1945 GB

Thanks Jgeratic. Bish, Joe Rix, Stikpusher,

Thanks for the information on your Hobbyboss Fw 109, that sounds a lot like the revell 1/48 Bf 109 kit.

Thanks Ebergerud: Model Master makes multiple shades of Olive Drab, so it makes it easy to break up a solid shade with another one. Yes the Hetzer camouflage was a challenge, using silly putty did make it a little easier.

Moff: Nice work on your JS-3, the photo-etch and metal barrel are a nice touch.

Well I have my Sherman fully assembled and painted, finished the .50 cal and the ammunition case this morning. The two figures you see in the first photo are of the four that came with the kit, I have not had any problems with them. They have gone together great, the real challenge is painting them, or trying not to over lap another color(There from 1995). I have given up on the Dragon tank crew figures, they have fought me every step in assembly. I'll hang on to them in case I decide to finish them in the future.

Well I believe I've finished. Once again this is the Hobbyboss Fw190D-9 1/72. It is one of their easy kits only about 35 parts. Outside it's fairly nice. Interior is very toylike.  Hope you like it. Weathered it somewhat heavily. 

Bish I think I finally took a decent pic.

TJ, your Dora has been added to the front page! Very nice work! 

OK: update on the Spit XVI front. To remind this is a Revell/Hasegawa kit that can be made into a IX or XVI. Both were in service in 1945, but I've got other early war Spits in the stash and they have “the wing.” The XVI was one of the marks that had clipped wings, so we go with that.

This is just another Spitfire and I can't imagine anyone finding any interest in the build – although I've never made a 1/48 Spit before. Just to keep myself on my toes I decided to paint this kit with Golden High Flow acrylics. That stage is over now I guess, and frankly I'm pretty pleased. So if there's anything of interest here it's the paint, I will discuss High Flow.

High Flow is a thinner version of Golden's wonderful Fluid Acrylics. Pigments are the same, and most of the agent is polymer, like Fluids. You could think of Golden Fluids as like Vallejo Model Color in terms of viscosity and High Flow like Model Air. But Golden is more complex and there are some wrinkles. (Cheap: about $4 for a 1oz bottle with a super tear drop bottle and BB inside for mixing: less than Vallejo.) High Flow replaces a line of “Airbrush” paints Golden has made for years. Airbrush was actually made for paper, canvas or fabrics but not styrene. High Flow is actually very unpopular among the old Airbrush fans, and modelers had to use Golden Fluids thinned with mediums. (Not hard and it remains a splendid model paint.) But the new paint is great for folk like us.

I've never seen a paint with the feel of High Flow. It is extremely thin – almost like Iwata Com.Art – and is loaded with flow aid, retarder and self-leveling ingredients. Golden claims you can use water and Airbrush Extender to thin High Flow, but so far I see no need. This stuff goes right from bottle to airbrush. (This is the only paint I use unthinned.) I think it's best to use very low PSI especially if you're trying to paint a thin line close – the drying retarder is so effective that the paint hits plastic as pure liquid. Five inches away at low psi and it's starting to dry and adheres very well. (I know some modelers get very good results doing thin lines with high psi – I haven't tried it.) That said, I've never used a water based acrylic (non-toxic, non-flammable, no smell etc) that lays down as smoothly as High Flow. And because it has retarder, you can paint a very long time with zero tip clog – although I always use a damp paint brush often to clean the needle tip while airbrushing any paint – that's the single best place to start if someone is having trouble with tip clog.

There are forty five colors of High Flow but none are keyed to military standards so you have to do a lot of mixing. That's actually a plus for me – like 8th grade art. I had reliable calls for Vallejo paints that matched the box art and online kit photos very well, so I wasn't shooting blind. The light blue-gray underneath started out with a chromatic black with a tad of blue left. (It's a mix of red, blue and yellow.) Lightning it would have left a paint that was too blue I think, although I think it would have made a nice naval color. So to the faux black I added a little neutral gray and white. It still has just a tint of blue – and I like it. The dark gray on top was simple: High Flow neutral gray is quite dark – so I put in a couple drops of carbon black (one of the most opaque paints I've ever seen) in. It matched Vallejo basalt gray almost perfectly. The green actually has very little green. The kit calls for Tamiya Forest Green, but after looking at a lot of photos and paintings of Spits, it looked to me that the color had a good dose of khaki in it. (Here again, I had what looked to me like a really good match – Model Air US Dark Green. I decided to leave it a little more green because by the time all weathering is done, the contrast will be muted a bit.) Anyway, the green had some SAP Green (a dark green with a bit of blue) and Green Gold. That was a good mix but lacking any khaki. So I added some Hansa Yellow cut with Carbon Black (together they make a color very close to olive drab) and Raw Sienna. I'm quite pleased with the color, but it did cause a little trouble.

