1/48 Hasegawa VF-1 Strike Valkyrie WIP

[chaff.g]

Hi folks, I've learned from and been inspired by many of the builds here over the years so I thought I'd share one of my own.

I'll be building Hasegawa's recently released 1/48 VF-1 Strike Valkyrie, along with the accompanying weapon set.

Here's a shot of the box along with my previous finished kit, the Master Grade Jesta.

This piece is the air brake, a panel that sits behind the cockpit. This is the first piece I'll modify, by carving out the vents. This modification adds a little bit of detail. To make this easy I'll create several holes in each slot with a pin vise. Later, the underside of this part will be covered with a thin photo etched grill.

After removing the remaining plastic from each vent, there's still quite a bit of rough debris which was smoothed down with some sandpaper.

The underside of the air brake has molded detail which I'll remove and replace with the photo etched grill.

I removed the detail of the underside with a sharp hobby knife and made sure both surfaces were nice and smooth.

Next, I moved to the cockpit. Since the cockpit will be covered by the canopy and attached to the fuselage (to be painted later), the interior of the cockpit needs to be completely finished before I start on the rest of the aircraft.

I began by assembling the pilot. I used some "green stuff" putty instead of plastic cement around the neck and armpits to add a bit of support and fill out the thin upper arms.

I test fit the pilot inside the cockpit and attached additional photo etched details to the cylinders toward the rear of the cockpit.

To make air brushing the pilot easier, I drilled a hole and super glued it to an unbent paper clip. The other end of the wire went into a wine cork. I'll prime the pilot and cockpit parts with Mr. White Base thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner.

Cockpit parts primed and ready for base coats. I thought the white base coat was too bright for the flight suit, so I gave the pilot a coat of Mr Color 311.

I hand painted the pilot details with paints chosen from various lines.

The rest of the cockpit parts received a coat of Mr Color 13, except for the forward console which was painted black with Mr Color GX 2. The inside of the fuselage surrounding the cockpit was also painted grey at this point. I hand painted the the seat details with Citadel paints, and also gave the cushions a sepia wash.

I'll be applying Hasegawa's photo etched parts to the interior cockpit panels as well. This set of parts comes with additional details that I won't use in this build, as they are intended for builds with an open cockpit sans pilot. Interestingly, these tiny parts are pre painted.

I cut out the photo etched cockpit panels with a sharp hobby knife and stuck them to the sides of the cockpit with super glue. Regular hobby knives aren't really sharp enough to cut into the metal, so I recommend the special scissors Tamiya sells specifically for photo etched parts.

Next time I'll finish the cockpit!

Edited January 22, 2015 by chaff.g

[chyll2]

thanks for sharing. I didnt know that the photo etched parts are pre-painted.

[Chas]

This looks pretty darn good so far. I think I'm gonna enjoy following this build thread.

[chaff.g]

The next step is to give the cockpit interiors an enamel wash to bring out the detail. I'll be using these Tamiya Panel Line Accent Colors usually intended to quickly detail panel lines. These are essentially pre-thinned enamel paints with an applicator built into the cap.

Before applying the wash, I coated each part with Pledge Tile & Vinyl Floor Finish (i.e., Future). The gloss coat allows the enamel to flow freely on the surface and collect in recesses. I "misted" the gloss coat onto these parts with an air brush set to a low pressure (~12 psi). Future is already very thin and need not be diluted, but I added a few drops of Windex to break the surface tension to discourage the liquid from collecting into beads. After waiting a day for the gloss coat to cure, I just slopped the wash onto each surface: grey for the pilot and black console and black on the other two parts. You can see how the grey enamel has found its way into the detailed surface, bringing out the fine lines molded into the legs, arms, and chest.

Once the wash has dried, it's time to clean it up a bit. I dampened a cotton swab with Zippo lighter fluid and lightly dabbed over the surface of the parts. The Zippo fluid won't interact with the gloss coat, but it is a solvent for the enamels. The result is that the pilot doesn't look as dirty, but color is left in the recesses.

