Testors | No. 506 | 1:48 | North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco
2021/22: OOB build of the vintage '80s Testors 1/48 kit.
Unboxing another vintage (1988) kit that I have in the stash. I love this experimental Marines camouflage scheme - though obviously it's a tri-colour one - so more complicated to achieve. I may have a crack at hand painting this one - just for fun!
Plastic is a bit 'bendy'. So before gluing am applying some pressure and will use hairdryer on fuselage, then leave near boiler to keep warm for a bit.
Same here also. Pinched then applied gentle heat to parts.
Getting better.
Ensuring fit of wing with some maximum clamping!
Primer applied - with an airbrush. It's also all a bit straighter.
Building armaments and cleaning up parts, fair bit of flash on everything and those pesky part numbers.
There are injection holes on everything also.
Pinching twin booms.
Further putty and tidying up prior to priming. I did add weight to both halves of front nose fuselage, but then...
Discovered it needed a LOT more. See bottom right! Oh no! A tail sitter!
Some more putty and sanding/filling going on.
A LOT more fishing weights and some standard (smooth) DIY household filler added. Weight issue solved. The front undercarriage is pretty solid, so should be fine with the weight.
Smoothing and sanding.
Primed.
Priming and adding raised details back to the parts.
OK, so on A whim, I decided I'd park the airbrush for the USMC scheme and paint the entire camouflage pattern by hand. To be honest I couldn't be doing with all the masking!
Paint being used here is a water thinned Vallejo NATO green primer. It's not the exact colour, but a decent enough approximation of the box art green.
Several light coats and laborious curve camouflage painting later it's beginning to look the part. I made a mess of the central wing curve by spilling paint. So a dash of base grey primer again applied with airbrush and then back to hand painting the curves.
I lightly outlined the camouflage based on instructions first, then infilled with flat colour.
Nothing is glued/assembled yet. Much easier to paint main components separately. I did use the airbrush again to sort out a base primer issue in the middle of the wing, aside from that, it's all with 'sticks'!
Touching up some minor imperfections in my curve painting.
Not too bad. Not flat like an airbrush finish, but not terrible. Now I've got 'my eye in' a bit on how the paint behaves on larger surfaces I'll be able to stick paint flat colours better next time. I'm also not sure that using Vallejo Model Air is the best choice as obviously it's designed for airbrush use.
Final checks that my camouflage pattern matches on all panels before gluing.
Then gluing (top left) and then infilling, scribing and sanding where kit didn't want to perform as it should 😉
Propeller work - I mucked this up on one set of masking, paint seeped under when painting red lines. However went back and made good.
Assembled, painted and NOT tail sitting... Winner!
I'm pretty happy with how it's turned out, for a predominantly stick painted scheme.
Adding some post paint job grime. I just apply this directly on my paint work, using a dry brush, powders, pencil, charcoals, WD40, anything I have to hand that grimes everything up a bit. I've also rubbed off paint from a few panel rivets to expose the base colour grey. To make the whole airframe look a bit 'used'.
Finished adding a touch post paint grime to all panels... Now the obligatory gloss coat prior to decaling...
Explanation instructions of paint scheme, airframe now varnished, so decals at the ready...
Finally getting somewhere!... Adding wheels (still more to do), ordnance and props...
Assembling canopy and priming inside and out - hand painted. Canopy doesn't line up particularly well. I note others who've built this kit have had to overcome same issues.
Camouflage painting canopy - I have subsequently tidied up lines and double dipped in Pledge, so now nice and shiny!
Коментарі
76 22 September 2021, 13:34
NeilHi Robert 🙂 Thanks for your comment, great to have you onboard. Yeah you're right... I was hoping for a quick (in-between) build of another vintage kit. There isn't a lot to it as far as parts go but it is fighting me somewhat, still I'm not resigning it to the shelf of doom yet. It's beginning to shape up (a bit!)
6 December 2021, 17:01
Ian ChristieI love twin boomers and had a wish to do a bronco, so interested in seeing where this goes. I have similar putty requirements with the o-2 skymaster i have 'paused' on.
