow going with a lot of fiddly work, but I've made progress on all of the accessory parts and they're really starting to come together. I need to get the oil weathering moving in earnest and then I'll be able to do the final assembly.

Canopy photo etch applied and painted. It's not perfect, but it came out pretty well.

Landing gear wells. I applied some additional hydraulic lines with wire, and they have had the final white coat and grime wash applied.

Landing gear struts and wheel hubs. I did a lot of small additional detail work and refinement on the struts.

Main gear doors. There was also a lot of fine adjustment going on with them especially with the hinges, hydraulic piston arms, and the thinned edges.

Nose wheel doors. Lots of small refinements here as well.

 

[jake88]

Very nice paint work. It’s really going to pay off at the end!

 

[Analyzer]

ooh, that canopy looks very sharp, especially with the photo-etch

also nice touch with the brake line and wires on the landing gear etc...

 

[modelerdave]

I love the red accents and the photo etch on the canopy. Excellent work.

 

[JNordgren42]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

There's a ton of small tasks to finish and one big one (the oil paint weathering). But I'm plugging along steadily. I glued the arms on and did a final test fit of the legs and landing gear. I'm going to do the oil weathering with the legs off to give better access to some of the hard to reach bits. I've also started work on the clear bits,I'm using UV cure resin for a lot of the inset parts since it conforms better to the nooks and crannies.

Test fit of the parts and landing gear.

Nose gear closeup. It really looks great with the wheels on.

Main gear.

I glued in the compressor fan blades. I left the photo etch in the natural metal without paint.

UV resin applied on the front main gear doors. I still need to put a coat of clear red and blue on them.

Resin on the landing spotlight.

Resin over the secondary camera on the head as well as some clear red.

Resin applied in the gun pod sensor I grafted from an F-14.

 

[Dean O]

This looks fantastic! The photo etch and all the extra details you’ve added really make this build stand out.

 

[JNordgren42]

A lot of real life impinged on my building time in the last couple of months,but things have finally spelled down again and I'm making the final push to get this done. I did some detail painting in the wheel wells and I'm starting the oil weathering in earnest. First up, I had an idea to do some exhaust staining around the RCS thrusters. I started with the legs and I'm really happy with the direction it's taking.

Before:

After:

I also gave up on the kit pilot, the sculpt is probably the worst aspect of the kit. The shoulder pads are extremely exaggerated and the proportions (especially for the arms) are really wonky. I ordered a 1/48 F-35 pilot figure from Reskit. The helmet looks very futuristic while still being grounded in reality, which fits the vibe of the build nicely. It should show up late next week.

 

[JNordgren42]

I did some more work with the oils yesterday. I got some white down on the upper fuselage for some subtle sun bleaching and panel variation. I also finished up the detailing in the wheel wells. I'm really enjoying working with the oils, but it's definitely a slow, methodical process. And even with leaching the oils out by dispensing the paint on to cardboard, the drying time is long (but that's also one of the advantages of oils). I think it's definitely worth it and my patience is being rewarded.

Wheel well detailing: