Austrian Flag over Japan - F104J Eikó

Slavo Hazucha
With the Flanker mach-speeding into fields of distant memory, it´s time for a new one...

This was actually a present & the donor is watching, so I better not mess this one up!

There is nothing wrong with the boxart picture, so I´m going for that version precisely. Was thinking about the twin-blue camo as used on the F-2´s, but since I want to build an actual F-2, that option is a pass...

Instructions put the seat almost at the end, but it´s so nice I could not resist... The kit has PE for all around the cockpit, but I found the plastic side panels... more plastic... 🙂

Everything dry-fits perfectly, indicating a problem-free horizon where the eye can see - so this should be a nice little chillout build journey

Konrad -
Haha 1st....
Cool looking pit Slavo! Now you're going strait forward with this one😉!
Looking forward to see this bird coming alive! 👍

Palo M
Great start!

Nathan Dempsey
Ooh nice one. I'm in.

Munkyslut
That is a work of art!
Incredible detail, utterly brilliant 👍

bughunter
Oh, Slavo is building a Erdnagel 👍 I'm watching! I really like the "Sportfelgen" of this bird😉

Martin von Schreckenstein
a Starf! yes please. solid start too!

Slavo Hazucha
Welcome Konrad (the first...), Palo, Roland, Anna-Elizabeth (the Great...), Nathan, Munky, Frank & Martin! 🙂

Thank you all for showing up & your early encouragements, I will try to be an entertaining host - so far this kit falls together beautifully, so it should not be an all too long & painful journey...

Anybody's got experience with the Hasegawa 104's showing tail-sitter ambitions - should some weight be added for good measure? We don't want to miss the "Sportfelgen" for sure😉

Juergen Klinglhuber
Schaut vielversprechend aus,...I'm in.

Rui S
Excellent detail and paintjob in the pit. 👍

Munkyslut
Slavo please explain to me "sportfelgen"..... as a dumb Englishman that means sports rims?

Palo M
@Munkyslut: yes

bughunter
@Munkyslut They would do great on a sports car too 😉
[img1]

Jos Jansen
Great an one-o-four...I'm in buddy...👍!!

Andy Ball
Ok, so what's this all about then?....

Munkyslut
Ha! I got it now.......... I get there eventually 😄

Patrick Hagelstein
😄 The project title alone had me have a look, now that I see it's a Slavo project, I'm definitely in! If you enjoy the build, I'll enjoy the pictures, deal? 😉 👍

Slavo Hazucha
Welcome Juergen, Rui, Jos, Andy & Patrick!

I'll checked the wheels and the main gear looks similar enough to the picture here - very nice Eduard resins btw - will post pictures soon. Offers 2 versions for the front wheel, will need some advice on that...

Patrick I knew my clickbait project title will bear fruit 😄 The mutual win-win treaty sounds fair enough, will try to comply!

Slavo Hazucha
I am enjoying this build a lot & doing some supersonic progress - pics coming later this week...

In the meantime a question for the 104/JSDAF connosieurs - about the intakes:

My intended version will have a black outilne on the cone and around the outside/inside - would there be bare metal/white/grey further back in the intake, when the plane exterior itself is mostly NMF?

Thanks in advance!😉

Daniel
Ah, heres where all the party people went!^^ That cockpits already stunning! Interesting strap-in-solution in there... "Rollbraten" comes to my german mind😉

Slavo Hazucha
Welcome Daniel! The party is still young, no worries 😉

Took me some time to work out what & how the side-contraptions should represent, it seems they deploy on two arms during ejections like race-car safety nets, preventing dangling parts of the pilot to get severed in the process... Nice reference here + one in deployed position too:

comptoir-aviation.co..104-starfighter.html

[img1]

James C
Thats an impressive looking cockpit and ejection seat Slavo. Lovely painting and detailing 👍

Patrick Hagelstein
😄 Picture 2 is the penultimate example of logic in it's purest form....

Nathan Dempsey
Eduard would sell so many of those seats with Slavo's picture. 🙂

Urban Gardini
Wonderful so far mate!

