Is a "Mirage" a force of nature? If so I have another entry for the GB, a 1/48 Hobbyboss Mirage III cz in SAAF delivery sceeme.

Theuns

Thanx, I didn't know I was so "fast" lOL!

Yes indeed the Alclad does take some special precautions. Next time I will wear gloves to stop my fingers from removing the ALclad in some spots like I had to repair here.

Theuns

very nice!!! Ill get the front page updated with your completed build. Congrats on being the first to finish!

Nice job Theuns. I do like Alclad myself, but does take a bit of getting used to.

Happy this one is done, was a steed learning curve to work with Alclad.

On the the Mirage III cz now. I hope the results will be better LOL!

Theuns

Thanks check. ye, this is the type we work with. But we don't fly in them often, normally stood underneath it.

Actually, this aircraft is still in service, though it has been upgraded a few times. It is a bit of a legend in the RAF.

Looking very good, Bish.  Is this the type you fly in?

Been really busy with this week, trying to get this finished. managed to get the decals on after painting the black areas.

I like the badge OWL, and very appropriate. 

I accomplished some more progress on BB-64.  First photo is of the pieces for the 16-inch gun turrets, the main battery.  Two of the turrets had those little "ear" things to glue in and then sand smooth.  They also each carry a gun tub for 40mm quad anti-aircraft guns.  I used a dark blue acrylic wash and a little drybrushing of lightened Haze Gray to bring out some details.

Paint is WEM's Colourcoat Haze Gray, with the tops being Deck Blue.  The metallic band is Humbrol's, left over from the Gladiator I built for the Airfix GB.  I don't remember exactly what the color is--either some kind of brass or bronze..

Once the guns were installed, there was a huge gap around each one.  A little 1/700 sailor would be able to walk right through.  In real 1:1 life, these guns had a kind of gasket around the barrels where they enter the turrent.  I don't know what they were made of--maybe canvas.  Color photos of Wisky from WWII show them to be darker than the Deck Blue, although Navy specifications call for all canvas to be dyed to match Deck Blue. 

I thinned out some Elmer's white glue, mixed in some black acrylic craft paint, and applled the mixture to the gaps from inside the turret.  It took several applications.  From the inside, it "ain't pretty," as you can see from the next two photos, but it looks good from the outside.

I have completed fixing these turrets to the decks, gluing the foredeck in place, and painting the hull.  I will post the photos later.

Thanks for looking.

Nice group badge, Ms. Owl.  Very dramatic!.

Ive added the images for the GB badge! Find both sizes on the first page!

Thanks for the information, Tony.  I have three weeks vacation coming up next week, during which I hope to finish the Wisconsin, and I think I'll play around with some water too.  I don't use acrylic model paints, but I have some craft paints, and will mess around with those.

And, Theuns, the NMF is looking good.

The masking on this Jug gave me hell, so there are a few places I need tofixup later. Here it is sofar

Theuns

The actual colour is slightly greener, but the software I use to remove the colour shift from artificial lighting also made the water look more blue.

I read an article on bow waves and patterns in order to try and make that part of it look reasonable, the rest is pretty random. I've done three of these now, and they all look ok.

When you paint, give it a once over, then lighten slightly and dry brush heavily , then lighten and dry brush etc.  A few white caps randomly placed helps.

I use a mix of Matisse Artists acrylics Pthalo Blue, Pthalo Green and titanium white usually. However, the green had dried in the tube so it got Tamiya IJN Green instead, so you've got some room to be flexible . Google ocean colour for lots of different examples, I actually tried to replicate the colour of the South Atlantic for this one. The titanium white is strong, so mix it very sparingly.

You could probably so it with some blues and greens from the Tamiya range, if you have them already.

Cheers

Tony

Arrgh!  I should read closer.  You said you used acrylics!  Still looks great despite my dyslexia.

Thanks, taxtp.  The water you modeled looks great.  But how much do I have to know about water and the way it moves to achieve results like this?  Did you use acrylics to paint it?  The color really looks good.

The easiest way I've found for modelling water is to use Acrylic Gel Medium, which is available from Art stores. It has got a gluggy, almost thick PVA glue like texture, and you paint/dab it on with a cheap chisel edged brush. As it sets you can shape it with the brush. Dries overnight, brush washes out in water. Then you paint and gloss it with acrylics. It's more fun than building the model !

The product :

Shortly after applying:

Nearly dry:

Painted:

Thanks, Bish.  I'd like to put it on a base, but I haven't attempted modeling water yet.  I've researched some internet articles about making water with aluminum foil, but I haven't got around to giving it a go.  I'm not sure I want to mess with resins and stuff.

Nice work on the pit Mike.

The Winsconsin is coming along nicely. Are you putting this on a base. I take it its a waterline kit.

Well done cockpit, Mike.  

