John and Eric>  Those NMFs look so good!  Wish I had the equipment to do that. 

Theuns> Nice work on the cockpit!

Thought it was time I made a report on my progress, which has been slowwwwwwww.

I got the engine assembled, then masked and glued the canopy on with clear glue (I'll remove it later).  I then painted the aircraft Testors "flat aircraft light gray".  Using some acrylic craft paint called "Sage" (a light green), I made a wash which l applied over the aircraft with a brush.  I tried to give the aircraft a "greenish-gray" appearance.  I hope it got close to what I "think" is the correct color for a Pearl Harbor Zero, but that's a can of worms I chose to avoid.

I've painted the cowling flat black and installed it and the engine.  I'm waiting for cooler weather (hope for next week) before continuing.  That's where it stands right now.  Next up the landing gear.

So far this has been a very easy kit to work on, though I am terribly slow (too many hobbies, I think).  Thanks for looking!

Gary 

No worries, all good :-)

Theuns

Hey Theuns, nice work there!!! And I figured you could build a 1/72nd kit in a fairly short time but wanted to make sure you knew the deadline! 

I plan to have this build done be the next 2-3 weeks or so :-)

I got this little airfix Kate 1/72 on saturday afternnon at out IPMS meet.

The detail is exelent for this scale but allot of it will be lost when the fuselage is closed up :-(

The build was started late Sunday morning and by last night I had the fuselage and wing assembly all glued up ready to sand! Goes really fast.

IMG_20190929_085220 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20190929_094630 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20190929_180142 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20190930_063758 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

I am stil undecided on the colours, the kit shows an all over IJN grey with green mottle and a standard green top grey bottom. I have however seen an early Kate in all over bare metal I really like, I might have to cheat with the colors LOL

Theuns

Theuns

Mr G, can I come play with a little airfix Kate?

 

Theuns

 

Sure! Although we are down to three months to go I'll go put you down now. 

Mr G, can I come play with a little airfix Kate?

Theuns

Eric: That looks neat! As said it's just a matter of fiddling with it till you get it the way you want it. Good luck!!!

More progress on the Ki-61 and more experimenting with weathering NMF. I do regret not trying some kind of prep on top of the primer - some kind of variation on black basing. But, I also wanted to see how the Vallejo Metal Color paints worked under "normal" conditions. The original coat went down fine. As noted last time I painted some panels different shades of NMF and decaled it.

decaled by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

Too much contrast between the panels and the main fuselage and too much uniformity all around. I got out the paint mule and tried something suggested in a Vallejo YouTube "how to" - I added some Model Air to the Metal Colors and very thinly misted new streaks and blotches. One mix had a little black in it, another a little blue and the last a little olive drab.. Both the black and blue gave some interesting different modulations of the main aluminum - I also sprayed on more MC to lessen the difference of the panels. The olive drab hue did a pretty good job evoking some exhaust. I don't know how much of this will be visible after the upcoming oils and Com.Art washes, but I'm going out of my way to experiment. When you spray misting coats over a solid NMF it will dull the effect - but I think the exchange is well worth it because I don't want something uniform and shinny. Indeed, we've got a lot left to do to give this bird the worn look I've seen on every pic of a wartime NMF Ki-61.

Eric

irregular2 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

irregular1 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

ki-61met by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

Well, your model your decision! Looking forward to seeing how things go whatever you do. 

Looks good! If you wanted less contrast the easiest thing to do would probably have been to lightly overspray the whole thing with same shade you used for the majority. Kinda too late with the decals applied- still it's nice looking work! 

It's time for a big think on the Ki-61. As reported the kit is brilliant. In general, the Vallejo Metal Colors are excellent - and I will be doing more NMF planes in future. That said, everything is very unforgiving and the inevitable errors do leave tracks that are very tough to hide. Many "fix" techniques like overspraying spots or drybrushing do show. Below is the bird painted and decaled. I put salt under the black/blue anti-glare panel (and the prop & hub - not shown) to get a nice chipping effect. I used a toothpick dipped into metallic paint to put some chips on the orange leading edge - looks good to me. (The anti-glare and leading edge panels were done in Golden High Flow just to remind me why they're my favorite paint.) I wanted to see how to do NMF so there will be no mottle on this kit. I also chose to use a very simple decal scheme - and managed to hide a booboo on the side. Might add that I like Tamiya decals - thick they are, but they're also hard to wreck. I was going to use Aeromaster (the tail thunderbolt is AM) - but the hinomarus were too thin and showed the darker metallic color from underneath which didn't work at all. The thick Tamiya markings covered fine - the only downside was that I didn't want a white circle around the side hinomaru. Oh well. The result is below:

decaled by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

As you can see, I did paint a few panels a mix of duraluminium and/or aluminium and magnesium. (The fabric control surfaces were done in "dull" alumininum - which I'd guess is the standard color mixed with matte gray: I think that's the right fit.) I also applied the Vallejo Metal Varnish which is extremely unobtrusive and I think will be helpful. The problem is that I have to get from what I have, pictured above, to something that looks like a real Ki-61 pictured below:

tonyprofileview by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

 I'm already regretting the painting the odd panels different shades - they should have been much less different in color. Actually, I'm not really sure why I painted those panels at all - they're much too regular and I've been doing "black basing" lately and it's design to prevent symetry. So how to proceed. The plane is too tidy by half and looks like a metal checkerboard. This is going to require some serious weathering - but of what type? I do have a paint mule all metallic now and will use it for trials. I'm sure I'll be relying on my Iwata Com.Art acrylics - they're terrific for grime. But that won't be enough. I think it's time for some serious oils. Maybe even some pigments? This is a challenge and I can still pretty much wreck things. However, I don't see how I'll be able to blame anything on Tamiya. I'm still working on the canopy but the clear parts look terrific and seem to fit nicely. Never made a perfect model and this won't be the first. But with luck this could be a keeper. Wish me luck.

Eric

Gamera

BTW: Did anyone else have problems getting on yesterday? Sorry I tried to post but it took forever for the site to load anything. 

 

Yup, had problems too with the site yesterday. Gave up after a while. 

Gamera

John: Even on an 'easy-assembly' kit the painting can be a bear. Nice job there, the swoop on the tail came out really well. Did you get the decals to comform? 

 

BTW: Did anyone else have problems getting on yesterday? Sorry I tried to post but it took forever for the site to load anything. 

 

John

John: Even on an 'easy-assembly' kit the painting can be a bear. Nice job there, the swoop on the tail came out really well. Did you get the decals to comform? 

BTW: Did anyone else have problems getting on yesterday? Sorry I tried to post but it took forever for the site to load anything. 

Started the decals, they are fairly resistant to all setting solutions. 

Falconmod

Gamera

Oh wow John that looks good!!! 

 

John

Oh wow John that looks good!!! 

Got my A5M2 taped up for the red tail feathers

Red is done

Red may be a little darker than I wanted, but it should be just fine.

John

Eric: Well as you stated the Japanese had some serious quality control issues. And it seemed that the Army planes came from the factory in NM finish. Most if not all of the camo was field applied. 

Ohhhhh Eric that looks sooooooo good! Going to have to try the Vallejo some day, I too don't care for the fumes from Alclad. It's just that I've made an investment in the stuff now and I hate to try to move to something else.  

EBergerud

Got the base coat down of Vallejo Metal Color Aluminum. There are some errors - but I always make some. For a first try, I'd give it good marks. It lays down very nicely - no thinning, used my main club the Iwata Eclipse HPC (.3mm) at about 12psi. Seems to level well. A lot more to do.

Eric

painted by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

 

Finish looks great with that warm lighting

Got the base coat down of Vallejo Metal Color Aluminum. There are some errors - but I always make some. For a first try, I'd give it good marks. It lays down very nicely - no thinning, used my main club the Iwata Eclipse HPC (.3mm) at about 12psi. Seems to level well. A lot more to do.

Eric

painted by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

Agree about Alclad good tough stuff - even though I tend to not undercoat with gloss black for ww2 subjects, as I want a more oxidized look than real shiny. But that's a subjective call. Recently I've moved away from Alclad, even though it is a great product, the smell is just strong and you need lacquer cleaner which doesn't help. I try to ventilate as best I could, with a hood and out the window, but my wife can still smell it - rather have a healthy wife than great NMF. :)

Eric: She looks good! Personally I've only used Model Master gloss black acrylic as a base coat for Alclad and so far haven't had any problems with it. I'll keep the Duplicolor in mind case I do have any issues. 