Michael Phillips
OOOOOH, Slavo is onto another project, and it is a Japanese Starfighter! I gotta take a seat and watch the magic happen here. Man, that cockpit is NICE!

Slavo Hazucha
Welcome & thanks James, Urban & Michael!

Patrick, Roland & Nathan - Clear GTFO message to Soviet Strategic Forces Tu-95/142... Dare to fly one mile further over the Sea of Japan and I´ll pin your Red Stars... You know where... But before I do that, I´ll... you can imagine... 😄😉

Fuselage halves came together in the meantime (a moment´s prayer that everything that should be inside actually IS inside...) and required some seeing-to around the connection. Actually had fun re-doing those rivets! 🙂

Spanjaard
still some room to watch, i hope. can not miss this one!
cockpit looking great

Spanjaard
you did all the riveting manually?

Andy Ball
don't tell me...you have a miniature riveting gun?....😉

Antoine Meylan
Rien que le siège et c'est déjà un chef d'oeuvre... vivement la suite!!

Erik Leijdens
Some impressive work on that C2 seat Slavo! I still have to finish mine 🙂. Those regenerated rivets look great! To be honest it is something I did not do, but luckily for 3 of my 104s it isn't too late to do so.

Slavo Hazucha
Spanjaard & Andy - the Hasegawa plastic is extremely rivet- & scribe- friendly, I actually look forward to hiding all clues around the gluing spots this time 🙂

Erik I am watching your efforts closely and with growing admiration - while I like the kit a lot, imagining doing some steps 4* would require levels of persistence & endurance I cannot hope to muster...

In the meantime, all is going fine, I added all details of the cockpit (which is now closed & masked), put in the basic LG shafts, which will receive more love in due time and sawed off the space for an open brake-chute panel. Intakes on, all up for some filing & minor sanding...

Slavo Hazucha
Finished & black-primed the 104 for NMF works. Photos illustrate the happy moments when I thought I had all the connections looking good & smooth. The metal color quickly led me out of my mistaken belief & I did 4-5 Do/check/re-do cycles by now, but we´re maybe getting somewhere.

Used up the earliest chance to do a first iteration of the engine job - I keep it lighter at the moment (looking light esp. in relation to the black primer layer), I want to see how it will look when compared to the metal - It´s easy to make it darker than vice versa later...

The nozzle is kit + PE parts, the burner chamber & interior Ed Brassin set. Really nice kit part, one has to say...

bughunter
Perfectionism 👍 But yes, the metal finish is merciless! I'm a lucky bastard doing biplanes, which don't need a perfect finish😉

Nathan Dempsey
Always a joy to see what you will do with the exhaust area. On the cockpit the green area around the HUD is very interesting and looks great.

Erik Leijdens
Great work on the exhaust. I'll still have to do them.

James C
You really have a knack for replicating metal surfaces and jet engine nozzles Slavo. 👍

Jos Jansen
Totally agree with you James...it's perfect!

Andy Ball
I bought some MIG metallics yesterday- I hope I can put them to the standard of use shown here. (Probably not!)...such realism....

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Frank, Nathan, Erik, James, Jos & Andy!

It´s all very mid-production - I made the exhaust work as far as I am sure I want to have it in any case, will do the metals on the tail of the plane next and then I plan to add some final blue streaks and some decent black/grey soot, but first I want to see how the parts match & compare vs. photos.

Nathan I gathered the section around the HUD was aparently often covered by a rough fabric. I softened up the smooth plastic part with a few drops of extra thin glue & dabbed-in the structure with an old hard brush - pretty much as tankers do when making cast armor structure... The windshield covers all the bleak area around it, it all looks fine & compact inside.

Also, if any of you should consider this kit - the Eduard list of additional boost-sets includes the recommendation for a Brassin exhaust set "late". But I found that maybe 10% of the featured markings options in the kit are aircraft with a late-type nozzle, 90%, including mine, have the "early" one... The plastic kit nozzle is nice enough (used here) - I used the burner chamber, fan & burner rings from the Brassin, but not the late-type nozzle. No harm done though, since I can keep the very nice resin part for a future Kfir build 😄

Slavo Hazucha
So here we go with another deeply work-in-progress update:

- basic metal is on over all surfaces - I used MRP white Aluminium. Did the whole plane, even the areas under the intended red & white surfaces, I have a small idea there, let´s see how that turns out...

