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Here,
for my first ARC submission, is my recently completed EA-6B Prowler.
I added
Eduard
photo-etch and
CAM
decals
for VAQ-139’s CAG-bird scheme from their Desert Shield/Desert Storm
cruise. I used Testor’s Model
Master enamels for the grays and Acryl for the tail and landing gear (I’m in
the process of switching over to all acryl, but still have a stockpile of
enamels to work through – so far I’ve had no problems whatsoever as long as
I wait a few days between different types of paint).
For
the canopy tinting, after one coat of Future, I gave a very light spray with
Humbrol clear gold. After letting
that dry thoroughly, I gave it a second coat of Future then masked before
painting the canopy frames. It was
my first attempt at trying to capture this distinctive Prowler trait, though I
confess I think it’s a bit overdone. Still,
I think it looks better than clear canopies would have.
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For
weathering, I started with the sludge wash method explained by Paul Boyer in Fine
Scale Modeler a few months ago. It
doesn’t always settle into the finer panel lines as much as I’d like, which
may very well be due to too much Future (filling in the recesses).
To accent these finer lines, I used a mechanical pencil. This is an easy method and it was easy to remove excess with
a wipe of the finger. That had the
added benefit of adding a bit of “grime” – in three years of flying
Prowlers I’ve seen precisely two clean examples: one of them is a static
display and the other was fresh from the depot.
I drybrushed Model Master Aircraft Interior Black boot marks on the
ladders, wing roots and the turtlebacks on the spine of the aircraft, where
there’s a surprising amount of grimy footprints from maintainers and clumsy
aircrew (ahem) crossing from one wing to another in the course of normal
maintenance and pre-flights. I simulated oil stains on the underside of the
engine bays using a relatively old bottle of Testor’s Brown (the old square
one!). Don’t shake it up – I
use the almost-pigmentless fluid on the top (you know, the stuff the “real”
paint settles out of!). It’s
almost like a thinned wash, but that fluid has an even better consistency to it.
It gave a really nice look to the underside. If you’re doing a Prowler, make sure you get some on the
centerline store and streak just a
bit behind the tailpipes. I
simulated black exhaust stains with thinned Testor’s Model Master Flat Black
applied with a brush, then streaked along the empennage in the direction of
airflow. Don’t use a lot of
paint. The technique is similar in
my mind to dry brushing.
Overall
the kit is good, and the Eduard set is wonderful – especially in the cockpit.
For someone who’s spent some time in one, it was nice to make a
convincing miniature replica of the “workplace” (I did of course manage to
loose three of the four upper ejection seat handles and had to replicate those
with fine wire – next time they’ll be added much, much later!!).
The CAM decals were great, even though the gray markings on the upper
fuselage will almost completely blend into the Testor’s Dark Gull Gray.
I don’t use scale color technique (yet – I may soon) – if I had
they’d be more easily seen. But then, easily-seen markings is not necessarily
a trait of the Navy’s TPS…
I’ll
be doing several more of these as I’ve amassed quite a stash of Prowlers.
I think my to-build pile has almost as many Prowlers as the FRS.
About
me – As you may have noticed I’m a Prowler guy, stationed at Whidbey Island,
WA (I think I can see Steve
B’s island from the end of one of
our runways… I KNOW I get some of the radio stations from over there!).
So far my modeling has focused on modern USN/USAF jets with some Soviet
(and one Brit jet) but I’m branching out – I’ve got a Douglas F4D-1 Skyray
just completed, 2 helos in the works, and a few WWII planes hiding amongst the
post-Vietnam planes waiting to be built. Aside
from modeling, I’m an avid reader and like camping, skiing, white water
rafting, and lest I forget riding a Harley Fat Boy.
Karl
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