Airfix SEPECAT JAGUAR GR1 1/48 by Smithy

[Smithy]

Definitely tedious landing gear assemblies.
At age 63, I haven't yet suffered a decline in my abilities, but I worry. I do however play guitar, and that keeps my hand strength and fingers up to par. So a definite plus. Whether it will actually help me build models in the future, I have no idea, but I figure it can't hurt. I only mention this because you said you used to play guitar and maybe it would help to play again?

I’m five years ahead of you, Dean. It depends on the individual though. If I thought I was going to live this long, perhaps I would’ve looked after myself a bit better. Lol!

I have been playing the guitar quite a lot this year. But I finally gave up on that just a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know if it helped or hindered, not having another me to act as a control. Haha!



I’ve been cracking on tonight. All of the interior components have been cleaned up ready for painting and a lot of the external airframe sub assemblies are now ready. I’ve decided not to fit any weapons or even the underwing and belly pylons. It’s the aircraft itself that I’m interested in and hanging lots of weapons underneath a model is just asking for trouble, if not during the build then during the subsequent dusting…

 

[Smithy]

I was busy yesterday, but this morning I sprayed the base colours on the cockpit and undercarriage components. I haven’t done any airbrushing for a very long time, and fortunately those skills seem to be holding up. I guess airbrushing is more of a mental than physical discipline.



The box full of parts is shrinking agreeably.



I don’t know why, but yellow is always a difficult colour to spray. Since this will be an interior assembly and the fit is extremely tight, I took a chance and did not prime the plastic. You can see how the thin zinc chromate paint has pooled in places around the rivets for example. I don’t think this will be a problem because the next thing I will be doing is applying an enamel wash to deepen the shadows and suggest a bit of muck. Undercarriage bays were always filthy in my day.



Finally, here’s a look at my spray bay. It’s very simple just a fan in a box. I use a flexible plastic ducting to take the smells and dust out of the window. When it is not in use the detachable ducting, the power cable, my mask, rubber gloves all fit inside it with the lid on to keep things tidy.

 

[Smithy]

Friday morning, stormy weather. Even the dog doesn’t want to go out today. It might be that I’ll make a modelling day of it.

Breakfast first.



Mmmmmmmmmm!

By the way, everyone’s welcome to comment. You don’t have to be a plastic modeller to join in and digressions don’t bother me.

 

[Smithy]

I’ve run some dark green enamel paint, thinned to a wash around the undercarriage and cockpit pieces. The idea is to simulate shadows and dirt, and modulate the base colour to make it a little more visually interesting.

There’s another great advantage of this simple technique. Because all of the internal corners are now painted very dark, when I come to brush paint the electrical wiring and various black boxes and pipe etc, I won’t have to paint all the way to the bulkheads. This is one of the ways that I hope to compensate for my cheeky old hands, which would be inclined to make a bit of a mess otherwise.



On the left is the off-white base, on the right after the wash. Unfortunately, this technique does bring out all of the little errors such as the seam lines which I have not cleaned up. Everything is a compromise.



That’s the wash in my palette to give you an idea of how much the paint needs to be thin to make it flow into the cracks by capillary action.

This is a very short post to kill some of the time while I wait for the white spirit to evaporate….

 

[Dean62]

I’ve run some dark green enamel paint, thinned to a wash around the undercarriage and cockpit pieces. The idea is to simulate shadows and dirt, and modulate the base colour to make it a little more visually interesting.

There’s another great advantage of this simple technique. Because all of the internal corners are now painted very dark, when I come to brush paint the electrical wiring and various black boxes and pipe etc, I won’t have to paint all the way to the bulkheads. This is one of the ways that I hope to compensate for my cheeky old hands, which would be inclined to make a bit of a mess otherwise.

View attachment 556803

On the left is the off-white base, on the right after the wash. Unfortunately, this technique does bring out all of the little errors such as the seam lines which I have not cleaned up. Everything is a compromise.