16 February 2022, 12:57
NeilHi Ian 🙂 yeah this old Testors kit has required a fair bit of putty for sure. Thanks for your comment. Nice to have your interest 👍
16 February 2022, 20:45
NeilHi Jv, thanks for your interest 🙂 yes, all the camouflage has been brush painted... Just for the hell of it! 😂 But meant no masking of course.
18 March 2022, 23:48
JvYes interesting to me sens I am still limited in tools
So great to see results like this
19 March 2022, 01:53
NeilHi Jv, thanks for the feedback, very kind of you. Yes, I usually mix it up on a paint job, using airbrush and a stick... I can never be arsed with a load of masking on camo, especially tri-colour schemes, sloppy of me I know! 😉 😅 Thanks for the likes mates also 👍
26 March 2022, 17:05
NeilHi Roland 🙂 thanks for the like. Agreed, there's something 'cute' about it as a design! I know that kit too... My lesson learnt on this one - you need a lot of nose weight! Obviously looking forward to seeing your build very much mate 👍
8 April 2022, 10:57
James CGreat job on the camouflage, and especially so for being done with a hairy stick! Looking fantastic!👍
12 May 2022, 17:17
Chan LiSo this was hand painted camo… are you a marksman in army or so? What a steady hand!
23 May 2022, 13:01
NeilHiya Chan Li 🙂 haha... Nothing like that for me! Thanks very much for your comment - It's because I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered to mask it all up! So decided to use a 'hairy stick' instead. I'm happy with the result and nearly there with it, more images coming soon 👍
24 May 2022, 13:25
Chan LiIt looks good though, smooth and even, I used to do hand paint as well… but now I rely too much on airbrush.
24 May 2022, 15:16
David CulpLooks great! The Testors main landing gear look solid. I might steal those from my Testors kit to put into my ICM kit 🙂
17 September 2022, 23:21
NeilHi David, thanks for commenting 🙂 ...Agreed, that could be a useful plan! 👍
19 September 2022, 12:08
NeilHi all 🙂 I've finally got around to taking 'reveal' pictures for many of my previous build albums. I shall be updating each and including a few build notes in the description too - especially on the bits I messed up! Broke! Dropped! etc. This time I present my version of the venerable Testors Bronco, completed back in the depths of 2022. Thanks to all who showed interest and liked, it's very much appreciated from such a talented lot as you guys.
1 March, 12:46
CaptGPFGorgeous Bronco! Certainly unique camo pattern - by hand no less! The weathering is definitely up to your usual standards. most hand painted camps end up very thick - so you must have used a lot of paint retarder or really thinned out that paint repeatedly to keep the layers thin and stop the paint from drying.
I must have missed the memo on the Build a Bronco month - there seems to be a lot of those builds recently! 😀
1 March, 15:42
NeilThanks J35J and CaptGPF! Super kind 😁 Yes, the camouflage on this one was an experimental scheme as detailed in the kit options. I decided to hand paint it on a bit of a whim tbh... I never bothered with any retarder, thinner fluid or masking. Just freehand built it up in multiple watered down layers. It's another earlier build where I've been able to add some reveal imagery. Thanks very much for everyone who liked also 👍
2 March, 17:59
NeilHi J35J, thanks 👍 my go to is always Vallejo, but I also have AK and Hataka in my arsenal! Predominantly Vallejo on this one. Thanks for the recent likes 👍
2 March, 22:16
Rui SAs you know I'm more AFV, maybee that's why I missed this beauty, but I always like to see your finished work. Great & great camo on this one by the way 👍
3 March, 12:28
NeilYou're very kind Rui ☺️ no probs. I'm always appreciative that you would view my efforts. I remain humbled that any of you talented bunch like or comment... Best wishes to you all on your own modelling exploits and thank you all for the likes. 👍 🙂
4 March, 14:23
Album info
The North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco is an American twin-turboprop light attack and observation aircraft. It was developed in the 1960s as a special aircraft for counter-insurgency (COIN) combat, and one of its primary missions was as a forward air control (FAC) aircraft. It can carry up to 3,200 lb (1,450 kg) of external munitions, internal loads such as paratroopers or stretchers, and loiter for three or more hours.
