Finished : Academy 1/144 Sepecat Jaguar

After a 10-year break in scale modelling, I re-started my old-time hobby in september 2012. 

Because I needed to learn new techniques (airbrushing, for instance), I started small with this 1/144 scale Jaguar. It's really tiny, which was a challenge in itself, even though I only bought it because it had a camouflage pattern and I wanted to try that out with an airbrush.

Because I'm working on 7 models at the same time and I had to wait almost 2 months for my airbrush to arrive, it took a long time to complete, but here is the result.

It won't be an award-winner because the paintjob is a bit messy, the landing gear is crooked and the canopy is foggy, but I'm happy to declare this my first finished project.

Price : € 3.95
Number of parts : 36

Time spent : about 7 hours

Project completion time : 4 months

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This was the intended camouflage-scheme. 

The endresult is not identical, but recognizable.

I finished one!

It was about time to finish a project, instead of starting new ones all the time. The Academy 1/144 Sepecat Jaguar is finally finished.

After applying the decals last time, I added one final layer of Satin Varnish (Vallejo 71.060). This will seal in the decals and protect them. It should prevent silvering and discoloration over time and will also protect from handling (e.g. holding it in your hand and accidentally brushing over a decal).

I'm really happy with how the decals turned out. I'm not sure whether it's the MicroSol that has worked it's magic on the decals, or the extra layer of varnish, or both working together. It's hard to see any remnants of the decal film and there's no reflection on the decals, no matter how you turn it onder a bright light. Definitely the way to go for the "painted on look".

After removing the masking tape from the canopy, I could probably have done a better job, but remember the canopy is about a centimeter long. The clear part has fogged over on the inside. I remember reading about this. I think it's a side effect of the superglue, which can be avoided by giving the part a protective layer before attaching it.

Adding the last parts

The last detail parts to be added are the missiles.

I handpainted these, because I wasn't sure how to hold them properly for airbrushing. Because the white paint doesn't cover very well, I had to add at least 5-6 layers of paint and the result isn't the best I could have gotten. In retrospect, I should have just airbrushed them, because the airbrushed layers of paint give much better coverage and are more smooth.

Applying decals, using MicroSet and MicroSol

Now that the Jaguar has a nice glossy layer, its time for adding the decals.

In the past, I just slapped on the decals. On many of my older models, the decals have "silvered". Hard to describe, but you'll now what it means if you see it happening. Now, I'm gonna use more care to place them.

Step 1 is making sure you have a glossy spot to put them on. Decals will not stick to matt, acrylic paint, if you do not add a glossy layer.

Step 2 is using decal softeners. I've chosen Microscale's MicroSet and MicroSol.

Cut the desired part from the decal sheet, using a sharp hobby knife. Scissors work equally well, but I find a knife easier to control. If possible, cut a little extra, unused paper, to have a "handle" to hold it with tweezers.

Hold it in a bowl of water for 10-20 seconds (If the decal floats off the paper, you held it in water too long)

then place it on a towel. The towel will absorb the excess water, while the wet paper will continue to do it's work, which is releasing the decal from the paper, while the "glue" is activated, which will stick the decal to your model.

Prepare the spot on your model where the decal is to be placed with a puddle of water, or use MicroSet, which is a dedicated product that will soften the decal, making it easier to place it and easier to follow curves or detail lines on your model.

At this point, using a paintbrush or your knife (careful you don't damage it!), you should be able to move the decal around on the paper. Pick the paper up with tweezers, hold it next to the spot on your model and slide it off onto the puddle of water or MicroSet.

When the decal is in place, you can still slide it around until it's 100% where you want it. If it doesn't want to move, apply more water or MicroSet.

If you're happy with it's placement, softly apply pressure with a cloth to press it down and remove excess moisture.

If the decal is not conforming to the model's shape very well, use MicroSol, which is a more concentrated version of the same product, if I'm not mistaken.
If you experience wrinkling of the decal film, don't panic, it will go away again. If not, apply more MicroSol and let it dry. If there are bubbles underneath the decal, carefully prick the decal and apply more MicroSol.

This is the end result, with all decals placed. The box art shows the circles to be a lot bigger, but my reference photos show them to be more or less accurate.

Gloss coat

The paintjob on the Jaguar is finished, but before I can add the decals (those little "stickers" on a piece of paper), it needs a gloss coat. Decals stick best to gloss paint, so when using matt acrylics - like I do - you need to add an extra layer of gloss clear or varnish, or the decals will not stick or show "silvering".

