Titan's sand shark***FINISHED***

[Titan]

Well I have the mesh but it is only marginally smaller than the garlic bag..... C'est la vie, the good thing though is the metal mesh conforms better to the curves of the intakes.





I have decided to make this copter as the Sand Shark and have painted the rotor accordingly, the reason for this is that I have damaged a yellow chevron and part of the snake by allowing a piece of Sellotape to fall across the decals and even though I suppose I could fix them with paint I'd rather not take the chance when I intend to get another kit anyhow.



I have gone around all the join lines with some Mr putty and will let it cure fully before sanding smooth.

Regards
Mark

[ShaunW]

The mesh is an improvement over the garlic bag I think Mark. As you say, the mesh conforms to the curves of the fuselage better. The damage to the decals was unfortunate, sounds like a potential stomp around the room moment

[jssel]

Quality work. Love the dry brushing.

[Molly-new]

Bad news about the decals. At least it didn't happen too far into the build so you couldn't change to the sand shark version.

[Titan]

Thanks guys.

I didn't have any plastic card thin enough to fill the gaps left when the canopy is fitted but I do have some acetate that was thin enough so that was used instead and glued into position.
The weapons pylons and rear stabilizers have also been added.





The canopy has been masked and when the shims have fully dried will be attached to the fuselage and any filling that needs to be done will be done at this point.





The rotor blades have been masked also in readiness for some flat black.



Regards
Mark

[ShaunW]

Excellent work Mark, that's coming on a treat.

[Titan]

Thanks Shaun.
here is a little update.

All the bits that dangle are attached...





The intakes have been blocked with blu tak and a light primer coat of Vellejo sand has been applied.





Found a few spots that will need a light sanding so I will wait for the primer to dry before attacking them with some Micromesh.

I also painted and dry brushed the M197 Gatling gun.



Regards
Mark

[Titan]

All the sanding has been done to the bits that I had missed and a pre shade of Tamiya flat earth has been added.





Regards
Mark

[Titan]

Just added a coat of Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow just thin enough so that the pre shaded lines can still be seen



Spraying the leading edge of the rotor blades flat black didn't leave any contrast with the overall Nato black on the blades themselves so I recovered the leading edges and mixed NATO black and a few drops of Tamiya flat white to lighten the colour( a bit of artistic licence as it were) it works for me and it also enabled me to spray some airflow marks across the blades which now can be seen.







Regards
Mark

[ShaunW]

Excellent Mark, great work on the gun, the airframe pre-shading is nice and subtle and I also like the weathering on the rotor blades. This looks like it's going to be a great piece once it's finished.

[Titan]

Thanks again Shaun.

Last night I was looking at the colour of the Sand shark and comparing it with the colour that I sprayed my model( XF-59) and came to the conclusion that XF-59 had too much brown in it and was more suited to the IAF version.
So this morning I pre-shaded with flat brown again and then over sprayed with Vallejo sand which I think I should have done from the beginning, the result is that the colour whilst not perfect is a lot closer to the real helicopter than the XF-59.
These helicopters painted for the desert sure picked up a lot of grime so I may go over some of the raised detail especially around the boom with a pencil to blacken them.





Regards
Mark

So now that is sorted I got on and started some detail painting

[ShaunW]

Quite a fair old difference in colour there Mark.

[Titan]

True Shaun but the Vallejo Sand is a better match I feel.
I have finished all the detail painting and have just given it a coat of klear so I can probably get on with the decals tomorrow if work permits.

Regards
Mark

[Titan]

I mooched around with the main decals today but will add the stencils tomorrow as work is starting to get in the way.
I have also unmasked the intakes and will need to do a smidge of touch up here and there but on the whole I am pretty pleased with it so far.









Regards
Mark

[ShaunW]

Work's been getting in the way all day Mark

Wow, that looks seriously good and you could well be our first finisher!