75th Anniversary of 1942 (World at War)

I've used styrene strips before and if the size is right it's a great way to fill seams without doing any damage to the detail. Really kind of a first cousin to melting styrene in thin glue: Gunze makes a special brand of the brew that also works great. (I still really like hard molding paste for an acrylic putty: probably 3M bondo for serious ugly.)

Still anguishing about my project here. Do we want a knocked out Panzer IVD in winter conditions? Or do we want one of the two famous Japanese type 95 tanks that gave Australian troops a bad scare during a night battle at Milne Bay in September 42. Maybe both, but I still owe the RAF group build an Italieri Sunderland flying for Coastal Command. Either tank project would require some unfamiiar techniques: the PZIV both a winter landscape (for which I have Precision Snow - great stuff) and a burnt out tank. Jungel terrain would be a real challenge also - a whole lot of plantlife there all jammed together.

In the meantime I've just started to break in an Iwata RG-3 spray gun at the behest of super-guru Paul Budzik. I think its going to work great, but it's quite different from an airbrush. Pretty sure I'll be able to spray uncut Stynelrez thinners - and maybe with slightly denser coat to finish in two coats. We'll see.

Eric

Bish, it works real well...

Ok, I was going to post this a few hours ago, but then life happened... so, after seam clean up of the chin scoop insert, there we're still a couple of good size side gaps to contend with...

 

 

 

so I cut a couple of pieces of triangular strip styrene to length and glued them in place...

 

 

 

After I let them dry overnite, I sanded them to fit and no more gaps!

 

 

 

That's all for now...

Nice bit of filling there Stik, never tried that so going to have to remember this tip.

Yes it does. Much better than gel CA to fill the dings at meeting leading edges like that.

Nice effective remedy, though, stik.  Looks like it solved at least the one issue.

Well the strip styrene lip worked very nicely. I actually used a half round strip with the hollow portion against  the lip of the kit part. After the clean up, it looked real good.

 

 

But I may have jumped the gun a bit. When I fit the insert part in place after filling and clean up it required adjustment after the fix...

I'll try and give as much info as i can check. I have not used vallejo for my 72nd figures, i tend not to go into to much detail on those, especialy as most of them are in black coveralls, but i plan on puting more effort into those.

I plan on finishing up the building first, so then once other parts are complete they can be added, so it might be a couple of days before i do any more figure work.

stik:  I've previously tried to deal with the dings using superglue.  It hasn't always worked so well.  Even the newer Airfix Hawk I did for this GB had some serious issues with dings.

Extremely nice looking engine, Andy.  Great!

Appreciate the progress report, Dwayne.  Some kits come with so much mold seam, it's a project in itself just to clean up the pieces.

And, Bish, I think a lot of us are interested to see how your figure painting goes.  I've got a number of 1/72 RAF and US Navy pilots I'd like to paint up, and I just stocked up on a ton of Vallejo paints to see if I can get them to work.  It's why I bought "El Mercenario's" book in the first place.

Dwayne, Rooster, & Bish, thanks for the feedback. I'll let you know how the fixes turn out. It's back to work for me today, so not much bench time for the next several days ahead.

Andy, another nice looking engine. Like the wiring.

Dwayne, will do. As i get more comfortable with what i am doing, i feel i am able to put more effort into build updates.

Bish, keep us updated on those figures.  I have not tackled a figure yet, so seeing what you are doing will help a lot when I get around to it.

Stik, that IP is looking fantastic.  Looking forward to more pics.  Interested to see how the strip styrene fix works.

Rooster, nice engine.  The molding and what you did with it looks very realistic.

I am in the construction stage of the T-34, and actually got some parts glued after spending a fair amount of time cleaning up molding seams.  Will post pics soon.  Watching the progress you guys are making is strong motivation to get going.

D

A lot of really nice work going on here. Stik that 109 is coming together nicely!

Finally got started on my 109 and have a small update...got most of the engine assembled and painted. Added some hose and some wiring to busy it up a little. I may add a some more hose here or there and do some light weathering.