Next, I dry brushed the seat and cockpit interior with grey Citadel paint. This enhances details on the edges of molded detail.

The last cockpit flourish to apply is a detailed decal over the pilot's display. I'll use Mr. Hobby Mark Setter and Mark Softer to encourage the decal to adhere to the surface of the part.

The first step in applying the display decal is to cut it off the sheet and submerge it in regular tap water. I use a small metal paint dish and a pair of tweezers to hold the decal while it softens. I've noticed that these Hasegawa decals are thicker than the ones that come with Bandai Gundam kits and take a bit longer to loosen from the decal backing paper.

One the decal can slide freely along the backing paper, I gently brushed it into place with the point of a small brush. Using a brush tip is more tedious than a finger or cotton swab, but lessens the chance of breaking the fragile decal. I applied a little bit of Mark Setter to the surface of the part in preparation of this step.

Once I was satisfied with the placement of the decal, I gently brushed Mark Softer over its surface. You can see that the surface of the part is curved and the decal must warp around it. The Mark Softer seems to be a weak acid and melts and stretches the material of the decal to conform to the curvature of the part. The shape of the part and decal is fairly complex and it was awkward to perfectly orient the detail to align to the outline of the part. Moreover, the thickness of the decal meant it was also stiff and I wondered whether or not it was really going to conform to the curves of the surface. However, I was impressed that the outlines of both the decal and part are such a good match.

Patience won out and the Mark Softer eventually worked its magic. You can see the curves of the faint molded details of the surface of the part peeking through in the next few photos.

Finally, I coated each part with Mr. Super Clear UV Cut Flat, which is a laquer clear coat that comes in a spray can. This removes the shine of the coat of Future and creates a dull, matte look. After super gluing all the parts together, the cockpit's all done. At the end of the build, I may go back and give the helmet a coat of Future to make it shiny again.

Next time I'll assemble the forward fuselage!

Edited January 22, 2015 by chaff.g

[mickyg]

Looking great. Really appreciate all the time you're taking to explain what you're doing, too.

[007-vf1]

I'll agree with that. This is a very thorough step by step.. it will help a lot of newbies.

Well done Chaff.. Keep it up..

[vincemoto7]

Looking great. Really appreciate all the time you're taking to explain what you're doing, too.

I agree!!! Great job so far chaff...

[chaff.g]

When we last left, the cockpit was ready to be enclosed within the two-part forward fuselage. I used Mr. Cement Deluxe to "weld" the two parts together around the cockpit. The cap includes a handy brush which avoids a big mess when applying the cement to the parts of the fuselage which touch. The cement dissolves the surface of the plastic and creates a strong bond between the two pieces. The idea is to apply enough cement such that a little bit "oozes" out through the seam. Once the line of cement down the seam cures, I'll sand it such that no seam is visible once painted.

After pressing the two parts together, I also brushed a thin coat of cement down the exterior of the seam to ensure that the seam's gap was covered completely. Since the plastic is white and translucent, the seam running down the center of the fuselage is hard to see, but it's still there. The eventual coat of grey primer will reveal any imperfections.

Now I'll affix the canopy over the cockpit. I'll use this Model Master Clear Parts Cement & Window Maker which is special purpose glue for attaching transparent parts such as the canopy. It dries clear and seems very similar to Elmer's White Glue from grade school. It also stretches and forms a weak bond, so I'll be able to remove the canopy towards the end of the build in order to finish detailing it.

I applied a thin line of the glue along the surfaces of the canopy which meet the fuselage and then attached the canopy to the fuselage. I used too much glue, and you can see that it oozed out onto the interior of the canopy. I think that's OK because I can clean up the canopy before finishing it. The canopy glue will dissolve with rubbing alcohol. Moreover, if there is any visible glue left over, the finished black canopy frame should hide it.

