Navy Bird Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 Now this was a fun project. Rather than spend countless hours with fiddly photo-etch, I decided to spend countless hours with tiger stripe decals. In Braille scale no less! This is the ageless Hasegawa kit, showing its age, but still building into a credible replica. The decal sheet is from Leading Edge Decals in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who have a fantastic collection of decals for Canadian aircraft. Paint is ModelMaster FS35237 (which seems a bit green to me, but maybe that's my old eyes). The tiger stripes account for the dark gray - nominally FS36118, although somewhat darker on the decal sheet. Burner nozzles are Gunze Mr. Metal Color Stainless Steel. The kit was built mostly OOB, the only improvements (other than the decal sheet) were to add the LEX strakes and the reinforcing plates on the bottom inside of the vertical tails (both with card stock). And I added some masking tape seat harnesses, because my photo-etch budget was depleted after my "Big Ed" Gannet project! The decals were in large sections (for example one decal for the entire top surface of the wing). I thought that sounded like a disaster waiting to happen, so I cut each tiger stripe out individually and trimmed away most of the carrier film. I think that worked better that way, and although it took longer, I was assured that I wouldn't get any air trapped underneath. I had to mix a dark gray to match the decal sheet for some minor touch-up. It's hard to see in the photos, but the clever Canadian Forces crew used paw prints for the NO STEP warnings. Like I said, a lot of fun doing something a little different. As Tiger Meet aircraft go, this one's a bit on the mild side owing to the grays instead of the usual orange and black. Enjoy! Cheers, Bill 1
Screech Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 Nicely Done!! Makes me proud to be a Canuck when I see that scheme! Cheers,
Av8fan Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 Wow! One of my favorite schemes and you have don it justice. Hard to believe that it is 1/72nd Thanks for posting.
Morpheus Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 Nicely Done!! Makes me proud to be a Canuck when I see that scheme!Cheers, Amen.
arnobiz Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 Awesome scheme, and great build too. A good proof that PE is not necessary to get a great replica Probably an excellent idea to separate the stripes, the large decal would definitely have been a problem (I had problem with the anti-skid stipes, which are 1/10 of the size of the wing!) Arnaud
Paul J Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 Very nice. I have been making nearly all my models in Canadian finishes and this is one I have in the wings to go with my other special scheme Hornets. Lokks great. Well done.
J.D. Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 Spectacular scheme. Never seen that before. There should be more of it.
Cycerath Posted May 16, 2011 Posted May 16, 2011 Very nice job there! I've always been a fan of the Tigermeet paint jobs and this inspired me to get this kit! Again very good work Cy
Navy Bird Posted May 17, 2011 Author Posted May 17, 2011 I almost forgot... I don't know if this was intentional or not, but the Canadian Forces paint crew seemed to have included the obligatory large-bosomed babe into their tiger stripes (at the top of the slime light). Nice job, eh? Cheers, Bill
alvin5182 Posted May 17, 2011 Posted May 17, 2011 Bill: Very nice Canadian bird! Never noticed the buxom lass on the tail fin before! Alvin5182
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now