1/72 Hasegawa YF-21 Step-by-step...

[wm cheng]

Ready for decals - well actually, I think I should attach that delicate yellow antenna/fin to the top at this point and mask and paint yellow. I am afraid to mask and paint after the decals for fear of the tape pulling off the decal beneath - but I am also afraid to handle the model too much with that delicate yellow fin in place begging to be knocked off

[imode]

/me faints!

[GunnerX]

As always, beautiful!

[recon]

Hi Wmcheng, As always a beautiful and outstanding job. Im thinking if i get to build my YF-21 would it be able to stand up to yours, the details and outstanding paint job. Well i guess not. Wmcheng, i have a question which apply to the current YF-21 and the previous YF-19 that you did. how do you manage to secure the whole model while spraying, im sure you arent holding it with your fingers, but any clamps or device used? Pictures would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Cheers

[wm cheng]

Great question recon, I never really thought about it till now. Well, I do hold it in my hands for half of it. I usually hold it in my hands for the top half, because I can hold it at different angles to get the optimum spray angle to achieve a smooth coat and the top is more important than the bottom, since its the side you always see. You always have more control with your hands. Now, when its time to spray the underside, I usually jam a toothbrush handle up the intake or the tail pipe (which is still open since I haven't glued the engine afterburner cans in yet) and hold it by the toothbrush. With the YF-21, I jambed two up there and held it like chopsticks while I airbrushed the underside. I determined that the plane will rest on the forward conards (on the underside by the intakes) while the rear section is propped up by the toothbrushes, so I would airbrush the conards first, and it should dry by the time I finish with the rest of the plane - at least enough to me to set the model down to dry.

[Brewtal]

Here's another question. How do you paint the pilots so perfectly every single time? What's your secret? Masking 1/72 pilots is very difficult, the only way i could imagine doing it is with that microscale liquid mask stuff.

[Myersjessee]

I am in awe of your masking...everytim I masked my Angel Birds I ended up touching it up afterwards....Im going to have to work on that...gorgeous!

[IIymij]

hey wm i see your at it again and imma have to save every paige of this later for reference

but i was looking @ your bird and its hella nice but im just puzzle about one thing

you prime and spray on a coat of paint and yet u can still see teh panel lines? the ones on hasegawa models dotn seem to be very deep so wouldnt the primer coat and blue spray after cover up the thinner lines? i seem to ahve that problem with my model kits? wahts the secret? im just O_o cuz my panel lines get wiped away

[wm cheng]

Thanks all,

I'm back to decalling today, didn't get to do much over the weekend - just painted the little yellow fin (then realized that there was already a decal made for it - arghh ). Becareful with the MicroSET - even too much of this affects these thin decals - and the air intake yellow patterns are a bit tricky - but I'll post pictures later today.

Brewtal: I don't ever really need to mask the pilots, I just spray them a base colour - white for Valkyrie pilots and orange in this case, then I hand paint with a fine brush the raised details such as his harness, helmut, gloves ect... I then do a oil wash of dark grey to pick out the crevices and creases in his flightsuit. The wash has a way of "neaten" up your hand painted details, since it fills in the areas with a dark grey outline. I might neaten up further with a Gundam Marker to define the harnesses or details on the pilot. You're right, masking this tiny thing would be crazy

Myersjessee: A tip for spraying masked areas, do a dryer spray, so the paint is almost dry on contact (not so diluted with thinner helps too) and build up in very light coats, especially around the masking edge. Lastly, always spray "away" from the edge of the masking tape, never into the edge of the tape - this will prevent seepage. And with all this advice, I still occasionally get overspray too <_<

IIymij: Yes, the lines on this kit are indeed very fine, as with most Hasegawa kits. However, when you spray primer, I would actually suggest primer over grey paint, since true primer is very thin stuff. I used the pre-mixed for airbrush primer by Alclad - this stuff goes on smooth and thin and I concentrate on the problem areas. For the VF-1, I don't really prime since its white on white plastic. But this YF-21 is blue plastic, and I need a primer to see the effects of all the seam filled areas. I just tried to keep the coats thin and even - build up in layers.

[recon]

Great question recon, I never really thought about it till now. Well, I do hold it in my hands for half of it. I usually hold it in my hands for the top half, because I can hold it at different angles to get the optimum spray angle to achieve a smooth coat and the top is more important than the bottom, since its the side you always see. You always have more control with your hands. Now, when its time to spray the underside, I usually jam a toothbrush handle up the intake or the tail pipe (which is still open since I haven't glued the engine afterburner cans in yet) and hold it by the toothbrush. With the YF-21, I jambed two up there and held it like chopsticks while I airbrushed the underside. I determined that the plane will rest on the forward conards (on the underside by the intakes) while the rear section is propped up by the toothbrushes, so I would airbrush the conards first, and it should dry by the time I finish with the rest of the plane - at least enough to me to set the model down to dry.

