Wlad

Hello, Today it was time to paint it black. IMG_4451 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr I took the opportunity to paint the -7's propeller as well. It's getting to the minor details now on the -6 and I'm already thinking about how to tackle the -7. Cheers, Wlad

Dito all that has been said above. Excellent result. Cheers, Wlad

Hello, So, what did I spend a couple of hours doing one evening this week? I was out with calipers measuring the patches on the landing gear doors from a picture, then scaling the measurements to the model. Some déjà vu as the precision required was as much as, or greater than, when I built the gunsights. Here's where I ended up. IMG_4449 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr I did it for both models. Then it was time to paint the -6. I used Vallejo Air Gloss Sea Blue, same as on the -5's side panel, and it sprayed OK diluted with 20% Vallejo airbrush thinner. Some stoppages due to tip dry. I used a lot of air and low paint flow so the model wouldn't get soaked in paint. Tamiya and Mission sprayed better under similar conditions. It's all curing now before I do anything else. IMG_4450 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr Cheers, Wlad

Very nice Skyraider. Properly worn out and dirtied up. Cheers, Wlad

Nice Sea Fury CC. Good to see something coming out of your assembly lines. Cheers, Wlad

Very nice. Well done.

Hello, Some more progress. First a detail I noticed on some AU-1 and F4U-7 Corsairs, note the lighter blue patches on the landing gear doors, just below the number "10". They seem to contain instructions, possibly landing gear oleo settings or such. These are not catered for in the decal sheets, so I'll have to paint them. Photo from https://www.asisbiz.com/ site. For the light blue, I mixed PR Blue and white at a 1:1 ratio, and it looks good enough to me. I also sprayed white on the cowling, for that small white dash, and on the propeller spinner. I got the yellow tips on the propeller too, along with clear blue on the lights under the wings. IMG_4447 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr The -7 got the clear blue for the wing lights and the light blue on the landing gear doors. IMG_4448 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr That's all for now. Cheers, Wlad

Hello, Quick update today. Priming is in progress for both kits. I still need to tidy up some areas and prime the tailfins as that's where I held them by while priming. IMG_4446 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr I'll be moving ahead with the -6 and parking the -7 after this. I find I start rushing things when doing them in parallel. Cheers, Wlad

Cute! You really went all out on that cockpit, not to mention converting a 109E to a 109G. Well done. Wlad

Hello, I had some time this evening and a choice of things to do: put summer tires on my fat bike, or spray black primer on the Corsair's transparencies. Of course I chose the latter as it will give the primer time to cure before I apply grey primer on the whole model this weekend. I also remembered a lesson relearned not long ago, to not spray primer with a double action airbrush as they are harder to clean. So out came the Paasche H, single action and easier to clean, yet did it ever look and feel like a dinosaur! It doesn't fit on an airbrush holder either. It comes with its own hanger which I attached to a piece of plywood so it can then fit on an airbrush holder. Here's the beast: IMG_4445 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr One adjusts the width of the spray pattern by loosening a set screw with a handy Allen key and moving the needle and nozzle assembly up for narrow, or down for wide. It's a delicate three handed operation as the cup will rotate and pull the whole assembly down as soon as the set screw is loosened. Twisting the nozzle adjusts how much paint flows. It sprays as soon as the air trigger is pushed. That cup is offset to one side so it doesn't hit the air hose, and it attaches by friction fit. More on that later. Here's the beast disassembled: IMG_4442 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr I loaded the cup and tried to spray with the setting I had. Nothing came out. So I did the three handed adjustment and got a good spray pattern. As I was spraying the second canopy the cup detached, fell on the floor and spilled its contents. Good thing the workshop has a bare concrete floor, on purpose, as I removed the cheap shag carpet that was there when we bought the house. As I was cleaning the mess, the cup fell again knocking down a small jar of lacquer thinner. I now had lacquer thinner over the workbench, luckily in front of the spray booth. I wiped the thinner with paper towel, threw it in the spray booth and evacuated the workshop for a few minutes until the spray booth vented the fumes out. Back to the task at hand, I cleaned the outside of the cup and the airbrush, then sprayed the windshields. Once that was done, I cleaned the airbrush. I'm not sure what is worse: this crazy exercise with an airbrush I'm no longer familiar with, or cleaning a double action airbrush I'm very familiar with. I'm now leaning towards the latter. Anyone interested in an used Paasche H? I'll throw in the original hose, which requires a wrench to attach it to the airbrush, and an adapter so it can be powered by a compressed gas can. Quadruple the fun! So, what did I get? Cue in Iggy Pop, "I like these shades..." IMG_4440 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr Yes, that's a broken radio altimeter antenna. It's been fixed. The prototype I made months ago is stronger. IMG_4441 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr The pictures were taken on the WIP shelf because I wanted the models safe from lacquer thinner. The brush painters reading this are probably still on the floor laughing uncontrollably... Cheers, Wlad

The Planet Models one is in 1/48. Very few parts, yet I haven't checked their fit. It could be a fast build, and I hope it is for I will have a challenging paint scheme in mind for this model. Cheers, Wlad

Timing is everything, isn't it? I finished a Brazilian P-40N last October and just finished an Argentinean Corsair... I may regret this, as the GB runs when I don't usually spend time building models. I've checked my stash and what looks to be the quickest model for me to build is a Fairchild PT-19 from Planet Models. It will be a Brazilian one. First resin kit for me as well. Cheers, Wlad

Wow, they sure look different. Nice builds, both of them. I don't want to dismiss Eduard's research on these, as Malta colours are somewhat of a minefield. I know Eduard got the colours wrong on an Australian Spitfire scheme. Cheers, Wlad

Hello, Well, 3 out of 4 isn't too bad. First here is one canopy. I'm bringing this up because there was discussion back when I did the canopy of the -5. IMG_4437 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr My challenge was the framing is scale like and I could not feel it under tape so I had to use liquid masking. There was a suggestion to trace the outline in paper first yet I followed the same process as on the -5 with a change. Instead of leaving the canopy upright and ending up with thick liquid masking on the bottom frames, I grabbed it with a clothes peg and held it sideways. Then painted the liquid masking on one side and waited until it wasn't flowing anymore before I painted the other side. This created a thick area at the top, where I didn't have much to cut through for a frame. The inside is masked with Tamiya tape. For the windshields I used thin strips of tape along the side of the straight frames and filled the spaces in between with liquid masking. Interesting is the liquid masking doesn't want to stick to the clear plastic at this point, yet after a couple of coats of paint and clear varnish it doesn't want to peel off. Then came time to wrap the cockpit entrance in tape. The challenge here is not getting tape stuck to the two pieces of tape above the seat which represent a continuation of the seatbelts. I added a piece of paper in between. Then the masking doesn't want to stick to the rear bulkhead because there isn't much plastic to hold on to, so a little liquid masking comes to the rescue and holds the tape in place sealing the area. It also seals the joins in the tape to ensure no overspray inside the cockpit. IMG_4438 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr Breakable bits are attached as well, and I worked on some nasty ejector pin marks on the landing gear doors. I didn't see them on the -5 until it was much too late. IMG_4439 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr Some more filler next, cleanup, then priming. Cheers, Wlad

Don't forget to include the bucket at the WC 😆. And the toilet paper roll too.