First Ever Official RPF Group Build - IT HAS BEGUN...

Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

I know Phil and he ALWAYS builds to a high standard. Lots of inspiration (and sometimes intimidation. ;) ) comes from his completed works.

As for me, I am in currently with a planned lifting body collection in 1/72 scale (building M2-F2/3 right now, so it won't count). Models I'll try to get done during the build include the X-24A, X-24B and the HL-10 (all Eagles Talon/Wings 72 vaccuforms). Of course, if the going gets rough I might change my build to something else. But pencil me in for "lifting body collection" at this time.
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

Welcome to the build, TG.

If we find that we're closing in on our end date and you're still not finished, we'll assign the participating member that is closest you, as muscle, to work you over with your own hobby tools :lol
LMAO

I better hide those punches I bought


yes, it's the Revell
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

Welcome to the build, JMC. Look forward to seeing the fleet :cool.

TG, if you have any exacto blades, center punches or anything else pointy or impaley, I'd be sure to hide those first ;) :lol

-Fred
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

I'll hide the dremel and bits too, just in case they're "creative"

man I've seen too many Terantino movies....
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

Got some orange paint on the GG. Wings only though, and needs a third coat.
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

I'll hide the dremel and bits too, just in case they're "creative"

man I've seen too many Terantino movies....

It's the RPF - of course they'll be creative :lol



Got some orange paint on the GG. Wings only though, and needs a third coat.

So, have any idea what you're going to build once the GROUP build starts?

;):lol:lol:lol


Post up some pics of what you've got, bro :cool. Is the color callout a particular shade of orange or just like Tamiya's regualr orange?

-Fred
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

Here's what I have so far...

Not sure if the digital image truly relays the orange or not. Its an off-the-shelf Rust-O-Leum color. Tried to fine International Orange, but couldn't find it. The fuse is - of course - just primered.

attachment.php


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Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

I think for international orange, krylon or duplicolor makes a line of OSHA safety colors and I believe the orange is equivalent to international orange.


EDIT: after a little poking around, it's Krylon OSHA msds Safety Orange. And according to color charts, I.O. is a shade darker than S.O., going more towards the red. I bet that if you primer with red undercoating and layer light coats of S.O., you can get a really good shade of I.O.

-Fred
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

Orange is a color that is notoriously prone to fading, especially in arid regions like the desert. As such, the "that looks about right" approach is about the best you can do as I think even the Smithsonian had to go that route when they repainted the X-1 for display. Even if they went back to the original paint sample from Bell, chances are the shade would have faded a little as that X-1 had been used on a few flights prior to the Mach 1 attempt. Late in the program, that particular X-1 was repainted in a darker orange shade with a white spine (this was the color it sported in the John Wayne film "Jet Pilot").

Tamiya recommends mixing their normal acrylic orange shade with a little clear red to darken it a little bit in their X-1 instructions. A couple other companies recommended international orange, although that to me looks a bit too bright compared to the shades used in the 1940s. Revell molded their 1/32 X-1 kit in about the right orange shade, so color matching to that is a possibility.

Best color to date I've seen for the Glennis from its Mach 1 busting flight is Floquil Reefer Orange, available in their Railroad color line. Although I have to admit the Krylon color PHA used looks like as good a match as any. As I said, "Looks about right" seems to be the best approach here.
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

I was looking for it this weekend too. Model Master has the only International Orange and it has the FS number. Fred, you can get it over at Brownies Hobby Shop.
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

I was looking for it this weekend too. Model Master has the only International Orange and it has the FS number. Fred, you can get it over at Brownies Hobby Shop.


Brownies is still in business? I was last there about 15 years ago and they had gone all R/C by then. I remember it being like a little run-down shack in a neighborhood I really didn't want to be in, at the time :lol. I thought (or assumed, I guess) that they had closed shop years ago. Good to see they're still kickin'.

-Fred
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

Yep, they are still there. They have a small selection of kits, RC and other stuff. I order kits from them to help keep them going! They have a fair collection of paints and odds and ends.
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

Orange is a color that is notoriously prone to fading, especially in arid regions like the desert. As such, the "that looks about right" approach is about the best you can do as I think even the Smithsonian had to go that route when they repainted the X-1 for display. Even if they went back to the original paint sample from Bell, chances are the shade would have faded a little as that X-1 had been used on a few flights prior to the Mach 1 attempt. Late in the program, that particular X-1 was repainted in a darker orange shade with a white spine (this was the color it sported in the John Wayne film "Jet Pilot").

Tamiya recommends mixing their normal acrylic orange shade with a little clear red to darken it a little bit in their X-1 instructions. A couple other companies recommended international orange, although that to me looks a bit too bright compared to the shades used in the 1940s. Revell molded their 1/32 X-1 kit in about the right orange shade, so color matching to that is a possibility.

Best color to date I've seen for the Glennis from its Mach 1 busting flight is Floquil Reefer Orange, available in their Railroad color line. Although I have to admit the Krylon color PHA used looks like as good a match as any. As I said, "Looks about right" seems to be the best approach here.

That is fantastic info. I preesumed it was re-painted for the display, but wasn't positive.

I'd agree on the Reefer Orange - has the slight bit of yellow in it that I see.

What do you think about the sheen from its mach 1 flight? Gloss, satin, or flat?
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

I would say gloss, pre-flight. Afterwards, that may be a different story :lol.

