ALL SUBJECTS - Aussie Group build (ends 10/31/04)

Doing a wrap out of black decal paper would be an excellent idea Jules.

Then a fine masking of tape trimmed to suit, and spraying some red in between would give it the colour depth you need.

It's not that the decals dont line up, it's just that the fuselage halves were so outta wack, the kit decal isn't long enough anymore.
Either way, I'll spray my Sabre in the Marksmen scheme for this GB, the yellow and black tail looks like a challenge for my masking skills

QUOTE: Originally posted by darson Harvs, I am fast running out of superlatives for the builds being produced here. They both look fantastic, I can't wait to see the finished products. Tell me, what brands of paint and colours are you using in your builds? Cheers Darren

Darson,
Harvs great looking builds

Looks like us Aussies can really mix it with the rest of the modelling world
But hey we all new that didn't we
Harvs iv'e been using Pollyscale acrylics for the spit and found it very good,seems to dry a little quiker than other paints though...........

Tweety1 your absolutely right about the fueselage band,it'll have to be painted on,i wasn't aware the decals don't line up i was going to paint it on because the colour is to light, i was thinking about cutting a black band out of decal stock and sticking it under the red one to get the darker colour but if it's not gonna line up theres not much point eh
With the angle of the fueselage band and the white border painting it on aint gonna be no walk in the park....................

OH Yeah i gave the Spitfire an overall coat of gloss clear tonight so tommorrow i can paint the white on the spinner and wing leading edge's,then all i have to do is touch up a couple of nasty spots on the undersides and then i can put the deacls on,finish lines in sight.....................Jules.................

Gotcha yaself a couple of nice looking birds there harv

Well done!!!

Darren,

I use a wide variety of different paints for the aircraft. I use mainly Humbrol but also use Testors and Pollyscale depending on what is needed. Pollyscale make a number of good colours for Aust acft so I use those a great deal on some my other Aust acft eg my A-20C.

For the Mosquito I used Humbrol 149 with Hu 195 for the spinners as they are both good for foilage green. The interior is Hu 2 though there is a bit of disagreement about whether it should be Aust interior green or brit interior green (hu78).

The A-20 I used Humbrol 155 OD with Hu 149 for the green edging. The grey is Hu156 I think. I used Testors Interior green for the interior.

They both received a wash of thinned matt black for panel lines.

I hope that answers your question.

Harvs, I am fast running out of superlatives for the builds being produced here. They both look fantastic, I can't wait to see the finished products.

Tell me, what brands of paint and colours are you using in your builds?

Cheers
Darren

A few more in progress of the two acft i'm doing. The mosquito propellers are in the process of being painted now and the A-20 is in need of new wheels. I'm off to Melbourne this week to buy some.

Excellent liner madmike

Personally airliners are neither here nor there for me, but with those decals on it, it just kinda looks cool.

Makes me want one[:0]
Would look really neat amongst all the fighters, then this brilliant white cool looking airliner

May I save a pic for my desktop?

too late

Ok, well things went a little better than expected this weekend with the Sabre.
Got the primer coat on, sanded it smooth, filled any tacky parts I could see, and then remembered the intake scoop underneath had to be scratchbuilt and attached

Did that, and shot the first coat of Gloss Black on everything but the tailplanes! (they were tucked behind the Alclad container)

Ah well, 24 hours and I'll do them after sanding the first coat of black.

So by next weekend, the Sabre SHOULD be done with the BMF, then it's decal time, and final ass'y of the smaller parts.

j.s., painting the red stripes on this bird is a definate, after all the messing around with shimming up the gaps in the resin fuselage, the decals won't wrap around as they should.
And which scheme are you gonna do your bird in, cause if you are gonna do the Black Panthers, I'll do the Marksmen scheme from 2OCU, the yellow looks kinda .

Yes that is really very nice madmike.

I managed to get the gloss clear (Tamiya clear) on the Merc this afternoon. The silvering under a couple of decals has gone so overal the body shell looks a lot nicer. I'll give it a couple of weeks to harden then it will be just installing the windows and mating the body and chassis to finish.

there ya go Mike all badged up

QUOTE: Originally posted by darson WOW Mike that looks fantastic. You've really done a bang up job on the kit, congratulations. By the way, is Johnson's Super Stride the same thing as One Go? Cheers Darren

Thanks everyone!