After looking at the picture I see some of the small wires broke off so I'll have to reattach those...oh well one step forward and two back

I also have to mask off and paint the small tanks on the side of the engine RLM 02 like the instructions call for. Seems like a good guess based on some of the pictures I've seen. If anyone know differently please let me know

If it worksfor you Stik, keep with it. I am reluctant to move away from enamels to acrylics for my main subjects, despite the issues i am having with reaction to oil washes.

Thtas coming together well,good job on the scribing.

Thanks check. Those dings in spots like that are a bear to deal with. Hopefully this method will work. Trying something new here. I used lots of cement to try to melt it into the surrounding area.

Good looking work, stik!  I like your use of plastic strips to fill in the dings.  A lot of kits have them, and it's a technique I hadn't thought of.

Check and Bish, thanks. Bish, I am very reluctant to try acrylics for my flesh tones. I am hanging better results with oils and enamels over an acrylic base in my last few attempts.

 

Yesterday after my last photos, I glued the fuselage halves and wings together. Today I cleaned up the seams and scribed in lost detail.

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the edges of the the chin scoop had dings along the centerline seem edge, so I added some strip styrene that I will sand in smooth 

 

 

I also built up some of the last sub assemblies- cowling hood and supercharger scoop, belly tank, and main wheels

 

 

 

 

Taking final shape now...

 

 

A little more seam clean up them I'll be ready to get the airframe all into one piece...

Ye, me to, but willing to try anything once.

Thanks, Bish.  Joe Hudson seems to use "glazes" in the figure painting articles he's been having in FSM magazine.  Another technique new to me.

Just dry brushing, and with vallejo i can do this without thinning. But i am planning on trying the glaze, i might try that on the grey shirts.

Great looking cockpit, stik; I really admire the IP.  You packed a lot of detail into it.  Extremely fine work!

Nice work going on, Bish.  Now:  when you add the highlights, are you dry-brushing them, or using a thinned-paint "glaze?"

Eric:  thanks for the information on retarders, etc.  Very helpful and insightful! 

 

Cheers Stik. That pit is looking really nice, like the IP.

I found some of those 109 kits on e-bay, including the original 78 boxings which i am sure is the one i did. Seeing your build is making me want to grab one for old times sake, might be fun to re-do this old kit.

Nice progress on the figures Bish. The uniforms look very good so far.

 

As for my project, the last progress shots of the cockpit before I started gluing things in place. A topcoat of Humbrol Matt Clear, some light dry brushing with Testors square bottle Flat Aluminum in select spots, and then Testors Clear parts glue onto the IP dials for lenses. I also painted and glued the gun sight in place

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have the fuselage glued together now.. time for seam clean up and rescribing...

As promised, a small update on the figure. So far i have just completed the field grey uniforms.

I have been building dio's and painting figures for many years. But its only been the last 3 or 4 that i have been making some improvments, thanks of course to people on here as well as useing referance books and watching vids. Prior to useing the book on SS figures i mentioned above, i used Tamiya paints on figures. But when i started following the book i decided to get a few vallejo colour as thats the colour he was useing. I have since almost completly switched to them for figures as i find them much easier to paint with and especially to dry brush.

So, onto the figures. On my first few builds useing the book, i folowed it word for word. The last few i have been making some adjustments.

After the black primer, it starts with a base coat of Extra dark Green, 896, and Field Grey, 830, mixed 2:1. What i know do is paint one item of clthing, then add a drop of one or other of the 2 base paints to give some slight variation.

One coat is perfectly fine even over the black.

Once dry, highlights are added useing the base coat with some US Field Drad, 873, and Ger Camo beige, 821, added. I start with the darker colour then make a second pas after adding the lighter one. Again, between each item of clothing, a drop or two more of the lightening colours is added.

This is the result.

My results are not exactly the same as in the book, his look a lot lighter, but i often think the guides are exagerated a bit to help show the efefct and i am pretty pleased with how it turns out.

Once the whole figure is done, i do some oil washes which help furher with the creases as well as make them slightly grubby and then add some dirt and dust effects.

If anyone has any suggestions or idea, i am all ears.