To be sure I've really filled in the entire gap of the seam, I'll apply some Mr. Surfacer 1000. Mr. Surfacer is a very thin lacquer-based putty used to quickly fill small holes and gaps in a surface. It comes in a variety of grades -- 1000 is paint-like in consistency. I'll brush it on straight out of the bottle and use Tamiya laquer thinner to clean the brush. The line of surfacer runs down the front of the fuselage and curves back underneath. There's also the seam behind the canopy.

To remove the seam I'll use Tamiya Finishing Abrasives. This is essentially very smooth sandpaper, similar to what you might find in an automotive supply store. It comes in a variety of grades -- this sheet is 600, which sort of middle of the road in smoothness. You'd use something rougher to sand down gate marks, but 600 is a good place to start for sanding down surfacer.

After sanding, the dried cement and surfacer surrounding the seam is gone. However, sanding seam lines damages the surface by leaving fine scratches and removing detail such as panel lines. To eliminate scratches, I polished the surface smooth by using progressively finer Tamiya abrasives. After 600 grade, 1000, 1200, and then finally 1500. This leaves a very smooth surface without imperfections which a gloss coat would reveal.

Removing the seam damaged the panel lines in two ways. First, the thin surfacer crept into the lines near the seam and filled them. Second, since the lines in this kit are so shallow, other parts of the lines were erased by sanding the surface. To repair the panel lines, I'll rescribe them using parts from this Hasegawa Trytool set. These are essentially photo etched saws with tiny teeth that can bite into the soft plastic. The thickness of these saws is comparable to the width of the original panel lines.

Most of the saws in this set are curved to accommodate aircraft parts. I chose one with a comparable curvature and gently sawed it back and forth into a line. This was my first time trying this technique, but it turned out to be very easy. Since they are photo etched and seemingly delicate, I assumed that these saws would be one use only and essentially disposable. It turns out that they are more durable than they appear. After rescribing, the panel lines are restored.

As supplied, the kit is meant to be built standing with the landing gear down and the bay doors open. I think a Strike Valkyrie looks a lot better with the gear up and posed as if in flight. Since Hasegawa supplies no option parts for this look, I'll have to modify the door parts and close up the bay. I'll begin by removing the door supports marked with red boxes. I'll need a way to attach the closed doors to the bay. To do this, I'll fashion some supports with pieces plastic strip from Plastruct.

I used one strip of plastic to create a bond between the left and right doors and glued four supports on either side of the bay which the doors can attach to. These supports are all marked in green. When placed in the bay, the doors rest against the supports without falling inward. As expected, there are still some gaps created between the doors and fuselage because these doors were not actually engineered to close the bay.

I was concerned that the gaps looked too untidy, so I wanted to fill and rescribe them myself. I used super glue and plastic cement. It turns out this was a mistake and the super glue would prove very difficult to sand smooth and scribe. When I close the rear landing bay doors I'll use a different material.

At this point, I wanted to check how well the surface of the fuselage looked. Since the plastic is glossy white and translucent, the only way to do this is by priming it matte grey. I air brushed Mr. Surfacer 1000 thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner. It's hard to tell in the photos, but there is still a faint impression running down the panel line. Since I'm concerned this will show up under scrutiny, I'll repeat the process of brushing with Mr. Surfacer 1000 and sanding it smooth. It's hard to tell in the photos, but there is still a faint impression running down the panel line. Since I'm concerned this will show up under scrutiny, I'll repeat the process of brushing with Mr. Surfacer 1000 and sanding it smooth. The area around the landing gear bay still needs a lot of work.

I brushed Mr Surfacer 1000 down the seam line to try again and the surface around the seam looks a lot better after this round. However, on closer inspection, I noticed the gaps created between the nose nacelles and fuselage. To fill them, I smeared Squadron White Putty with a toothpick down their length. This created a big mess which I cleaned with a cotton swab dipped in lacquer thinner. This is possible because like Mr Surfacer, Squadron White Putty is laquer-soluble. This smoothed down the putty in the gaps but also removed the surrounding primer. That's OK because it's all getting a final coat of primer anyway.

