1944 Group Build

Bish

schmidty

That is looking great Rob!  It's too bad for us that we'll have to wait for the finish.  Are you sure you have to go on vacation?  Doesn't seem very fair to keep us hanging...

It could always take it with him, give him something to do while he is away

Yeah, I could see me at check in: Sir, your bags are overweight!! Me: Crap, I gotta carry my air compressor in my carry on !!

schmidty

That is looking great Rob!  It's too bad for us that we'll have to wait for the finish.  Are you sure you have to go on vacation?  Doesn't seem very fair to keep us hanging...

It could always take it with him, give him something to do while he is away

That is looking great Rob!  It's too bad for us that we'll have to wait for the finish.  Are you sure you have to go on vacation?  Doesn't seem very fair to keep us hanging...

Looks great Rob.  Have fun in Mexico.

No worries Allen, SS can switch it over later. Hopefully we can see the 38 at a later date.

Hi Bish,

I am boxing my P-38 for now.  Long story short, I've decided to switch which particular aircraft I want to do, and it doesn't qualify, as it would be from March 1945. 

That brings up the replacement.  I have a new tool Airfix 1/72 Typhoon that I can do as a Dec 1944 bird, so if you don't mind I'd like to switch up to that.  From what I can tell so far, it is a wonderful little kit with lots of detail.  For info, the finish is not rough on this one.

Thanks,

Allen

I'll have a look at my kits and see if they are the same, I have the Gladiator Mk II and Swordfish, so will see how they look.

The Lanc's looking great. Have fun in the sun, we will still be here when you get back.

This will be my last installment for a few weeks as I`m heading to Mexico for some sun and fun and get outta this winter nightmare that`s gripping N. US and Canada!! So, I got all the black underside done and applied a few coats of Future (as you can see in this pic, the sheen is quite pronounced BUT as I`ve ranted about, the textured plastic that is now Airfix, has caused me some grief):

Wheels are easy on and off, so, here they are in place (love the bulged out tyres!! Nice touch Airfix):

Here`s a close-up of one tyre. Beat it up a bit to make it look like it`s been crashing down on dirt aerodromes:

Here she is flipped over showing the contrast:

I don`t know if it shows well, but, I applied a medium grey pinwash to the panel lines on the black. I also pinwashed the entire upper surface with a dirty mix of black and browns:

Upper roundels on, no probs. The first of the `walk here`line applied to test if they will silver. Not bad on that textured surface with 3 coats of Future, so far:

So, that`s it for now. Off on vacation and will get back on this in April. I look forward to SALT weathering this beasty when I get back. Take care all!!

Bish: Yes, the rough texture is VERY pronounced, especially on this big Lanc. I can totally believe it makes it easier to brush paint, but, it wreaks havoc when you are trying to get a totally smooth shiny finish for effects and decalling. Next time, I will take the time to sand down all surfaces (I have a Gloucester Gladiator and Hurricane in the hopper after this Lanc).

Rob, I havn't heard of that issue before. I bought a couple of new tool airfix kits last year, but am yet to get round to them. Is the rough finish very noticeable.

Sorry I can't comment Rob.  Since returning to the hobby this past year, its been all Tamiya and now Wingnut for me.

What do you guys think of Airfix`s new molding process? They leave that rough finish on the large flat surfaces. I am really thinking now that I should have sanded down all of the wing surfaces as the paint is totally absorbed and requires more coats. My future coats are not going on well and I`ve got my regulator dialed down to 15psi!! My decals are surely going to silver!!! Anybody else have issues with Airfix not being smooth? I saw somebody somewhere mention they thought it was done to assist brush painters to get better results...I wonder if that`s true?

Thanks Big Blue, I'm not sure at all how I'm going to do the water, I haven't done anything like that since I was a kid with an old Nimitz carrier kit.  Hopefully I can make it look half as cool as it does in my head.  And I'm not sure how much anyone will learn from me 

Rob, you will defiantly see a difference in the NATO black. Many, myself included, use it for tires. I have not thought of using it for black camo though. Will be interesting to see how it goes.

Spectacular camo Rob. You have definitely developed a sweet effect with your technique. Really top notch work. I concur with BB there. The NATO Black should indeed give you a nice shaded effect on overall black. I use NATO Black as a tire color. It looks great for that.