Superstride is different than Pledge one Go. It is milky out of the bottle but dries clear and gloss. It is the closest we HAD to Future here in Australia. Downside is that Stride has been unavailable for 4 years. My bottle is still half full.

cheers

Mike

WOW Mike that looks fantastic. You've really done a bang up job on the kit, congratulations.

By the way, is Johnson's Super Stride the same thing as One Go?

Cheers
Darren

Mademike i take my hat off to you,thats what we need a smilie taking his hat off,oh well this will do
That is without a doubt the best looking airliner iv'e ever seen..............

Mike if you want the badge in your sig heres the URL http://img24.photobucket.com/albums/v72/krener/Aircraft/AussieGB2004FSM.jpg

It's from Tweety1's photobucket album but i'm sure he won't mind you using it.....
I have the Badge loaded into my own album so i can't recall why i'm using Sean's URL.

Smitten by the airliner bug, I have completed my first airliner kit. Great fun with madmike's usual hiccups along the way. I initially wanted to build the Virgin Blue reverse livery scheme but after those decals failed I ordered the Hawkeye Ansett special Sydney Olympics set and as you can see they performed like champions, though a little thick.

As an airliner virgin, I encountered a few hiccups along the way and learned some lessons to apply to my next airliner builds.

Overall white was Citadel Skull White, the wings and stabs shot over in Modelmaster Acrylic and the BMF was Tamiya AS-12 and Humbrol Polished aluminium for the intake lips and insides.. MM metallisers for the remainder.

Three coats of lightly applied Johnson's Super Stride, decals were on and two thinly applied coats sealed the decals and gave a lovely "airliner sheen".

I made two attempts to weather this ship but to my utter dismay, both attempts fell short of my expectations, so this is a "clean" ship.

Hawkeye decals come highly recommended!








Hope you like the pics!

cheers

MikeJ

QUOTE: Originally posted by j.s.harrison Darson sweet looking build my friend you've really caught the weathered look of RAAF Spitfires in the Pacific,like you i'm up to the white wing leading edge markings,i'll be painting the prop at the same time seein as though it's white,sorry not the prop i mean the spinner............. Madmike iv'e never used the blue tac method either but i'd like to give it a go in the future...Your method for filling gaps is very interesting white glue eh,you'll all probably kick me but sometimes i use wall compound filler on my models which is basically plaster...............seems to work OK........ Tweets i fired you of an email regarding the SpitV111,hey don't start on 109's there one of my favourite aircraft, i only have 7 of them so i guess i'll need a couple more,the only MK's i don't have are the 109d and the 109k series,but my favourite would have to be the 109G6 or the 109f trop in desert markings............. BTW congrats on your 100th post and your 2nd star Madmike............keep em comin.... Cheers Jules...............

Jules

Always glad to share a new technique

The 737-300 is complete and will not be weathered after the nightmare with water colours. That was stripped off and sludge wash applied and removed, tailplanes re-attached and then two hours of pure frustration getting the main undercarriage bay doors on, not sure if they are right but they look ok.

So there is no way that I am doing any weathering on this little Ansett bird! Apart from a polish, it is ready for the display cabinet. Hey, does that mean I get a badge now??? I am going to build more airliners for sure, fun build (in the main) and nice and colourful!

I will post some pics tomorrow.

I had not realised I had got to 100 posts, funny how they creep up!

cheers

Mike

Darson sweet looking build my friend you've really caught the weathered look of RAAF Spitfires in the Pacific,like you i'm up to the white wing leading edge markings,i'll be painting the prop at the same time seein as though it's white,sorry not the prop i mean the spinner.............
Madmike iv'e never used the blue tac method either but i'd like to give it a go in the future...Your method for filling gaps is very interesting white glue eh,you'll all probably kick me but sometimes i use wall compound filler on my models which is basically plaster...............seems to work OK........
Tweets i fired you of an email regarding the SpitV111,hey don't start on 109's there one of my favourite aircraft, i only have 7 of them so i guess i'll need a couple more,the only MK's i don't have are the 109d and the 109k series,but my favourite would have to be the 109G6 or the 109f trop in desert markings.............