- I am nowhere near patient enough to keep the canopy under masking tape for the duration of the build, so the Eduard pre-cut tapes (glad I had them!) went down - I´m OK with the result there...

- started from the back - applied different metals with masks & airbrush. got as far as where the airbrakes end. This is how far I want to go with the Airbrush job, which is a reasonable base for the next stages - I will continue finishing the surfaces with wear/soot/weathering effect with oils, so this is just a "basic canvas" for now 🙂 - start of the process is visible on the last picture, will follow with more soon!

Erik Leijdens
O wow very nice metal work Slavo. I am also very fond on your navigation lights, that's were I've had couple of f*ck-ups.. Have a couple that are drilled out off centre... Should have kept them how they were and just painted them later on🙂.
Also you canopy is crystal clear revealing all those nice details in the cockpit area, especially your instrument panel cover looks very good. Wished you had started your build earlier than mine Slavo, so I could have peeked on your work! O well maybe that's the price for staring 4 F-104s at once..the eye for detail is bit harder to hold..🤔

Anyway, you are a Master builder my friend!

Munkyslut
Slavo, I know sweet FA about planes but I recognised some brilliantly applied detailing when I see it & those engines are just incredible 👍

Daniel Klink
Whoa this is really incredible metallizing stuff Slavo 👍
In my opinion NMF surfaces are the biggest challenge and they forgive or hide nothing.
Just superbly executed mate 👍

Spanjaard
metal looking amazing (as expected from you😉 )

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks, Erik, Munkyslut, Daniel & Spanjaard!

Erik I totally read you - I took a one size smaller drill and then did the "final approach" with a round profile file until I touched the borders. Thought about just painting them, but really, there is no full substitute for "depth" which a clear part painted from below provides... & I would not be worried about your quad-build, you´re going for a different job with camo all over anyway as I understand - a completely different kind of beast, so to say - one´s always bound to start first, so I am the "happy peeker" this time (and I did took inspiration several times, particularly how to properly connect intakes & co...)😉

The NMF work is brutal - pitfalls & punishment around every corner 😄 I will be able to cover-up some issues with future weathering, but if I wanted a super clean one, it would be back to sanding and polishing on more than one spot...

Erik Leijdens
Ah yes that was the correct way for drilling them out, I went right away with the 0,8mm drill...
Well, they are all camouflaged but one of TF-104Gs has a bare metal rear.! Ah well from a distance it will look the part 🙂

Flattering to see a Master builder gets inspiration from my build..😢

Jos Jansen
There he goes again, the metal master...beautiful my friend! 👍

Nathan Dempsey
Yes, that's more fine metal finish from Slavo 🙂

Daniel
Metal-Dorado for slavo 🙂
(Ich persönlich träume ja eher vom Mett-Eldorado...)
Anyways - I am quite a bit shocked how fast you are finishing this, some days gone and this already looks like a little rocket ready to launch. Think it's the AMiGos on your horizon and the need for proper iron curtain metal work 🙂 But this looks really nice for the western tin machines😉 really really nice 👍 Starfighters really look best in NMF IMO, like starships out of those early sciFi comic books

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Erik, Jos, Nathan & Daniel!

I´m not really sure any mastery praise is truly deserved - I´m taking educated guesses one at a time & they fortunately - mostly - happen to work to my general satisfaction - if you guys like it too, I´m just that more happy a man... 👍

A true metal mastery can be seen down in the video (the whole channel´s load of videos is really worth seeing) - I do not understand much of the voiceover, but am trying to replicate some of the techniques with the materials I have... (still no pigments or chipping fluid...)

