Hi,

I agree with M. Brindos.  Your painting skills look great.

Pat

Your freehand is already impressive. If you keep practicing from your current skill level you're going to be amazing in no time.

Nice job on this, its looking good.

Mark, Sweet work on the Hurricane.  One suggestion, to help soften the edges a bit, overshoot lightly the tan with the green.  It could blend everything together a bit, might make the edges look better.  Anyway, I look forward to seeing how this one comes out as well, the previous ones have been pretty impressive.

John

Update on the Hurricane project:

Finished the free-hand camo patterns last night.  After reading the tips from patrick206 (thanks) about this technique I spent a couple nights just testing mix ratios, psi, spray distance... etc., and found a combination that seemed to work well.  Paint seemed to lay down much better than the first attempt at it last weekend, and I was able to complete all the patterns in one evening.  Here are a couple of pics of the progress:

]

Although I'm quite pleased with this first attempt, I will continue to test and practice.  Right now I think the feathering of the edges is a bit too big.  I don't think it looks to scale.  Finishing up the gear and canopy next.

Cheers, Mark.

Those look friggin' great!!! 

The first aircraft I tried all this new stuff like pre-shading on came out pretty awful! 

Your skill and creativity are very impressive and I am glad you have chosen to display them here. We can all benefit from your W.I.P's and TY for  posting.

patrick206

Mark, regarding your comment about free handing camo. I've been at this hobby for many decades, 6+,  and from experience I can say there are so many variables in getting free handing dialed in.

The airbrush needle/nozzle size, psi, paint type, thinner ratio, distance from the model, etc. It took me quite some time to get just a bit comfortable with it, then as I progressed gradually I felt more confident.

Now I make my mixture, and then make several test lines and patterns, just to see how the paint flows on, then make my changes to the mix until it works for me.

So, while you are already well advanced in skills, free handing is the area to really put in some experimenting and practice. Really enjoy seeing your work so far, if you feel like it let us see how your free handing comes together.

Patrick

 

Thanks for those tips Patrick.  Yeah, I could tell pretty quickly that this would be the biggest challenge so far.  So many variables to consider when doing anything with the airbush.  Mostly I've just been tweaking air pressure and not really exploring my paint/thinner ratio.  I'll take your advice and start doing more rigorous testing on this.

I worked on that left wing for a couple of hours and then decided to take a break for a couple days, to rest and recuperate.  hahaha

Nice work and welcome back!

MrStecks

Everyone seems to be diggin' the pictures (thank you all for the complements), so I thought I would post some of the build pics from those two planes, and then a few from the current project.

Pics of the 109.

]

Some pics of the Spit.

]

Here's a pic of the Hurricane I'm working on currently. Have struggled a bit with some seams, and I'm free-hand airbrushing the camo.  Ugh...  might have bit off more than I can chew on that one...  but you can't learn if you don't try. 

]

I'll post more of the Huricane as I progress.

Cheers, Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark, regarding your comment about free handing camo. I've been at this hobby for many decades, 6+,  and from experience I can say there are so many variables in getting free handing dialed in.

The airbrush needle/nozzle size, psi, paint type, thinner ratio, distance from the model, etc. It took me quite some time to get just a bit comfortable with it, then as I progressed gradually I felt more confident.

Now I make my mixture, and then make several test lines and patterns, just to see how the paint flows on, then make my changes to the mix until it works for me.

So, while you are already well advanced in skills, free handing is the area to really put in some experimenting and practice. Really enjoy seeing your work so far, if you feel like it let us see how your free handing comes together.

Patrick

Nice work, Mark, and welcome to the forum.

I WILL do it again!  hahaha...        Thanks. 

You only have to practice till you get it right.

Then you have to do it again to show you can repeat the acomplishment.

Then you have to do it again to make us happy.

Do it again! Do it again! Do it again!

Love the 109. You can stop practicing now.... you have arrived!

Everyone seems to be diggin' the pictures (thank you all for the complements), so I thought I would post some of the build pics from those two planes, and then a few from the current project.

Pics of the 109.

]

Some pics of the Spit.

]

Here's a pic of the Hurricane I'm working on currently. Have struggled a bit with some seams, and I'm free-hand airbrushing the camo.  Ugh...  might have bit off more than I can chew on that one...  but you can't learn if you don't try. 

]

I'll post more of the Huricane as I progress.

Cheers, Mark

Both are very nice!  I particularly like the mottling on the 109.

Really great builds! 

We are our own worst enemy. We look at little mistakes and they stand out because we know where they are while others will look at it and not see those mistakes unless we tell them where they are. 

Jim  

I agree with all of you. These are terrific! Well done!!

Extremely nice birds.  Wish my first two "back at it" builds had come out that nice.  You have some skills sir.

Welcome back to the hobby, and not one, but two homeruns at your first two at bats!  Nicely done sir, and the new techniques you tried came out great.  I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.  Thanks for sharing.

John

patrick206

Mark - You can stop practicing, you're plenty good already, just build away and crank them out. Very nice work, thanks for the post and photos.

Patrick

 

You have skill.  Find a large space in your home to display your builds!

Dwayne

Mark - You can stop practicing, you're plenty good already, just build away and crank them out. Very nice work, thanks for the post and photos.

Patrick

Thanks for the nice comments everyone.  I am really happy with how these two came out.  Been having a more difficult time with the Hurricane I'm working on now.  (Sorry, not the trop version. )  I made a mess of some of the seams at the leading edge of the wing root.

On the Spit I masked out the camo and used blue tack at the edges to soften the edges when I airbrushed the dark green on.  But on the Hurricane I decided to free-hand the camo with the airbush.  It's...  a bit okay, but still plenty of opportunity to blow it completely.  I'm taking my time so I don't become too frustrated.  I'll try to post of pic of the progress tonight.

Cheers, Mark

Well you jumped back in with both feet and hit the ground running! Those two are beautiful! 

They both look very nice to me. Ilike the look of the yellow on the 109 and good job on the motteling.

"Practice builds" my eye!  They look great and they deserve an honored spot on your shelf.  I think you've hit the weathering mark quite well with the 109.  The Spitfire looks a little fresher, but I'm not saying that's a bad thing.  I think you've done very well, and we look forward to seeing more.  

They look great for "practice builds"! Looking forward to when your skills get better...just kidding...Your Spit and 109 look excellent! You did well with paint and washes...chipping looks good...a technique I still am clueless about. For someone who is just starting out...A++++. You are either a Model Savant or did your homework(something I didn't do) Looking forward to your Hurricane(is it the Tropical?). Mine is at the hobby store waiting to be picked up.....

Hi,

Those came out really nice.

Pat