As you can see, preparing a surface for paint gets pretty tedious :-)

Edited January 23, 2015 by chaff.g

[electric indigo]

For the closed landing gear doors, I recommend going over the whole area with polyester putty, like Mori Mori. I gives you a good surface to re-scribe the panel lines after sanding everything smooth.

[mslz22]

Agreed, on mine i used apoxie sculpt for the two rear doors on the front and the 2 rear doors on the back of each leg. I tried to use the included parts first but it was such a pain i abandoned those in favor of the apoxie sculpt. If your not familiar with apoxie sculpt it accepts scribe lines wonderfully and is easy to work with, non toxic too.

mike

Wonderful build here, you have some amazing patience!

For the closed landing gear doors, I recommend going over the whole area with polyester putty, like Mori Mori. I gives you a good surface to re-scribe the panel lines after sanding everything smooth.

[chaff.g]

For the closed landing gear doors, I recommend going over the whole area with polyester putty, like Mori Mori. I gives you a good surface to re-scribe the panel lines after sanding everything smooth.

Agreed, on mine i used apoxie sculpt for the two rear doors on the front and the 2 rear doors on the back of each leg. I tried to use the included parts first but it was such a pain i abandoned those in favor of the apoxie sculpt. If your not familiar with apoxie sculpt it accepts scribe lines wonderfully and is easy to work with, non toxic too.

Thanks for the feedback! I will have to look for Mori Mori in the future. I ended up using Tamiya Epoxy Putty to fill the gaps in the rear wells. I haven't done the scribing yet, but it's already looking a lot better.

[vsim]

Thanks for posting this, I'm getting a few ideas on how to do some things a little better on the kits I build!

[chaff.g]

Now I'll continue applying photo etched metail details from the Hasegawa set made for this kit. Here's the second runner of parts with details for the main body of the aircraft.

These details cover the intakes situated to either side of the cockpit. After cutting them from the runner, they must be bent to cover the corner at the rear of the intake. To do this, I gripped the piece along the edge of the bend with a pair of metal tweezers, and carefully bent the smaller half of the piece to make a right angle. Tamiya makes a special tool for doing this, but it seems unnecessary. I stuck both details into the intakes with super glue.

These grills detail the parts which cover the gap made behind the wing pivots between the bottom and top of the main body toward the rear. They also bend around the parts.

These parts form a vent in the structure which supports the strike FAST packs. The vent is composed of a wire mesh piece and several tiny panels which must be painstakingly attached to the mesh with super glue.

The vent is assembled. It looks a little messy close up, but these flaws will be invisible in the finished kit.

I inserted the vent into the housing. I was eager to see the assembled piece and probably should have painted these parts before assembly. It will require some tedious masking to paint the details separately from the housing.

These details form the doors of the bays which house the hands while tucked away in fighter mode.

I prepared some additional parts off camera. Here's a shot of the a test fit between the intakes and main body.

Next time: painted foot thrusters.

[milhouse]

I love this. It kind of makes me want to build another 1/48 myself as I didn't know about the photo etched parts.

[abbadon]

Fantastic job on this! Really interested in seeing more of this build.

[chaff.g]

Next I'll finish the two rear foot thrusters. They are each a two-piece assembly, with a central pivot to allow them to open and close. They need to be finished before the rest of the build because these components are housed in structures which completely surrounds them. It would not be practical to paint them separately from the rest of the aircraft. These parts have photo etched details which have been applied to the inner walls of the thrusters as well as thin plastic fins which line the interior floor and ceiling.

I painted the thrusters with lacquers chosen from the Alclad II line. This brand is known for reproducing a high quality metallic finish. I chose steel for the exterior and burnt iron for the interior, which I thought would be a close match for the Mr Color shades recommended by the manual. I air brushed these paints unthinned at around 12 psi over a coat of Mr Surfacer 1000 used as a primer.

Next I gave the thruster interiors a coat of Future followed by a wash of the Tamiya panel line accent color.

