The group build to end all group builds - THE GREAT WAR

SMEAGOL - Thanks.  Know what your saying about the oils, will also be using oils closer to the end.  Will be washed and pin washed with W&N raw umber.

Is there anyway I can talk you into fixing your Whippet?  With a few of these heavy tanks already on this GB it sure would be nice to see your Whippet.  The drilling a hole in the bottom seems like a good idea or maybe cut the side panel out or just leave the gun in there and scratch a new one. Maybe a bead would work for the ball and the guns small wire or just cut the stock off a gun in a figure set and glue on the bead?

Nah I dont think you can.  There is to much work to do on it to fix it and I have three other kits on the table that need even more TLC then that does.

Anyhow, even if I get the ball out with a hole in the bottom I dunno how I would get back inside to put it back in.

Hey... I thought I put up a post a day or 2 ago!  Must not have sent it.  But there are more updates now and Holy Craplackistan.... NICE!

I finally have an update too.  It is so nice doing something that is NOT A DECAL!  While the crosses on the wings set I started on the wood fuselage.

Since my brush painting of the grain was too inconsistent I had to come up with something that would work for me.  When I build and weather my armor i am a fan of saying, "Nothing looks more like dirt than real dirt."  So I use really dirt.  So here I am using real wood grain.  First the fuselage was given a primer coat of Mr. Surfacer 1200 that was lightly sanded.  Next 2 coats of Tamiya Wood Deck Tan  Lightened with white about 2 to 5.    The pics below show the next steps, on the other side of the fuselage.

Tape off the panel to be "grained" to protect from the pen going over the edge. You'll see in a sec.

After print the photos of the plywood i took at Lowe's to what I felt was a nice size for the grain, a piece a bit larger than the panel was cut out.  The back was covered with a good solid coat of Wood Mig pigment.  Blow off the excess.

Hold the paper on the panel and go over the grain with a ball point pen.  Use blue or a colored ink so you can see where you've been easier.  A piece of tape just on the bottom acts as a hinge so the paper can be pulled back to see if you missed a spot.

After the panel is done and all the tape has been removed, a light brushing with a stiff brush will blend it sightly so it's not so intense.  You can it in the top photo on the spine behind the cockpit.

Interesting technique Marc....  I have to admit that I haven't seen that one before.... I may just have to steal that one from you! 

Marc, that really works, VERY NICE.  Will give it a try for sure just have to find the appropriate subject to put it on.  Maybe will make a plywood tank

u-69, Rob... thanks guys.

Here is the finished wood grain..  Before sealing with a 70/30 mix clear yellow/orange I took a brown art pencil and lightly make little marks along one side of each of the bands. 

The grain pattern shows up in the flesh better than the photo.  Any suggestions how to a pic that shows that better?

wing_nut very interesting technique. Bit difficult to say how to better capture the details as we don't know what your camera settings were at.  I usually use the macro setting on the camera (lens has to be 2 inches or less from object), no flash, F8 lens setting and manually adjust shutter speed for the current lighting conditions.

wing_nut

u-69, Rob... thanks guys.

 

Here is the finished wood grain..  Before sealing with a 70/30 mix clear yellow/orange I took a brown art pencil and lightly make little marks along one side of each of the bands. 

The grain pattern shows up in the flesh better than the photo.  Any suggestions how to a pic that shows that better?

 

Unbelievable!

How about a little sea power!

I love 'em,but I'm not much of a ship builder.Not for years.I hope to do this one some justice.

Parts fit kinda sucked here,so I had to do some chopping.

I installed the secondary armament between the decks.The instructions wanted you to install the guns,then the upper deck.That wasn't happening.

A few more pics.

TD great start on the ship.  We have all categories represented now.

Hey Rob... I completely missed your paint update.  Outstanding!

wing_nut

TD great start on the ship.  We have all categories represented now.

I just gotta figure out which.

Marc - that came out very well! You're busting out all kinds of creative approaches on that build! 

TD - Ship looks cool! Got to love anything called the Iron Duke!

Apologies for being quiet these past few days...been laying down several layers of gloss on the Pup. The OD on the fuselage and wings dusted something fierce (wish I could isolate why...sometimes Tamiya lays down perfectly for me, other times it dusts...no change in thinning ratios, PSI, distance, etc) so I wanted to make it as shiny as possible for the decals.