The Coast Guard paints all their equipment in International Orange. I suppose, as a Hi-Viz color, they'd use anything to make it easier to see (even a glint from the sun).

-Fred
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

I bought 2 spray cans of the Floquil Reefer Orange on eBay. Will let you guys know what if looks like once I get something sprayed. I opened my kit up and it looks pretty nice. The areas that need work are where the wheel doors attach and where the antenna's attach. Anyone know where to get a 1/18 Astronut?
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

ok, I went though my Aerofax on the X-1. Not pics of the pilot in the cockpit, except one guy in a leather jacket. Did they where a pressure suit? I guess not, as it did not fly very high...?
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

Based on what I've seen in the photos, it looks very flat to me. I doubt it was gloss, but even if it was, at best I would go semi-gloss with it as the environment of 1940s Muroc dry lake probably wasn't too kind to glossy paint jobs when the sand went blowing around. Most every model I've seen done of the plane has been in flat colors.

As for International Orange, it is too red in hue for the Glennis. Given how red/orange it looks, I have a feeling this is the shade that was selected for the plane late in its career when it got the white spine. But it is too red in shade for the X-1 for its Mach 1 flight. I tried to find a history of International Orange to see when the shade was so named and couldn't find a specific date. But, apparently the Golden Gate Bridge is painted that color (it probably wasn't called that color though until well after WW2).

As for Yeager, the costume worn by the Sam Shepard in "The Right Stuff" was pretty close to what Yeager wore and probably exact since Yeager was a technical advisor and Phillip Kaufmann (the director) was obsessive about visual details like that (the story was something else though). He was wearing a brown leather flight jacket and I believe US Army Air Corps style uniform brown pants or a one piece flight suit, still common for that period (the USAF became its own department about a month before the Mach 1 flight). I don't believe he had a parachute on (not that he could have bailed out anyway). An oxygen mask covered his lower face and goggles covered his eyes (probably P-51 based). The movie showed him wearing what looked like a 1930s football helmet, but black and white period footage from a few months after his flight showed him wearing a gold jet pilot helmet when he reenacted his flight for the news reel cameras. BTW, a small screen version of that news reel footage can be found here (not sure when the dialog was done though as it implies the footage was filmed after the plane was selected to go to the Smithsonian):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager

The altitude flown on the Mach 1 run wasn't high enough to require a pressure suit (35,000 feet). Later on when the experimental jets were doing altitude as well as speed runs, the pilots were wearing partial pressure suits (what Sam Shepard had on for Yeager's out of control at Mach 2 flight in "The Right Stuff" is what they typically wore). Full pressure suits like what astronauts wore typically didn't come about until 1957-58. The US Navy I believe was the first agency to use them and I believe the first X plane to use them at Edwards was the X-15.

The Revell 1/32 X-1 kit has a pilot figure styled like Yeager from "The Right Stuff" so it could be used as a 3D reference for doing one in 1/18 scale. I understand Ultimate Soldier has done a 1/18 (i.e. 3 3/4" action figure scale) P-51 pilot figure, so that could be used as a basis to make an X-1 pilot in this scale. Of course, if one can't find one of those, you could always get an action figure of the same size and customize it with some two part epoxy putty for the details.
 
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Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

Based on what I've seen in the photos, it looks very flat to me. I doubt it was gloss, but even if it was, at best I would go semi-gloss with it as the environment of 1940s Muroc dry lake probably wasn't too kind to glossy paint jobs when the sand went blowing around. Most every model I've seen done of the plane has been in flat colors.

You are truly a wealth of information!

I painted the fuse yesterday. I got a very nice gloss-to-semi-gloss finish. I'm a bit stymied as I really like the finish, but know that - really - it will need to be altered.

For a couple of reasons...

First, I'd agree with what you say about the conditions the plane existed in. And the mach-bustin flight was not its first, was it? So by the time Yeager flew the craft, the finish was likely worn a bit. I feel that by wet-sanding to 600 through 1,000 may give a naturally worn, yet still smooth finish with a slight sheen.

Second, I'll probably need/choose to seal the decals with a clear coat.

Regarding decals, per the box images, the decals are a bit transparent. The white in the decals bleeds orange. Will likley need to undercoat the decal areas with white. Not looking forward to that.
 
Re: First Ever Official RPF Group Build Sign-Up Thread - all experience levels wanted

2 things;

First, Rob, instead of sanding, try mixing your base orange with a bit of flat white, then misting the entire build. This should flatten the sheen, plus add a bit of sun fading without the chance of sanding away any detail. Then you can add a bit more white and hit the center of each panel. The idea is to make it look like it's been sitting out in the desert sun, but not look like it had white dots painted all over it. I suggest taking a piece of scrap styrene, basecoating it with orange and then try the post-shading technique.

I used it on a corsair I built. If done correctly, it's very subtle and very hard to see, but it's definitely noticeable if compared to a straight color

F4U-1D.jpg


IMPORTANT STUFF BELOW

*********************

And secondly - if we have any graphic/artsy type people in here, I need a favor. I think we should come up with a badge, of sorts, that we can all put in our signature - something that lets others know we are/were part of the group build. Only two requirements; 1) It has to reflect the theme of the build and 2) it has to fit within the space requirements of the signature. Anybody is welcome to come up with a design, just post up here. If we have multiple designs, we'll let the group decide which one they prefer.

-Fred
 
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