Found another nice step-by-step build-up.

[David Hingtgen]

http://www.f-15estrikeeagle.com/howto/masa/masa.htm

Quick F-15E nit-pick: FAST packs fit close, but not flush and smooth. Eliminate the gap, but do not "blend" it in at all. Of course, my 1/48 F-15E won't look 1/10 as good as his. (It's in the "getting puttied to be primered" stage at the moment, also working on nozzles and weapons)

PS--"hand-spray"=airbrush.

Edited June 17, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[Grayson72]

Another nice find David, thanks for sharing. God did that cockpit come out nice or what?

[007-vf1]

sweet. Thanks dude...

[Stamen0083]

This looks awfully familiar. Is this model built by the same guy who made that nice low visibility F-14 from awhile back that you posted, David?

The breakdown of the build up by day is highly suspicious.

[wm cheng]

Thanks David excellent tips - now I just have to adapt all those steps to a 1/72 scale!! Man that model must be huge!

That guy is insane - I can't believe he went to fill those seams after he painted and decalled the model (I would of called it a write-off). I don't get how he can spray after the sanding and get it to match up with the surrounding layers of paint (primer and finish coat). Whenever I sand after I painted, I can never get the new "repaired" paint to properly match up to the old existing paint. No matter how thin he paints the finish coat, if you break it - there will always be a line that shows up?!

[David Hingtgen]

I couldn't believe he put the forward half on AFTER he decaled either! Only with a Tamiya could you even consider doing that.

Anyways---Gunship grey (as a rule) is about the most opaque, even color there is. You could put it over flourescent orange primer and it wouldn't look different. I think that's what made the technique work. It's much darker than it photographs, they always look much lighter in photos than they really are. It is the color of a stealth bomber, and that's a DARK grey.

[wm cheng]

I don't mean the colour match, I mean the "thickness" of the paint - if I ever remove paint, I always remove it to a panel line - otherwiset the "thickness" layer will always show though.

[Stamen0083]

Aha! I was right. It IS the same one:

http://www.naritafamily.com/howto/photo_frame.htm

Did anyone notice that the F-14D build ups are available?

http://www.naritafamily.com/howto/F14D/photo_frame.htm

http://www.naritafamily.com/howto/F14Ddior...photo_frame.htm

[fernarias]

don't mean the colour match, I mean the "thickness" of the paint - if I ever remove paint, I always remove it to a panel line - otherwiset the "thickness" layer will always show though.

Yeah, aren't Mr. Color paints great? Actually, you could probably only do this with lacquer, since they are self leveling. And also, lacquer paints are designed to be sanded and polished. It would be harder to do this with flat enamels and impossible with acrylics.

F.