GPBooth

Plasticmasher, you're quite welcome. You've got the flying overalls broadly correct. A commonly seen overall was the "lightweight flying suit", also known as the "Beadon suit", which was introduced late in WW2 and intended for use in the tropics (planning for the war in the Pacific/SEA contuniung, I presume). This is the pocketed suit with the knit collar and cuffs. These were made in lightweight bluish-grey cotton, but a medium grey color also seems common (though I can't tell how much of this is due to use, fading and age, as opposed to production variations). New flying suits with conventional collars were introduced around 1950 or so. There was a "1951 pattern" suit, followed by a numbered series beginning with the "Mark I" and the "Mark Ia". I'm not expert in the detail differences between these suits, but for the purposed of a scale model they all look broadly similar in pattern, differing in the details, (pockets, knife sheath, fasteners, belts/no belt etc.). All were in the familiar medium blue-grey shade you mention. If you do a web search for "Beadon suit" or "flying suit, RAF, 1950's" you should be able to find a lot of color photos of these items. The Historic Flying Clothing Company also has a good selection of pictures of suits and equipment in their (quite large) "museum" section (here: https://www.historicflyingclothing.com/). I don't know when the olive green versions of these suits were introduced; I suspect it was around 1960. I've seen the olive green suits in color photos from the 1960's, though it seems the earlier marks of blue-grey suits continued in use for some time. Perhaps some knowledgable collectors or veterans can chime in here with more information. Don;t forget, too, that the privately purchased "presteige" flying suits in white or black were also still seen in the late 1940's and 1950's, though these seem to have been reserved for special occasions such as squadron aerobatic team events, airshows (like the SBAC show or Paris), and flight test activities. There's an earlier Britmodeler thread with pics on this subject here:

Impressive thread drift here... Short answer: in 1949 fighter aircrew were still using mid 1940's pattern brown leather Type C helmets or tan cloth Type E's. For the RAF and RN aircrew, hard shell helmets were still several years away. To answer plasticmasher's original question, in 1949 RAF pilots were still using the "late war" patterns of the "soft" headgear, the RAF Type C and Type E helmets. The patterns and equipment for each were broadly similar, the difference was the material each was constructed of; the Type C was the familiar dark brown leather while the Type E was made of tan "Airtex" ventilated fabric. These helmets and the associated radio and oxygen equipment were still in widespread use in the early 1950's by all aircrew, including fighter pilots flying fast jets. Both the E and G were often seen worn with Mark VIII goggles and the grey-green Type H oxygen masks/mic carriers. Though officially superseded by the introduction of modern hard shell helmets in the mid 1950's, the Type C and E continued in use by some aircrew well into the decade. The fiberglass "hard shell" helmets did not enter RAF service until the mid 1950's. A number of USAF standard white fiberglass helmets were issued to RAF fighter pilots equipped with the Canadair Sabres that began arriving around 1953-54. Like the Sabre itself, they were considered a "hot item" with a lot of cachet and "swank" by fighter pilots of the day, as possession gave notice that you flew the latest and greatest rather than the obselecent "Meatbox" or the "kiddie car" Vampire. The RAF standard "Mark I" helmet, sometimes referred to as the "Farnbrough Helmet", was introduced at around the same time (circa 1954-55). It consisted of an inner fabric helmet in grey-blue fabric similar to the old Type E's Airtex cloth. The fabric helmet contained the earphones and attached the oxygen mask/microphone. The Mark I fiberglass helmet was a separate "outer" hard shell with internal support webbing that was worn over the Type G, fastening with a chin strap. Early Mark I's initially came without the later plexi eye shield that attached to the helmet and were sometimes seen worn with the familiar Mk VIII goggles. The cloth Type G helmet was often seen worn by itself without the Mark I hard outer helmet, especially by crews in transports, bombers, maritime patrol and training aircraft. Type G's can alse be seen in period pictures and films from the 1950's to the 1970's being worn by groundcrew and test engineers who used them as communications helmets. The Type G continued in limited use with the RAF and RN into the 1970's in combination with later variations of the Mark I. The dark green Type G's were introduced around 1970 and were manufactured until the mid 1980's, though the blue-grey Type G's were still frequently seen. By googling any of these helmets and masks you can easily find color photos of this equipment online if you want to check appearance and colors.