(You'll find many people using Pledge Future floor polish, which seems to be THE best product for glosscoating, but I don't think it's available in Europe)

I'm using Vallejo's gloss varnish to start with my gloss-coating experiments. It doesn't always spray easy from the airbrush and I have yet to decide whether I need to add thinner or not. Today, it came out easily (almost too easy). At first I though it would be too wet, because I had to spray really liberally to get total coverage, but the result after a few hours is a smooth, shiny surface (even clear to see in the picture).
On a horizontal surface, a thick layer seems to be no problem and it evens out perfectly. We'll see later if that works on a curved surface, like the submarine.

If - after applying decals - you decide the model is too shiny, you can add an extra layer of matt varnish to dull it all down. To protect the decals longterm, you need to add an extra layer anyway.

Brushpainting

I had to do some brushpainting, for the first time in at least 10 years.
The Vallejo "model color" line is very thick from the bottle and requires thinning, but it's nice to work with and very forgiving. Brushpainting with the Vallejo "model air" is tricky, since the paint is too runny for the brush. Slow painting and multiple layers give a beautifully smooth result though, so no need to go buy the same color in both types.

The Jaguar needed some corrections on the camouflage and I painted the landing gear aluminium and the tires flat black.

The submarine required a touch-up alongside the diving planes and the antennae and periscope needed a touch of silver and gold. I had forgotten the specific problems of working with metallic paint, so the resulting paintjob is actually too thick. I should have started with a first layer (non-covering), wait until dry and add a second. The paint is visibly too thick, but I'm not gonna let that bother me.

Remaining work on both models : a clear gloss layer, then decals.

Camouflage touch-up and painted the landing gear.

Periscopes and antennae painted silver and gold.

Removing the liquid masks

Time to see the result of my test with the 3 different kinds of liquid masking. 

The completely painted Jaguar.

When I examined the fully painted model, some spots required an extra layer of green paint. Especially around the putty (see picture below), about half a millimeter around the edges of it, the paint seems to really  behave weird. Almost looks like the putty is exerting some kind of "pull" on the paint.

I just sprayed on an extra layer of paint. Because the airbrush was acting up again, I put on a rather wet coat, which would turn out a bad idea a little while later.

Removing Vallejo liquid mask

I started by removing the liquid Vallejo mask (on the tail). As you can see, it's not easy to remove. It's still smelly, still sticky and breaks up in small parts.

Removing silly putty on the wings

 Moving on to the silly putty on the wings, this is a breeze to remove and the separation line is very crisp. As you can see, the putty has perfectly adapted to all details of the wing.

The edge of the paint is not as nice as I would have liked,
especially on the underside.

On the bottom of the plane, I masked with latex. This is also easy to remove, because it doesn't tear or brake into pieces, but the edges are more ... flaky. I do believe this is not solely because of the latex but because I sprayed the paint to thick in one go.


Below is the end result, top and bottom. The top is nicer then the bottom, which is to my advantage. I'll simply ask people not to pick it up :-).

Latex

• Easy to apply
• Easy to remove

Vallejo liquid mask

• Difficult to apply
• Extremely hard to remove, especially in corners

Maybe I got a bad bottle? Does this stuff have an expiration date?

Silly putty

• Easy to apply, but it does take a looong time
• Very easy to remove

Further conclusions :

• None of the substances lifted the paint underneath
• Edges are not so nice, probably because I sprayed too much paint

In the future, I will continue testing with both silly putty and latex. The disadvantage of the putty is that it is now mixed with paint flakes and I'm not sure if I can use it again. Since it's very hard to get (unless you're willing to spend insane shipping costs), I might focus on latex again for the next test. I'll just need to get finer control at using the airbrush.

If this were an expensive model or something I'd want to be really detailed, I'd probably start over, but it was a test-model after all and I can't really expect my first camouflage to be perfect.

Liquid masking - 3 options tested

There are many ways to do your masking. The easiest is masking tape (I use Tamiya), but what to do when the shape you're trying to mask is not a straight line, but curvy, like many camouflage schemes. The Jaguar has a very nice camouflage scheme, but because of the many curves and because the model is really small, masking tape is not an option.

The next step would be stencils. You can draw the desired scheme on paper, cut it out and hold it against your model while painting. You can even try low-adhesive glue (from a spray can) to keep it in place. Again, because of the small size and the 3-dimensionality of the model, stencils are a no go.

