1944 Group Build

lost,, Your Wildcat is excellent. It's unfortunate that your pre shading didn't turn out as hoped. Nonetheless, your paint work is superb. The sausages do indeed work well. I use Silly Putty rather than blue tac but, the results are great regardless.

Lost, she's looking great! I really like that 2-tone gray scheme! You could try going over the panel lines with a heavily diluted layer of the base color mixed with a bit of black to darken them. Another option would be to lighten the base color and fill in the panel centers. Just a couple of ideas...

"It's been a long road, gettin' from there to here. . ."

Been working on the main gun turrets, which were molded with a lot of cast-in detail, including a life raft;; not much of a flat surface.  But the camouflage is pretty straight.

So I thought I'd try poster tack.  Here are the port sides, after applying the darker gray over the lighter gray.

Well, it didn't work.  Too much overspray.  No wonder poster tack is useful for soft demarcation lines. Maybe it was the way I put it on.

So, as Pooh said:  "Think, think, think."

I resprayed the turrets with 5-O (the darker gray color), then cut narrow strips and masked between the molded details, then used bigger pieces to fill in.  Used poster tack to cover the intrusive protrusions.

Then painted the 5-L (the lighter gray), and pulled off the masks.  It turned out OK--as good as I'm going to get it.

The complications of the schemes on each side of the turrets coerced me into doing each side as a separate project, so next up will be the starboard side of the turrets.

Those were the numbers 1 and 2 turrets; here's the number 3 (aft) turret, with 5-L masked and black applied.

Looking good check.

Looking great Check...question..is the poster tac a one time use or do you clean the paint off it, and, if so, how? Thanks!

Thanks, Bish and Rob.  Still working on the turrets and guns.  Basic painting is done--but touch ups remain.

Rob, I do re-use the poster tack.  It doesn't seem to transfer paint from one project to the next, although I do keep the "used" stuff separate for a few days or weeks.  Doesn't seem to have any negative consequences  to re-using it.

I re use it as well, not had any issues. I don't use it on every build so its usually a good couple of months before I ne to re use it.

thanks guys...

I've finally started working on the Mosquito.  Here are the nacelles, of which only the interiors are painted.  On to the wings.

CMK, You are still pulling off some remarkable paint work there. Nice work. If you encounter masking issues such as that again I suggest you try Silly Putty. It is much softer and more pliable, and you are able to push down tight as such to create sharp demarcation lines. Just push it up with a razor blade or other straight edge to create straight lines. I absolutely love the stuff and use it for a majority of my masking, especially camo patterns. And yes, you can just knead it after use and reuse it a number of times.

It's great to see you getting started G-J. Looking forward to your usual outstanding work.

Thanks for the tip, Joe.  I have some of it; just never used it.  It'll probably come in handy yet with the North Carolina.

OK, we need a little more salt water.

I'm building the 1/350 Cyber-Hobby (Dragon) USS Buchanan 1945 Tokyo Bay. I intended this kit to be part of a D-Day Group Build on Finescale. It was a good idea really. We think of destroyers as being part of the Pacific War, but rarely was USN (and RN) naval gun power more appreciated than during the Normandy campaign prior to the breakout. (The same was true at both Salerno and Anzio.) In particular, US DDs were shelling German beach and close defenses at Omaha and Utah. I believe all of the USN DDs at Normandy were Gleaves Class with mostly late war fittings. But a Gleaves isn't necessarily a Gleaves, and Rick Davies at Model Warship kindly shared some of his data on the subject and concluded the Buchanan kit would match well with USS Hobson, Cory or Fitch, all of which served at Normandy. I think I'll use Hobson simply because I've got good photos. Regardless, this did mean that the kit would carry Measure 22 - which is fine by me because I find it the most pleasing to the eye. (Other USN measures were either too blue or too "busy" to suit my taste. Hats off to the gents doing the Measure 30's. It was no picnic giving Scharnhorst a Norwegian Fjord scheme, but at least the deck was wood color, and the lines were softer.)

Here's the kit and the intended destination:

I've got the kit in 1/700, so I'm looking forward to how your build goes, Eric.  Nice work so far!

Ships ever where, we are assembling an armada. Nice start Eric.

Eric, That destroyer is awesome. You've done some really terrific work on it so far. I'm really intrigued by your weathering method that you're trying. Thanks also, for the detailed history and analysis. That really adds to your build and reasoning. All these great ships being built is becoming quite a distraction from my efforts to work on my Hellcat. But, I'm lovin' it.

I've got the 1/700 Livermore/Monssen also. Obviously they're small, but the detail is exceptional for the scale. You'll probably have a smoother build too. It's just not possible to try the delicate moldings in 1/700 they did in 1/350 and therefore the part count is down a lot. As I recall there's just enough PE with the 1/700 that you could get a good kit just using WEM's generic 1/700 railings/ladders.