Hi Wmcheng, Thanks for the advice. Its sort of a relief for me especially when spraying big areas or small parts requires much stability as well as flexibility in movements.That reminds when i get to do my YF21 or YF19 to used a new pair of surgical gloves for each when doing the base coats, that way it sort of prevents me from getting finger prints on the body itself or parts even though the paint is totally dry.

Cheers

[recon]

Thanks all,

I'm back to decalling today, didn't get to do much over the weekend - just painted the little yellow fin (then realized that there was already a decal made for it - arghh ). Becareful with the MicroSET - even too much of this affects these thin decals - and the air intake yellow patterns are a bit tricky - but I'll post pictures later today.

Hi Wmcheng, you managed to do the decals for the intakes, awesome!! I heard its quite a tough and difficult decal to do due to its contours and shape. I was thinking of masking the intakes and spraying the yellow patterns. Please do give us your frank opinion as well as steps used in applying the decals for the intakes.

Thanks

[wm cheng]

Well, here is a shot of just the larger yellow pieces I started out with. Yes, the yellow intake stripes are a pain in the @$$ and its a bit of a toss up to which way to go. I thought that if I totally screw up, then I would fall back and mask and paint the yellow markings on. So I tried it first. The problem is around the little extra side bulge area, there are some surfaces that bend in more than one direction, and you know what happens when you try to bend a piece of paper in two directions - you get bulges, thats what happens here. Also, the pieces are slightly long at both ends, so after you get them down, take a really sharp exacto to lightly trim along the edge at the ends. What I found helpful was that I would slice the pattern into two pieces once it was on the plane in roughly the right position, I separated it at the intake to the little side bulges. This allows the two pieces to be slightly repositioned with the two pieces to slightly over lap if necessary. The problem with painting it, alside from a masking nightmare (lots of little inside corners) is matching the yellow on such a dark blue base. I think that once you mask it, you need to prime it back to a neutral grey before mixing the proper yellow - plus the yellow of the decal changes as its being applied to the blue model - there also is a lot of red in this particular yellow. So masking and painting is difficult too, especially when you see the painted yellow so close to the decal yellow. Of course you could decide to mask all the yellow portions so the yellows all match Good luck!! Actually I would like to see someone attempt that!

[wm cheng]

Here's a close up shot - sorry I moved the camera at the last second so its a bit blurry, but you get the idea. USE LOTS OF WATER - get it exactly where you want it before using MicoSET, it really weakens these decals and there's alot of fiddling to do.

Oh, one suggestion though, I didn't even bother with the grey decals for the forward section of the intakes. I actually didn't even know that the decals were provided, but since the part separated right on the colour change - it would be better to just paint this part. Now, in hindsight, its a really good idea since you have to paint the interior anyways, and to wrap the decal around the leading edge would be a nightmare

Edited October 6, 2003 by wm cheng

[wm cheng]

Here's a shot further along, you see the weathering which seems a bit excessive for a demonstrator is much toned down next to these bright decals now.

Those little black and light grey graphics on the front of the leg/engine bulges are also difficult to apply. I used a lot of MicroSET and SOL here, since again, the decal has to curve in two directions, luckily the MicroSET made the decal stretch slightly. Becareful here too if you are using the decals - they also don't conform to the scribed lines exactly, they are a bit larger again. I don't know, but someone different must of been in charge of this kit - too many things just don't fit exactly as we have come to expect from Hasegawa - mind you, its still leaps and bounds ahead of the old ARII or IMAI kits.

Edited October 6, 2003 by wm cheng

[David Hingtgen]

Dang. I do believe it is the best one yet. Even *I*would shy away from those yellow decals... (Though I'd rather decal than paint any day)

PS--weathering's fine, IMHO. Not that I've seen any real-life demonstrators. They work HARD though. Nothing like a cold-soak test in winter Norway to distress a plane... (Airbus did it in Siberia for the A310 though)

Edited October 6, 2003 by David Hingtgen

[wm cheng]

I decide to dab those little dots with red for a bit of interest and decided that instead of the decals for the dark double hexes and the twin vents, the dark oil wash actually gave them more depth than the decals. I also did a little wash to recover the panel lines where the yellow stripe had covered over them - I think these little details are really important in the end for realism.

[wm cheng]

A shot of a bunch of parts left over before they go on the plane.

[wm cheng]

Here's a before shot of the tail cones and intakes. I plan on giving these areas a shot of black to age and burn them. The intakes gets a shot of black inside to further make it look deeper than they are - I painted them black and sprayed grey over them before, but I sprayed too much grey, and you can see the inside of them in grey. So I tightly controlled a spray inside in flat black and gradually lightened it out to the grey of the exterior of the intakes. This gives the illusion that they fall off to blackness before you see the engine fans.

