PACIFIC CARRIER AVIATION GROUP BUILD

Here's a few shots of the Hellcat.  There are a couple spots that need a dab of paint, but overall I'm happy with the way the dark blue went on.  Seem a tad dark, but what do I know.  Also, the demarcation line between the blues is a little sharp since I taped it. The panel lines didn't come through like we thought.  May go over the recessed line with a pencil later.  Now I need to get going on the landing gear and doors.  As always, any advice is appreciated.

Craig

I set the unfinished prop on for effect.

JR - I thought about respraying.  Decided against it this time around.  I really don't want to screw it up.  I painted the dark blue about an hour ago.  If it comes out OK, I'm gonna leave it.  This was a good learning kit.  Easy assembly, good instruction, good part fitting, and great detail.  I'll post pics shortly.

Craig

That would be "Intermediate Blue" there Greg. Long time since I've heard from ya old friend. Good to see you about.

Ok, what does "IB" stand for???

Craig, Hmm, that looks familiar.  Do not despair. You can easily fix that. Just roll some putty into rolls or"sausages", to length and simply lay them on along the edge of the IB and respray. If you would like me to post a pic to better describe what I'm describing I will be happy to. It appears that the putty you got behaves like silly putty.

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys.  SS - Those tire tires look sweet.  Gonna have to give it a try.  Joe- I'm still learning my airbrush.  Eventually I will get it dialed in.  I appreciate any and all pointers along the way  Thanks.

Craig

Looks good so far Craig. Don't worry about the painting skills. Most of us are still learning so don't sweat it. I used to have hard demarcation lines between colors but learned my hard and fast rule (at least it works for me , that is) of 30psi, paint generously thinned, the needle barely open and get in really close when spraying the color borders. I try to make it like a little 1/48 scale man was spraying the paint border with the same scale paint gun. lol

Joe: Your Hellcat is coming along nicely! as well, mate! The touched-up demarcation line looks really good from here!

And then there's that 190! What a beauty she is! Not to mention your patience in fixing the paint job after your decal issues.

Craig: I think the camo on your Hellcat looks really nice so far! One thig you could try if you're not satisfied with it is to respray the edge of the camo with some IB to blend it in a bit more. That would require you to freehand the demarcation line though...
Regarding the tires: I usually don't weather my aircraft wheels a whole lot. My go-to procedure is to spray them with Gunze's tire black (any rubber color of your choice works). Then I hit them with a flat vernish (Alclad's "Matte" clear coat in my case) and let it dry completely.
The weathering itself only consists of pigments. I simply mix them with a bit of water and apply that mix with an old paintbrush. After everything is dry I take a slightly dampened piece of cloth and wipe the tires clean again, leaving the pigments in all the recesses. The rough surface caused by the flat varnish is stained by the pigments in the process and adds a slghtly dusty look to the raised areas.

Here's a picture of the landing gear on my German-captured P-47. The wheel hubs are weathered like the rest of the aircraft:

Well, I shot the IB this morning.  To be honest, I'm not real thrilled with my results.  It's no where as clean and smooths as JR's Hellcat.  I could probably repaint, but I don't want to run the risk of screwing it up  anymore.  This is my first attempt at an exterior paint job in 20 years.  Hopefully I can get better.  Looks like the panel lines didn't really show through the IB.  Oh well.  Someday I'll get it down like you guys.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Craig

What an incredible sight!  It's a vision of loveliness, Joe--with the putty removed, that is.

This is something I'm going to have to try.  I have a USS Atlanta waiting, with some squiggly camouflage job, and this just might be my answer.  

Thanks!  

Yup. sho nuff.

Nice!  Is the putty still usable after its been painted?

Yeah, you should be just fine. My white is also gloss so, I had no issues with putty on that. But, my intermed. blue is flat and when I was doing my touch ups I laid a piece of putty on to size up but, walked away for awhile and when i got back to it it had adhered itself mightily to the intermed. blue. It left a nasty blemish and I had to actually sand it out a bit in order to get a new coat to cover it. If your using Mr. Color it shouldn't be too much of an issue because that is all gloss to my knowledge. I used Mr. Color paints on the FW 190 I just finished for the Butcher Bird GB and it worked out great. Here's some pics of what I did with putty on the complex scheme:

And the finished product:

Thanks JR.  I was wondering if the SP would leave a residue or something on the model.  The white I used on the bottom is Mr. Color 316 which is a gloss.  Am I safe using the SP on the 316?