One factor about oils vs acrylics is that Vallejo (and I think all the art house acrylic makers like Golden) have at least one retarder medium - probably two. You have to get used to the stuff and try the instruction recommendations for a first shot. In general they come in two types: one is a very concentrated conditioner that is clear and as thin as water - Golden calls theirs "Flow Aid" and you mix it about 1:10 Flow Aid/Water. They also make something that will be called Retarder Medium or something like it: it's clear, but has the viscosity of a varnish - about as thin as Vallejo Model Air. (As usual art house stuff is cheaper. Windsor Newton Fluid Retarder is about $10 for 250 ml. Vallejo's is $3 for 17ml.) You can fool around with this stuff - but there comes a time when too much will mean the paint never properly cures. But I'd say when you're used to the stuff you can at least double working time - triple more like it. And unlike oils, you do things one small section at a time instead of working on the whole model. (Fast drying oils are maybe different. When I used Wilder's oils, which dry in about an hour, I found myself putting thin, oily paints back onto the thicker pigment-rich stuff because it was drying out. Wilder's oils are matte: so is Gamblin's line of FastMatte. Windsor Newton, however, makes an alkyd based oil paint that dries gloss: a painting will be ready in 24 hours, so I'd guess the amount we use it would be done a lot sooner.) But there's no way around it - acrylic paints are simply great to use. I don't want to sound like Vincent Van Gough, but if you want to paint figures with acrylics you should really check out Golden Fluid Acrylics. Golden and Liquitex basically invented the artist/craft acrylics in the 50s (Vallejo was an art house long before adding a model line.) They know what they're doing and their customers are very picky. Golden Fluids are very like Vallejo Model Color in viscosity, but are a higher quality paint - and cheaper - about $4 for an ounce, or $10 for 16 ounces. They don't have military colors, but mixing is fun and easy and Golden has several "mixing" colors that do amazing things. The bottles are great and they last for years if kept closed. High Flow is also fine for hand painting but is really for airbrushing and resembles Vallejo Model Air except that it's a lot better. It also has conditioners that keep it from tip clog meaning you get more working time with it. Blick Art Supply has a full selection of both Fluid and High Flow and shipping is very reasonable. Pick up some retarder while you're at it. Eric

checkmateking02

I-R's old paint was very easy to "feather" into shadows and highlights.  I'm not sure that acrylics can easily duplicate that effect, but I won't know till I get around to trying them.  

 

No, i don't think they are. Even dry brushing i found tricky with tamiya, but its nice with vallejo. The approach i am useing is to apply a darker base and then just do the highlights by dry brushing. I have finished the field grey items so will try and get some pics up toniught so you can see for yourself.

I-R's old paint was very easy to "feather" into shadows and highlights.  I'm not sure that acrylics can easily duplicate that effect, but I won't know till I get around to trying them.  

Gamsol is trumps with oil - mildest stuff on the market. However, Gamblin refined some components out that make it very poor to use with enamels. (Probably best for most people not to know what's in enamel or lacquer paints. In theory you can drink water based acrylics - makes them popular in schools - wouldn't do that with Alclad II.) But as noted, Gamsol leaves no residue which can be a problem with something like turpentine. I'm going to buy some of Gamblin's "FastMatt Alkyad Oils" and report in: they supposedly dry in less than 24 hours - probably a lot less for model use. Eric

A lot of figure painters seem to be moving to acrylics and away from oils. Theres a couple of guys at the model club i belong to who paint really stunning figures and another who does some stunning busts and they all use acrylics. At the last meeting, one said that a year ago he could not have imagined useing acrylics rather than oils, now he has switche completly.

Welcome, Bish.  Hope you find it useful.  

I used to do a lot of 54mm miniatures, and used I-R paints.  They were bottled oil paints that could be thinned into washes with turpentine.  When they discontinued them, I gave up painting larger figures for lack of a suitable paint.  I didn't want to get into messing with tubes of oil paint and all that.

Thanks check. Found it on Amazon so will grab one of those. As i do both 72nd and 35th figures, sound slike it wil be useful.