Minicraft 1/144th KC-97L ANG Tanker

Thank you, sir!

Thanks, Joe!

Thank you, Pete!

Thank you, sir!

Thanks Duke! I had been trying for awhile to obtain food natural metal finishes and was never completely happy with the results until I used this Vallejo Aluminum. That made all the difference.

Marco, thanks so much and sorry for the late response! Things are settling down on the homefront so I got some bench time in. I got the panel lines drawn using a .005 Mircon ink pen. Like any big radial, Wasp R-4360s are messy (especially four of them) and photos showed very heavy leakage around the cowlings and heavy exhaust stains. The fluid leaks were added using Burnt Umber oil mixed with Black oil and streaked back from the cowlings with a small brush. The exhaust stains were airbrushed on using Vallejo Chocolate tinted with Vallejo Black. I added washes to the engine cowling faces and intakes to give them a little bit of depth, as well. The props were painted and this was a bit of a challenge since they are rather small and three colors were needed. I started with the tips and painted those yellow and masked that off. I then sprayed the props black for the de-icer boots and masked that off and finished off with a top coat of Vallejo Silver.

The J-47 pods were also painted Vallejo Silver but the back portions were painted with Vallejo Steel since that section is a little darker. I then sprayed the model with Vallejo Gloss Varnish and let that cure for two days and then applied the decals. I went with the decal option from the Texas Air National Guard and Minicraft's decal sheet was really beautifully printed. The decals went on with no issues whatsoever. I decided to go with the decal cockpit glass as there is no interior and I thought the clear parts looked really thick and distorted in 1/144th scale. Also, the cockpit decals windows would match the fuselage decals windows. I think I will add another coat of Vallejo Gloss Varnish for the aluminum section and then flat coat the ADC Grey sections on the bottom of the aircraft. I found out why some KC-97L's had ADC Grey undersides and some didn't. Generally, the ones that flew from bases that had any chance of snow had grey undersides for anti-corrosion purposes. The ones that flew from desert bases, like the Arizona ANG, generally were overall silver and did not have the grey underneath. Anyway, getting close to the end and stay tuned. 

Stunning Ian

How did I miss this? Fantastic build, Ian.

Wow.. that’s one nice BMF going on there Ian, I’ll be snagging some of that paint for sure