Craig

Glad to hear you found yourself some form of silly putty. Hey Craig, A word of wisdom concerning silly putty, I suggest NOT putting on flat paint. It will stick to the point that it will leave small bits on the paint and can discolor the area it was stuck to. I recommend that you make sure that your paint is either gloss or that you apply a gloss coat first. It will save you a degree of misery. Trust me, I know this all too well, (I absent mindedly just did this to my Hellcat and have spent this morning repairing the damage the putty did)..  The tires look good. Yup, drybrushing gray on will probably look nice. Some  other ways to weather tires is to use pastels or a Tamiya weathering set. Also just tinting some thinner with gray and giving a quick spray will give you a nice dull/used effect. Then there is using a wash to bring out the tread.

I went on my Silly Putty search yesterday.  I finally found some Mega Putty (a Knock off) at the seventh store I tried.   I will try it later on when I start masking off the plane.  I painted the tires Testors Rubber.  It looks really brown in the photo, but looks pretty good to the naked eye.  Should look pretty cool with the white wheels.  Does anyone think it might look realistic if I dry brush some dark gray on the tread?  I plan on hitting the raised Firestone lettering with some white.

Craig

Hey Joe... It looks like great work and great progress.

Steve

Nice and helpful tip about using the refrigerator with the putty, Joe.  Thanks.  I have some; tried it and went back to poster tack.  But I'll be trying out your method.

Great painting, by the way!

And, yup, my wife brought me some home from Walmart.  One of the eggs was pink, and the other blue--gender equality, I suppose.

Stuff works fairly well. I've got a couple of "eggs" of it.

Joe I can't tell you how pleased I am that youre around posting pics again. I love the paint job and want to marry it............uh ....flashback here. Sorry. For those that have been around a while, you'll get it. Really though man, top notch paint from a top notch fella.

It's actually some off brand but still the same stuff. I would imagine that you should be able to find it at Wally World. Luckily, I'm able to buy the stuff in the toy section of our local drug store. I strongly suggest getting some. You can really do some cool stuff with it once you get the hang of some of it's nuances.

JR - Is that actually the real Silly Putty?  Do they sell it at Walmart?  I'm a step behind you.  I like the way it looks.  I'd rather use that stuff then mask it with tape.

Craig

As promised, I have some progress and pics. Certainly long overdo. I've masked and applied the intermediate blue thus far. Here is the process I used.

This is the initial mask using Tamiya tape for general coverage and Silly Putty for the demarcation between the white and inter. blue.

Then the MM intermed. blue is sprayed on.

For those of you unfamiliar with using silly putty, the key to removing it without it leaving sticky pieces on the model is to put it in the refrigerator for a few minutes and then the putty will pop right off. Upon unmasking I found that my line was uneven and inconsistent. This is the direct result of being in a hurry and not checking my mask prior to painting. So, I remasked with slightly larger putty "sausages" and touched up the edges.

I'm now quite pleased with the outcome. Now on to the MM dark sea blue. By the way, I LOVE SILLY PUTTY!!!

Nice work, flyerduke!  Really smooth paint job, and the panel lines are extremely well-done.

Joe-The mask is pre-cut that came with the kit.  Gotta like the ProfiPACK kits.

Thanks Clemens.  It will be interesting to see if the lines show through when I shoot the IB.

She's looking really great, Craig! I love how the pre-shading shows through!

JOE RIX

LOL LOL LOL!!!! You are indeed a righteous member of the flock Brother Bakster. He Who Knows only Styrene will be anointing you greatly for your faith.

                                 Rev. Joe

But... But what about resin and PE? Reverend Joe please tell me, does that mean our venerable Lord does not love me, who has a desire to enhance the styrene, equally? 

flyerduke

Thanks Joe and JR.  Lookin' forward to some photos JR.  Just finished shootin' the canopy IG.  Now I know why I quit building the Dinah for the Japanese GB.  I was at the canopy masking point.  I do not like applying that mask!  What a pain.  The IG is a little spotty, but looks good from inside the canopy.   Anyways...  Gonna keep plodding along.

Craig

Hey Joe--OK...10-4.  Over and out.

Flyerduke-- It looks awesome.  :)

Thanks Joe and JR.  Lookin' forward to some photos JR.  Just finished shootin' the canopy IG.  Now I know why I quit building the Dinah for the Japanese GB.  I was at the canopy masking point.  I do not like applying that mask!  What a pain.  The IG is a little spotty, but looks good from inside the canopy.   Anyways...  Gonna keep plodding along.

Craig