View attachment 556804

That’s the wash in my palette to give you an idea of how much the paint needs to be thin to make it flow into the cracks by capillary action.

This is a very short post to kill some of the time while I wait for the white spirit to evaporate….

It's always interesting to me to see how others work, such as painting parts on the sprue. I typically remove parts first and clean up all seams and sprue tabs prior to paint. On sub assemblies I like to glue them together prior to paint, but it depends on how difficult it becomes to paint after assembly. So always a case by case basis. I now do all of my painting with a brush, and employ washes and dry brushing. Standard approach I suppose for detail.
I like that you are using an airbrush. I have become too lazy to use one anymore. I don't want to deal with the setup and cleaning. At 1/72 scale there are no surfaces I can't paint smoothly with a brush because the surface areas are still small enough to work fast. But I only use Valejo water based air brush paints because they are properly thinned and go on smoothly.

 

[Smithy]

It's always interesting to me to see how others work, such as painting parts on the sprue. I typically remove parts first and clean up all seams and sprue tabs prior to paint. On sub assemblies I like to glue them together prior to paint, but it depends on how difficult it becomes to paint after assembly. So always a case by case basis. I now do all of my painting with a brush, and employ washes and dry brushing. Standard approach I suppose for detail.
I like that you are using an airbrush. I have become too lazy to use one anymore. I don't want to deal with the setup and cleaning. At 1/72 scale there are no surfaces I can't paint smoothly with a brush because the surface areas are still small enough to work fast. But I only use Valejo water based air brush paints because they are properly thinned and go on smoothly.

Liar! I’ve seen your models. They can’t be brushed painted. Far too bloody good!

Seriously, Dean. I studied the pictures of your models and I was sure they were sprayed. Good work man, good work.

I hate all the faffing around associated with airbrushing but I can’t paint without it. My brushwork looks like van Gogh did it. I’d be better off with a pallet knife than a paintbrush.

As for painting parts on the spruce, I agree with you that it’s not best practice. I’ve started to do it because I’d rather accept parts that aren’t properly cleaned up then then lose them. Drop them. Ping them across the room from my tweezers. Or maybe I’m just lazy.

And deciding how big I can build my sub assemblies without digressing into painting is always a challenge. When I was a kid, I used to paint every piece before I stick them together but it takes ages and more often than not the paint work was spoiled by the gluing. I had a period when I did a lot of tanks and military vehicles and found that it was possible to assemble them almost completely before painting. Are you familiar with Uncle Night Shift? He’s a YouTuber who makes tanks and stuff very very well and he seems to save all of his painting until the end. Now I’m back on the aeroplanes I’m still trying to find the compromise.

Anyway, back to business.



In between reading, watching movies and dragging the dog out into the rain occasionally I managed to do some work on the nose section.



I’m afraid my cockpit turned out to be more impressionistic than realistic. But I think it’ll look busy enough once the seat’s in.



Not too happy with the nose wheel bay either. I suppose it was good practice. In fact, on the Jaguar, the large gear doors are only open when the undercarriage is in motion. Once the wheels are locked down the doors re-close. This was to stop mud and sand being thrown into the bays when the Jags were operating from unprepared surfaces. The doors could be opened on the ground for maintenance purposes. As usual, the designers put all kinds of electrical and hydraulic units in there for easy access. So I have options, I’ll paint the bays and if I like them, I’ll use open doors. We shall see.

 

[RussF]

Wow, that's a tight cockpit. No claustrophobic pilots allowed!

 

[Dean62]

Liar! I’ve seen your models. They can’t be brushed painted. Far too bloody good!

Seriously, Dean. I studied the pictures of your models and I was sure they were sprayed. Good work man, good work.

I hate all the faffing around associated with airbrushing but I can’t paint without it. My brushwork looks like van Gogh did it. I’d be better off with a pallet knife than a paintbrush.

As for painting parts on the spruce, I agree with you that it’s not best practice. I’ve started to do it because I’d rather accept parts that aren’t properly cleaned up then then lose them. Drop them. Ping them across the room from my tweezers. Or maybe I’m just lazy.

