Battle For Germany 45 GB Starts Now - 08 May 06

Happy birfday Karl!

I've my big 3-oh in July.  I'm not sure if I'll be getting any plastic though.

Happy Birthday Karl.  Hope your compressor arrives in time!! 

Jay:  I only wish I could still put a "3" in front of a number for my age!

Happy Birthday Karl and all the best.

Dave

Cheers

Bear

Hmmm... Karl's turning 35 again huh?   I didn't get a chance to make it to his "35th" birthday party last yr...   (I'm debating on staying 39 forever, my 40th is next month and although I am not bothered by it I think it would be fun to see how long I can get away with it.  I don't look 39 according to many coworkers and friends.)

Well I did something really stupid, after the last set of pics I went on and added some post shading with pastels and weathered a bit on the Do335.  It was sitting there for me to work up the energy to take pics when BAM!  An unexpected visit from the sister and brother in law prompted me to go ahead and give it to her for her clinic BEFORE I had taken said pics.  So Darren I guess I will have to count those last pics as my finished pics and take my lesson the hard way...

If I had only taken those pics... of course my motto is always "why put off till tomorrow what you can just as easily put off till the day after tomorrow"

Sorry to hear that Chris, hope you can move past it.  

Tom, that sounds a bit like my motto "why do something today when it can be put off till tomorrow" but you take it one step further.  Reminds me of a saying my Boss has on his wall "Hard work often pays off over time but laziness always pays off now!" I am not kidding this is really on his wall!

Well, the Dora is about 95% finished.  I have to dullcoat it, add panel lines with a soft pencil, do some minor weathering with pastels, spray some more dullcoat to seal it and then add the little fiddly bits like the attenae wire, the bottom loop atteneae and the other pokey thing (I can't remember the name of it) on the under side and of course the canopy.   Even with the decal issues I had, I think it came out acceptable.  I probably won't enter it in the May Model Show here in Calgary but it looks pretty good for an Airfix and my first time trying Luftwaffe mottle camo.

Hey Dave, if you are not doing anything on May 12th, want to come to Calgary for a Model Show? I was at last years for about an hour to check stuff out.

http://www.rockymountainmodelclub.com/upcomingcontest.htm

Or there is also one in June you can see it on this website (This is the one I entered several models in last year) http://www.gombs.org/

Speaking of frustration....... I'm just not happy with the mottling on my 1/48 Tamiya FW190A8.   I mean, it's "ok", but that's just it... it's just "ok".  I can see the totally difference between the gray and the green... sticks out like a sore thumb to me.  My wife thinks it looks fine, but I just don't like the way it turned out.  However, the wings and upper surfaces look great!   

At this point I'm ready to put it in box and leave it for a while... but intstead, I'm just going to move forward and take it as an opportunity to take some risks experimenting with some weathering techniques I've never tried before.  I feel like I've got nothing to lose now.  Eventually, I'll buy another of the same kit (it's a great kit by the way) and make another with the lessons I learned on this one. 

jboutin wrote:

Hey Dave, if you are not doing anything on May 12th, want to come to Calgary for a Model Show? I was at last years for about an hour to check stuff out. http://www.rockymountainmodelclub.com/upcomingcontest.htm Or there is also one in June you can see it on this website (This is the one I entered several models in last year) http://www.gombs.org/

Sounds wonderful Jay but I don't have any plans to go out that way at the moment.  Thanks for the info though as I'm still kicking myself for missing out on the Vancouver show last fall when I was in town and had no idea it was on! (DOH!)  It is good to be informed.

I'm a bit surprised that they would hold the one on the same weekend as mother's day!  

Dave, I had to laugh as a good friend of mine who works as the Educational Director for the Calgary Aerospace Museum met some members of the RRMC at an open house the museum presented (the RRMC had a couple tables with models on them).  He said they looked like the type of guy who lives alone and still hasn't moved out of his mother's basement..  Maybe that is why it is on Mother's Day weekend?

Needless to say he wasn't impressed with the RRMC and I think he is not going to ask them back.  Apparently they sat back and didn't talk to any of the guests and generally had a negative air about them.  It kind of gives a bad impression of modelers as most of the ones I met are very friendly and once you start talking about things they open right up and talk about all kinds of things, even things not about modelling!

Karl, all in good time, I still have to do a little more weathering.  I should have pics by next week..  I am also trying to do the JV44 Dora at the same time so both Doras will be finished together.

Jay, that is pretty funny, too bad for the museum though.  BTW, have you been over to the HyperScale forums lately?  They started this theme thing and right now the theme is FW planes and there are like a hundred Fw 190 photos posted.  Check it out if you haven't already.

Karl:  Glad the new toy arrived in time and that you are enjoying it. 

Chris:  Keep at it!  Don't let the plastic get to you.  (although cherry bombs are a lot of fun )

Karl-Happy Birthday....and here's to many more...cheers!

Chris-Hang in there.  Half the fun is overcoming these "challenges", seeing the finished results and smiling.  Looking forward to seeing results.

