Battle of Britain GB 2008 - 21 June to 31 Oct 08

NP Mike, good luck. Oh and use promodeller washes for your panel lines. Its the future i tells ya. LOL

Oh yeah, did you all guess what i had to help the RAF, that Aaron knows all about???? Well??

Oh ill tell ya then.  What does Aaron know all about?........A little Hurricane!!! Muwahahahahah.

Im soo funny me...No? Aah what do you lot know. LOL

The kit was from Sweet and is 1/144th. It has recessed panel lines and went together reasonably well without any filler. I had a nightmare with the decals. They most definatelty wernt playing ball. But hey, its an RAF plane and they need the numbers. I liked the colour scheme with the Black and white undersides and the unpainted alluminium panels.

...Guy

P.s The aerial wire was a hair from my missus's, son's girlfriend, Louise. Ta love.

Yup, got PM 'Dark Dirt' (not black, it would be too stark) sent down from Hong Kong (LuckyModel.com).

You used a human hair as antenna wire? Now that's ambitious! I won't ask how you attached it...

M

Mike, the 109 is looking great and cant wait to see all the fiddly bits on it and finished.

Thanks for all the comments guy's, yea, the kit is old and I think the decals are shoing their age a bit. The decals ook good but the carrier film was just awful. I trimmed most of them close but had no idea they would silver that much.

Love the little Hurricane. Just more targets for us to shoot down.

Steve

Mike the Emil is looking awesome.  I can't wait either to see you finish her up.

Guy, ...lame my friend, very lame, but I still LMAO!!!  Nice job on the little hurricane.  

Only 25 more days left in this GB...I will finish my Stuka..I will finish my Stuka!!!  In the middle of her paint job..pix coming soon.

Mark

mark983 wrote:

Only 25 more days left in this GB...I will finish my Stuka..I will finish my Stuka!!!  In the middle of her paint job..pix coming soon. Mark

Ok Mark finish your Stuka. No pressure !

Guy!!?? A little Hurricane? A little Hurricane? Oh my gosh you shoulda been on the Benny Hill show! Looks very quaint. I like the botton colors!

Again with All the 109's very impressive!  Thunderbolt you have been chugging along pretty steady! Almost there!

Well i thought it was funny, Geez yous lot are a hard crowd.

Oh yeah, Mark. You had a stuka on the go a while back didnt you? Whatever happened to the sucker

...Guy

Luftwoller wrote:

Well i thought it was funny, Geez yous lot are a hard crowd. Oh yeah, Mark. You had a stuka on the go a while back didnt you? Whatever happened to the sucker ...Guy

Life got in the way for a sec..also working two jobs from 6am till 6pm kinda limits your energy.  Found myself getting home all ready to work on the Stuka..then after dinner, putting daughter to bed, watching a tv show..then falling asleep on the sofa..kinda ruled out time to build...but now with the deadline...I'm knocking it out and very happy on how the paint job is coming out..my first time using the pre-shading method and I love it!!!  The wife is even interested on how its coming out..! 

Mark

OK Guys!!  Here you go...wanted to post pix after tonights paint job before bed...still need to paint the yellow nose and yellow wing tips underneath...also need to do a bit of clean up on some of the edges..and then its off to the other parts, canopy, prop, wheels and final weathering...comments are always welcome.  By the way...would it be best for a faded look or black washed look?

Mark 

Nice work on the Stuka Mark.  Since this was early in the war, I'd go with the wash rather than fading.

Regards,  Rick

That camo looks the biz, Mark. I think the wash is a definate. You could try pastels to fade the paint a touch.

...Guy

 I thought it was suggested to use a thinned lighter color of the lighter color to fade blend the demarkcation lines in a suitable way. Thats what I did on the Dornier and it worked great! Tones em down and makes em look scale real to me.

 I have a question for Guy as soon as I can remember it?

 This is how the Dornier looked in the sun. The Exhaust weathering is not applicable on a Stuka but you can see the Splinter scheme how it is toned down but not hidden.

Perhaps the fellows who originally suggested this method way back can give a refresher point. I think it was a couple of our Luftwaffa experts.

Maybe what I'll do is tone it down just a hair with a thinned lighter paint..and then apply a wash. 

Mark

Good idea..if I screwed it up now, I would probably cry like a little girl

Mark

sfcmac wrote:

I have a question for Guy as soon as I can remember it?

Geez, you cant leave that hanging in the air, Big Boy.

...Guy

Luftwoller wrote:

sfcmac wrote:  I have a question for Guy as soon as I can remember it? Geez, you cant leave that hanging in the air, Big Boy. ...Guy

 Sorry Guy was getting cross eyed between our builds. Had to ascertain that it was for here as opposed to the 251 GB thread. Or your val, or your lofty conversion, or your Famo.... extc.

 It is here indeed that my inquiry lies, so I ask ou if there was any particular history on your Hurricane? I know it was a quick build for a lark but wondered if those older 2 bladed originals were common in the BOB? The markings keyed my intrest with all the codes on the underside and all.  

Np Aaron, The problem with info on the kit is that it comes from a company called 'Sweet' who are Japanese, which makes understanding th huge blurb theyve written fairly difficult. he bits i can read say that the plane was h mount of P.O H.J.R. ''Guppy'' Dunn out of Deben in th UK. It also says 'This Hurricane later force landed in Belgium (Kutrijk) on November 10 1939' So really the kit isnt applicable to the BoB. Ooops, didnt realise till now.

As for the 2 bladed prop. The early Hurricanes had fixed pitch propellors and fabric wings, making them fairly nimble fighters for there day. That is untill the 109 came along. I searched in a few refs ive got as to the markings and paint on the undersides but got nothing substantial. If anyone else knows as to why hey painted them like this. Id be interested to know. To me, it looks like its to be noticed from the ground, not comoflaged.

