2016 OTS (1/72) SMALL IS BIG

Hello all,

I haven't posted in a while, but I have been checking in periodically to admire all the work being done.  Our local club had their annual show/contest toward the end of September - so I was busy putting the finishing touches on a few 95% done kits that I wanted to show.  That - and honestly, I was a bit hesitant and had to psych myself up for the painting of the invasion stripes on the Havoc - so I've put it off for a while.

MC,  That is a huge canvas for the oil canning detail that you've applied.  Spectacular work !  It reminded me of the first time I saw a sub in real life.  The USS Croaker is a sub that is docked at the Buffalo, NY Naval museum.  Seeing that made me realize the effect that diving deep can have on the skin of a sub.  The Croaker looks really beaten up.  The photo etch detail and the weathering on your type IX look fabulous.  The question in my mind now is - are you gonna cover most of it up with an equally impressive water surface in a diorama - or will you leave it all exposed ? 

Bish,  Really nice engine and pit detail on the Hellcat - and the tri-color scheme is my favorite for naval A/C.  A pretty bird for sure !

Tony,  Nice Hunter !  . . . quite a collection.  And the Fokker with skis is very nice.  A unique looker for sure.

Check,  Always good to see another Spitfire.  Interested to see how you like the kit.

Theuns,  Heartbreaking . . . and the interior detail on the 53 was soo nice !  Wishing you better fortune with the ANT 5.

So finally, I did get back into the Havoc build.  The engine nacelles are filled and mounted, and I'm halfway through the Striping process.  I brushpaint with acrylics - and so I didn't think I could use a standard masking technique for the stripes.  This basically means that I don't know what I'm doing and I'm having to make it up as I go along.  I think the biggest difficulty will be to make the lines look straight when they are really being bent around various compound curves.  I'm pleased with the way the wings came out, but the fuselage band will need some more work.

Chris

You are doing fantastic work on that U-boat!

I have today finally decided to let the MH 53 go. I , for the umteenth time tried to fix the paint but by now allot of the glue seams have failed and bits broke off so I just chucked it in the bin.....my sanity is worth more than the $30 odd it cost me.

Strangely it actually feels rather good not weighing on me anymore LOL

Theuns

Thanks, modelcrazy.

Really nice work on the sub.

Welcome back Check. 

Wayne has been quite busy lately with his history class and grandchildren. He pops in now and then.

Glad to see you start on the Spit.

I love the look of the Spit and have a Hase 1/32 in the stash, I just haven't had the urge to start it anytime soon. 

Great looking work going on.

I've been waylaid by other GB's; now finally to the point where I can pay attention to this one.

Airfix's Spitfire.

Cockpit:

Looking fantastic MC.

Thanks T,

stunning looking U-boat :-)

Theuns

I am supper sorry to hear the Theuns, it's always a bummer to try to build a kit the fights you all the way. I will do what you did and set them aside. This hobby is suposed to be enjoyable.

I have an update from the weekend.

I mixed Testers enamel rust and Testers enamel flat black to make a burnt umber. I sprayed this onto the upper part of the hull and using a bush. I applied some AK Interactives Worn Effects in specific areas for chipping later.

I sprayed the lower/upper hull and deck with Vallejo acrylics and when dry, use a wet brush to remove areas of chipping.

I have quite a bit to do still and will use oils to enhance the rusted areas after I'm done.

Wayne please delete my MH 53 from the roster, the results of it so far is extremely poor and I am not going to waist anymore time and effort on it.

Thanx

Theuns

That looks fantastic! For a minute there, it almost looked like one of those Steampunk flying steamships with that black primer. This is gonna look even more magnificent once you start the preliminary weathering. Looking forward to seeing more. 

That is some amazing worl on that submarine. Most impressive effect with the oil canning. I wonder why they call it "oil canning"? Anyway, you did a magnificent job on that boat.

MC, excellent work on the oil canning. Although I had seen the effect on various photos, I've never seen anyone do it o na model until your build.

I knew Wayne was busy, so I had the thought to make it easy for him and put it all in one post with page references.

Cheers

Tony

Theuns, I think you will be happier with the results.

Cool I will try the  buff wheel trick :-)

Theuns

Hi Tony,

Great start on the Hunter.

Wayne has been very busy lately. Thank you for highlighting your builds and pages for him. I'm sure he will get on that as soon as he reads your post.

Hi Wayne,

I had acouple of Airfix Spitfire XIXs that were completed on page 14 and a Pioneer2 Fokker DXXI on page 15. Would you mind updating on the roster please ?

Here's the latest on my next Revell Hunter F6:

Cheers

Tony

Theuns,

You absolutely did not fail here, you’re just not done yet. Take a Dremel with a buffer wheel and buff them smooth or sand them smooth with 2000+. Oil canning takes some time to make it look right.

I tried to simulate the destinctive oil canning on the back of the fuselage but it was a spectacular failure  :-(

Theuns

I have a couple of eindeckers plus one i did in 3D years ago. i will try the tape technique on them if i ever get there.

That's an enormous amount of work MC, but it's looking great.

Wayne, can I add another Revell Hunter F6 to the roster please. This one will be in Blue Diamonds Aerobatic Team markings.

Cheers

Tony

It does look good so far. Do what you gotta do in any case, but I like what I see right now. You've done excellent work so far. Looking forward to seeing more.

I managed to wrangle the fuse together but I will have to do allot of filling and sanding on the bottom. Lucky for me I got a new re-scribing river tool so it should be OK.

I am starting to think my odea of folding the rotor and the tail was to optimistic for this kit, I am not sure all that work will add to the overall improvement of the final result. Maybe just build it and move on.

Theuns and Bish,

The oil canning effect was created by using a #22 curving carving blade. I scratched the plastic off until I achieved the result I was looking for. You just have to careful not to scrape off the rivies. It is tedious but believe this method would work well for other ships and the wrinkles found on the skin of planes.

As I said on my post, I won't go as deep on the rest of the hull, but this amount of oil canning on the bow would make sense since the bow takes most of the water pressure as the boat moves forward through the waves. The flat paint should tone down the effect as well.