And deciding how big I can build my sub assemblies without digressing into painting is always a challenge. When I was a kid, I used to paint every piece before I stick them together but it takes ages and more often than not the paint work was spoiled by the gluing. I had a period when I did a lot of tanks and military vehicles and found that it was possible to assemble them almost completely before painting. Are you familiar with Uncle Night Shift? He’s a YouTuber who makes tanks and stuff very very well and he seems to save all of his painting until the end. Now I’m back on the aeroplanes I’m still trying to find the compromise.

Anyway, back to business.

View attachment 556901

In between reading, watching movies and dragging the dog out into the rain occasionally I managed to do some work on the nose section.

View attachment 556903

I’m afraid my cockpit turned out to be more impressionistic than realistic. But I think it’ll look busy enough once the seat’s in.

View attachment 556902

Not too happy with the nose wheel bay either. I suppose it was good practice. In fact, on the Jaguar, the large gear doors are only open when the undercarriage is in motion. Once the wheels are locked down the doors re-close. This was to stop mud and sand being thrown into the bays when the Jags were operating from unprepared surfaces. The doors could be opened on the ground for maintenance purposes. As usual, the designers put all kinds of electrical and hydraulic units in there for easy access. So I have options, I’ll paint the bays and if I like them, I’ll use open doors. We shall see.

First, I’d say you did a great job. The cockpit has enough contrast to look the part. With the canopy on, it will probably look very convincing. Also the gear bay is looking good as well thanks to all the detail on the piping, etc. If you dry brush a few highlights I think you will want it to be visible. But we both know you never see that unless you pick up the airplane and turn it over.

On the subject of airbrush usage, I did airbrush my jets, those were all built years ago. On my WW1 aircraft, they are so tiny it’s all brush work with magnifying glasses. Same on my WW2 aircraft. When brushing wings or the fuselage, I start with Vallejo airbrush paints and typically do a few light coats. If the paint doesn’t sufficiently puddle and smooth out, I will quickly use a brush dipped in water to go over the surface just painted quickly and lightly and then I hit it with a hair dryer. That way any brush lines will smooth out once the surface of the paint runs together. It’s a balance of getting the brush wet enough with water, but not too wet and working fast! I also use a super fine flat brush for doing large surfaces. At least 1/4” wide. Over the years I learned how to fight getting a smooth finish with a brush! So I know what works for me.
I’m not familiar with the modeler you mentioned, but I will look him up. I always like learning others techniques to see if it’s something I want to try. Like panel lines, I see people use finely thinned oils and other techniques. I always stick to water based paints due to fumes and to avoid needing thinners. I make sure to clear coat prior to panel lines. That way if I need to wipe any excess I can do so quickly with an q-tip that’s damp. And I don’t always add panel lines. They can make an aircraft look unrealistic if overdone. On my Airacobra I tried something new. And it was risky! But I painted all the panel lines first with black thinned out and didn’t care if it was sloppy and got on adjacent areas. Then I dry brushed the entire airplane with the sand color and that allowed me to get variation in color on the panels while leaving the panel lines untouched. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Not sure I’m very eager to do it again…lol…but I had to try it once!

 

[Smithy]

Wow, that's a tight cockpit. No claustrophobic pilots allowed!

Oh no, it only looks that small because it’s a model, mate. The real thing’s a lot bigger.

 

[Smithy]

First, I’d say you did a great job. The cockpit has enough contrast to look the part. With the canopy on, it will probably look very convincing. Also the gear bay is looking good as well thanks to all the detail on the piping, etc. If you dry brush a few highlights I think you will want it to be visible. But we both know you never see that unless you pick up the airplane and turn it over.