Youtube Video

Daniel the MiGs suggested in an unmistakably clear way that if this is not done by the end of September, armed green men on vacation, bearing no visible markings will appear & annex my bench... 😮

@a full NMF model - agree, but I´ll have to grow up a bit before I take up that level of challenge. Just got a call with a heavy Slavic accent suggesting a MiG-21 may be a good candidate 😄

Spanjaard
Slavo, If you need translation for any specific details of what the voice is saying just ask😉

Bernhard Schrock
Watching 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
Spanjaard, what I would need even more would be a transfer of some of those skills & techniques!😉 But thanks a lot, should I stumble upon a sequence that leaves me truly puzzled I´ll drop you a PM!

Bernhad welcome, there are still several courses to be served on this menu!😉

Spanjaard
"I know kungfu" kind of transfer?😉

Maciej Bellos
Joining in pretty late... It pretty much was under my radar so I missed it completely... Splendid metal work as per the usual Slavo ISO standard.😉

Slavo Hazucha
Spanjaard - exactly what I had in mind... Will run the youtube channel on my tablet while sleeping 😄

Maciej welcome - there is still a bit of road to go!

And since this model is such a good sport, I keep feeling the gravitational pull of the bench daily... Played with oils on one side of the rear metallic area. The lead idea was to slightly vary techniques, colors & intensities between panels & panel groups - I probably went well beyond the borders of the reasonable, but it was such a good fun to try...

I added a few descriptions what I did - because I think in the end it´s really simple, safe & rewarding - create a base effect layout, then subtract, in case of need/fail, remove everything & re-start... no real risk involved, except maybe the risk of not knowing when to stop... 🙂

Daniel K
Excellent work! That tonal variation is great. Many thx for the vid.

Sven Schönyan
Great paintjob! Thanks for sharing your methods!

Andy Ball
My eyeballs are sore with all this NMF artistry! Can't wait to see the finals....

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Daniel, Sven & Andy!

Andy I'm just rushing through the good bits - keeping peculiarities, like sanding the fins/tanks connections or the LG away for the time being...

bughunter
"Metal painted surface artist" is your middle name 👍

Soeren R.
That looks fantastic!

Micky
Looks great! thanks for the tips and explanations!

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks a lot Frank, Soeren & Micky!

Frank since I definitely lack your skills of creation with real metal, the only thing that remains for me is to fake&paint it...😉

It would be difficult to deny I like these kinds of works, but there is method to the madness - I have a vision of a crazy NMF Flanker-based project & still a lot of tricks to try & learn 🙂

Raimund Epler
Fantastic.

Calvin Gifford
Inspirational! <3

Clifford Keesler
Master Modeler. Awesome metal work.

Juergen Klinglhuber
cool,...geht dahin....nice progress!

Nathan Dempsey
That's turning into a colorful bird 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
Thank you very much Raimund, Calvin & Clifford!

I really enjoy the metal work - plans & ideas already brewing up for a MiG-21... 🙂

And finally, the meaning of the title is revealed - got the red & white on. I started some improvement process on the red areas, did some panel-lining with a red-black oil mix, creating some red-ish brown tone (pure black would be way too blunt...) and worked a bit of structure into the red surfaces with lighter shades - very gentle (other expression for barely visible 🙂 ), since on pics, the colors always appear very fresh/intact. The white is yet untouched.

Michael Phillips
This just looks sooooooo gooooooood! The contrast of the crisp red to the crisp white against the sublime metalwork is really just some amazing eye candy. It's such a tease that there is only one pic of this! LOL But I am sure that is by design... 🙂

Eelco Gregoire
Great built.. it is very nice to read your steps, they are helpfull!

Tom Ballhoff
Fantastic metal work Slavo

Konrad -
Congrats Slavo all those colours are not so easy to paint but hey it looks like nothing can stop the Austrian Flag 😉!
Awesome work mate awesome work 👍!!

Sven Schönyan
It´s a pleasure to watch it grow!

Daniel Klink
Deja Vu 🙂
[img1]

Daniel Klink
Looking great Slavo..stunning clean and precise paintjob mate 👍

Jos Jansen
Poooah...breathtaking Slavo, thanks mate for a masterclass NMF...you're a great value to this forum!

Dave Flitton
I want to know how you did that! It's so perfect!

