Rudolf the red nosed rhino VMFA-235 Death Angels

1
December 26, 2021
The only colour photo of this particular aircraft (BuNo-15379) showing no black perimeter to the red nosecone, (Campro got it wrong ??)
2
December 26, 2021
I must be lucky, still no issues with the notorious join, (that’s jinxed the next one !!)
3
December 26, 2021
So, here we join the party after the main legwork has been done. Nothing special in the cockpit, so nothing to show yet. Preshading has been done with usual black , with brown and blue to give some panels tonal variations.
4
January 8, 2022
Paint and wash applied, need to tidy up some parts where the wash has highlighted a few issues with the paint
5
January 8, 2022
Rudolph has his red nose !
6
January 8, 2022
All Tamiya colours with and oil wash to pop out the panels. Will need a second wash and polish to even out the lines as they’re very soft and quite variable
7
January 8, 2022
Need to add the splitter plates for the intakes and paint the anti glare panel
8
January 8, 2022
Going to use the 1 piece canopy
9
January 12, 2022
Only 26 more to go ?
10
January 12, 2022
My usual scratched aoa sensors, the kit ones are way oversized and they tend to get broken? even with tape protecting them, I always snag them during decaling
11
January 12, 2022
Starting to look more “phantomish”
12
January 16, 2022
After 12 hours 95% of the decalling is done. Never seen so many airframe stencils !!?
13
January 16, 2022
Acted on the advice given and corrected this , Thankyou
14
January 16, 2022
Even managed the hole ?
15
January 17, 2022
Some fuse wire to represent the major hydraulic lines

Sergej I
Building a stealth Phantom eh? Anyway, found it and joining in 🙂
David, the horizontal stabilator feel ram air inlet (the shorter tube) is not a pitot and is as thick as the pitot at its root and only one thickness diameter:
flic.kr/p/2mWMYCN

In your case, would be quite easy to cut the bottom one's thin tube and drill a 0,2 hole in it...

12 January 2022, 08:28

David H
Thanks Sergei, modification's on the way. It's easier just to remove and redo or I might just be able to pull the middle brass rod out from the tube

12 January 2022, 08:39

Jos Jansen
Beautiful Rhino David...nice subtle painting mate! One question, at picture #9, the paint seems a little bit cracked!? Which paint did you used or gloss layer?

12 January 2022, 12:59

Spanjaard
looking good

12 January 2022, 16:30

David H
Yeah, I noticed that as well Jos. It was a Humbrol gloss. Won't be using it again. I'm hoping the last Tamiya satin coat will sort it if I apply it lightly and build it up. TBH you don't notice on the model, it's amazing what shows up in close up photography..strange thing is , the rest of the model is also finished in the same gloss clear but hasn't reacted the same as the nose. It's just that red and not the wingtips…

12 January 2022, 17:30