On that note...Alclad II Klear Gloss is the business. The Aqua Clear is a bit of a pain and likes to clog pretty bad, but when it goes down, it goes down very well.

Alright, on to the Pupdate. Put most of the decals on last night (still have the strut, prop, and a few stencils left to do, but those will wait for now. 

All I can say is...WOW why can't all decals be this good? Admirably thin, yet tough. They go on nice, are strong enough to maneuver into place, and settle down perfectly. The cockades and rudder decals have NO excess carrier film. None. Amazing. The Black Arrow and "P" decals both have some film, but despite my dusty surface, they went on and laid down with absolutely no silvering. 

The last stencils go on tonight, and then I'll start sealing. Looking very forward to stripping off the cowl and deck masking!

Doogs, I really like how your pup is coming along, I love the stage when the decals go on.

Marc - very, very creative technique - I do like the look.

TD - a WWI ship, that's great - certainly don't see one of those often!

Thanks Waikong

I will likely get the fuselage decals finished up tonight.  Wings are ready to go and struts and a few other add-ons are painted up.  The bungee cords on the LG were chiseled off and wrapped with thin solder.  Tire ready.  Note the darker grain on the LG.  I didn't brush off  the pigment this time.  Make me want to build more wood stuff ;)   So it's time to do some planning for the rigging.

Looking awesome Marc

Marc - your efforts make me want to give up - that thing looks amazing! Even the wheels! Did they use metal rims? The Pup's wheels are just flat boring in contrast.

Not much of a Pupdate today. I sprayed the sealing coat of gloss over the decals.

I also went to install the control horns for the rudder...they're actually one piece that was either short shot or went missing from the tree. I'm going to fashion replacements with some Eduard PE control horns I scored at a vendor table awhile back.

Smeago, Dooks.. thanks guys.

Doogs, From what I cna tell in phtots and olter build it's a metal wheel.  And they all had peeling paint.

TD... I asked the ship guy form my club aboutte red color.  here is a cut/paste of his email.

The decks in the superstructure were probably corticene, which is what the Brits called their linoleum.  It's a reddish brown color, lighter than the Japanese linoleum.

What type of paint is he using?  If enamels, White Ensign has a match for it.

If acrylic, I used Vallejo "Red Leather" for corticene.   However, it's a little too red, tell him to add a few drops of brown. 

You can see the color of corticene here, here and here on my various British battleships/battlecruisers in the Modelwarships.com gallery.   

The Agincourt is a MW.com "exclusive" so don't post any photos of that build in the FSM forums, please.   Links are okay, photos, no.  

HTH!

Martin

Wing_nut: Try an additional light at a sharp angle to the subject. It should give you a shadow effect that will show upp your wood grain. Also don't use a flash they tend to fill in low areas and wash out high areas. Use a stand of some kind and your camera's remote timer. Very nice technique.

I have the camera on a tripod for long exposure with the aperture at f8.  Using the 10 second self timer as an electronic shutter release.   I think it's the soft light from the photo booth.  Maybe try some natural light or a close up.

wing_nut

Smeago, Dooks.. thanks guys.

 

Doogs, From what I cna tell in phtots and olter build it's a metal wheel.  And they all had peeling paint.

 

TD... I asked the ship guy form my club aboutte red color.  here is a cut/paste of his email.

The decks in the superstructure were probably corticene, which is what the Brits called their linoleum.  It's a reddish brown color, lighter than the Japanese linoleum.

What type of paint is he using?  If enamels, White Ensign has a match for it.

If acrylic, I used Vallejo "Red Leather" for corticene.   However, it's a little too red, tell him to add a few drops of brown. 

You can see the color of corticene here, here and here on my various British battleships/battlecruisers in the Modelwarships.com gallery.   

The Agincourt is a MW.com "exclusive" so don't post any photos of that build in the FSM forums, please.   Links are okay, photos, no.  

HTH!

