War In The Pacific Group Build 2009 - 2010

Okay, as promised, pictures.

We'll start with the Pete.  This is before this evening's go at it.  I will be adding the rigging, canopies, and other bits as well as some touch up painting here and there and weathering.

and the start of something big:

Now The Dauntless;

Here you can see the residue on the insignia decal left over from the salt mask:

Taken as a whole, it's not too bad.  You can see on places like the walkways leftovers of the salt which I'll touch up by hand.  You can also see by the darkened spots on the upper surfaces where I had to do touch ups with out-of-the bottle Sea Blue on the tiniest setting on my airbrush.  I got the exact affect I was going for on the belly with no salt-related problems, but I don't think I'll be using this technique in the future:

Bob thanks

Stu they look great. The salt tech doesn't look bad to me

Jason

bobbaily wrote:

Stu-I have to agree with Jay that they both look great.  Nice job on the weathering.  I especially like the Dauntless weathering.

Ah, well, thank you.  In that case It was totally planned

Jay- That is some impressive work X 4!  You obviously know your way around Japanese AC.

Stu- Very nice work on the Pete, love the fading and weathering.  Sorry to hear your Dauntless is giving you fits.

Jay that Atoke looks really good (as well as all your birds of course), do you mind sharing the recipe you used to create it?  By the way it looks like you've got a whole squadron of the Japanese air force there.

Stu that Pete looks gorgeous, you've really nailed the weathered finish.  Are you going to paint the PE rigging or leave it natural metal?

darson wrote:

Stu that Pete looks gorgeous, you've really nailed the weathered finish.  Are you going to paint the PE rigging or leave it natural metal?Cheers

Well, Not sure.  The instructions call for it to be painted, so I'll likely be a good boy and do what the instructions tell me.

darson wrote:

Jay that Atoke looks really good (as well as all your birds of course), do you mind sharing the recipe you used to create it?  By the way it looks like you've got a whole squadron of the Japanese air force there.

Thank you all

Darson I don't mind at all.  I paint the parts in gunmetal and then do Heavy drybrush with aluminum, after that is dry I mix Tamiya metallic blue and clear green together and thin it down quite a bit. I don't have a exact mix ratio just add the green to the blue until it looks rite.

Mucker thanks I love Japanese aircraft I think their lines are just pretty. As far as paint go I us the old aero master, MM and tamiya . The radien has all three on it .

Jason

Stu...great job on the fading....

"Petey the plane " is really coming together real nice. Thats one of my two possible upcoming builds....you set a great bar to reach!!!! I got my work cut out for me. Do you have some good research suggestions? I got nothing.

Carlos

Hey guys although don't a direct part of this I thought i would post a couple pics

Jason

jay12472 wrote:

Jason

Geeze I wish I had one of these parked out in my backyard 

Summit One day I'll acutally get up in it

Jason

carsanab wrote:

Stu...great job on the fading.... "Petey the plane " is really coming together real nice. Thats one of my two possible upcoming builds....you set a great bar to reach!!!! I got my work cut out for me. Do you have some good research suggestions? I got nothing. Carlos

You know I built this totally out of box, followed the directions every step of the way.  I couldn't find too many reference pics and those I did find weren't in color, so I just Trusted Hasegawa to get it right.  You won't regret it.  It is one of Hasegawa's finest offerings lately, falls together seamlessly and makes an average modeler look really good.  My only build tip is throw a ton of weight in the center pontoon or it will never sit in the dolly correctly.

Jason, that is a very nice lineup you have there!!!! Beautiful work mate!!

Stu th pics were worth the wait!!! The Pete and Dauntless are outstanding!!! The fading on the Pete and the weathering on the SBD are awesome!! Even with the residue, it doesn't really look out of place! Looks like a battle tried and true veteran!!! And thats a good start on the big one!!!

Stu:

Can you expand a little on your weathering? Did you postshade with beige? white? a lightened mix of the base color? It's very effective and I'd like to try it on an upcoming build.

Stu & Pete some awesome looking builds.

I have been working on FineMolds offering of the 1/48th Kikka for about a week now. I have been worrking on FineMolds Sanka before I got the Kikka, I was hopeing the Kikka would go together as perfectly as the Sanka has........WRONG!!!