GSI-Creos changed some of the hues in their Mr. Hobby Color Aqueous line a couple of years ago to more closely correspond with the analogous colors in the lacquer Mr. Color line. This was done at the same time that the Aqueous line was reformulated to improve drying time and hardness and reduce odor. So, yes, the H58 Interior Green no longer looks like interior green. I agree that it was a retrograde step, particularly since some of these colors were a better match for the prototype color in the Mr. Hobby line than in the Mr. Color line. At the same time, the Mr. Color line's been expanded. Many of the colors that were previously available in the boxed sets are now available as single bottles, such as C351 "Zinc Chromate Type 1/FS 34151", whic is a close match to the "old" H58 and a good match for the FS chip. They also offer C384 "Cockpit Color(Kawanishi)", which is a good variation on the familiar "interior green" hue. As others have suggested, you can just add black to the "new" H58, or you can mix black into to Tamiya's XF4 Yellow Green until you get an appropriate shade of Interior Green. Adding further tints of grey, flat aluminum, green or blue can yield other WW2-era variations on the specified color.

A "true acrylic"? What's that??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylic_paint "Otto Röhm invented acrylic resin, which was quickly transformed into acrylic paint. As early as 1934, the first usable acrylic resin dispersion was developed by German chemical company BASF, which was patented by Rohm and Haas. The synthetic paint was first used in the 1940s, combining some of the properties of oil and watercolor.Between 1946 and 1949, Leonard Bocour and Sam Golden invented a solution acrylic paint under the brand Magna paint. These were mineral spirit-based paints [My bold]." Golden today offers a similar product with it's MSA paint line (ie: mineral spirit acrylics) Short answer: yes, what you propose will work, as Johnners demonstrated. By the by, tamiya's acrlic line paints are miscible with GSI-Creos' Mr. Color lacquer paints, also, so you could use Mr. Color 30 Flat Base Standard in a pinch if lacking the Tamiya. Sincerely, A. Pedant

Her in the U.S. you can order them from Spraygunner.com in Florida. Their service is superb and they ship quickly.

Here's a couple you might try. I came up with these a few years ago in an attempt to match the PRU Blue chip in British Aviation Colours of World War Two. Both are made using Tamiya Acrylic colors. I apologize for the differing measurements, but these were composed on widely separated dates. PRU Blue - Mix #1: 30 drops XF 18 Medium Blue 20 drops XF 23 Light Blue 2 drops XF 5 Green 2 drops XF 8 Blue PRU Blue - Mix #2: 3cc's XF 18 Medium Blue 2 cc's XF 23 Light Blue 2 drops X 23 Clear Blue The second mix matches the chip more closely than the first. Being matched to the full-scale color, both could benefit from the addition of a couple of drops of white for painting a model. If I can figure out where to park a photo to link to, I'll upload an image of sample swatches of both alongside the chip in the RAF Museum book.

Vallejo Model Color can be difficult to airbrush. None of the thinners you listed will work as they're chemically incompatible with Vallejo. Take a look here for guidance: The Vallejo Air is very similar in chemistry to the Vallejo Color, but much thinner. In my experience, the Vallejo acrylics are not the best when it comes to adhesion and durability, and it's better to apply them over a primered surface rather than directly on the bare plastic. I recommend either a good lacquer-based primer like Tamiya or GSI Creos, or else a sandable water-based acrylic primer like Badger's Stynlrez or Ultimate's. The Vallejo primers will work, but I have not had good results when attempting to sand them or work out defects, either in the primer itself or the underlying surface. To airbrush Vallejo Color you'll need to thin it much more than the fluid Vallejo Air colors shown in the video, though the products and methods used will be the same. I have had acceptable results airbrushing Vallejo Color paints when thinned with a mixture of distilled water and/or Vallejo's own brand Airbrush Thinner with a few drops of Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver. Unlike enamels, lacquers and solvent-based acrylics like Tamiya and GSI Creos, tip dry is a more significant problem with water-miscible acrylics like Vallejo, so I recommend you keep a few cotton swabs or a soft brush on hand while spraying so you can stop and clean the spray head and needle of your airbrush as needed throughout the session with Vallejo Airbrush Thinner or water. I hope this helps. Good luck!

