10 day challenge: 1:72 KP Shenyang F-6C

Clement
Interesting pick for a 10 day challenge. But I guess it wouldn't be a challenge without a challenging kit. Best of luck.

Mike Volkov
Thank you Clement! I hope for the best 😅

Alec K
Taking a seat.

Mike Volkov
Day 2/10 on 10-day challenge: cockpit and gear bays painted and glued the fuselage together. Ready for filling and sanding...

Cuajete
INteresting...
Following!

S M
KP kit in 10 days? Taking a seat 😄

Mike Volkov
Day 3/10: lot of filling and sanding.... 😥

Alec K
Hopefully the worse is behind you. Nice progress 👍

Mike Volkov
I hope so too. 😄
Day 4/10: KP has given me a lot of fantastic sanding opportunities, but I'm finally getting to the priming. But it still needs a lot of fixing before I can start painting it.

Clement
"Sanding opportunities" is a nice way of putting it 😄
So far so good, looks like you have a good chance of pulling this off.

Cuajete
Well done so far! 👍

Mike Volkov
Day 5/10: Repairs after priming and some panel rescribing. Wheels and landing gear finished.

Mike Volkov
Day 6/10: Starting the paintjob with colour correction. The colour of the gear bay is grey and not bluish grey, and the wheel rim is typical Russian green and not grey. So I had to repaint a few things today. I use Ammo masking putty to temporarily hold small parts like this.

Cuajete
Good progress, Mike 👍

Mike Volkov
Thank you, Cuajete! 😊

Day 7/10: One of the top camouflage colours is Mr. Hobby H307. The other colour suggested by KP is H305, which is too grey. So I mixed in several blues, green, red and white. I can't post the proportions, but it's pretty close to the Pakistani bluish grey.

Mike Volkov
Day 8/10: The project is drawing to a close. After oil painting I prepare it for decals.

Alec K
Excellent results and tempo. Close to the finish line now 👍

Cuajete
Color scheme looks great 👍

Ben M
"Sanding opportunities" is my new favorite term

J35J
10 Day challenge, that's really a great idea!
Will certainly give it a go at some point.👍🏻

Mike Volkov
I have been organising a ten-day challenge with some friends for years. The goal is to get the kit on the shelf into the display case in 10 days.
Every year we give a subject:
2021: Third Reich military vehicles
2022: "British days" (civilian or military vehicles made or used by the UK), any scale
2023: 'Green days' (any civilian or military vehicle dominated by the colour green), any scale
2024: object of your choice, 1:72 scale only

This year 15 friends entered the event and 11 models were completed.

Mike Volkov
Day 9/10: After varnishing, the decals are applied and the panel lines are washed.
Unfortunately KP decals are not the nicest and are very vulnerable. One of them is broken.

Cuajete
Interesting yearly challenge friendship, Mike 👍
You are doing a great job in just 10 days with a KP kit.
You only have 1 day left. Cheer up!

Mike Volkov
Thank you Cuajete! 😊
Maybe next year I'll advertise the 10 days challenge more widely, to see if others would like to join in.

Mike Volkov
Day 10/10: A moment of truth after the matt varnish! I removed the masks and glued on drop tanks, antenna, pitot tube, guns.
I literally finished the ten day challenge at the last minute!

Clement
Fast pace and a great end-result. Impressive, really.

S M
Very impressive and fast! Congrats!👍👍

Mike Volkov
Thank you, guys! 🙏🏻
The project has been successfully completed.
I have uploaded the pictures of the finished model. The full build video will be available soon on my YouTube channel: Youtube Video

Tibor Szilvai
Great work! 👍

Thomas O'Eh
great result! love the subtle shading! even more impressive considering this was a 10 day project…

Cuajete
I agree with Thomas. Great job for only 10 days.
Congrats!

You have to tell us what the secret is to doing a good job in such a short time (sbove all I guess having a lot of time in the day).

Maciej Bellos
10 days??? You built this dog of a kit in 10 days and ended up with this masterpiece? 10 days is barely enough for me to complete a cockpit...

Well done Mike!!!

S M
Now when I'm thinking the fast progress of the model I started to wonder, how you managed the panel line wash so soon after the decals. Did you use any decal softeners or other setting fluids? How fast does your oil wash dry? I usually let the decals dry for one day before applying protective varnish on them and then add panel liners and other washes and weathering. Also I let the oil wash to dry a few days before finishing matt varnish.

Mike Volkov
Thanks buddies!

The model was completed in 55 hours. I worked on it 4 hours every day, more on weekends.

Mike Volkov
S M:
For the weathering I used a fast drying Winsor & Newton Griffin Alkyd oil paint with AK white spirits.After 20 minutes of drying I wiped back the excess, then it dried for about 1 hour. No need to wait for it to dry completely. After that it got a very thin and dilute layer of paint which reduces the contrast. After half an hour I sprayed Mr. Color GX100 gloss varnish on it, which dried overnight.
KP decals are not friendly: they are fragile and stick to the surface immediately, no time for positioning. So I put Mr. Mark setter under them. They did not require a softener.
After 1-2 hours of drying, I washed the panel lines with Tamiya enamel. This also dried overnight and I varnished the next day.

In the video coming soon, I will show you the whole process.

Spanjaard
congratulations, for an amazing job, and for doing it so quickly, amazing!

Neuling
Same as Spanjaard!

Łukasz Gliński
Respect for doing such a great job in just 10 days, unbelievable 👍

Alec K
Very impressive build, getting in done in 10 days is icing on the cake. Looking forward to the video 👍

S M
Thanks for your answers! I'm looking forward to your video. That griffin alkyd oil paint was a great tip 👍