(I'll get back to masking with paper when I start painting the Enterprise, but that might not be for the immediate future)

Unavoidably, you end looking at liquid masking. I decided the try 3 different kinds :

• Latex
• Vallejo liquid mask
• Silly putty

There are, no doubt, more alternatives, like Humbrol Maskol - which I assume to be very much like the Vallejo product - and others.

When applying the liquid mask, make sure the layer is thick enough. If it's too thin, it'll tear when trying to remove it, making it hard to get every last bit of it, without damaging your model with toothpicks or other tools.

Latex

In the past, I succesfully used latex to mask axles and wheels to prevent them from being painted. This time it's different, because the latex is applied on top of a layer of paint and might damage it. 

(Once, I also used Latex to make a mould of a part, to repair damage to an old kit : more here)

Pro :

• Easily applied with a brush
• It adheres to itself very strongly, so it doesn't tear when being removed. This means you can get it in really small corners or panel lines and it's still easily removed without leaving traces.

Con :

• It smells really nasty

Unknown : 

• will it pull up the paint beneath it, when I try to remove it?

Latex applied to the bottom and lower sides of the Jaguar

Vallejo liquid mask (#523)

This is a product intended exactly for this purpose. The bottle I got had a big blob of dry goo in it, that had to be removed. Maybe it has en expiration date and my bottle is rather old?

Pro :

• It smells a lot less pungent
• It applies easily to the model straight from the bottle or with a brush

Con :

• It's quite runny and tends to move a bit (not much), slightly changing the shape of the camouflage I created with it.
  To avoid this, I could apply it less thick and apply more when it starts to dry.
• I tested it beforehand on a discarded CD and on a piece of sprue. In both cases, it was impossible to remove in one piece. In a tight spot, sharp tools are needed to get it out, which could damage your model.
  (I'll do a second test, where I'll let it dry 24 hours, but I'm not hopefull)

Unknown :

• Will it remove easily enough and not harm the underlying paint?

Vallejo liquid mask on the tail of the Jaguar

Silly putty

I got a batch of silly putty from Amazon (UK) and had it delivered in the UK to a friend, who brought it with her on her next visit to Belgium. This was the only alternative I found in Europe NOT to pay $30 shipping. The silly stuff only costs $2, so no way am I paying insane shipping costs!

Pro :

• It's very malleable and will accept any shape you push it in. Easily pushes into nooks and crannies and - so far - it seems it is as easily removed as well.
• It doesn't become dry and hard, like normal putty, clay or plasticine. Those materials dry out, causing them to break when handled afterwards and leaving behind trace material in panel lines and small corners.
• Fun the play with :-)

Con :

• It takes a LOT longer to apply compared to the liquid masks, since they can be brushed on, directly in the desired shape. You'll need a spatula or the likes to burnish it down.

Silly putty, covering the top of the wings and cockpit

Once all of the masks are dry, I'll airbrush the next layer of paint. Then we'll find out which of the 3 creates sharp masking lines, which is easily removed, which damages the underlying paint and maybe more. We'll know more in a couple of days.

First "real" paint

Now that the airbrushing is going a little better, I'm gonna try to put a first coat of "real" paint on some of the primed parts.

The first candidate is the Jaguar. The camouflage scheme calls for dark grey and dark green, two colours I don't really have, but approximations will be good enough for this tiny model. There's no need to spend money on specific colours for this 4 euro model, if it was only bought to test airburshing in the first place.

For the dark grey base coat, I just took light grey and added a few drops (about 20% I would estimate) of black. Painting went well, I could do the entire model in one go. It could have been a touch darker, but the goal for this kit is not realism.

I then switched to yellow ochre, which is the base coat for the M60 tank. The topside went on rather smooth. When the paintcup was empty, I took a risk by adding the paint directly to the cup of the airbrush, then add thinner and stir in the cup itself. I usually put the paint in a jar or something, add a little thinner (10%) then mix and use a pipette to transfer the paint to the airbrush.
The risk did not pay off, because the airbrush started splattering and then clogged completely. Repeated cleaning did nothing to avail it, so I disassembled nozzle and nozzle cap, soaked in cleaner for a few minutes, then left everything to dry.

(Maybe I just switched up my bottles again and added cleaner instead of thinner.)

The ochre turned out a little too greenish for me, but once the other 3 colours are added in the intended camouflage scheme, we will see if it looks better. As long as it's not fully assembled and finished, you can always start over. In the WORST case, it looks ugly and I have to throw it away. It's still a cheap practice-model after all.