Edwin: As John says the Alclad is pretty tough stuff. I've masked over it and only had a few cases of it peeling. Of course I tend toward low-tack tape and sticking it to my hand to remove most of the stickiness first. 

Edwin

Hi John

That aluminium finish looks great! Heard so much about Alclad, got to try it one of these days. Does the finish hold up when masking tape is applied to it? Or does it need to be clear coated first?

 

John

I've got three Hasegawa Japanese fighters - just haven't built one. They remind me of the Tamiya 90s kits (believe most of the Hasegawa kits were new tool around then). They go together pretty well - I did a Spit IVX that Revell reboxed and it was very nice, as was their 1/48 Val. But the new Tamiya things are simply a different generation - not saying you'll necessarily get a better model when the dust settles, but I guarantee there will be moments when you mumbel - "good grief - how'd they do that? (I would have done the 2014 Tamiya rendition of the A6M5 if I didn't need to try NMF: it looks like a terrific kit.) Wish Hasegawa made more kits - not sure when the last 1/48 "new tool" plane came out from Hasegawa. I sure they'd rebox the B-26 though - a very important WWII plane that's not available. Listen Eduard? Airfix? Tamiya?

Ki-61 is mostly assembled and primed. I've used the Vallejo Metal Colors on a paint mule and I am "hopefully optimistic" (how's that for a 1980's non sequitur?). This has been an education. As noted Tamiya makes better kits than anyone else - period. (Heard about their new tool 1/48 P-38F/G? I know what my Xmas present will be.) I decided to use gloss black stynelrez. I had good luck with it when I primed my SU-76. But I had not heard their recommendations of 20-30 psi with a .5 needle. Well, had I looked at my Paul Budzik (one of the two or three best YT modelers I think) video on nozzles, I would have remembered that .5 can mean a lot bigger or smaller depending upon the complexity of the needle. The Harder Steenbeck .5 I used is complex - a very shallow slope - which means a whopping big hole. Had this been a Paasche Talon, .5 would have been right. Stynelrez is "self-leveling" which means it should clean up when laid on thick, which you'll do with a .5 at 25psi. It didn't altogether - there were some streaks that I may or may not fix. Stylnelrez did follow the scratches on the surface too well - I had the whole fuselage very smooth but there were some very light scratches on the side - and the primer pooled on top of them. OK - time for surgery. I sanded the primer off and worked more on the scratches. Then I found out that despite claims of glory from other quarters, Stylnelrez does not sand off like a lacquer - it peels around the edges. (I've heard that a coat of future will allow Vallejo primer - famous for peeling - sand solid. That wasn't what I wanted here with NMF coming.) So, after trying to reapply the primer with a slower build up (think .20mm Harder Steenbeck at 20psi) it still didn't look right. So off it came and on went my Duplicolor Hot Rod Black Lacquer Primer over the offending area on the side - barely visible on the pic below. Duplicolor - being a no joke lacquer, grasps plastic like glue (but it does not damage it at all - zero). But Duplicolor is both "fillable" and "sandable" - which means small scratches disappear and you can sand the primer very nicely to give it a very smooth satin finish. I'm guessing that the Vallejo Metal Colors are opaque enough that it won't matter a bit. Anyway, stylnelrez is now for armor only - aircraft will get Duplicolor - it's great for black basing and I'm guessing it will work perfectly well for an opaque NMF. We'll see.

I've also researched some pics of the NMF Ki-61s. It looks to me that the NMF finish is more irregular than I've seen on US planes. Below are a wartime photo and one contemporary museum pic which is no doubt pitted, but still shows sign of an irregular finish. Many other photos show the same I think. (Yell if you think I'm wrong.)

Eric

primed by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

MetFlight by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

metal2016 by Eric Bergerud, on Flickr

Edwin,

I painted the fuselage and cockpit pieces with Rustoleum Flat Black, then used ModelMaster's "Interior Green" over that.  It gives a fair approximation of the Mitsubishi early cockpit color.

Gary