The SAAF Forum

Portamus, you decided on FOD covers & an overall finish yet ?

Cheers

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Brent Best

Hey Kremlin,

After much deliberation and profound brain things... it has been decided to give her a satin finish. I think that the glossy 'feel' kind of kills the scale feel for me, and although she was/is still glossy, a satin finish is much more 'scale'. I'm still tinkering with the idea of a wash, but to my mind she doesnt need it.

As far as FOD covers... well you'll have to wait till you see the final pics. I want to see you shiver... in antici........pation.

But I can give you all an update... I've finalized the bangseat, added in a more correctly shapped HUD and shes standing on her own legs/wheels... on my shelf next to her EZ cousin for the night. Pics to follow in the morning, I'll be sure to take some especially for you buddy! I've been attemptin to scratch build something thats taken about 5-6 goes already, but I'm finally happy with my efforts, so I'm stopping for the evening.

Sadly she's also taken damage, as I was prepping her for her u/c installation my sister's ohsoclever Siamese thought it would be a great idea to jump on the desk... knocking half the stuff over (including a precariously balanced Miracle. Shes lost a CRWS on her starboard side, but a spare has been requested from stores at Hoedspruit. Should be here by morning).

-Splatt.... welcome to the forum, and thank you very much.

Yes the Scaleworx paints are well worth it. I'm so chuffed with them, I'm thinking of building my Hobbyboss Mirage 3 next, but I'm rather tired of deltas now, as before this I built a Mirage 3 EZ for a friend. So its been a long run of the Italeri kit for me, and I'll be happy to look at something fresh and new for a change. If I did do the Hobbboss kit it would be hard to decide which scheme to give her. Camo, lo-viz, or Black Widow. Hmm. I'll have to see how I feel about it when I'm done with this build.

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When in doubt, use a hammer. The bigger the doubt, the bigger the hammer.

I think the satin is going to do the job well , also think that the high gloss finish would make her look like a cheap toy !! I think a wash would look good on a weather-beaten, dirty matt finish, with lots of ordnance .. not needed here. She's going to look smooth .. & fast !!

Glad she survived the feline attack with only minor repair work needed. whew .. that would have ended real nasty .... for the Siamese ...

ok .. ok .. I think we are all anticipating oncoming greatness here .. so time to put her on display now

Cheers

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Brent Best

The wash I was talking about is just to bring out the panel lines more and not to weather it.

As you said the SAAF machines were always in a pristine condition.

A siamese is just a scale cheetah. Fits right in with the SAAF theme.

Right, so as promised.... here are the latest pics. A lovely dreary morning to boot.. give it a nicer ambience. *I've been around thinners for too long*

The culprit of the viscious attack


So here are the two cousins yet again....






The favored of the two...


Just for you, Kremlin

she still needs some touching up, I know.

Et voila!

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When in doubt, use a hammer. The bigger the doubt, the bigger the hammer.

Excellent stuff .. thanks for the updates.

Way back when I still had time to model, I used to sandpaper the bottom of the wheels flat to give the impression of a bit of weight on the wheels.

ooh la la, she is looking oh so seductive ... like only a French bird can Great pics, thanks !!! That full frontal shot is the BOMB !!

It does look like you've put a lot more work into the bang seat, compared to her silver sister ..

Oh, the canopy is open, ... now it beckons loudly for a ladder

Sitting back in some more anticipation ..

Cheers

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Brent Best

Afternoon all!

Well I've been away for the weekend, spending time with the better half... and havent been able to do much more on the Mirage.

Got a few minutes in today tho, and she now has undercarriage doors installed. Once those are set.. the pitots, CRWS replacement and a few extra scratch built items can be put on, followed by the last touchups and then a gloss coat to sit for a day or two.

Kremlin.... SHUTUP!!!!!! lol... I've got enough bad ideas from Falcon1 already... hehe.

Dont you worry, you won't be disappointed with the next round of pics....

Oh.. I've selected my next kit to be built, it is enough to say that I'm not done with deltas just yet.

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When in doubt, use a hammer. The bigger the doubt, the bigger the hammer.

Bah .. buy the better-half some movie tickets & send her on her way ....

Good to hear you are making a ladder , I eagerly await the next update ... & you can never have too many delta's !!!

Cheers

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Brent Best

Hi there Gents,

This will be the last update for a week or so....

Was working with the canopy/windscreen, and one or two other things, and now due to a small error on my part, I have to redo a bit of work, which quite frankly after all that I've done so far... I just dont care now. The gear doors came off, (dont know how, but they did).

Sadly I'm losing interest in finishing her. Its so frustrating to see alot of hard work undone, and then try and find the will to redo all of it. And I'm now starting to see all the touching up that needs to be done and the amount of masking that its going to need to get it finished and I just cant be bothered anymore.

857 has been put in a shoe box and banished to the back of my closet for a few days till I'm ready to think about trying to fix my own stupid mistakes and find the desire to finish her.

Sorry its not a happier update, but c'est la vie..... Will report back when the thunderclouds have cleared.

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When in doubt, use a hammer. The bigger the doubt, the bigger the hammer.

Hey buddy

Not going to get philosophical on you, but I wouldn't stress about it if I was in your shoes.

It is amazing, no matter what we do, if we do it often enough, we will keep improving & bettering our skills. Don't then look on the errors as having to re-do all your work, but rather have fun building & finish what you have started. No matter what the end product looks like. It is after all an hobby which we need to enjoy. So finish her & remember the errors which you have learned from & then apply this learning on the next builds.

I'm in the same boat with my profiles, I constantly start re-drawing them as I keep seeing serious flaws & errors. What I now have is many .. really many unfinished profiles .... I should also rather just do them, have fun doing them, and make the next one better ....

.... but we will wait for the thunderclouds to pass ... hang in there

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Brent Best

A quick little update for you guys...

I've taken 857 out of the 'Naughty Box' and given her a good eye-ballin.

Work shall resume tomorrow, expect a few photos relatively soon.

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When in doubt, use a hammer. The bigger the doubt, the bigger the hammer.

Looking forward to the update Portamus, this is a great build. The Scaleworx paints look the business, are they enamels or acrylics?

Dave.

Hi Portamus,

Glad to see you took her out of the "Naughty box". Very little left to be done. Cant wait for the next pics.
Good luck

Cheers