There was a load of masking required for the kit. (As I understand it, Tamiya 1/32 Spits have color diagrams that are big enough to be used for masking. Could be wrong.) It would have been a lot easier if the camo was more free form like you see on a lot of LW buggies, but it sure looks to me like Spit camo was factory painted with some kind of stencil – it certainly looks very hard edged. So that meant I had to copy the approximate camo lines from the kit instructions. I took a .3mm black artist pen and drew the pattern. I then applied a thin line of Vallejo black/gray by hand to make it easier to see. (This was done on top of the Vallejo gray surface primer which was very dry when I got to it.) Previously I had masked the upper part and painted the bottom – the brew went on flawlessly. I forgot to preshade the bottom so I did for the top. The covering characteristics of Golden are so strong that most of it went away, even though the paint film is extremely thin and very fine lines are remain very visible. (High Flow does include some transparent colors which could have been used in the mix and might have left more preshading visible.) That should be obvious after I work on panel lines.

I made an error with the green. I wanted to free hand the green to save a whole masking step. So I put the paint into my Harder Steenbeck Infinity with a .15 nozzle. Later I checked the Golden website (which is fantastic – a great place for anyone who wants to understand how high grade paints are made or manipulated – goldenpaints.com) and found out that the sienna was one of the few colors that did not suit a .15 nozzle. Also I was painting close, very low psi, and it took a very long time. I knew I was going to mask the last phase so a little overspray wasn't bad. Usually the green went down nicely, but it did spit a bit and eventually clogged completely. It was about 80% done, but I cleaned the brush, put it away and got out my HS Evolution with a .20 tip. It cleared up right away. However, I would not rule out the possibility that putting so many different pigments together – even though Golden claims full mixing compatibility across the line – might have caused some mischief. The result doesn't look great, but it actually was pretty close to what I wanted.

That was it for the rough spots. I used Silly Putty for the last mask. I wanted to use a product that I previously had very good luck with – weird junk called “Panzer Putty.” It's very easy to shape, but it is so sticky (which is good for making contact with the plastic) that it could be dislodged with a very slight touch (very bad if you're putting on a lot of it). Silly Putty is very easy to shape and will stay on. However, the seal isn't as good as Panzer and after the paint was done and the putty removed there was a little underspray and residue. I expected that and it was a snap to fix with a fine brush. All Golden paints hand brush extremely well – at least as good as Vallejo Model Color/Panzer Aces.

One thing I do want to emphasize. Except for a little trouble with the green (most of it laid down perfectly well) all other paints went down perfectly. No clog and the full cleaning I use after every coat appeared unneeded as the nozzle was so clear after painting. But you have to clean anyway. If there's a downside to water based acrylics, especially Golden, it's that the polymer agent which is easy to clean when damp is a blinking nightmare if you forget it and the stuff properly cures. On the upside of the same equation, the finish was rock hard after drying overnight. I did very serious masking all over the plane with tapes and putty and not a bit stripped off. I'd also attribute that to the Vallejo primer which is fantastic if you let it cure before painting on it – so the Golden had some bite on which to rest.

tempestjohnny,

congrats on the completion, looks to be a great example of the Dora.

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EBergerud,

odd that the instructions call out for Tamiya's Forest Green.  I guess that particular boxing came out before Tamiya produced their own specific brand of RAF dark green?  As far as I can tell from my reference library, the Dark Green introduced to the RAF in 1936 would remain constant throughout the war.   Author Paul Lucas gives the FS colour match as 34079.

