US CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD 2013

SchattenSpartan

Thanks for those pictures, Stik! They look great! I'm always surprised by the excellent quality of WW2 color pictures.

I don't have access to MM paints. Do you have any recommendations for a Tamiya or Gunze paint (or a mix of colors) that might work? The color suggested by Great Wall looks kinda like the intermediate blue in the first and second pic. Maybe a tad darker...

Clemens, I can get you some Gunze codes when I get home. Used the excellent blue/gray on this Devastator awhile ago:

Your Devastator is absolutely gorgeous, Nathan! The blue gray looks really nice as well!

Thats not my TBD Clemens. That one is Nathan's. He built his in Midway markings. I built one in Coral Sea markings using the old Aeromaster paint line colors last year.

Both of those are nice. Great "worn" effect on both!!

Oops, sorry. I'm really tired ATM, so i keep mixing things up...

..heck the nights still young in Austria!!

It is, but I didn't sleep at all last night...

Give that man another Bier!

Luckily my plans for tomorrow are not very exciting. I'll just sleep untill 1 PM or something like that, then go to my LHS and get myself some Dragon kits at 20% off (last opportunity to do so for me)...

Heck a beer and he'll be out!!!

If it is good German Bier...

I think I finally got the color correct after about 20 minutes of mixing color this morning. I mixed I don't know how many parts of Vallejo Intermediate Blue with I don't know how many parts of Vallejo Sky Blue and got the color I was after. All of my dry fitting paid off early on too. Man this thing has like NO wing to fuselage gap! Next up is a paint border correction on the starboard side of the fuselage, painting the flat white on the bottom of the fuselage and painting to transition dark blue from the fuselage down to the upper wing. Here's the updated shots.

Hope you guys get the colors figured out. I still have my notes (I think?) on what I used my TBM. I know it was all MM (Navy Blue/ intermediate blue, white). Pretty sure I had to lighten the intermediate blue too.

Mustang, tell my about that spray of dark sea, or navy, or whatever blue a couple pages back. If you tell me that is a freehand straight line, I'm going be very, very envious.

Never did post a shot of my TBM after finishing the antenna, so two birds with one stone..

FWIW, (checked my notes)

Top:  MM Navy Blue

Sides: MM Intermediate Blue to Flat White 4:1

Bottom: MM Flat White to Neutral Gray 10:1

No idea if this even applies to your Devastators. Tried to match colors of a restored TBM I found online. Also, no idea if my colors are close to correct, just posting to show the ratios, what I happened to do, and the results.

I got myself a jar of Gunze "Blue Gray" (H 42) today. Is that the color you used on your Devastator, Nathan?

SchattenSpartan

I got myself a jar of Gunze "Blue Gray" (H 42) today. Is that the color you used on your Devastator, Nathan?

Yes. Great color. I can't remember what light gray I used for the underside though? Some Gunze FS #??

I have the right light gray already, but I couldnt find a good color for the blue back then...

Greg

Mustang, tell my about that spray of dark sea, or navy, or whatever blue a couple pages back. If you tell me that is a freehand straight line, I'm going be very, very envious.

mustang1989

Greg

Mustang, tell my about that spray of dark sea, or navy, or whatever blue a couple pages back. If you tell me that is a freehand straight line, I'm going be very, very envious.

No sir it's not freehand. I did that using silly putty the length of the fuselage. That stuff works excellent for masking!!

I am breathing a sigh of relief, Joe.

There are two O's in the word "good". Not one.

I used MM Dark sea blue, Intermediate blue and insignia white on the 'sair I did for the 1943 GB.

for my lines BTW, I used rolled up masking tape, it might not have ended up as smooth as I'd have liked on the curves, but I know how to do it now, so I could probably do better on my TBM.

BTW, Greg, I'm sorry I missed you finishing that TBM, but you missed the patch of Insignia White on the fuselage under the wings.

I only spotted it after very careful examination of my reference pics.  Apparently, it's a counter shading pattern designed to fool the eye when trying to determine the plane's wingspan.  Otherwise, your TBM is looking awesome, I can only hope mine looks half as good when I finish it.

Ghostrider: That's a great looking Corsair! I feel a little better about my middle color on my tri-color job. Quick question here pertaining to how you got three GB badges down there in your signature block? I keep getting that stupid 512 characters allowed message in red everytime I try to add one to my existing two.

Everybody: Speaking of tri-color paint, I painted the transitioning dark blue at the wing/fuselage seam this morning and touched up the top color to middle color border on the starboard side. No pics this morning. It's just the same pic of the whole plane built so far again with a corrected paint job. Other than that I have one area to touch up on the port side and its off to the bottom color on the fuselage.

Hey Ghost, thanks for you nice comments on my TBM! Appreciate your pointing out the missed bit of white under the wings, and also your explanation of why it is there. I had wondered about why it was there, which leads me to believe I knew it was supposed to be there. I'm curious now, so I will take a look at my reference materials in a bit. Again, thanks mate!

Rolled masking tape for the straight lines only? If you use it for curves, I'd sure like to know how you do that. In the meantime, really like the idea for dead straight soft masked lines. Thanks!

That is a good looking Corsair indeed!

Greg

Hey Ghost, thanks for you nice comments on my TBM! Appreciate your pointing out the missed bit of white under the wings, and also your explanation of why it is there. I had wondered about why it was there, which leads me to believe I knew it was supposed to be there. I'm curious now, so I will take a look at my reference materials in a bit. Again, thanks mate!

A couple points to be made on this... 1) Not every Avenger had the countershading done with a seperation line above the bombay- some had the white continuous, 2) the aircraft were painted by hand by somebody wielding a spray gun, the lines would not be dead straight but would show some variation- no masks were used.

Excellent information, Stik, thanks!

A couple of observations: 1. I really like that second photo (color) of the Avengers lined up on the deck. Lots of helpful reality there. 2. So my quest for perfect straight line masks isn't at all prototypical. 3. Can't help but notice the black prop blades do not look at all like flat black, or black with a coat of dull.

Again, thanks!

Yes, almost a satin finish mather than matt

Those pics are great indeed, Stik!

I glued the replacement canopy to my Wildcat today. For those of you who don't remember - I managed to snap the original canopy in half while Painting the kitten. Now guess what happened to me now: Yeah, I attached the new canopy and when looking at it 2 hours after the glue set, I noticed a slight crack in the clear part. It is in the same place as with the last canopy. I think i somehow screwed something up during construction and that puts too much stress on the canopy... Nevermind. The canopy is still in one piece and the crack is hardly visible, so I'll just leave it like that for now. Next thing to do is replace all the rivets I sanded off... I just hope those HGW riveting decals really work. They are supposed to create raised rivets, but they look kinda flat to me...

stikpusher

Yes, almost a satin finish mather than matt

Exactly. All of the black props I've ever dealt with anyway.

Clemens, you are having some bad luck with two canopies in a row. I dislike working with clear plastic parts. Starting with cutting them from the sprue and about everything else. :)

Greg

Clemens, you are having some bad luck with two canopies in a row. I dislike working with clear plastic parts. Starting with cutting them from the sprue and about everything else. :)

I shudder at the thought of masking a Dauntless without precut masks, Joe.

You'll get er, though! And you're right about being part of the hobby. Canopies go along with aircraft, so there we go! :)