After a test fit with the rest of the aircraft, I realized that the surface of the thrusters gripped by the alligator clip during painting was visible! I would have to strip the paint and start over again. I undid all that work by bathing the parts in Mr Color Leveling Thinner and scrubbing the parts with an old toothbrush. This is completely safe for polystyrene parts, which Mr Color Leveling Thinner does not react with.

The thrusters all painted up again.

I decided to experiment with postshading, so I mixed up a very thin mixture of Mr Color GX 2 (black), and carefully airbrushed over the line going down the upper portion of the thruster. This adds just a hint of weathering and gives the structure a bit more scale and depth.

Out of the bottle, the Alclad steel has a very dull sheen and is fairly rough to the touch. I gave it a coat of Future to shine it up and protect the paint.

Since I wanted more of a semi-gloss look, I went over the gloss coat with Mr Color 181 semi-gloss super clear.

I'm fairly satisfied with how these turned out. The metal looks nice, and there's only the faintest hint of weathering.

[Jefuemon]

Actually, on the 1/48's you can fit the thrusters in after you get the legs finished. It's the 1/72's that you have to finish that part off first, then mask off for the rest of the build.

[nostromorolls]

My Compliments to a MASTER Builder - (bows in respect!)

[chaff.g]

Next I spent most of my time assembling the legs.

These are the parts providing the turbine detailing which will be buried deep inside the legs of the aircraft. Since they will only be visible by looking directly into the thrusters, I won't add any additional detailing beyond giving them a coat of Alclad II steel over primer.

These shots give some idea of the way light plays off of the metallic finish of the steel lacquer.

I spent quite a bit of effort off camera finishing the main bodies of the FAST Packs. They are primarily four pieces -- two halves of the body and a cap piece for either side. A big seam runs directly down the half of body which was eliminated using the same techniques as demonstrated on the forward fuselage.

These four parts form the legs housing the turbines and foot thrusters. They will wrap around thrusters and the interior walls will be visible if scrutinized. In advance of assembly, I air brushed the portion that would be exposed to the exterior of the aircraft with Mr Color GX 2 black paint. Since these are interior walls, it would be awkward to paint these once the legs were assembled. Since the Mr Color GX line of paints is glossy, I dulled it down with a coat of Mr Color 182 flat clear.

I welded the legs together with plastic cement with the finished foot thrusters protected with masking tape. The parts were not a good fit at all and significant effort was required to eliminate the lines running down their length. In particular, the parts forming the seam closest to the thrusters did not want to meet at all. You can see how much filler was necessary in the closeup.

After assembling the legs, I needed to close the landing gear bays similarly to the forward bay. I began by removing the door supports just like I did before. I did a test fit of the doors with masking tape. The fit isn't perfect, and there are significant gaps. These will need to be filled, and then rescribed.

Since I wasn't thrilled with the way the lines in the forward bay doors came out, I wanted to try a different filler which would produce better results after scribing. I chose Tamiya Epoxy Putty Quick Type, which I hoped would scribe better than the combination of Squadron filler, plastic cement, super glue, and Mr Surfacer I used last time.

Tamiya Epoxy Putty is a two-part putty which begins to cure after being mixed. I believe the white part is the putty and the tan part is the hardener. This stuff cannot be found at retail in the United States due some sort of labeling requirements which it does not meet, so I had to import it through eBay.

When using a two-part putty, the idea is to cut equal sized strips of each part and then knead them together. One easy way to get started is to twist the strips together and repeat the process.

Eventually the putty will be a uniform color and ready to apply. The consistency of this Tamiya Epoxy Putty seems really similar to Kneadatite aka "green stuff" and I worried that it would not scribe well.

I began by simply smearing the putty across the entirety of the doors thinking I would smooth down and scribe the surface upon curing. It turned out this was a bad idea as the doors had no support underneath and simply sunk into the well. It was clear this wasn't going to work so I scraped away the putty and cleaned up the surface. It was easy because the putty hadn't cured yet. If it had cured, I could have simply sanded it away.