On the subject of airbrush usage, I did airbrush my jets, those were all built years ago. On my WW1 aircraft, they are so tiny it’s all brush work with magnifying glasses. Same on my WW2 aircraft. When brushing wings or the fuselage, I start with Vallejo airbrush paints and typically do a few light coats. If the paint doesn’t sufficiently puddle and smooth out, I will quickly use a brush dipped in water to go over the surface just painted quickly and lightly and then I hit it with a hair dryer. That way any brush lines will smooth out once the surface of the paint runs together. It’s a balance of getting the brush wet enough with water, but not too wet and working fast! I also use a super fine flat brush for doing large surfaces. At least 1/4” wide. Over the years I learned how to fight getting a smooth finish with a brush! So I know what works for me.
I’m not familiar with the modeler you mentioned, but I will look him up. I always like learning others techniques to see if it’s something I want to try. Like panel lines, I see people use finely thinned oils and other techniques. I always stick to water based paints due to fumes and to avoid needing thinners. I make sure to clear coat prior to panel lines. That way if I need to wipe any excess I can do so quickly with an q-tip that’s damp. And I don’t always add panel lines. They can make an aircraft look unrealistic if overdone. On my Airacobra I tried something new. And it was risky! But I painted all the panel lines first with black thinned out and didn’t care if it was sloppy and got on adjacent areas. Then I dry brushed the entire airplane with the sand color and that allowed me to get variation in color on the panels while leaving the panel lines untouched. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Not sure I’m very eager to do it again…lol…but I had to try it once!

Hmmm. Dry brushing highlights in the wheel wells. That’s a good idea. There are a lot of pipes and cables that I’ve tried to follow with a wet brush without much success, but dry brushing might work. I’ll give it a go.

Not today though, because today I have been ‘improving’ the attraction seat. (That is a typo but I rather like it because the seat does attract the eye of the beholder).



Here is the seat as supplied by Airfix. A good candidate for a resin replacement, but I am too tight to spend any more money before Christmas.

Here is the seat as supplied by Martin Baker. Like the photograph of the cockpit it is far too complicated for me to slavishly copy. But I am making a model and one useful definition of a model is a simplification of the real thing. So I looked at this photograph for long enough to get a general impression and then did this…



I used thin strips of lead foil secured to the seat with superglue where they touched. Then I added the buckles from random leftovers of photo etch. This is going to be one of those sub assemblies that is damn hard to paint but if I had painted the seat first, the superglue would not have worked for me. I know this because I have tried it before. On the other hand, I have bought resin seats with the harnesses moulded on and somehow managed to paint them to my satisfaction so this might still be within my capabilities. I don’t trust superglue so I’m going to leave it overnight to set really hard before I even blow on it with my airbrush.

 

[Smithy]

Sunday morning. Bacon and eggs day! That’s a rare treat as I’m eating for health now, trying to lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels and reduce the abdominal fat. I am creeping up on vegetarianism and I’m glad to say that I am really enjoying the new meals that I’m cooking for myself. I don’t know if it’s making any difference to my health though.

I never expected to be this old. I was in the Royal Air Force in the 1970s and 80s and since I was based on a V bomber station for much of the time, I confidently expected to die instantaneously in a nuclear fireball way before the end of the century. Now, here I am a quarter of the way into the 21st-century. Amazing!

I noticed while eating breakfast that I was having more than the usual difficulty with my knife and fork. Just a little clumsiness and mostly in my left hand. Perhaps it was caused by the close work on that ejection seat last night? Perhaps it’s just a random thing? Anyway, after breakfast, I sprayed the seat with a mixture of Tamya gloss black and Gunze extra dark sea grey. I was aiming at a not quite black and not quite shiny finish. I spilt a lot of paint but managed to spray the little seat.



Not bad. I hold the airbrush in my right hand of course and all my left hand had to do was hold that modelling vice reasonably steady so that my right hand could catch up with the seat.

When I came to clean the brush, I neglected to remove the needle and nozzle. I unscrewed the paint cup but completely forgot the rest of the disassembly, despite having done it thousands of times before. Consequently, a 28 psi jet of air was directed into my bowl of dirty black Isopropyl alcohol - with hilarious results. I wear glasses so my eyes escaped undamaged but that stuff tastes foul!