Slavo Hazucha
Whoa, Michael, Eelco, Tom, Konrad, Sven, Daniel, Jos & Dave - thanks a lot friends for so much middle of the road praise!!

Michael the one-shot-only update has a rather natural explanation - I just managed to find a short window of a shy glimpse of light during a very rainy day to take a pic on the table outside... 🙂 plus the yet untreated front of the aircraft refuses to be shown in pictures together with the as-good-as finished rear section... 😄

Konrad you are quite right - I did the white first without masking, that went reasonably well, but then it took quite a few layers of red to even out the difference on the white overlaps & on metal. I was afraid I´ll end up with bumps on the masking tape edges, but the thin MRP mixture pulled me out of that misery...

Jos I´m just a loyal wingman to some venerable formation leaders here mate!😉

James C
The contrast of the red and white next to the bare metal panels on the fuselage is awesome.
Looking incredible 👍

Erik Leijdens
Slavo, my eyes hurt when seeing all this awesomeness! Incredible metal. Now I MUST give it a try too on my TF-104 with the bare metal back end.

Clifford Keesler
It's going to be a beauty. I want to try a NMF Mig-21 also. I have several.

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks James, Erik & Clifford!

Now I have to create a plan the drying-cycles on different colors & surfaces, or there will be fingerprints all over the place... 🙂

Dave it really is about layer planning, the execution IMO is no magic/rocket science - I tried to document it on the metal parts - airbrushing different basic metals on masked areas, contrasting the edges with added darker tones (burned iron/gunmetal or some burned blue/violet) gives the basic layer & from there I work mostly with oils on the finer details... I also have a test-platform - wings & fuselage from an old kit - on which I test anything I am not certain of. But mostly I do not have so much patience & go for it on the real model 🙂

Erik go for it, it´s good fun & I think the metal/camo contrast line is really a highlight of the F-104!

Clifford looking forward to it - you have a reputation for capturing the "flair" of a given aircraft & the MiG-21 has many faces to portrait... 👍

Alexander
Very realistic and beuatifully done weathering - on top of the great detailwork in cockpit and co! 👍
Eager to see how the full plane turns out.

Daniel
Wow, what can I add? Another stunning piece of art, oil on metal, cool techniques, pommes schranke 🙂
And you make it look so easy! 👍 👍 👍

Nathan Dempsey
If Slavo holds a workshop I'll seriously think about a plane ticket 🙂

Munkyslut
I'm with Nathan 😄

Gary Dahlström
Looking real nice Slavo!

Jos Jansen
I'll join you Nathan...everything this man touches it's changes in little gems... 😉

Clifford Keesler
I'll come along also. The Master has much to teach.

Erik
Top! I like the descriptions in the pictures.
Which red did you take? Matching perfectly!

Slavo Hazucha
Alexander, Daniel, Nathan, Munkyslut, Gary, Jos, Clifford & Erik - thanks a lot & a bow to you gentlemen for your comments & motivation!

My laptop suddenly gave up & I had to rapidly set-up a new one, so work & commenting has been somewhat impeded by this rather unsportsmanlike behavior on the side of my hardware equipment...

Still managed a few steps, methodically (more or less) adding surface effects area-by-area. Each layer takes 2 days to dry & become safely touchable, so it´s a steady walk, no rushing possible. I am doing a general surface layer, will then add decals & after that go for the more specific effect here & there... at least that´s the plan...

@Daniel - Pommes schranke? 😄 + compared to your carbon-analysis based work on the Tomcat, this is fairly free & easy work 😉

@Holding workshops - I could do one on "how to spill liquids over various surfaces"! 😄 CA-bottles, MRP-Welder glue, MRP metallic color (provided in larger amounts, this thing virtually eats into the plastic of my Airbrush boot... 😮 )... and the notebook incident was also kind of related to a liquid-based event...

@Erik - MRP 025 A II KR Red, made slightly paler by a touch of white, was generally aiming for an almost similar, but just slightly different tone to the Decal Hinomaru Red...

Gary Dahlström
Sign me up for the Spill Workshop! I've been competent with the minor spills but that one big splash has, to date, eluded me.
Love ur sense of humor Slavo.