Instead, I packed the interior of the bays with the putty to provide support for the doors. I allowed a sliver of putty to creep through the gaps as filler. I'll be able to sand this smooth later.

[electric indigo]

IMO epoxy putty is best used if you want to sculpt things with it, not for gap filling. Try some polyester putty (not the automotive type, which dries too hard), you can sand it down to amazingly thin layers, and the consistency of the hardened putty is perfect for scribing.

[chaff.g]

IMO epoxy putty is best used if you want to sculpt things with it, not for gap filling. Try some polyester putty (not the automotive type, which dries too hard), you can sand it down to amazingly thin layers, and the consistency of the hardened putty is perfect for scribing.

Thanks for the advice. I have learned my lesson; the epoxy putty didn't turn out great. I ordered some Mori Mori (even harder to get ahold of than the Tamiya putty) off of eBay a while back and am still waiting for it to arrive.

[chaff.g]

In this post I'll finish up surfacing the legs.

I'll fill the hairline gaps with Tamiya Putty Basic Type. This is essentially a very thick mix of Mr Surfacer and is also lacquer thinner soluble.

To fill the gaps, I collected a bit of putty with the tip of a toothpick and smeared it over the gaps.

To clean up the fills, I'll go over them with a cotton swab dampened with Tamiya Lacquer Thinner. The kind of swab I'm using is called Nail Tees, which is a brand used in nail salons. The cotton fibers are packed more tightly than in a typical swab such as Q-tips, which means that they last a bit longer and don't leave as many fibers on the surface of the part I'm working on.

I made thin sausage-like links of the Tamiya Epoxy Putty, and pressed them against the gaps. I smoothed them against the surface of the part with the tip of a metal putty knife dampened with water to discourage the putty from sticking to the knife.

Next I brushed on Mr Surfacer to fill in depressions around the lines.

To smooth the entire surface of the parts, I started with 600-grade Tamiya sandpaper and worked my way up to 1500.

After the first round of sanding, there were still imperfections and depressions, so I applied more Mr Surfacer.

One more round.

To check for imperfections masked by the glossy white plastic, I air brushed a coat of Mr Surfacer. With the matte coat, the remaining nicks and scratches are obvious, but the surface looks a lot better than it did.

To rescribe the panel lines destroyed by the surfacing, I'll use this scribing tool from Sujibori Do which I got from Hobby Link Japan. You can find blades of different widths -- this one is 0.2mm -- which fit into the green handle. To guide the blade, I'll use Dymo tape, which is a thick, stiff tape typically used for label making.

To scribe the lines, I affixed a length of Dymo tape parallel to the line I wanted to cut into the surface. I gently drug the blade across the surface using the tape as a guide. It takes several light passes to scribe a line without sliding skidding away from the guide. When this happens, the marred surface can be repaired with Tamiya or Squadron filler.

The newly scribed lines. They have uneven width and are crumbly because the fillers I used were not hard enough. Also, you can see that the tape adhesive has pulled away the primer from the surface. After scribing panel lines, it's usually necessary to smooth down the surface with a round of sanding.

The legs after one last coat of primer. The lines around the landing gear doors aren't great, but they're better than what I achieved with the forward door. I've got some better filler on order and may go back to try to fix these after it arrives.

Very excited to move on from these legs. Next time I'll paint the gun pod.

[chaff.g]

After assembly and seam removal, the gun pod was air brushed with Mr Surfacer. You can still see the faint impression of the seam running down the length of the gun.

I brushed on Mr Surfacer into the depressions and sanded it down once it cured. After another coat of Mr Surfacer, the gun pod is ready to paint. I also primed the arms at the same time.

The manual calls for a matte grey color, but I thought I'd add some interest by painting the gun pod in a metallic color. I'll use Alclad 2 Magnesium. This is essentially their gunmetal color. There aren't any good places on the gun pod to attach an alligator clip, so to paint the gun pod, I taped it to a length of cardboard. I painted one side, and after it cured, the other. Since lacquers such as Alclad 2 cure very quickly, I didn't have to wait long.