Canopy placing

I glued the masked canopy to the Jaguar. I used superglue instead of the liquid cement, since I read that the cement can fog op clear parts. Also, I'm gluing this on top of a coat of primer, so the primary function of the modelling glue (namely : melting the two pieces together) wouldn't work as well anyway.

The fit wasn't good (as in the rest of the model), so I glued it to the back and used putty to fill the gap in the front. The first layer of paint will go on soon.

Airbrush - some success!

Armed with some new confirmation about airbrush behaviour, I decided to give it another go.

• Air will bubble in the cup if the nozzle is not fitting well in the airbrush body. 

"Fingertight" on the nozzle cap did not quite cut it in my case. I screwed it on tighter (with the provided mini-wrench) while the compressor was on and immediately noticed the bubbles becoming smaller. One more slight turn and the paintcup was bubble-free.

1 - 0 (my first victory).

• The main reason for no paint coming out is "tip-dry".
  (Another reason might be the paint not being thinned enough)

This can be fixed by regularly cleaning the tip of the needle with a small cotton swab dipped in cleaner.

• Dark paints appear to be a lot easier to paint than lighter ones.

The main reason I started building the submarine is because it needs to be painted black. I thinned the Vallejo black primer about 1:1 with Vallejo thinner (stick to the same brand, just for safety).
I started out with the 8 wheels for the Puma (seen below on toothpicks) to test the flow, which came out fine. I had to clean the needle after 4 wheels, then the rest went ok.

A little overzealous, I immediately started painting the sub, which went rather well actually. I did have to clean the tip 4 or 5 times, but it becomes a habit and isn't really that much work. I managed to do 3/4 of the sub before the needle had to be removed for more throrough cleaning. I ran out of place to hold it anyway, so better quit while I'm ahead. A few spots will need a second layer, but better wait and add more later, then spray too much at once and cause runs, which are harder to clean up.

2 - 0 (we're on a roll!)

Feeling good about my first success, I cleaned the brush for a colour change and filled with grey primer. The Jaguar is now also completely primed, but still this paint is fighting me for every inch. I can barely paint the top of this mini-model before it stops doing anything, cleaning the tip or not (compare this to at least half of the submarine in one go)

2 - 1 (time to call it quits and maybe call the shop for more ideas)

Is the difference between paints really THIS much? If the lighter paints are such a hassle, I am NOT looking forward to completely painting the Enterprise with white primer. To be continued ....

(The paintcup on this Revell airbrush is rather small, so painting a complete kit will take several refills)

Canopy masking

One reason to choose tanks and boats over airplanes is that you don't have to bother with canopies. They need to remain transparent, but you need to paint the tiny support frame.
You can choose to paint this by hand with a very fine brush, if you have a steady hand, which I do not. Or you can mask the transparent area and spray paint with the rest of the plane.

Some companies provide pre-cut masks that fit the canopy exactly. For the Jaguar however, I just mask the entire canopy with Tamiya masking tape, then cut away what needs to be painted with a very sharp hobby knife.
You need to find the balance between enough pressure to cut through the tape and not too much, so you do not damage the part. Better safe than sorry, apply light pressure and go over it a couple of times.

Below is the masked canopy. Bear in mind this part is about 1 cm long.

Academy Jaguar 1:144

Another kit I picked up for 4 euro to practice airbrushing. Only 2 small frames, 1 clear part.

Assembly is pretty straightforward and doesn't require any special skills. I'd definitely call this a starter kit. The parts do not fit very well together and have obvious gaps all over the model. There are numerous ways to fix this, even if you're new to modelling.

After applying glue and pressing the parts together, wait a few minutes than apply pressure again. The plastic has become soft by the glue and by pressing both parts together, the softened pastic will (try to) fill the gaps. Use rubber bands, tape, pins or clamps, whichever you have nearby to hold the pieces together until the glue has completely hardened.

Even after this, some gaps remained. I filled those with putty. Spread the putty generously and push it in the gaps with a scalpel or any flat iron or wooden tool. Let dry a few minutes, then gently scrape the excess putty away. If you do this before the putty is hard, you can avoid having the use sanding paper to smoothen the surface again. Scrape carefully, as to not remove the putty from the gap you just tried to fill.

You can find many kinds of putty in your local hobby store. I use Vallejo plastic putty, because it has a needle-tip to apply the putty directly where you want it.