Tom Beighley
Love an F-104! In!

Urban Gardini
To spill or not is not the question but how to spill is...

Treehugger
Are you going to add the white nose color?

Slavo Hazucha
Welcome Tom,

@Gary & Urban - Already the basic techniques would take a full-length lecture... The Executioner Spill, the Evaporator, the Critical Tilt or the Italian Straddle, I could go on...😉 😄

@Treehugger - sure, but the nose being a "touchy" area, there is virtually no chance I´d manage to keep it clean + there is a contact line to the metal, which receives some treatment requiring towel & cotton removal that would also be bound to leave marks... will be one of the later steps, this is not nearly finished yet 🙂

Nathan Dempsey
Lovely oil work on the red and white areas. Are you using a specific product to thin the oils or anything to hasten their drying time?

bughunter
That is a colorful progress! I like the red, white and metal combination 👍 Looks like big fun playing with paints one mm² after another mm²😉

Johne 69
Fantastic work 👍

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Nathan, Frank & Johne!

Nathan I am using winsor&newton oils (seriously good) and a generic odorless thinner (Brand=Schmincke) from an Artist-shop . I will try different thinner next, maybe a natural one, since while my current one works in 90% of situations and is also a very reliable remover, when extremely thinned, it does not carry the paint 100% evenly but separates into a fully transparent and paint particles. Nothing impossible to deal with, just want to check if I can get something for super-thin, consistency-holding use...

I am not using anything to speed-up the drying - actually, I built a habit to use the slow drying for a 2-stage approach - on first pass, I leave a bit more color & effect on the surface and on day 2 I do the finer tweaking. works on surfaces, in recesses, the "dry beyond removal" point is achieved earlier...

Frank you bet - I can only warmly recommend working with good oils - wonderfully versatile stuff 👍

Munkyslut
This is turning out to be an epic thread 👍

Calvin Gifford
👍

Gary Dahlström
Slavo, I use Webber oderless turpenoid. I use it mainly because it's just safer around the cats in case of a spill😉. Mixes well, & I get good flow with little or none of those particulates you mention. I also use W&N oils so I can speak for their compatibility. Also cleans up well, but I usually try to neatly chase any major cleanups soon after application; but it will still work well after an overnite drying time.

I do feel like a jerk recommending thinners (or anything model-related) to Slavo; so I shall bow deeply in respect and retreat swiftly to the nearest exit. 🙂

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks Slavo, you just saved me a $1800US plane ticket 🙂

Thanks Gary, this is a product I'll likely find here in the States. Maybe Hobby Lobby?

I also use W&N but have been using Turpentine to thin it. Strong odor and sometimes I think it makes the drying time longer than normal.

Gary Dahlström
We get it at Michael's. 20 bucks for a qt. Seems to qualify as an item that can be shipped.

Clifford Keesler
Looking excellent Slavo. I love your oil work. What colors of W&N oils do you use. Right now I have only black.

Slavo Hazucha
Gary I gladly accept all kind´s of tips, inputs, corrections & critical views - always happy to learn & try something new! 👍

I´ve been using turpentine before, the smell was strong but on the other hand, you knew where you stood in terms of room-air quality & when to open windows and/or leave...

I´ll probably test 1-2 further thinners, the Webber sounds fine, will check in my store of choice.

I´m also starting to work with inks & acrylic pencils + graphite, and finding the optimum synergies - lots of fun ahead in future builds... 🙂 Atm I´m leaving out enamel washes and acrylic-based post-prod substances...

Clifford I have so far:
MARS BLACK (universal use)
BURNED UMBER (mixing with black = grime & stains + standalone/+black/+grey = in the jet engines)
BURNED SIENNA (light & orange-ish streaks from different sources, contrasts inside engines/burner chambers)
TITANIUM WHITE (mainly for mixing and for bleaching & sunray-paling effects (i.e. to weaken the effect of overly zealous red/yellow stencils that break the scale-appearance due to the too saturated & even bright color vs rest of model...))
the quadriga above fully covered everything until this build, now added BRIGHT RED, probably in lifetime supply 🙂

I find W&N are certainly do not hesitate to ask for money for their products, but they also deliver. Heard Abteilung Oils are reasonable too, but did not try...