I was interested to try buffing Alclad with these micromesh abrasives I got with the paint. I used this 12000 grade cloth. It didn't seem to make much difference. I added some post shading with a very thin mix of Mr Color GX 2 air brushed down the length of the panel lines.

Next I filled the panel lines with Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color. I didn't bother with a gloss coat first. The Alclad has a rough texture, so the enamel tends to stain the paint, but the channels are deep enough for the enamel to flow through them. I cleaned up the panel lines with a Zippo lighter fluid-dampened cotton swab. The gun pod's finished, modulo adding decals and the transparent red light to the front.

[mickyg]

Looking very, very nice. Loving the updates!

[chyll2]

it was really weird for hasegawa to release this 1/48 VF-1 without an option to display without landing gears out of the box. irc, the 1/72 VF-0D and VF-25 I build before has an option to build with or without landing gear.

[william02]

impressive work

[macsam]

just a bit off topic, but what camera are you using to get the fine details in the pictures?

BTW, thanks for all the tutorial shots

[cool8or]

You can get better finishing if you paint with gloss black before to paint with metalizers. This way the pieces will look like real metal. I use alclad too, so I know that you can get better results than you have right now. Try it!!

[chaff.g]

just a bit off topic, but what camera are you using to get the fine details in the pictures?

BTW, thanks for all the tutorial shots

Thanks for the feedback! The camera is a Lumix LX7. It's a point and shoot, but on the higher end.

You can get better finishing if you paint with gloss black before to paint with metalizers. This way the pieces will look like real metal. I use alclad too, so I know that you can get better results than you have right now. Try it!!

I have some of the Alclad gloss black primer. If I can find a part that needs to be really shiny, I will try it! Edited February 10, 2015 by chaff.g

[ulvdemon]

This is looking pretty good.

[Steve71]

This is great. It is really helpful to see all the stages you are going through. Thanks for taking the time to do this. I have the kit on my shelf. It definitely makes me want to take it out and get to work.

[william02]

We need more updates! XD

[chyll2]

yeah, update please

[spanner]

amazing build up! you are a master at this sir! looking forward to seeing more!

[chaff.g]

Thanks for the nice words everyone!

Since the Strike Valkyrie is more a spaceship than an aircraft, I'm going to build it with the intakes closed with these covers. After priming the parts with Mr Surfacer, I'll use a coat of Alclad 2 magnesium. This is a dark metallic grey.

To add a bit of detail, I post shaded the grooves in the covers with a very thin spray of Mr Color GX 2 black along the panel lines. I masked the edge of the overhanging panel to create a sharp divide between the shade and the steel color on one side. The shading effect is very subtle and can't really be seen in the photos.

Next I painted the FAST pack thruster bells. These will be two tone -- the inside a burnt reddish metallic color, and the outside will be dark greyish metallic. I'm using colors from the Alclad 2 range. To create the color used on the inside of the bells, I mixed equal parts Alclad 2 copper with magnesium. The two colors didn't mix that well, but the result is good enough. I've found that it's difficult to achieve a smooth surface when airbrushing concavities such as the inside of the thruster bell. You can see the grainy texture on the surface of the interiors. I think the solution is to spray several very light coats at a lower pressure.

To paint the outside of the bells, I masked the inside with a few pieces of tape. I used Alclad 2 steel for the outside of the thruster bells.

The bells after painting and assembly.

I wanted the thrusters to have a shinier look as depicted in the box art, so I airbrushed the exterior with a coat of Mr Color GX Super Clear III. This is similar to what comes in the Mr Super Clear rattle can -- it's a gloss clear coat. The paint comes out of the jar thick and needs to be thinned quite a bit, but the finish is very durable and protective. To finish up the thruster bells, I applied Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color Black to the details and cleaned it up with cotton swabs dampened with Zippo lighter fluid. I think they look great!

Next time I'll paint the FAST packs.