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:

 

[JNordgren42]

My Reskit F-35 pilot arrived today and I got straight to work cleaning him up and doing an extraction surgery to remove him from the ejection seat. There were some butt puckering moments sawing and cutting on the brittle resin, but I managed to separate him from the seat without any issues. I had to do a lot of sanding, some more butt puckering time under hot water to squeeze his legs closer together, and an emergency footectomy to get him to fit, but the task was (mostly) accomplished. The kit cockpit and pilot are fairly under scale and the F-35 figure is a good deal larger, so the canopy will not quite fit closed without a large amount of additional modification, but I planned to have an open canopy anyway, so no problem. I'll finish cleanup and I'm probably going to cut his pinky off and sculpt it back on closed to change his hand gesture from "hang ten" to "thumbs up"... Then it's time to throw some primer on him so I can start painting.

All snug test fit. He's a little large compared to the scale of the cockpit, but it's not too bad.

The canopy doesn't quite fit with his big head, but it's ok since I planned on an open cockpit from the start.

He definitely looks a bit tall from the side. I might take the headrest off and scratch build something a bit larger.

From above looks much better, but still snug.

The print is exquisite, it was almost a shame to separate it from the extremely finely detailed ejection seat. Also the footectomy hurt a little, but it was necessary and won't be seen.

Arms with human proportions!

A clear upgrade from the kit figure. But he's definitely taller and more chonky. Especially in the torso.

 

[modelerdave]

That kit pilot figure has the proportions of the Metalluna mutant from This Island Earth.

 

[Analyzer]

Great work

My Reskit F-35 pilot arrived today and I got straight to work cleaning him up and doing an extraction surgery to remove him from the ejection seat. There were some butt puckering moments sawing and cutting on the brittle resin, but I managed to separate him from the seat without any issues. I had to do a lot of sanding, some more butt puckering time under hot water to squeeze his legs closer together, and an emergency footectomy to get him to fit, but the task was (mostly) accomplished. The kit cockpit and pilot are fairly under scale and the F-35 figure is a good deal larger, so the canopy will not quite fit closed without a large amount of additional modification, but I planned to have an open canopy anyway, so no problem. I'll finish cleanup and I'm probably going to cut his pinky off and sculpt it back on closed to change his hand gesture from "hang ten" to "thumbs up"... Then it's time to throw some primer on him so I can start painting.

All snug test fit. He's a little large compared to the scale of the cockpit, but it's not too bad.
View attachment 1944365

The canopy doesn't quite fit with his big head, but it's ok since I planned on an open cockpit from the start.
View attachment 1944366

He definitely looks a bit tall from the side. I might take the headrest off and scratch build something a bit larger.
View attachment 1944367

From above looks much better, but still snug.
View attachment 1944368

The print is exquisite, it was almost a shame to separate it from the extremely finely detailed ejection seat. Also the footectomy hurt a little, but it was necessary and won't be seen.
View attachment 1944369

Arms with human proportions!
View attachment 1944370

A clear upgrade from the kit figure. But he's definitely taller and more chonky. Especially in the torso.
View attachment 1944371
View attachment 1944372

I have found that a lot of after market resin or 3D printed pilots, and heck, even some pilots that come in the kits are often "oversized" for the kits
At least with 1/72

I suspect the the cockpits or even the aircraft themselves are not true 1/72 scale, but close
In some cases the cockpit floor might have been moved up giving less room
or the ejection seats are too oversized etc...

This seems especially true in kits that have no pilot sprues

I have printed out stuff myself that I can vouch is a 6 foot person represented in 1/72 scale and it winds up hitting the canopy
I have also used extra pilots in other kits and have them wind up not fitting

In some cases it has to do with the pilots limb positions, but usually I have to chop off the feet and sand down the back of the legs and buttocks

You can never see those parts anyway

 

[JNordgren42]

Yep, that's my experience as well. I've also had some unforced errors that required surgery. I opted to put the figure in my 1/72 Bandai X Wing after everything was painted and didn't realize just how snug the he is in there. I had to chop his legs off below the knees. But as you say, it's something that is almost impossible to see so no big deal.

Back on to this build, I got the arms glued on and the first round of filler down to clean up the seams. I also did change his hand gesture from "Hang Ten" to "Thumbs Up". I'll also probably sand down his butt a bit more to get him a little more hunkered down. And since he has, well... Human proportions, I'll need to touch up the side consoles and move the control stick and throttle quadrant back a touch.

 

[division 6]

Several years ago I got to sit in the cockpit of an F-4 phantom at the Castle Air Museum.

I'm 5' 8" and it was a snug fit.

Not sure what the F-14 is like.