BTW congrats on your 100th post and your 2nd star Madmike............keep em comin....
Cheers Jules...............

QUOTE: Originally posted by darson Thanks for the kind words guys, it's much appreciated. Mike, the Blu Tac sausage method was actually fairly easy in the end and turned out OK. All I did was lightly draw the camo pattern on the model with a pencil, then lay thin Blu Tac sausages along the penciled line. I'll certainly be using that method again. That white glue is a great idea that I'm going to definitely try out, thanks for the tip. What I've been doing lately is similar but with different materials. I have been using squadron white putty in the gap and then as it starts to dry I wipe the excess clear with a cotton bud soaked in (mild) nail polish remover. It works a treat as it leaves the surrounding detail alone and can be used for hard to get at gaps that would be impossible to sand otherwise. Cheers Darren

Darren

I use that method as well, works well. Trick is not to apply too much filler as the thinner in the filler will mar the plastic. I lay thin strips of tape either side of the joint to fill, so to minimise the filler spread.

The white glue trick is great for thin gaps. Another useful filler is a liquid paper pen, zero shrink and sands quickly and smoothly.

I had the problem that I decided to add the wings and stabs of the 737-300 after painting as the join was excellent. A mixture of White acrylic craft paint, PVA and distilled water gave me a white filler. The result was no gaps and no messy sanding.

I will try the blue tack method out. Read heaps about it but never tried it as yet!

cheers

Mike

Thanks for the kind words guys, it's much appreciated.

Mike, the Blu Tac sausage method was actually fairly easy in the end and turned out OK. All I did was lightly draw the camo pattern on the model with a pencil, then lay thin Blu Tac sausages along the penciled line. I'll certainly be using that method again.

That white glue is a great idea that I'm going to definitely try out, thanks for the tip. What I've been doing lately is similar but with different materials. I have been using squadron white putty in the gap and then as it starts to dry I wipe the excess clear with a cotton bud soaked in (mild) nail polish remover. It works a treat as it leaves the surrounding detail alone and can be used for hard to get at gaps that would be impossible to sand otherwise.

Cheers
Darren

Thanks for that mike, sounds a hell of alot easier than using putty ALL the time, seeing as putty shrinks, and has to be sanded between apps.
Using the PVA may take some time, but using a wet cotton bud to smooth rather than sanding would preserve alot of adjacent detail.

Will use this method on my 109 when I start it.

Thinned white glue is a marvellous filler for canopy to fuselage gaps and wing roots. It dries clear and can be cleaned up with a moistened cotten bud, microbrush or mark 1 finger.. I thin it with a little distilled water and apply it with a toothpick. Capillary action sucks it down and fills the gap. Poke out airbubbles with a dental pick or something sharp and re-apply. I wait about half an hour before applying another layer.

With practice you will be able to guage the right "viscosity" and use it for wing roots etc. This only works for very thin gaps, like the 737-300 has at it's wing roots.. You will need to repeat the application a number of times, as PVA shrinks down, but once on, paints spray over it perfectly. It cannot be sanded though!

I tinited it white to get a sharp white line to match the 737-300's fuselage colour.

Hope that makes sense :)

Darren, your Spitfire looks awesome!

How did you find the blue-tack sausage method?

cheers

Mike

Madmike, thinner white glue for the wing roots
Never heard of that before.
How well does it work, and is it any good for larger gaps?

Wing roots are the part I hate the most
Try as I may, I can never really get them perfect.

Beautiful pics of the Spit darson, the shading worked a treat

j.s., is there a G6 in that 109 basket??

Here are a couple of happy snaps of the latest progress on my Spit.

After the debacle with my first attempt at masking, the camo job was eventually done by laying sausages of Blu Tac across the aircraft and spraying carefully.

This shot shows the Spit after the base colors have been lain down and a post shade sprayed along the panel lines and the insides of the panels. The lines were sprayed with a very thin black/dark earth mix and the panels themselves were lightened with either a very light grey or yellow added to the base color.


This last shot shows the Spit after the final thinned blending coat of the base colors has been sprayed hopefully evening everything out a bit.


Next step is the white leading edges on the wings and the white fuselage band.