There's some great work happening here! I had meant to move the Raiden along a bit further before posting again, but I suddenly realised I have pics taken a while ago still waiting to appear, so they might as well.

I forgot to take some shots before closing the fuselage. Here's the seat with scratched straps (tape, painted with acrylics, nothing fancy, in fact it's the same piece of tape that was masking the locations for the cockpit inside the fuselage... Waste not, want, not!)

And the opposite view, showing the IP (drybrushed with enamel silver and the lenses created with Future):

Then I mounted the engine in preparation for the cowlings...

...and fitted the wings and tail surfaces. The fit was surprisingly good, needing only a small amount of filler at the front of the upper joints and the back of the rear joint, which is more or less a given on even the finest kits.

The cowling is now in place, the fit was attrocious -- the exhaust assemblies were separate parts and nothing wanted to fit. It took considerable filing and scraping to thin things down enough to even get close, and superglue to hold everything in place, but eventually I acheived a close enough fit to do.

Next up, I brush painted some cockpit green areas that were missed in the spraying, painted the radio box that goes behind the seat with black enamel, and filed and trimmed what has to be the worst canopy I have ever encountered -- more on that next time.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

I"ll start here with building the USS Wisconsin, BB-64, as she appeared in 1944 and 1945.  The Wisky only carried one camouflage measure for her entire career during WWII.  The kit is 1/700 Fujimi, and is actually marketed as USS Iowa, but the castings and parts are incorrect for either Iowa or New Jersey, and more closely resemble either Wisky or Missouri.  One of the main visible differences was the radar array on the foremast, otherwise armament seems to be nearly identical.

I have all the parts separated from the sprues, mold-lines cleaned up, sanded, smoothed and prepared for painting. 

After studying the construction steps and parts, I decided I would need to finish the deck and hull component, attach the three 16-inch gun turrents and add the waterline plate early.  The main batteries are attached to the deck with holding pins from underneath (so they swivel), and the deck comes molded to the hull, except for the forward section.  I decided all this needed to be done first, so the deck could be painted before the hull.  This is only the fourth ship I've built, and it seems a lot of ship assembly consists of deciding what to put together first, and when, in order to make painting easier.

The first photo shows initial masking amidship.  The deck and molded-on superstructure has already been painted with WEM Colourcoat's Haze Gray.  I used regular paint masking tape from Walmart (a 3-M product), but noticed that the gummy adhesive tended to pull off the tape and leave residue on the surface.  I haven't had this happen before with this brand of tape.

The second photo shows the locations for the two aft-most main batteries, and visible in the upper left corner is the opening where the forward section of the main deck will fit.

The third photo shows more of the fore section of the deck.  The kit shows its age.  I'm guessing it might have originated in the 1970's.  The liferafts are cast into the deck and there are no details like portholes, windows or doors molded into the superstructure--just plain, blank walls.  It's kind of stark.

The last photo shows the fully masked deck and hull, with the foredeck in place.  Gunshields for the 20mms and some of the tubs for the 40mms were molded on, so they had to be masked both front and back.  This can be a challenge with strips of tape cut so small and narrow.  That's the other part of ship building--mask, mask, mask.  The deck will be painted standard 20-B Deck Blue.

Now the next steps will be painting the deck, then assembling, painting and attaching the 16-inch guns.  I've got a start on these, and plan to post photos of those steps soon.

Thanks for looking.

Blitzwing

Anyone want to buy an almost good as new scriber? I hate this thing. I'm almost tempted to just draw on panel lines when necessary in the future.

Don't blame you, I have one somewhere. I've found a X-Acto knife blade seems to work better for me than the scriber.

Anyone want to buy an almost good as new scriber? I hate this thing. I'm almost tempted to just draw on panel lines when necessary in the future.

BW: Nice work! Started on one of those years ago and the fit was off enough I ended up tossing her in the spare parts bin instead of finishing her.

Alright so here are two pics of the tornado I'm working on. 

The fuselage is almost completely smooth as I've pretty much had to sand everything off to get the fuselage seam right. I really hate scribing but I'm going to have to bite the bullet and try the scriber again. I think I'll just do some basic panel lines like the original instead of according to plans.

This will take up some time as I have to wait for some paint to arrive from the UK as all the stockers in Oz seem to have dried up on 36375 in Gunze, Lifecolour and Vallejo. Why doesn't any paint company come out with a paint set for modern jets? It would be a seller for sure. 

Thanks Ganera.

Ye, i am the same with guns. I always leave them to the end, along with oitot probes and other items like that.

Bish: Lookin' good!

Theuns: Nice work! I notice you've already attached the guns, you must be a better modeler than me since I'd have knocked off most of them before I got done painting her.

Apologies for the lack of pictures I've been slack with the camera but the construction is almost done. The good thing about the kit is that not much putty is needed. The bad thing is that there is a hell of a lot of sanding to do. I will get some pictures tomorrow.

mirage fits :)