The IP went together with kit part & the decal, the decal set down perfectly with micro set.

I was also shocked that this kit did not come with seat belts. I made these after looking at late model zero aircraft. I am happy that i was able to make the steel looking rings on the leather belts.

THe Fuselage/wing fit was a little off. a little bit of putty and it was fixed. The engines on the other hand..... the engine halves fit great, but when you added the front and rear cones they where a mile off. A couple days of sanding & putty and I was ready to rescribe all my lost panel lines. I am not totally happy with my resribe work but it will have to do.

Another look at the motors, also when they attach to the wing you have a choice...leave a gap on either side or leave a huge gap on one side only. I choose the later. I am not sure if you can make out the 1mm shims I had to add to the horizontal stab top & bottom. Without the shim, to get a flush fit they touched the rudder.

and the token side view. I am not looking forward to tapeing off the birdcage canopy. And then after that time to throw some paint on this bird.

any comments or advice would be appreciated.

Kannichiwa,

Jason

Jason-You're doing a fantastic job on the Kikka.  You mentioned some problems....err...opportunities...and it looks like you've got them licked.

Looking forward to more progress pics.

mucker wrote:

Stu: Can you expand a little on your weathering? Did you postshade with beige? white? a lightened mix of the base color? It's very effective and I'd like to try it on an upcoming build.

On the dauntless?  Sure.  I preshade  panel lines, access panels, etc. with black.  Then painted the primary colors. On the upper surfaces where the sun beats down, I hit the plane with post-tinting, increasingly lighter tints of blue (mixed with white).  Lightening panels based on what I would guess would be more sunlight exposure.  No real method to the madness.  Just a quick spray here, and there Once that is done I seal it and throw on the decals.  Seal it with Tamiya clear and then do a panel wash of black/umber.  Seal it again and then I bring on the salt (Henceforth to be sand).  I wet the entire plane and then throw table salt all over.  Once it has a chance to dry I spray an extremely thinned Tamiya smoke, let it dry, then rinse the salt off.  I then re-wet the plane, more salt and this time I hit it with a thinned mix of about 80% thinner 20% burnt umber oil paint.  Let that one dry for about an hour and then wash the salt off.  I then slap on a clear coat, then dull to seal everything up. 

In the case of the dauntless, once I threw the Dull on all the spots where the salt had set frosted over, looking less like a Pacific theater bird and more like something based in Alaska during February, resulting in touch ups with out-of-the-bottle sea blue.  That's the dark spots on the wing.  I would recommend that if you were to try this technique, use fine sand instead of salt.  I used Salt on the Pete with no problems, but it's just too hit-or-miss to risk going forward.

Jaso great job so far on the Kikka. you dont; see many of these built cant wait for the paint

Jason

Jason:

The Kikka is getting there...all the effort will be worth it!! Once the paint goes on you will feel better

CS

Carlos, the Seiran is truly awesome.

The beaching dolly adds greatly to an already stunning build.

Jason, that Kikka is coming along nicely.

I'd heard that the older Finemolds 1/48 kits could be a handful, but having built their Ki-43, can't say they are any worse than many late 80s/early 90s kits.

The Ki-44 is on hold as I'm still not happy with the Gunze metalics finish.

I'm currently finishing an F-84 in an NMF finish with Tamiya acrylics, and this has come out far better.

So off to the LHS tomorrow to get some modelstrip, and take it back to bare plastic.

Another reason, I've mode no progress is I did my back in on Saturday morning, first day of 10 days holiday! Still sorted now.

Karl

Karl:

It's good to hear from you! I remember your FineMolds Oscar...quite a stunner!

I'm using some of the Gunze Mr. Metal line for the Ki-115 I'm building. So far, I'm fairly impressed with how fine the pigments and metal flake are. I've sealed it with Testor's Metallizer Sealer and so far it looks decent (albeit it will only be on the underside).

Which Tamiya metal color are you using? I tried their aluminum and chrome before but the finish came out too grainy. Perhaps I was doing something wrong. I'd love to hear how yours came out so nicely, as I prefer acrylics...

Karl its to bad about the nmf. But I'm sure you'll still make it into a stunner

The ups man justed drop off a Ki45 nick for me today

Jason