Cheers
Darren

QUOTE: Originally posted by j.s.harrison Madmike i think colourfull schemes suit airliners more than military aircraft.............. I'm looking forward to seeing your finished build,might have to try an airliner myself sometime in the future.............. ......Jules....

Wings are now on. The Minicraft 737-300 kits have a wonderful locking mechanism that assures correct dihedral by locking together inside the fuselage. The resulting wing roots are near on perfect. I only had to run thinned white tinted PVA down the join, with excess wiped away with a moistened cotton bud. I will check tomorrow moringin if I need to repeat the procedure.

Tomorrow the horiz stabs go on and then I can panel wash stabs and wings with a dark brown wash as referenced from airliners.net pics.

cheers

Mike

QUOTE: Originally posted by tweety1 j.s., what scale is that spit of yours?????? If time, might be able to do both my 1/48 Bf109 G14, AND a spit for the Old Guns GB. $25 bucks sounds good for a Hase kit.

1/48 scale mate, let me know if you want me to grab one for you cause there's only 3 left......If you want Caldwells decals i'm happy to send them with the kit.........
BTW there's also 5 BF109 kits there for $25.00 all 1/48 Hasegawa kits but there not G14's there from F1 to G10 i think no taller tail, i've already bought myself a spit and 2 109's.......................Jules................

j.s., what scale is that spit of yours??????

If time, might be able to do both my 1/48 Bf109 G14, AND a spit for the Old Guns GB.

$25 bucks sounds good for a Hase kit.

Madmike i think colourfull schemes suit airliners more than military aircraft..............
I'm looking forward to seeing your finished build,might have to try an airliner myself sometime in the future..............
......Jules....

Gents

Thanks :)

I just got 2 Revell 1:144 737-800 kits sans decals and instructions form modelairliners.net. One is going to be a VB ship and the other a QANTAS ship. I am enjoying my foray into airliners, but am keen to get on with my CAC Sabre build!

The great thing about airliners is the colourful schemes. I know you can get the special schemes for military aircraft, but these seem the more colourful!

More pics to come, probably of the finished thing. Then I get a badge???

cheers

Mike

Madmike i must admit i'm not much of an airliner fan but yours has brought me back for a 2nd 3rd and 4th look, great work, love the decals

Tweets you should build one, my spit8 cost $45:00 when i bought it but now there's about 5 at my LHS for $25:00 good price for a Hasegawa kit, btw i have a spare set of decals for C.R.Caldwells Spitfire MKV111 as well..............
Cheers Jules...........

QUOTE: Originally posted by madmike Hi all Progress report on my Minicraft 737-300 that was to be a VB "reverse livery" ship but after a nasty session with unworkable decals has now been reborn into an Ansett special scheme 737-300 Plenty yet to do, but the decaling stage is now nearly complete. I have learned a lot from this, my first airliner build and when I build another one (lots more planned) it will be much smoother. Going to look lovely on the shelf though Hope you all like it cheers MikeJ

Looks good Mike, waiting to see the finished model.

darson, Thanks for the link for the scriber. With postage it is a bit out of my price range. I will have to ontinu to look for a cheaper alternative. madmike the airliner looks awesome . I wish that my builds would look that good?

Cheers Trev

QUOTE: Originally posted by tweety1 madmike, that is one cool looking airliner. The decals look like a mongrel to do.

A little thick but most forgiving. I used Aeromaster Sol II to bed down the decals on the engine nacelles and the results were great.

I found a fleck of dust under one area and I managed to peel back the decal, remove the offending blight and I then bedded down the decal again with Future. Looks great!

The tail decal is a little transparent an you can see the overlapped BMF underneath but it is not too obvious. But with decal softener and Future it went on fine as well! Just need to touch up the back edge with matching paint now and repaint the BMF area to close slight gaps between the decal and the pre-sprayed BMF leading edge.

I have two sheets of this subject and will do another one one day as the colours are so rich and vibrant.

This kit is not the best I have done but as a first airliner, I am delighted with the way it has gone so far . Mrs Madmike even purchased a Revell 1:144 Concorde today for my Wedding Anniversary present.

Recommended decals!

Weathering and final assembly is next.

cheers

MikeJ