Tell me fellow mature modellers, do you suspect as I do, that we are all becoming less intelligent as we age? I seem to be specialising in stupid mistakes. Another example, once the front of the fuselage was assembled, I glued that shim to the front of it and then glued the nose cone to the shim. I let it dry solidly and then sanded down the shim only to find that I had incorporated a step into the smooth contours of the nose. I couldn’t understand this. Eventually I realised that when I had removed the shim earlier in the week after I stuck it on in error, I had roughened up the surface. I had sanded that flat but did not allow for the extra material that I had removed. I used the same thickness of shim as before. I should’ve gone up a size.



I have done my best to sand away the step, losing much of the delicate surface detail of the nose and building in some supermodel curves in the process. It will have to do because I am no longer capable of rescribing. I tell myself that panel lines are invisible more than 20 feet away from an aircraft so it doesn’t matter. I’m not sure I believe myself.

The story of the nose is now that I cut it badly, repaired it and mistakenly glued it up, tore it apart and later mistakenly reassembled it with the wrong shim, then mistakenly sanded it into strange curves. FOUR silly errors of judgement. Thank heavens I no longer work on real aeroplanes.

 

[dockattner]

Sunday morning. Bacon and eggs day! That’s a rare treat as I’m eating for health now, trying to lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels and reduce the abdominal fat. I am creeping up on vegetarianism and I’m glad to say that I am really enjoying the new meals that I’m cooking for myself. I don’t know if it’s making any difference to my health though.

I never expected to be this old. I was in the Royal Air Force in the 1970s and 80s and since I was based on a V bomber station for much of the time, I confidently expected to die instantaneously in a nuclear fireball way before the end of the century. Now, here I am a quarter of the way into the 21st-century. Amazing!

I noticed while eating breakfast that I was having more than the usual difficulty with my knife and fork. Just a little clumsiness and mostly in my left hand. Perhaps it was caused by the close work on that ejection seat last night? Perhaps it’s just a random thing? Anyway, after breakfast, I sprayed the seat with a mixture of Tamya gloss black and Gunze extra dark sea grey. I was aiming at a not quite black and not quite shiny finish. I spilt a lot of paint but managed to spray the little seat.

View attachment 557379

Not bad. I hold the airbrush in my right hand of course and all my left hand had to do was hold that modelling vice reasonably steady so that my right hand could catch up with the seat.

When I came to clean the brush, I neglected to remove the needle and nozzle. I unscrewed the paint cup but completely forgot the rest of the disassembly, despite having done it thousands of times before. Consequently, a 28 psi jet of air was directed into my bowl of dirty black Isopropyl alcohol - with hilarious results. I wear glasses so my eyes escaped undamaged but that stuff tastes foul!

Tell me fellow mature modellers, do you suspect as I do, that we are all becoming less intelligent as we age? I seem to be specialising in stupid mistakes. Another example, once the front of the fuselage was assembled, I glued that shim to the front of it and then glued the nose cone to the shim. I let it dry solidly and then sanded down the shim only to find that I had incorporated a step into the smooth contours of the nose. I couldn’t understand this. Eventually I realised that when I had removed the shim earlier in the week after I stuck it on in error, I had roughened up the surface. I had sanded that flat but did not allow for the extra material that I had removed. I used the same thickness of shim as before. I should’ve gone up a size.

View attachment 557378

I have done my best to sand away the step, losing much of the delicate surface detail of the nose and building in some supermodel curves in the process. It will have to do because I am no longer capable of rescribing. I tell myself that panel lines are invisible more than 20 feet away from an aircraft so it doesn’t matter. I’m not sure I believe myself.

The story of the nose is now that I cut it badly, repaired it and mistakenly glued it up, tore it apart and later mistakenly reassembled it with the wrong shim, then mistakenly sanded it into strange curves. FOUR silly errors of judgement. Thank heavens I no longer work on real aeroplanes.