Urban Gardini
The main difference between W&N and Abteilung 502 is the oil used. Both is great products with the best pigment you can get but Abt.502 have a shorter drying time.

Nathan Dempsey
Good info Slavo 🙂 I agree about the pricing for W&N but on the flip side the length of time one tube will last is enormous. My tube of Lamp Black was purchased many many years ago and it is unlikely I'll ever use it all.

Pencils: I recently purchased some of the AK pencils and tested them on my Do335 and Skyraider refurbishment projects. I was very pleased with the results and can't wait to use them on a new build.

Clifford Keesler
Thank you for the Info Slavo and Nathan.@ Nathan can you find W&N at Hobby Lobby and Michael's? Don't remember where I got my black from.

Nathan Dempsey
All my new tubes of W&N have been from Hobby Lobby.

bughunter
I use also oils for weathering and wood simulation, and I use mainly the Schmincke "Norma Professional" series. I like them.

Daniel Klink
Thanks Frank, exactly what i was looking for and what i wanted to ask you decades ago..
ordered

Michael Hickey
Very nice work mate.👍

Paul Juliano
Another museum quality piece by Slavo!

Clifford Keesler
Thanks for the info, Nathan and bughunter. Slavo I see another masterpiece taking shape.

Dominik Weitzer
fantastic paintjob!

Andy Ball
Eye-watering-ly and masterly! (again!)

Alexander
Detailwork in the landing gear bay coming along very nice!

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Michael, Paul, Clifford, Dominik & Andy!

Some slow progress was happening all over the surfaces, but most notably, I took on the landing gear... Was kind of looking forward to it, judged it to be a good weekends worth work, now with weekend & several evenings+ I can call one half of the main LG well & legs finished... 😄

Added most of the cables in the well on top of the mold as lead- & all kinds of wires, which created a much more "3D" effect in the well.

+ we have the "Sportfelgen" ON now - very nice resin wheels from Eduard, a pleasure to work with...

Nathan Dempsey
That landing gear is some tasty eye candy.

bughunter
... and looks like the real one 👍

Daniel Klink
The eduard stuff looks really promising...
You brought it to life perfectly... 👍
Amazing Slavo

Agustin Prellezo
Superb!!!!

Gary Dahlström
*mind blown*
man I just love how all the hues scale perfectly. I shall raise a glass to your color-eye this evening.

James C
You never cease to both amaze and impress with your fine detailing Slavo. Those wheel bays are simply on another level!

Clifford Keesler
That is some awesome looking landing gear, how do you get the tires to look so real?

Lode Schildermans
Haven't been a while around here. Slavo, you hit em again. Fantastic build

Slavo Hazucha
Nathan, Frank, Daniel, Augustin, Gary, James, Clifford & Lode - gentlemen, thank you very much for your kind comments & for the usual necessary dose of patience with my slowly crawling progress!

Frank - Habe mir besondere Mühe gegeben, am Rad waren leider halt nur ein paar Teile zu bemalen, kein scratch-building oder gar Löten - also ziemlich unbeeindruckend...😉

Gary I hope it was 2309-vintage bloodwine! 😄

Clifford I think I am actually not yet "there" with the tires... I use a dark grey mix + matt varnish and then wash + drybrush - in this case light grey wash and light brown drybrush - on Soviet material, utilizing more dusty runways, I turn it around and drybrush first, then wash with light brown... But as said, while I think I got the rims +/- to my satisfaction with greasy/dirty/brake-dust covered effects, I feel there is still room above for the tires... and btw. the F-104 main wheels are just marginally larger than the Flanker´s front wheels..!

Lode I´ve noticed the prolonged fitting-out on the HOOD... Hope you find time to return to more regular updates, I could use the "nudge to improve" that viewing your mini Swiss-clock-spec work provides! Not that the rigging work would be by any kind inferior, it just relates somewhat harder to Jet-Aircraft...😉 And thanks for stopping by, your comments are always highly valued!

