Tom Cruise WIP

Maybe I’m being spoiled by Tamiya kits… but I really wasn’t expecting fits like this 

Not so good looking intakes 

Hmmmm 

Lots of gaps to fill 

Sanded down the steps, these are not panel lines 

More putty after figuring out which seams to keep 

And even more putty 

Polished and tinted 

panel lines re-scribed  

Decided to fill this too 

The actuators are labeled wrong in the manual, just make sure all the joints are facing inward 

Ready to paint 

Primed 

Apparently, the whole plane is painted with FS36375, not the usual dark and light ghost greys. I spent $19.99 on Ace Combat 7 Top Gun DLC to confirm it… which means that Meng and Revell both got it wrong. I got suspicious of this because the jet looked unusually bright in the movie and internet photos. HB has the right color scheme but the paints are mislabeled. 

I will try some in-between shading to add texture before topping it off with light ghost grey again. 

Blue spots 

Texture with stencils 

Idk 

No idea how this will look 

Maybe the stencil shading wasn’t the best idea, I had to spray lots of grey to cover them 

I thought long and hard about how long and how wide the stripe goes 

Not bad 

Meng’s decals look like they were made in MS paint in comparison… 

These are the best decals I have ever used! They come off easily, conform to details without softeners, and don’t easily stretch or break! 

Noice 

Furball stencils arrived just in time, I will use a combination of all three 

The insignia is too dark, I will spray highly diluted main color to blend it 

After 

Ready for another gloss coat 

This looks kinda bad… 

Is this normal? 

Washing with brown… this was a bad idea 

The wash left an uneven yellow tint to it. Looking at other super hornets on the internet and I realized they’re all on the bluer side. 

Non-slip pads 

This Gundam Marker is super helpful in weathering! It can be blended with a dry brush or cotton swab directly on the surface. It sticks to the surface better than oil does so it’s pretty easy to make some good looking stains without worrying about wiping it all off. It’s also finger grease resistant! 

Painting smoking rivets has never been this easy 

Flap streaks by Tamiya grey panel line accent 

Weathering almost done in just one night 

Adding highlights with white oil paint 

Polished the spine and verticals 

Ready for flat coat, I wanted this to have high contrast between the black stripe and flat grey 

Damn it… I ordered 1/144 decals to patch this up later 

Stock nozzles in this kit are kind of a joke 

I used light gull grey as off white, it’s more cohesive this way 

Nozzles painted with super iron, followed by thin layers of clear brown and clear black 

Noice 

My least favorite part of any build 

Thankfully I didn’t lose anything 

Installed gears and doors 

Mr. Cruise himself 

Only two pylons as in the first training scene 

The last things I installed 

Done!