Martin

 

My pleasure TD.  Hope the info helps

I think we all have those little milestones that get us excited.  One of mine is getting the decal finished.  I think its the 1st peel off formation while I make motor noises :|

The weather process has started too. The first thing to do was add some depth to the wings.  A pot-it on one side of the rib and some thinned Tamiya smoke on the other.  Have spent most of my recent time ,the last couple of years, in the armor forums, this has come to be known as color modulation.  Giving the impression of 3D when there isn't any.  Is this term used in aircraft as well?   I plan to give the wings a few coats of a buff filter to tone down the lozenge color.  Should have done that first.  :(  The smoke will come off easily with some alcohol.

Marc - looking slick, man! I can imagine that all those stars were rather tedious!

If you don't mind, would you describe the modulation method a bit more? I'm pretty much AT the weathering stage now, and I'm sort of at a loss as far as how to proceed. I've been considering a buff filter as well, but I'm worried it might show a bit too strong on the OD. Been considering a smoke approach on the wings as well, but I was just going to go into the valleys. I'd love to hear more about the modulation idea...

Ever wonder what it would have looked like if the nations never realized that weird stained glass looking camo was bad for planes, and had ME-109s and Zeros, and Super Fortresses with that camo? 

Thanks doogs.  I will be doing the rest of the wings soon and will snap some pics as I go.  The stars were on groups of 4 or 5 so it wasn't as bad as it sure could have been.

STV... I saw a war time photo taken form directly above a plane flying over a filed with lozenge camo and it was surprisingly effective.

Ever wonder what it would have looked like if the nations never realized that weird stained glass looking camo was bad for planes, and had ME-109s and Zeros, and Super Fortresses with that camo? 

Marc - your albatros is lookin great!

I have wondered too about those lozenge colours, (and those pinks and purples) but a lot of study and writing is out there and have stumbled across it in various forums, such as the aerodrome.com.  So i'll just post some quotes:

The idea "... is based on the concept of pointilism, a school of modern art, the principle proponent of which was Georges Seurat whose most well known work is AN AFTERNOON ON THE GRAND JATTE. The method was to create a painting using a series of dots (your reference to pixels is right on) of different colors. viewed from a distance these dots blend together to form areas of color.                                        Modern phisiological psychology research has shown that when a subject such as lozenge fabric with its varied colors is viewed from a distance a blending of these color occurs within the MIND of the viewer and the camoflaged object is seen as the same color as is predominate in the backround upon which it is interposed.                                                                                                                                                                               The purples, pinks browns and greens are all found in that area and in that light at that latitude. Little is more varied than sunlight because of atmospheric conditions but early and late the ground does reflect the shorter wavelengths(blue) while the sky will have the longer wavelengths(red)Colors will literally change from minute to minute. Which is why the lozenge fabric was so effective.                                                             The question in my mind is,why did this idea fall into disuse.My best quess is that it is lots harder to paint on metal than print on fabric.                                                                                                            -Terry Crisp  

"I believe the inspiration for the camouflage scheme was from the impressionist school of art that exsisted in Europe at the turn of the 20th Century. In their thinking, was using dots of unmixed color adjacent to another and letting the eye perceive the colors and the brain doing the mixing. The colors are somewhat bright and vibrant, they were not dark and dull as some illustrators have depicted. At a distance, the colors are muted, the top colors becoming a greyish green and the bottom colors a greyish pink."                                                              "... directed to dope the printed fabric with a matte dope the firm, Cohn, Belin-Neuköln. All the other exposed parts of the aircraft were to be painted in colors that match the colors of the printed fabric. The number of coats of dope applied by the manufacturers varied two or three on fuselages and three to five coats on the wings and tail surfaces. The doped surfaces were given one coat of clear copal varnish to waterproof the doped fabric surfaces. The varnish had a yellow cast to it, which slightly altered the colors of the printed polygons."                                                 -Dan San Abbott

"In fact, it seems the Germans were onto something with the mauve, modern experiments in the 1980s by the US determined that the best camouflage paint to disguise an airplane in the air and against the ground is a light pink. The idea was dropped for cost reasons and because it's irrelevant in the age of radar."                                                                                                                                                       -Romani                                                                                                                                                                                         

regards,

Jack                                                                                                          

MARC, DOOGS - Both of your builds are looking super sweet!  Great work, both of you on those decals!

TD - Happy to see the navy sailing.  Now we have all areas covered, land air and sea 

These WWI warbirds you guys are cranking out look awesome.I might have to build me one some day.That's one of the few modeling subjects I've never attempted.