...Guy

Mark -- The Stuka camo looks sweet! I'm thinking of tackling one of these for next year's BoB GB!

Guy -- The B&W undersides were exactly that, meant to be seen from the ground. They were an identification for AA gunners, exactly the same as the red & white undersides of Jv44. It was phased out in early 1944 (Edit: I mean 1940, of course, pardon the typo!) IIRC, but months after it was ended there were still solo Bf 109s making high-speed, low-level 'tip-and-run' raids deep into England with their undersides painted up in this scheme to slip by the Obserer Corps!

Cheers,

Mike

PS: I picked up fresh X-22 a couple of days ago and will have a chance to do some spraying tomorrow. I'll do a test-strip on styrene and run from color to gloss to flat, maybe accenting some scribed lines as well, and if the procedures work as expected I should be finishing the Emil in the next few days (I'll need a gas bottle change as well...) If they don't I'll be picking y'all's brains to see what I'm doing wrong!

Quick question -- what's your prefered thinning ratio for Gunze Aqueous, and is water the thinning medium???

Mark the Stuka is looking great.  Can't wait to see more.

Mike, Thinning raitos depends on what you are doing and what paints you are using.  Acrylic paints like Gunze don't really need thinning but I usually add a drop or two of thinner to prevent tip dry.  I usually use the name brand thinners rather than water as they contain retardants that keep the paint from drying too fast and getting all bumpy (and from drying on the air brush tip).  Looking forward to seeing the finnished Emil.

Hi Dave,

I'm just doing some experiments as we speak. Earlier, I scribed some quick panel lines into a piece of plasticard, then blew it into RLM 71 (enamel). I've just had a go with X-22: my first experiment was to use 50% thinner, the same thinning ratio as for pigmented paint (clear will be a related carrier, I'm assuming), and the result was decidedly 'orange-peel.' My second coat was thinned 1:1, the hope being that the coat would 'fine its level.' It's bright, but decidely un-smooth! Nowhere near as fine as the raw paint.

Next would be to apply the panel wash, then finish with Gunze flat and see what we get.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong at the gloss stage???

At this point, unless I can work it out, I'm inclined to forget the clear coats and finish the beast as-is, it turns out I have a mountain of work ahead of me, dozens of models to build in the next 18 months, and need to crack on.

Cheers,

Mike

Hmmmm... I'm spraying at low pressure and wide apperture and it's still drying too quick. It's a warm day here, that could be affecting it too. I'll need to do some more experiments, but unless I can get a dependably smooth coat, I might de-prioritize the gloss.

Okay, I now have a panel wash drying on the test strip, on both glossed and unglossed areas.

Thanks for the tips!

Cheers,

Mike

Hey Guys, here are some photos of my 109. They are not the best quality as my camera is out of action. All I have to do to it is string the antenna wire and I am calling it done.

and one to compare the 109 to the 200. The Conor will be finished very soon. Just some weathering and fiddly bits to finish it up.

thanks for looking and all comments welcome

Steve

Steve -- lookin' good! I'm always awed by the size of the Fw 200, she dwarfs her fighter escort!

Okay, state of play report on the Emil -- after less-than-successful experiments with clearcoats, I experimented with panel wash and found it was fine over the raw paint! The RLMs are a natural satin finish, and while the wash would be easier to wipe away from a gloss, all it takes is a trace of moisture on a clean tissue and away it goes. I've washed the underside, and cleaned up the horizontal tails and starboard wing. This was a few minutes work -- and the beauty is that if you find inconsistencies just add a bit more wash and wipe it away again. I'll have this project completed this weekend with the exception of gun and exhaust carbon (MiG black in the mail) and antenna wire (couldn't afford another $20 at this point to get the EZ-Line.)

Here she is:

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I'll get to those last chores when I can, but hopefully inside the month!

Cheers,

Mike

Hi again,

Turning in for the night after another round on the washes, and I think the panel lines are done, but for a few touch ups here and there that'll no doubt become apparent when I look at it in daylight tomorrow.

I'm officially sold on the Pro Modeller weathering washes, they make a fiddly job a breeze -- a thousand thanks for putting me onto it!!!

The port side fuselage cross pulled into the paint tight enough for the wash to find the lines, it's not quite right yet but it's almost there.

Tomorrow I'll get to smaller details, tailwheel, maingear, bare metal, dust, I might even unmask the canopy and do any touchups in that area as might be needed. Then paint the fuselage gun muzzles, mount the last few bits, and she's ready for a few gallery photos.

Here she is with the wash applied:

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And here she is with the wash wiped:

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Like I said, a breeze, even without glosscoating.

Cheers,

Mike

Looking Great TB, Pro Modeller washes rule. I use it religeously.

As for your X-22 conundrum. Id thin it more, maybe 60-40 thinner to paint or even 70-30. The stuff is the biz. Pro- modeller loves a glossy coat. Dont give up, you wont regret it.

...Guy

Looks really nice Mike. The panels came ut terriffic, I am going to have to get some of that stuff.

Here are some better shots of the 109 but I am still getting used to this camera. The first one is what I call the man and his machine. Its a Tamiya figure I did years ago and I like to think its Galland.

Work continues on the Condor tonight.

Steve

Guy and SC -- many thanks, yup, she's looking great. I'm hoping to have her done today, minus the carbon and wire. Okay, I'll push the thinning and keep experimenting with X-22 -- if I can get a reliable glosscoat it'll be great but until then I'll go with the paint finish itself.

Steve -- it really does look like Galland! That's excellent. Great job all round!

I'll have more pics later, hopefully of the Emil essentially done.

Cheers,

Mike