Your mixed greys look fine to me, looking forward to more on this Spit...

regards,
Jack

Here's my new coat of paint, since my fail using Vallejo's instructions for their 4BO Green Color Modulation set. In my humble opinion, most of the paint that they give you in the set is worthless. I really do not like the effect given, it's much nicer just using a mix of #017 Russian Green and #225 Light Green. That's what I did here. I repainted with a coat of 4BO primer, then sprayed coats of 8:1, 6:1, 3:1, and 1:1 mixes of Russian Green and Light Green. 

Now my question is, should I risk a coat of neat #223 Light Green? I think I need more contrast, but I don't know if the gamble is a good one.

Tempestjohnny: Nice job on finishing your Fw109.

Thanks Bish, I might give it a try with a base.

Ebergerud: Nice camouflage on your Spitfire, silly putty always comes in handy.

Moff: Your Russian green looks good, a little of post shading can give it more contrast. Using your #223 light green, airbrush on low air pressure around 10psi and just touch on the centers of panels and areas. Also helps to add a little more thinner than usual.

Well after airbrushing future on and letting it dry a full day, Friday I applied the decals. Five white stars, using model master decal set and solvent. The stars are really liking like painted on stars with the solvent softening them up.  I'll be weathering the stars some, so they don't stand out as much.  The Hezter is also coming along.

DantheMan85

Moff: Your Russian green looks good, a little of post shading can give it more contrast. Using your #223 light green, airbrush on low air pressure around 10psi and just touch on the centers of panels and areas. Also helps to add a little more thinner than usual.

 

Well after airbrushing future on and letting it dry a full day, Friday I applied the decals. Five white stars, using model master decal set and solvent. The stars are really liking like painted on stars with the solvent softening them up.  I'll be weathering the stars some, so they don't stand out as much.  The Hezter is also coming along. 

Thanks! Yeah, I thought the current post-shading might be a little too subtle. 

And are those TAMIYA decals that you got to sit flat? 

Dan: The Sherman and the Hetzer are looking boss. You are really doing a bang up job on both of them. I'm excited to see you get the weathering on and to see exactly how you do it. Great stuff.

Moff: I apologize that it is belated but, welcome to the GB. Really like your JS-3. Definitely a sweet subject. The work you have done so far looks excellent. Your use of different shades of green appears to have come off quite nicely. I'm in agreement with Dan in that some lighter green on the panel centers would add a nice touch to it.

Doug: Very glad to see you back here. I am sure sorry to hear that you have not been doing well but, I sure hope you're improving.

Eric: Your Spitfire is looking sharp. Nice work with the Silly Putty. You certainly did some nice work on your cockpit. I like what you did for the seatbelts. Interesting approach. I find the fact that you are always trying something new refreshing and interesting. Certainly gives me food for thought.

TJ: Love your finished Dora. I have to say that you are highly successful at your goal of concentrating on the camo painting. It came out spectacular.

bobbaily: I sure hope that you can fight your way through the modeling doldrums. sure looking forward to some progress pics of the King Tiger.

I'm currently painting the wheel wells and accompanying panels on the P-47. Pics soon to come.

Thanks everyone for the comments, just 45 more days to go!

Oh. Ok, I didn't know that. Still, I think I'll be done by then (I hope).

Argh! I'm trying to find a specific JS-3 to decal, but there are no pictures of the version I'm building! I may end up using no decals at all.

I have seen a lot with no markings, so I may just end up doing that. It looks so dull like that though. 

Bish

Looks like we are in for a sprint finish.

Looks like I'll be limping in like an arthritic snail.

JOE RIX

 

 

Bish

Looks like we are in for a sprint finish.

 

 

Looks like I'll be limping in like an arthritic snail.

 

I just sprayed the Light Green, and it looks pretty good. I may have liked it better if I had done a 1:2 mix of Russian Green and Light Green first, but it looks ok. I'll upload some pics soon.

However, I was still having some splattering/bad atomization problems. The first time after I cleaned the airbrush and sprayed using the Drying Retarder, it sprayed amazing. Since then (the two previous sessions) it hasn't been as great. Part of it must be my thinning maybe...

@EBergrud: 

Part of the problem seems to be the Drying Retarder. It makes it look really goopy when somehow it's actually thinned past the "milk" stage. It constantly ends up with spatter. It just seems like it's always either spraying perfectly at the consistency of water, or clogging up/splattering at anything else. It must be something I'm doing, because I don't remember this problem before. Guess I'll just experiment.