And I have also become more forgiving of myself with increasing maturity - it's not all bad .

 

[Smithy]

Seat’s in.



Not bad. Not good enough for a raised canopy, but not bad.

 

[Smithy]

With the coaming fitted, I now know how much time I wasted painting the instrument panel. This is one of the major drawbacks of painting before assembly. And of a lack of foresight, of course.

 

[Smithy]

And I have also become more forgiving of myself with increasing maturity - it's not all bad .

Yes Doc, I have noticed how sloppy your modelling has become lately.

To be serious for a moment,I believe our hobbies are supposed to be a pleasant way to pass the time. When pleasure becomes consistently outweighed by frustration and disappointment, I’ll find something else to do. Not quite yet though.

 

[Dean62]

My breakfast was a fruit smoothie with bacon…can’t make it too healthy!
The seat looks fantastic, you did a great job. The seatbelts look very convincing.
I find myself dropping tiny parts more frequently…sigh! Some I can find and others I write off as a loss. I do have a box full of extra parts from all my 1/72 kits. Sometimes that will save me if I have a spare.

 

[Smithy]

My breakfast was a fruit smoothie with bacon…can’t make it too healthy!
The seat looks fantastic, you did a great job. The seatbelts look very convincing.
I find myself dropping tiny parts more frequently…sigh! Some I can find and others I write off as a loss. I do have a box full of extra parts from all my 1/72 kits. Sometimes that will save me if I have a spare.

Cheers. Yes, a well filled spare box is a joy forever.

Do you put the bacon in the smoothie?

 

[Dean62]

Cheers. Yes, a well filled spare box is a joy forever.

Do you put the bacon in the smoothie?

lol…no bacon in the smoothie, on the side. I like bacon well cooked (crispy) and degreased with paper towels. I typically cook an entire package, then when cooled off put it in a zip lock bag in my deli drawer. That way I can always grab a piece or two of bacon. Sometimes a piece with a cup of coffee, sometimes to put on a sandwich. I like my bacon!

 

[Smithy]

The Jaguar is in its cage for the next few days, tired after all of these updates.

I am quite pleased with the weekend work. I am learning to ignore the cock ups and appreciate what did go well.



Just look at that windscreen. It makes the aeroplane look like it’s doing 1000 miles an hour before you even take it out of the hangar.



That’s what the cockpit looks like with the canopy closed. It does seem a pity to lose all of that detail so I have decided I will open the canopy. I have stuck it down with wood glue and sincerely hope that I can pop it off with the touch of a scalpel once I have finished the painting. This is a quick and easy way to mask off the carpet while I paint the exterior of the aircraft.

I’ll be back here next weekend if not before. Have a good week everybody, especially those of you who have to go to work.

 

[Dean62]

The Jaguar is in its cage for the next few days, tired after all of these updates.

I am quite pleased with the weekend work. I am learning to ignore the cock ups and appreciate what did go well.

View attachment 557498

Just look at that windscreen. It makes the aeroplane look like it’s doing 1000 miles an hour before you even take it out of the hangar.

View attachment 557497

That’s what the cockpit looks like with the canopy closed. It does seem a pity to lose all of that detail so I have decided I will open the canopy. I have stuck it down with wood glue and sincerely hope that I can pop it off with the touch of a scalpel once I have finished the painting. This is a quick and easy way to mask off the carpet while I paint the exterior of the aircraft.

I’ll be back here next weekend if not before. Have a good week everybody, especially those of you who have to go to work.

Love the rivet detail on the canopy frame! An excellent candidate for a wash to make those pop.
And yes, back to work for me tomorrow. But I have vacation time coming during the holidays! Woohoo!
And I like your attitude on enjoying what goes well. I had a few things that made me cringe on my current build, but once I finished they seem to disappear, going mostly unnoticed. So if a large enough percentage of things look good, then the finished model will look great. And you will be the only one who notices all the flaws. Perfection is elusive!