The treads have been weathered and applied to the Panther. It would have been a bit easier if I had followed the instructions and not glued the upper & lower hulls together until AFTER the treads were attached.  Some pastel weathering was done, but followed with a coat of Future in prep for the oil wash (and maybe the ambush camo scheme...just something about those dots...).  Still need to attach the various tools, cables and some flat acrylic.  Then maybe a 'dirty' wash.  The nice/bad thing about armour is the amount of weathering that can be done.  Given time constraints, I think I will go light on weathering this one so more time can be devoted to the Atlantic GB, Aces GB & upcoming Battle of Britian GB (and others to come?).

espins1 wrote:

Speaking of frustration....... I'm just not happy with the mottling on my 1/48 Tamiya FW190A8.   I mean, it's "ok", but that's just it... it's just "ok".  I can see the totally difference between the gray and the green... sticks out like a sore thumb to me.  My wife thinks it looks fine, but I just don't like the way it turned out.  However, the wings and upper surfaces look great!    At this point I'm ready to put it in box and leave it for a while... but intstead, I'm just going to move forward and take it as an opportunity to take some risks experimenting with some weathering techniques I've never tried before.  I feel like I've got nothing to lose now.  Eventually, I'll buy another of the same kit (it's a great kit by the way) and make another with the lessons I learned on this one.

Scott - wierd I thought I already replied to this... I thought the same thing on my 1/32 FW-190 I built awhile back.  what I did was thin some RLM 76 a lot (like chalky water) and did a few light mists over the mottle with it.  After a few passes everything blended together and the mottling appear more uniform and 'mottled' no sharp edges or garish colors at all.  I did the same thing with the 1/72 FW-190 I posted a pic of at the first of this build.  Just do enough to take the 'bite' off the colors, don't water them down too much.

Bob - looking good!  looking forward to some weathering!  And I know what ya mean about "if I only had...."  I did the same on my tiger II I am still playing with... I glues the skirts on before I did the tracks, luckly I hadn't glued the body yet.

Darson, I would like to build a P-51D to support this GB. I'm pretty sure I can get it done in time (I'll try anyway). I assume this model checks out, since I found the idea on page one as you suggested.

Thanks,

Doug

Doug a P-51D sounds perfect for the build, welcome aboard. 
By the way what scale are you building it in?

Karl Happy Birthday

Tom bummer about those photos, I would’ve really liked to see the final product, but I had marked you complete from your last pictures anyway.

Cheers

Hey Tom, thanks for the great suggestion.  I'll give your tip a try along with some heavy weathering.  Not my best work, but hey, it's how I learn.  I think the next Luftwaffe fighter I make will be 1/32 scale. (I have Hasegawa's BF109 G-6 and FW190D-9). 

I think part of the problem comes from my airbrush and compressor.  I have a tough time getting the paint to flow at lower pressures, so I have to crank up the pressure, but then it's higher than it should be, with the obvious results.  Maybe I need a finer tip on my airbrush in order to pull off mottling in 1/48 scale.  Hmmmmm   

Scott this is not a great example of mottling but I used the same technique on my Dora.  I re-sprayed the tail twice but still wasn't happy so I mixed up a little 30-70 paint thinners mix and gave the tail a couple of coats to blend things together.

Cheers

Looks like everyone answered this one already... I don't have an exact ratio but it really is just a few drops of paint to the rest thinner... just so it looks like chalky water.  I'm guessing about the ratio Darren said.  Just spray it on real light... even if the pressure is a bit higg (15psi or so) just barely pull back on the needle until it is coming out.  you don't want to douse it, just slowly build it up until it blemds well.  This way you can see it slowly taking shape and begin to concentrate on areas that might need it more.

Good luck!  Another suggestion is if after this it still bothers you, put it in the closet for a week and then take it out and take an objective look at it again.  Sometimes the perfectionist in us all needs a night or two to sleep on it before making another game plan.  (And very often is happy with the results a little time off from thinking about the mottle produced!) 

Wow so many posts since my last visit, when i have a little more time i'll go through them to check out everyones builds.....

Darren did you end up grouping all the pics together in an album

Jules Hey good to seeya I kinda get worried when online buddies go MIA back

hey guys i posted a question on the armor forum but no luck so far. Does ANYONE have a instruction sheet for a DML SdKfz 251 Halftrack WITHOUT the Pak 40 i need the instructions for assembeling the forward machinegun the one with a shield over the cab of the halftrack if someone does and can scan and post or E-Mail the bit i need i would be SOOOOO Greatful many Thanks in advance TTFN!!!

PanzerWulff wrote:

Jules Hey good to seeya I kinda get worried when online buddies go MIA back hey guys i posted a question on the armor forum but no luck so far. Does ANYONE have a instruction sheet for a DML SdKfz 251 Halftrack WITHOUT the Pak 40 i need the instructions for assembeling the forward machinegun the one with a shield over the cab of the halftrack if someone does and can scan and post or E-Mail the bit i need i would be SOOOOO Greatful many Thanks in advance TTFN!!!

I've got the DML SdKfz 251 3 in 1 kit if that is any help to you.  If you need them I'll be happy to scan them and shoot them through on an email.

Cheers

j.s.harrison wrote:

Darren did you end up grouping all the pics together in an album

Oops forgot to answer your question Jules.  Yes I did and the link for it is on page one of the build, although I must admit for the last couple of completed entries I haven't bothered because there was zero usage of the page.

Cheers