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RAF aircraft camo patterns often seem to have a hard edge when seen from any distance. Yet close ups show feathered edges.... anyways here is a beautiful WWII color photo of a Spitfire nice and close for consideration...
Let the back and forth begin...
F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!
U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!
N is for NO SURVIVORS...
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LSM
Great photo. Colourized? Some exhaust stain there too.
John
To see build logs for my models: http://goldeneramodel.com/mymodels/mymodels.html
Yes, nice photo.
I'll dig around, but I've got the spec. recorded somewhere.
IIRC, it's a feather that's about 1/2" wide.
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/29585-british-camo-rubber-masks/
Modeling is an excuse to buy books.
John, as far as I can tell, that is an actual color photo. It does not show the typical signs of colorized B&W photos.
GM, yes, usually the Brit camo patterns have a very tight feathered edge, but this one did not. That is one reason I found this one a good one for discussion.
No. 40 Squadron SAAF. The dot is orange, as is the tail flag. Looks pretty good.
I don't know but it might be a field repaint when it went to Tunisia.
It looks pretty fuzzy, unusual to me.
On my bench: Academy 1/35 UH-60L Black Hawk
Yep, take a look at the link to Brit Modeler. I think the mats were used to trace the outline, and then removed before painting.
And.... I think for the purposes of this conversation that it's important to note that this is not an RAF aircraft.
The SAAF was an arm of the RAF during WWII, just like the RCAF and RAAF in a way. Their aircraft were made in the Commonwealth and marked to the same regulations and standards, depending upon the theater of service.
All the countries where/are a part of the commenwealth, which still has the Queen as the head of State to this day, go figure.
I prefer hard edges, in my opion if you stand 4 meters from the model 1/48 scale at 1/1 your 148 meters away, and the camo would look like it had hard edges.
Each to there own I suppose, I just find it way easier to produce sharp edges than soft.
Wow, I'm not sure how I missed the link in your post. I feel kinda foolish now
At 4 meters away, I would not be in the same room or area as most of my models At least where I keep them in my home. But yes, at that distance, the feathered edge would not be discernable.
When I take the time to look at my builds, I'm usually at 1 meter or less distance...
I would suspect that the aircraft is painted by some form of spray method. Lighter colors first then darker. Repairs might be brush painted.
Chasing the ultimate build.
OK here's what I know about the subject. The Spitfire was painted in the factory. They were built in "shadow factories" primarily at Castle Bromwich and Southampton.
There was pretty strict production control. The paint was applied by spray gun, with a fine feather delineation. It would seem that rubber and or horse hair mats or patterns were used to mark the camouflage patterns, which were then drawn in chalk.
The SAAF in Africa was "subordinated" to the RAF.
Topside colors were Middle Stone and Dark Earth.
Bottom sides were Azure Blue.
I guess they went back to the factory to be repainted.
But that picture still looks "fuzzy".
"Can you fly this plane and land it?...Surely you can't be serious....I am serious, and don't call me Shirley"
lawdog114Outstanding! I prefer feather too. Blue Tac rolled up into worms make great feathering masks...
That is a technique I am going to try soon... but use silly putty instead of blue tac... I already have the silly putty...
I use the silly putty method and the edge is determined by the angle of attack from your airbrush so you can totally control the feathering.
BK
On the bench:
A lot !! And I mean A LOT!!
2024 Kits on deck / in process / completed
14 / 5 / 2
Thanks for that tip Brandon.
There is a huge posted thread of 11 pages concerning RAF rubber camou masks, some interesting annecdotes too;
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/29585-british-camo-rubber-masks/&
Basically you can find examples of both hard and soft edge throughout the war, so best to use photo reference if you can for any given subject. There was a limit to overspray, to quote the late Edgar Brookes:
"Those we've spoken to, who did do freeheand spraying, always said that their overspray limits were set at an inch, sometimes half, rarely as high as two inches, which isn't easy to replicate, even in 1/24 scale."
regards,
Jack
Apologies for a bit of a diversion in this topic, but since we've brought up using putty "worms" to mask the boundaries between colors in a camo pattern, it occurs to me to ask you all how you then apply the paint? Do you apply it freehand with your airbrush, and if so, how do you avoid the overspray? I haven't quite mastered the technique yet, to the point that I still generally mask the whole area, instead of just the border between the colors.
The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.
You certainly have to mask behind it. Also, as Pawel said, it's critical to point at the model straight on in both axis and not change the angle of the a/b towards the model. I've done the same hing with paper, but it works best on the wings, not in corners.
Once the airplane is in theater at its unit all bets are off. Its going to be painted the best way they can. Most of the paints were oil based, and were mixed using motor gasoline, avation gasoline, or diesel fuel. If they get the pattern wrong, they won't have time to chip it off and repaint, or paint over it.
Hello!
Many times I have looked at Mi-24 helicopters ant they also have this type of edge on multi coloured camo. I don't know the specs or methods of application, but there is a feathered edge with a transition taking place in an area about one inch wide.
Masking with silly putty "worms" (as a first step, to estabilish the edge before masking the whole area) has many advantages - adjusting the diameter of the "worm" lets you roughly adjust the depth of the feathered area. There's little to no danger of creating a "step" at the line where the colurs meet - which sometimes happens when using tape. The shape of the curves can be adjusted many times when they are being laid down, and so on.
Thanks for reading and have a nice day
Paweł
All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!
www.vietnam.net.pl
Worms! Going out to buy putty.
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