Schatten Spartan,

Thanks for the advice - unfortunately my patience had run out and I had already sanded back the paint to give a smooth base to rework off. This did however yield up an interesting look on the Wildcat, an effect which probably will come in handy on a bit of armour...

So I masked up again to redo the grey. Did black preshading this time and tried to keep the paint light. Lightened the original paint with sky blue to touch up the panel centres. The ailerons were masked after the initial paint job. 

CMK, the amount of softness on the edge of the 'sausage' mask is related to the thickness of the sausage and the spraying angle. I was using sausages about 3mm in diameter, and spraying over the edge of the sausage to break it up a little but not too much.

The paint job has improved, and so onto the clear coat.

The propellor in the Academy kit was inaccurate around the cuff and boss, so I am trying to improve the appearance a bit by extending cuff leading and trailing edges and removing a large collar from each of the blade roots.. Haven't snapped a blade off yet, just a matter of time...

The extra work paid off, lostagain.  That's a very good looking paint job on the Wildcat.  

Yes, very nice paintjob on the Wildcat, the preshading shows nicely!!

Moved on to the second level deck, painted and test-fitting.

Starboard

Port

Lostagain, It is indeed regrettable that your initial paint did not work out but, your recovery paint job turned out fantastic. As the saying goes,it's not in the mishap, it's all in the recovery. Great job.

I've managed some progress here as of late. I've completed the engine for the Hellcat. Eduard certainly did an excellent job in molding this nicely detailed R2800. The cylinders were painted with Alclad dull aluminum and the case with MM neutral gray. The push rods were painted with Gunze flat black. This was the first time I'd tried a PE ignition wire set and at first it was a bit frustrating bending and gluing them but, once I got it down things went rather smoothly. The PE emblem and placard were also a very nice touch of detail. The engine was given an overall coat of Mr. Surfacer gloss and then treated with an oil pin wash. The engine was then given a coat of Testors semi gloss.

A note here concerning the color of the ignition wires. I have dozens of reference photos of the R2800 and I had not seen anywhere where it mentioned the color of the wires. In photos they will appear as black, silver and more often a dirty gray or green. Well the other day while reading the captions under pictures of the Smithsonian R2800 it clearly stated that the wires were in copper sheathing. This was quite clear in the photos of the engine. This would, for me, explain the dull grayish green you see in many shots as the copper would have oxidized. I opted to paint mine in the bare copper color as a bit of artistic license in order to create the contrast in colors and draw the casual observers attention to the detail.

Thanks for having look.

Looking good there guys.

Very nice looking engine Joe. (Some day try to track down a bottle of Iwata Medea Com.Art acrylics - hopeless for painting for great for weathering - some gray smoke or dirty oil delivers a part with a grimy color and a grimy feel. I've been using it for a couple of years - it's hard to explain.) Cameras have really changed modelling methinks. So much lovely detail work ends up getting obscured or buried by rest of the airplane and maybe a friend or a judge would see it. Now several fellow nuts can say, that's a sweet engine. (I should take myself more seriously: I just can't get myself excited over super detailing a cockpit that I know nobody will ever see - except poor souls on the board.

Hobson's components are coming together. The deck is not glued on, but it looks like things will fit. I might even build a base even though I'm sick of looking at the thing and really want to do a tank. (The new Tamiya MKIV methinks - it comes with a motor - can hardly wait.)

Eric

Thanks Eric. I'll have a look into the Iwata medea of which you speak. The Hobson sure is looking fantastic. Sorry to hear you are seemingly burning out on it but, rest assured, I'm enjoying the heck out of your destroyer.

Engine is still looking great, Joe!

And the destroyer is excellent, Eric.  It's easy to get "sea sick," since ships tend to take so long to finish.  Nevertheless, it's very pleasing to the eye.

Great looking work guys...that engine, Joe, looks like it's gonna start up and power that plane!!

Rob, Thank You. That's quite a compliment.

and CMK, Thanks...again.Lol.

Hey all,

I'm still here. Been sick for the last week or so. It's been a long time since I have been that sick with a cold.

From the looks of all the builds going on there is some great work being done. Outstanding paint jobs. I have taken a break form the USS Missouri as the masking job on the decks have been kinda hard for me to get going the right way.

I have been working on the Kennedy PT-109 just to break up the builds a little bit. I am not entering it into any GB's as I am not going for the historical look at the time that JFK was the skipper. I am building it for my son-in-law who really likes it.

Almost done eith it but I am having trouble with my airbrush at the time. I guess it's time that I take it apart and do a real good cleaning and hope it works.

Keep up the great builds and I will get back on the Missouri soon.

Doug