Lode Schildermans
Salvo, I'd love to, but when there is nothing to show...there is nothing to show. Just a few pieces here and there

Sergej I
Awesome! This is oil-painting mastery, nothing less. I love the pre- and after-photos 👍

Slavo Hazucha
I was just working on it, postponing the posting new pics day-by-day and now it´s all finished... 😄

Second photo-booth attempt at a finished model can be found here - thanks everyone for all the support of this (shortest-so-far) build journeys of mine!! 👍

F-104J - Austrian Flag over Japan - spec | Album by slavatarko (1:48)

Lode Schildermans
And sorry for the spelling mistake, Slavo

Slavo Hazucha
Lode do not worry, during my business travel & hotel stays, my name is a constant source of surprising variations! 😄

Patrick Hagelstein
So, can I be excused for not following up for some time while traveling then? Man! I've only been away a couple of weeks and boy, did I miss out on some good stuff here.... 🙁 Amazing build Slavo! 👍

Calvin Gifford
Spectacular!

Tom Beighley
Fantastic work and informative too! I've got an F-104 in my stash will be coming back to this when I get started with it.

Guillaume Blanchet
Fantastic work!

Lode Schildermans
Slavo, every time you end a build, I am amazed and thinking I've seen it all and yet, you keep improving and surprising every time. The realism in your builds is simply stunning. Fantastic, mate

Dominik Weitzer
Wow. Super!

Hanno Kleinecke
Very pretty livery, absolute realistic result, a race-kite too 🙂

Roland Sachsenhofer
Wow! Not only as an Austrian am I simply enraptured! This is a depth of detail that I have rarely, or should I say never, seen before. Inspiring!

Slavo Hazucha
Thanks Patrick, Calvin, Tom, Guillaume, Lode, Dominik, Hanno & Roland! I'm happy you like it & feel inspired - This was such a pleasant and unproblematic build on almost all levels, It allowed me to focus on things I liked to do & had fun with, mainly the metal+oil experiments. I can really recommend this, including the PE & wheel aftermarket parts.

I was deciding between this and the blue-blue patterns, finally kept the latter for a future F2 build - I was also interested in doing a non-camo pattern with contrast colors - the "Flag effect" being a welcome bonus. @Roland - still would like to do the Austrian Red-wite-red Draken at some point provided I manage to get the kit/decals... 🙂

It's already done for some time, finished pics here in case you want to have a look:

F-104J - Austrian Flag over Japan - spec | Album by slavatarko (1:48)

Overall this was one of, if not the best start-to-finish build experiences for me since I returned to the hobby...

Ben M
Thank you for your tutorial on the oil dot panel washes you do. I will try this on my next NMF model, I like your work a lot.

Slavo Hazucha
cheers Ben - It´s a really good method for accentuating NMF & Metal panels, especially combined with some previous tonal difference - just make sure (best find a piece of plastic for a test, I usually do this on the inside of wing-halfs from the next project etc...):

1; that your metalizer & Oil are in complete agreement (My MRP Chrome i.e. got irreversibly matted by oils and looked like normal aluminium post-treatment)

2; with 1 clear, allow the oil time to dry... depending on thickness 1 hour+, even more. Don´t mind the initial feeling "sh*t, it´s too dry, nothing is being removed" - with patience, the oil starts going away and I find it much easier to slowly control the process than to have "one go" to blend a still too thin layer of the stuff before it´s all gone. On this, and other models, my best practice was - apply oil on day 1 and do the rough removal the same evening + the day after return to it and do the final tone, my Oils (W&N) dry over 2-3 days...

Ben M
Thank you - so you apply the oil dots, wait an hour or more for them to dry, then start the removal process. Let it dry more, the next day do more removal. I always let oils dry for a week or so after I use them for weathering, they do take quite a while to fully dry.

James C
That's some great advice on using oils Slavo 👍

Daniel Klink
Just can't get enough of this beauty.... Thanks for upping it Guillaume 👍

Greg Baker
I just about spit my coffee all over my computer screen... fanTAStic!

Clifford Keesler
I'm speechless sir.