Mighty 8th GB 1-Nov-2010 - 31-Oct-2011

redraider56

I'm so bad at thinning paint its not even funny.  Everytime I've been spraying lately I've been having to wipe the paint off and try it again.  I finally got a semi good coat of yellow on the nose and rudder of the P-51, but I still have some skills to learn.  Its not helping that I've been spraing limited coverage colors like red, yellow, and white either.  We'll see how tomorrow's session goes....

I know the feeling! 

Questions. What kind of paint are you using? What thinner? What are you using as a primer coat for the yellow? And lastly, airbrush type/nozzle size?

One thing I found when I was doing my yellow-wing Wildcats was that, with yellow, the two biggest keys are 1) a uniform base coat and 2) a big nozzle. Every yellow I've used - Tamiya, Model Master, Vallejo, and Gunze - has been pretty unforgiving. If your spraying isn't completely uniform, it shows. I had a bear of a time trying to paint those yellow wings with my Iwata HP-C+, but my old Paasche H got the job done pretty well. Nowadays I don't spray yellow with anything less than a 0.5mm tip. 

I've been using white as a base for yellows and reds, but I'm itching to try silver and see how it does.

I'm so bad at thinning paint its not even funny.  Everytime I've been spraying lately I've been having to wipe the paint off and try it again.  I finally got a semi good coat of yellow on the nose and rudder of the P-51, but I still have some skills to learn.  Its not helping that I've been spraing limited coverage colors like red, yellow, and white either.  We'll see how tomorrow's session goes....

I have to echo Bish. Tamiya Smoke is the way to go, at least as your base. I usually do it pretty thin (at least 3:1 thinner to paint), and cut the PSI way back to around 5-10. 

If you want it darker or browner or whatnot, go over the smoke with pastels or pigments.

Here was my first attempt with just Tamiya Smoke:

And here's a more recent one...Smoke + some brown and black pigment...

I have started useing Tamiya Smoke, can't recall if its X-19 or XF-19. easy to control, can build it up till you have it how you want it. Black is to dense for exhausts.

And without noticeing this sneaked in as my 2,000th post.

Either way... I still have to figure out how to do exhaust staining. At this point exhaust and gunfire staining scare the hell out of me. I mean I'm almost there and I don't want to blow it at this point. I saw something on the Promodeler site... lots of pressure lots of thinner and a little flat black paint. Aim at a point in front of the wing guns and flick the paint stream on to the wing... maybe I'll give that a go.

I think you might have a point there Doogs. The left part of the dark area goes up towards is hand, but theres a light part underneath it. I think its hard to tell either way,

jbrady

I need some opinions In this photo

does it look to anyone else as if the exhaust staining was scrubbed away from the nose art for the photo? The area under the kill markings is very dark and looks consistant with exhaust but the figure is clean.

I know I'm a bit late to the party (don't get all that much computer time during the weekends - more than five minutes and either the wife or kids are on me...it's like they can tell...), but it looks to me like the dark area is actually the crewman's shadow. If you look at his right hand and arm, you can see a similar dark area just to the left. 

Finally on her feet after a 3:00 AM session.

The Lib and the Stang are looking great. awesome work guys

I know it can be awkward to show certain details in photos.  My photography isn't that good anyway, even worse when i am trying to show somthing that doesn't show well in photos. Hopefully the better light will help.

Yes, tamaya clear, I'm going to try and mess with my camera settings to see if I can get a good photo. I'm also going to wait until tomorrow and try taking the picture during the day with no flash and natural light to see if that works.

Hook Thats a bit different, not heard of doing that with an NMF before. Pity it doesn't show. Last NMF i didn, P.1101, i used Alclad and i used a touch of jet exhaust to darken Aluminium for the metal around the engine, and that seemed to work ok. Are you useing the Tamiya clear colours.

My thinking was that the area was cleaned just for the photo-op... but you're probably right. Still that is one beat up airplane. You can see where there are missing fasteners and a lot of missing paint. I'm trying to paint the fasteners with a toothpick right now... it's making me cross-eyed.

BISH- I'm not really sure why the blue are not visible in the photos, it looks much better in person. I used clear blue in the center of the panels and clear orange around the edges.

JBRADY - It does look like the exhaust stains have been cleaned around the nose art, then again it could just be darker paint. Judging by the amount of paint that is missing in the bottom left corner of the photo, she looks like she has been rode pretty hard. Have fun with the weathering!

Ye it deffinatly looks like it has been cleaned. I would imagine these ground would be proud of there charges and probably kept these clean anyway, not just for the photo. So you either do it clean prior to a mission, or after a mission and slightly stained but not as stained as the rest.

I need some opinions In this photo

does it look to anyone else as if the exhaust staining was scrubbed away from the nose art for the photo? The area under the kill markings is very dark and looks consistant with exhaust but the figure is clean.