[wm cheng]

A close up of the charring and oil wash left overs of the afterburning section - this detail, I really only do it for me, its pretty hard to see once the fins are in place unless you are looking right into the tailcones with a strong light

[wm cheng]

The backs of the vectoring fins.

[wm cheng]

Inside the vectoring fins.

[wm cheng]

Here's a shot of where I am now. There's a slight post-shading done in black over the yellow decals - where the panel lines are, and the intake bluge area to give it a little shading and tie it into the overall plane a bit more. There is also a bit on the grey portions right where the legs join onto the back. Overall its still quite a bright scheme and a bit too contrasting for my taste, but its a demonstrator right I think the overall thing will tone down a bit when I clear coat it in a semi-gloss and start to accent certain areas in a flat clear coat. Flat finishes always tend to lighten things. I will wait till all the clear coats are done before I attempt to remove the canopy masking and apply the forward sensor lens and nav lights.

[hellohikaru]

WM Cheng

You are the ONE! I bet this one will scoop the prize at the next model contest.

btw

Do you think the Hasegawa 1/72 VF-22S has the same problems as the YF-21 kit ?

[TheFrenchOne]

awesome !

You deserve a standing ovation

[J A Dare]

My eyes are watering in admiration.

[Less than Super Ostrich]

You put the Phenom in Phenomenal.

[Tage]

wow, that looks so kool

i love the way the different shades of blue have worked out, they are really fantastic!

[Myersjessee]

Gorgeous WMCheng!!! I will try your advice on masking next time around...thanks.

Question....in your use of Microsol and Microset.....heres what I was doing...(which sounds different then what you do) I brush a layer of Microset on the model where the decal will go, and then quickly and carefully lay it where it needs to go...once it is lined up I let it dry for a few minutes (5 or 10) so it starts to set in a spot...then I brush on a few coats of Microsol...letting each one set for a while before I brush on the next. I dont use Microset at all after the inital coat, and it occurred to me I wasnt really getting the point of the Microset. Care to elaborate on what Im doing wrong (or missong out on, could do differently, etc?) Sorry for all the questions (I know you covered this once...guess I misunderstood) and thanks in advance.

[wm cheng]

Well, I wouldn't use that much of either - it wrinkles too much. I would use MicroSET first (sometimes its enough - and sometimes I don't need it at all - I don't use any of these solutions at all some of the time) only when I think there will be trouble. The Hasegawa decals are about as good as you can get from a kit manufacturer - so the problems are minimal. That being said, I do brush some on to the area to be applied, sometimes diluted with water, then slide the decal on, and brush some more on especially around the edges. I then blot and press down with a damp paper towel or cloth to get the decal to lay down flat against the surface details and telegraph as much detail underneath through. Because I blotted the decal, its kind of dry now, so I would "paint" some microSET on the edges again and let dry. If there is still a problem with the details telegraphing through from underneath or conforming to some wierd shapes, then I would selectively brush MicroSOL on just those affected areas, not the whole decal (it would wrinkle too much). Of course the MicroSOL works best while still damp.

Okay, I didn't do much today - was out for most of the day. I did do a test fit of the tail afterburner cones - this shot shows the weathering done to them.

[wm cheng]

This lower view shows the opening under the fuselage where the legs would be tucked in and the corrugated sheet styrene I placed into that area to prevent us from seeing into the body of the aircraft.

[wm cheng]

Here's a shot from above with the semi-gloss clear coat applied. I like the sheen now, it ties together the decals with the paint finish better and its still not totally flat. I will weather it with the flat clear coat tommorrow hitting all the leading edges and masking some panel lines to "wear" it further slightly - it should introduce any colours, just a shift in the clear coat sheen. By making certain areas flatter - it will lighten those area slightly.

[wm cheng]

Here's a dry fit of the landing gears - no real purpose - just curious and impatient

[wm cheng]

Ahh, a very cool detail I noticed while looking at my reference material in the TIA books. I noticed that all the clear forward sensor lenses had a slot molded into them. When I checked the reference materials, there seemed to be a red sensor at the end of these lenses. If you put some red paint at the end of a pin, and brushed the pin into this slot - it convincingly simulates the head of a sensor unit underneath the sculpted glass lens when viewed from the exterior (hmm, did that make sense?)

[wm cheng]

Here you see it from the other side - the side you are supposed to see when they are mounted on the plane. The clear lens appears darker, since I have brushed on a layer of Tamiya smoke to tint the lenses - I will brush another layer on tommorrow when this coat dries. I like the lenses darker tint since it will match my YF-19 nose lenses more that way - they sometimes appear black in the animation. I also painted the interor of the holes on the fuselage in flat black in preparation for these lenses.

[kam63]

HOLY SMOKES !!!!!! cant belive I havent seen this tread before. man WM your work is so damn Awesome