It is a really dark grey.  How it looks is dependent on context.  If you look at it side by side with XF-1, it looks just a shade lighter, otherwise it looks black.

Big Blue: NATO Black, eh? Seen it a million times on the shelf but never got one. I always wondered how it could differ from Flat Black (good old XF-1). Can the eye really detect a difference? I will certainly try this and thank you for the feedback!!

Wow!

Away from the thread for a few days and all kinds of awesome busts out.  Looking really good Rob & Bob.

Rob, you look like you have a damned good technique going on your own, but one thing you could try is using something like Tamiya's Nato Black rather than pure black for your base color.  Nato Black is quite dark, (I use it for scale black), but would allow you to get your panel shading a touch darker with the pure black.  Perhaps I could have used the word "black" a few more times in this paragraph.

Bob, I am excited for your diorama... figure painting, water/beach effects (yes?) are both going to be fun to  watch and learn from.

Bish

Nice work rob. I have not seen that post shading done before. Was that just done on the green.

Doug: Thanks! Tons of work and I`m hopeful the end results will justify all the time and paint.

Rob...That sir, is going to be a killer camo scheme! I've never tried it the way your doing, but you can bet I'm going to! I'm lovin it! Please .... more pictures of this amazing  build...

Thanks

Doug (RR)

Nice work rob. I have not seen that post shading done before. Was that just done on the green.

Ok, so I managed to get a ton of painting done this weekend. Essentially got the cam scheme on and now she`s sitting masked waiting for black tonight. First, did a test weathering on a prop with the `ole `hairspray` technique. I got a bit carried away and will redo with less weathering, but, I like the effect:

Next, the overall upper surface was painted XF-52 dark earth (not pictured), masked and I layed down the first XF-61 dark green coat. You can really see the pre-shading effect:

After that, I started the post-shade using XF-57 buff on all panels (bit blurry, sorry ):

Here it is just after the next misting of dark green again:

After that, after a rub-down with a soft cloth, I finished off with one more misting of the lighter `flat green`instead of `dark green`, then, removed the masking:

Now, here she sits ready for X-1 black paint job tonite. Gonna be a marathon spray session for the black; lots of surface to cover. After that, I need to come up with a strategy for enhancing the simple black. Prob do a post shade like the green, then re-cover the black to emphasize the panels:

Thanks Joe!  I had the idea for a diorama a few years ago which is why my dad bought me this kit.  It will be my first diorama since I was in 8th grade.  I just need to get a few sets of figures and some beach obstacles.  Then put it all together.  I have a part from an old entertainment center I was thinking of using as a base, but I may end up building something to give it more depth otherwise I'll be using quite a bit of celluclay.

SB, Man, you are whipping that bad boy right into shape. Really great work so far. I didn't realize you had a dio. planned. That will be sweet.

Got around to some more work on the LCVP.  Hopefully later this evening I can get the whole thing assembled and get it primed sometime this week.  I've ordered two of the Academy machine gun sets to replace the kit guns as they are nothing short of horrible, as well as the Trumpeter LCM crew so that I can have some better looking figures when I get around to making the diorama part of it (still have to wait on ordering more infantry).  I started today by finishing up the engine deck and the rear deck (minus guns)

I had a heck of a time getting the thread tied up for the ramp.  It's been a long time since I was a Boy Scout and I remember using rope back then instead of sewing thread, but I eventually got it.  I'm leaving the thread up through the deck until I get it situated the way I want it for the diorama.  I'm sure I can find a way to hide it until then.

After that I finished with something easy: the skeg, prop, and rudder.

Nice work Greg. Yellowy, well if it wasn't a word, it is now.

Rob: the Lancaster is looking good, nice job on the bomb bay.

Ah, in my previous post on the Sherman I noticed that the TC's aiming vane is broken, so I had to procure a replacement turret.

the interior is painted in MM primer white (the first turret was in PS dirty white and looked too yellowy. (is that a word?) 

the rear part of the M3 main gun, again in primer white with the breach block painted Humbrol (Metal cote) gun metal 

the turret pistol port puttied (as previously stated, the port was cast in 

if I can find some casting numbers I might add them also, but I'm not sure I want to get all anal on this build.

She's starting to look like an aircraft now! Very nice work, Rob!

Thanks guys, have to take a break tonite. Back actually starting to bug me, so, i'll return to it tomorrow.

Looking very good Rob!