The Revell K is finally coming together paintwork wise.

Like many late war 109s the one I'm modeling will have an 81/83 vertical tail which doesn't match the rest of the airframe's camo!

As it's meant to be a hard edged mottle, I simply sprayed the 83, then masked with blobs of Blu-Tak, shooting the 81 over the top. Looks like it's got some sort of nasty disease in the photo!

Once that was done I applied the RLM 75 to the upper surfaces.

Only the joints with the tail empenage were masked, as every thing else was soft edged, so I just free handed that. In the process I discovered a seam on the front edge of the wing that I hadn't dealt with properly, so out came the Mr Surfacer and sanding sticks.

As per usual I faded back all the panel centres for that weathered look.

Here it is with the prop on..

I think the prop is either an Eagle editions or some other AM brand, that I bought for my Hase K a few years back, and which has resided in the spares box ever since.

This afternoon, I hope to get the 83 on, which should mean I'll be ready to decal by Monday.

Karl

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Currently on the bench:

Tamiya 1/48 Fw 190D-9

Frank, many thanks for the kind comments.

I've just finished the 83. it took me longer to mask it than spray it!

As per usual I drew out the camo on masking tape applied over the ares to be masked.

I then remove the masking tape, and cut out with a new scalpel blade, then simply reapply.

Aeromaster have lived up to their Errormaster soubriquet with the painting guide on this.  I'm just glad I've got a picture of the real machine, or this model would have looked nothing like the real deal.

I'll remove the masking tonight, then tomorrow should be a case of painting in the details and the mottle, before applying a coat of future.

Karl

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Currently on the bench:

Tamiya 1/48 Fw 190D-9

Karl - your K is looking really good. Question about your camo masking method - do you ever end up lifting the base coat using that method? Or have your tape lose it's adhesive qualities? If it works, sure seems like it would make some tough paint jobs a lot easier.

Frank - I am indeed still "in progress" on my Revell G10...let me see what I can do about getting her done tomorrow (crappy weather permitting!).

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http://www.mycyclinglog.com/user_view.php?uid=612

Coffee, hot sauce, cycling, GB's. Coffee, hot sauce, cycling, GB's...

Karl I am likeing that 109 even more everytime I see it. She is really going to be a looker when your all done.

                                                                                        Soulcrusher

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SC --Ah-ha! Well, I look forward to building her! I'll consider an AM cockpit and anything else that looks attractive, I got her for a buy-now price of US$9.99 so it looks like a real bargain.

Karl -- you're moving along here and it's looking great! I'm closing in one the same stage myself, the RLM 76 went on today and I'm hoping that if the masking isn't too time-consuming I might be able to get the 75 on late tomorrow. Then I need a decent span of weather/humidity to remask and shoot the green -- and that'll bring me to the old 82/83 question. It looks like this bird calls for the darker of the two, whichever that is in these particular MM bottles!

Lufty -- that's an ambitious job, turning the parts of a pre-finished style model into a properly finished one. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

WIP shots: RLM 76 on:

Ancillary parts sprayed 02, spinner cone in satin black, and the prop blades are now sanded and resprayed 70.

Cheers, more asap,

Mike

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http://worldinminiature.blogspot.com/

KJ200 wrote:

Lufty, the big G is looking good. I was looking at 21st Century's Ju 87  a few weeks back as my next build, as it looks good and is dirt cheap. Always good in my book!

Thanks, Karl.

I just picked the Stuka up on Ebay for $5.50!  The decals alone are worth more than that.  The interior should lend itself well to some serious detaling.  21st CT pulled their website down so I think they're out of business.  Hopefully they re-organize or someone else buys the molds, it would be a shame for these things to disappear.  They're not perfect but where else are you going to get a decent 1/32 model for this cheap?

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aka Mike, The Mikester My Website

His lack of education is more than compensated for by his keenly developed moral bankruptcy. -Woody Allen

Stik -- looking great!

Limited proigress today, I patched up some more 76 needed here and there, including rhe outside of the gear bay doors and split flaps, the exhaust shields and underwing antenna. Then I assembled the prop:

and

Which brings me to:

The question I'm asking myself now is whether I've been too clever -- should I have tried winding on the spiral decal before fitting the blades? Will they just get in the way? The problem is the positive location devices are meant to be engaged before the cone is added to the base, so structurally it needed to be done this way, certainly to ensure the blades sat correctly. I'm not looking forward to the spinner decal.

The 76 on the fuselage sides doesn't show up in this shot against the gray plastic, but it's there. I'm thinking I might soft-mask the wing camo, freehand the fuselage with the small tip and needle, then soft-mask a fresh shot of 76 over the edges. Whatever way I go, this'll be a challenge!

Cheers,

Mike

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http://worldinminiature.blogspot.com/

Hi Frank -- you might be right. I've been studying the plans more closely and the more I look at the built-up model photos the more I'm convinced the spiral was masked and sprayed, not done with the supplied decal. In the photos the spiral's leading edge begins flush with the rearmost edge of the backplate, while in the decal instructions it begins butting square against a prop blade apperture. Other sources are hard to judge, but I'm thinking the best thing I can do is give the decal a shot as per the instructions, and if it doesn't work, mask and spray the white line as per the photos, probably doing the innermost part freehand.

Research also suggests that while this plane had the open white style of cross, the fuselage crosses were backed with RLM 83 where the black would have been on a closed cross -- not sure if I'll try to reproduce this, it's far from an easy scheme!

Cheers,

Mike

EDIT:

Okay, the decal broke up and went on in four pieces, and the first of probably half a dozen coats of MicroSol is drying right now. I might be posting a pic tonight.

EDIT:

Here it is!

Okay, not perfect, but not too much of a disaster. It's mostly settled down after four or five applications of MicroSol, and considering how it tried to roll up while still on the backing paper I think it fought me less than it could have. There, my first attempt at a spiralschnauze -- any tips for the future?

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http://worldinminiature.blogspot.com/

Hi Frank --thanks! Well, the kit decal was clearly not designed to snug down to the back plate. I could have tried hanging it over the edge and trimming the excess but the designed curvature would then not have matched the cone. I'm thinking I can either paint on a swatch, or cut a small piece of decal material, to follow the line on the other side of the blade opening so the eye sees the spiral continue until it disappears at the black plate. That would perhaps not be completely historically accurate in terms of the number of turns in the spiral, but more accurate than the spiral ending at the notch.

Hoping to get some 75 on today,

Mike

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http://worldinminiature.blogspot.com/