Neil - Thank you for the excellent review. I have been using the Tamiya Acrylic Paint Retarder for several years now, and discovered the same things you did. Despite being one of my favorite paints for airbrushing, I had always found Tamiya Acrylic paint to be largely un-brushable over areas or more than a square centimeter or so. Applied with a regular paintbrush it dried too quickly, leaving heavy brush strokes in the finished surface. Worse, if you strayed from the "wet edge" and brushed over a section that you'd painted only moments before it would pull up the semi-dry paint, leaving small blobs in the finish. Similarly, it was near-impossible to brush apply more than one coat. Even if you had let prior applications set for a day or more, the new layer of paint would soften the earlier ones and pull them up, again leaving a rough and textured finish. The addition of just a tiny amount of the Tamiya retarder changes all this. Rather than using the retarder straight, I've had good results mixing the retarder with a small quantity of distilled water, and dampening my paintbrush with this before adding some paint to the mix on a palette. I find the paint flows on much better this way, and in thinner coats. The drying time is a bit longer, yes, but the beauty is that I find I can now brush-apply more than one coat of Tamiya Acrylic and not pull up the prior layers. The addition of the retarder greatly increased the utility of the Tamiya Acrylics in my paintbox. I also find the Tamiya retarder is compatible with similarly-formulated paints, including GSI-Creos Mr. Hobby Color and Acrysion acrylics, and the new AK Interactive Real Colors line. It's a shame that Tamiya hasn't marketed the retarder more aggressively. Like you, I had to buy my first bottles from Japan and Hong Kong. It was introduced in Canada not much later (I would pick it up on vacation in the Maritimes), but it's only been the last year or so that it's become available through their US distribution network.

Tamiya's suggested mixes in their kit instructions are not always the best. There's a number of modelers who've come up with alternative mixes that are much closer. For RAF Dark Earth, I use Marty Sanford's suggested mix: 4 parts XF52 + 2 pt XF3 + 1 pt XF51 + 1 pt XF2. The green in the XF51 Khaki Drab kills the overly reddish hue of the Tamiya XF52 Dark Earth. Mr. Sanford has also shared a good recipe for Azure Blue using Tamiya acrylics: 20 parts XF-2 + 3 pt XF-8 + 3 pt X-16 + 1 pt XF-18. Both of these mixes closely match the chips in the illustrious RAF Museum book on wartime colors and camouflage. You can find a lot with a good internet search. Mike Starmer has also posted a lot of good mixes using Tamiya acrylics.

The Krome with a 0.2mm nozzle & needle combination should spray somewhat narrower patterns than the Patriot with a 0.3, but this may be most evident with wider spray patterns rather than thin lines. The Krome also has a much smaller nozzle part then the Patriot, which may make it more difficult when cleaning and reassembling it. You might want to check out the reviews of both on Don Wheeler's Airbrushtips web site to weigh the differences. I'm an "Iwata guy" myself, but I started with a Badger a/b decades ago (still have it!) and I have seen and experimented with their newer models and they make a good product (though I agree with Paul about the awkward color cups on my old 200, which were also a pain to clean, too).