Hookdriver: That's looking good. Hand painting the lettering... very ambitious.

Got the first round of weathering in... post shading, panel lines, and a satin coat to ready for extensive paint chipping.

I'm on a roll.

Thats looking nice Hook. I can see some distortion around the engines, but not blue. Nice job on painting the letters.

Finally got the airbrush and compressor in the mail and got some work done. Finished filling gaps between fuselage and the canopy and then put the airbrush to work. Did some heat distortion around the engines, the blueing didn't come out in the pictures for some reason, then had to hand paint the tail and RE on the sides since I don't have decals for this particular plane. Maybe I'll get to building the turrets later tonight.

Clebode

jbrady--Nice looking exterior paint job on your P-51.  I like the camo color.  What is it?

Thanks... The question of what color... well it's basically my version of OD. I start with Model Master enamel Olive Drab+a few drops of "leather" for the base coat. Then I add white to fade it. The gloss makes it look darker and browner. I'll tone it down with a panel line wash over the gloss then a grunge wash over the flat coat. Enamel dries slowly so I've got two or three days of painting (actually waiting for paint to dry) before I can add all the little bits.

What scale is your Lightning?

jbrady--Nice looking exterior paint job on your P-51.  I like the camo color.  What is it?

Redraider--Looks like you have engine wiring down to a science.  Nice job!

All--I have the P-38 J glued together.  A couple of photos are attached.  There were no major fit problems with the minicraft kit.  The biggest issue was the rear joint of the engine nacels to the booms.  Some big gaps there but they filled nicely with thick CA and microballons.  The main gear wells are a bit dodgy too but shouldn't be too visible when the gear doors go on.  I just hope I have enough weight in the nose.  Test balancing tells me it may be close.  I have put weight in the noses of the drop tanks just in case.

My first experience with Kits World decals... easy to work and respond well to MicroSet and Sol.

and they seem accurate

Now I got to beat the hell out of my paint and decal job... that's the fun part.

checkmateking02

redraider:  congratulations on wiring that engine; it's why I stick to 1:72 to avoid that kind of thing; my eyes would cross and my head would ache; on another note, do you attend college in state (Wisconsin)?  I attended UW-Whitewater (Go Warhawks) and Concordia University--Wisconsin (Go Falcons). 

Yup, I go to St. Norbert College in De Pere

Yes, sorry if i didn't reply before, i did get that. Going to measure up my B-24 windows on Wed when i get back. I wired up the B-24 engines with the Eduard PE, that was a struggle lol. But its to flat. I think the extra effoft of useing wire will be worth it. I am finding the same thing with PE  lines for undercarrages, look ok but flat.

jbrady:  the Mustang is looking good; the whole paint job is excellent.

redraider:  congratulations on wiring that engine; it's why I stick to 1:72 to avoid that kind of thing; my eyes would cross and my head would ache; on another note, do you attend college in state (Wisconsin)?  I attended UW-Whitewater (Go Warhawks) and Concordia University--Wisconsin (Go Falcons). 

I spent the weekend working on the 2nd Fortress while the paint cures on the first one; I installed the starboard waist window with gun position--that was a headache, trying to avoid getting glue on the clear window part; then sanding down the superglue; I managed to scuff the windows, twice; buffed them out--and now will have to use Future to restore the shine.  What makes them so tricky is that there's so little frame around three sides when they're detached, there's very little margin for error when installing them.  I'm thinking they might be better installed from the inside, as I used to do (before I found pictures on the net that show them installed on the outside of the fuselage).  An inside installation almost seems what they were engineered for. I'm not posting pictures since they'll look the same as the first B-17 already here on the thread (I hope they come out that good). 

Bish:  if you didn't find it, the windows measure 10 mm X 14/15mm; and compliments to you if you can wire a 1:72 engine, repeated four times

Nice recovery on the Stang. those white stripes look spot on to me. A gravity brush is on my to by list when i get back to the UK.

Little, looking forward to seeing some pics.

Just a heads up guys. I am off to the Falklands on Fri. While i am there i should get decent net time. But i am not sure about uploading pics as the connection can be slow and intermitent. So if i can't get completed build pics up on the front page, i will do it when i get home. So please don't think i have missed yours or forgotten.

The Mustang is looking vey nice. I should have started my P-51 first because the Marauder interior is kicking my butt

Finally, painted and glossed. Decals tonight. Then I get to start beating it up.

The spatter on the underside comes from running out of gloss... got to get a gravity feed airbrush. I think I can polish that out.

Thanks red. I reckon for 72nd scale 5 amp fuse wire should do the job.

I actually have no clue what size wire it is. I just found a big spool of it in one of my Dad's old model railroad boxes and I found out that it comes in quite handy. All I can tell you that it's a very very fine gauge