Paul's recommendation of the H&S Ultra is a good one. I don't know about the pricing in the UK, but you might also check out the Sparmax SP-20X, which also has a 0.2mm nozzle. Sparmax does a lot of subcontracted work for other manufacturers (cough *Iwata* cough) so their products are of very good quality, and the pricing is probably similar to the H&S. I'd be interested, though, to know what parameters you're using when trying to spray fine lines with your Neo (ie: pressure, paint, thinning ratio, distance from subject). I've had a Neo CN since they came out. I originally bought it because it was inexpensive and I was curious, but it's quickly become my "go-to" airbrush for general purpose painting and even when I'm too lazy to drag out my HP-B or -C+. With some acrylics - Tamiya and GSI - and solvent-based paints I've found that I can get some pretty fine, repeatable, consistent lines with it. Using lower pressures (approx .5 bar), and removing the needle cap, I can work down to below 1mm, so it is capable of spraying very "small" if you need it to.

If - and that's a big "if" - this airbrush is as close a knockoff of a Badger as it looks, the thread size for the inlet fitting is metric, M5 0.5mm. Rather than turn an adapter yourself, you should be able to find a "Badger AB to Iwata [or similar] hose" adapter for about 5 pounds or less. Heck, if you know someone who's recently bought a compressor, they may have one to give you, as some compressor kits come with sets of adapters for Badger, Paasche and Aztek airbrushes (Iwata and Sparmax, just to name two). Good luck.

Whoopeee! A Meteor arrived today! Six days from the UK to Denver, Colorado - that's really good. And best of all, the U.S. Postal Service managed to avoid crushing it. @Soverignhobbies - maybe they read your post; mine came in a more appropriately sized box. http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Halicat98/media/Airfix%20Meteor_zpsv3udzel5.jpg.html [/url]

Phil - That's really excellent work. I especially like the mixes you've come up with for RLM 74/75/76. One suggestion you might try with the mottle: if you're using the Tamiya acrylics, try thinning them with 96% isopropanol or ethanol and lower the input pressure on your airbrush to 1 bar or so (about 12-14psi). I've found with Tamiya acrylics that you can get in very close to the model's surface this way and get better control of the mottle effect. The alcohol thinner also drys more rapidly than the Tamiya X20 thinner, which helps avoid "pooling" of the paint. I've been working on the same kit, but have just been building it straight from the box. I'm impressed by the improvements you've made to yours. You're a heck of a lot more efficient then me; I've been working at this one since October, and only just finished painting the camouflage! http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Halicat98/media/Swiss%20109_zpspwiif8rl.jpg.html[/url]

The short answer is "yes" to both. I've decanted Tamiya's acrylic lacquer aerosols into empty bottles, and found them still very usable even after three years or more of storage. I usually decant them into empty Tamiya or GSI-Creos bottles that I've cleaned out, or into Tamiya's spare bottles. The poly seal in the lids of these bottles slows the evaporation of the solvents in the paint much more effectively than the coated card seal in other types of bottles. I use the Tamiya or GSI bottles for all my mixed and decanted paints - enamels, lacquers, acrylics, whatever - and long-term storage isn't a problem. The chemistry of the acrylic lacquers in the Tamiya aerosol cans is very similar to that of GSI-Creos' Mr. Color acrylic lacquers. I've had no trouble thinning the decanted Tamiya paints with GSI's Leveling Thinner, Mr. Color Thinner, or with Tamiya's Lacquer Thinner. With the decanted aerosol paints, after I degas them I find they're just a wee bit too "thick" for my liking, so I usually add a few drops of Leveling Thinner before airbrushing them. They spray beautifully and cure quickly to a very smooth, hard finish. You can certainly cut the Tamiya spray lacquers with a dash of Mr. Color, and probably even with some Tamiya bottle acrylic (the lacquers and acrylics are surprisingly compatible with one another). A more straightforward option might be to use Tamiya's TS17 Gloss Aluminum. I've seen several models that were painted with TS17 to replicate the aluminum lacquer seen on postwar RAF machines with great success. It's pretty close straight from the can. I have an Airfix Meteor on the way, and am enjoying following your build. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.