trickyrich Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 Looking very good indeed, I think you're right with that recess style joint you're fairly safe going the way you have... Are you painting the roundel rather than decals? I'm starting to think that's the best way myself. No, the markings are the SEA type in the USN style, blue disk, small white centre with blue tabs each side. The aircraft has had painted out the normal European style roundels.Guess the FAA were worried about trigger happy allied forces take pot shots at any aircraft with a red disk/spot in the markings!!!! I agree, if the roundels were the normal type I probably would airbrush them from scratch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Ah it's painted out I see! I'm going to try painting them on the next something I build, fed up of non conforming translucent decals! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 That's looking great Rich. Good to see you making progress with it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Kelley Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Looking good, Rich. It really is a fantastic kit to build- I built one of the Italeri reboxings a few years back and it was a joy from start to finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Nice progress. Can't wait to see her with some decals on. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albyn Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 I am also building this same model at the moment and have found your reports very useful. I am a bit further behind but have just glued the fuselage halves together ready for priming. Haven't finally decided of the colour scheme but it will be FAA. I have modified the observers position as per your and others reports. Keep up the good work. Bob T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 thanks everyone, I am starting to enjoy the build again, for a while it we a bit tough going to keep the momentium going. I am also building this same model at the moment and have found your reports very useful. I am a bit further behind but have just glued the fuselage halves together ready for priming. Haven't finally decided of the colour scheme but it will be FAA. I have modified the observers position as per your and others reports. Keep up the good work. Bob T. You have a few choices, even a couple with invasion strips, but I just liked the colour schemes of the SEA versions. I'm glad you found somehing useful in the build so far, you'll have to post some photos when you're done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprue Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 Nice paint job, she's coming along. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozzy19 Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 Looking good Rich. I'd imagine its quite a big model given the size of the real deal. Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted August 30, 2013 Author Share Posted August 30, 2013 a quick update now the decaling is done......though there a quick update now the decaling is done......weren't many to do! The decals from Xtradecal were quite thick and I found they wouldn't conform very well to curved surfaces or panel details without quite a bit of help from decal setting solutions. But after a bit more effort than I expected they were sorted. Once they had set I carefully chipped around the panel lines they cover to match the rest of the models finish. Canopy is just sitting there for effects, most of the interior is hidden from view which is sort of a shame considering how much work has gone on in there. Again main gear and bomb bay doors are just sitting there for effect. Masking took forever on these but was worth it! I finally have started, well continued work on the engine..... Next up is a gloss coat and then the serious work begins. Looking good Rich. I'd imagine its quite a big model given the size of the real deal.Sean You're not wrong, I was quite surprised just how big it is!! Here’s a picture with the beast, Su-17M3, for a size comparison! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted September 1, 2013 Author Share Posted September 1, 2013 Well the weathering s almost complete, just some tiding up and a final top coat of matt clear. I have included a couple of pictures of the process, though forgot to take some in between ones. The whole process takes a couple of hours and includes the washes and streaking of different coloured enamels to give the effects I’m after. The most important step is the good solid acrylic gloss clear (or matt no real difference) coat. This is the barrier between the paint finish and the weathering process as I use neat enamel thinners to wash the various materials off during the process. Enamel clear coats are no good, thinner eats it right off and non-clear coated acrylic paint does the same thing. But you must be careful anyway during the process as it is possible to remove the acrylic clear coat if you rub I too much. I like to leave the about 5 minutes between applications to allow the thinner to dry off and the clear coat to recover. slip, slop, slap, just splash it on and let it dry for about 10 minutes. A little bit of elbow work, but not too much and about 2 hours later..... As mentioned earlier the decals were very thick so I had to re-cut them along the panel lines as they just didn't want to conform properly, even after heaps of setting/softening solution! Plus as the cotton buds start to get dirty I keep them as they can be used later in the process to help give that dirty streaking finish to panels. opps just seen a tiny bit of over spray........a bit more thinners on that area will sort that out. Plus that super fine 30 cal gun barrel........yeap I broke it off an lost it for about 5 minutes, will now stay off right to the very end. Will now start to fit more of the smaller bit once the clear coat is on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 Looking subtly filthy. Nice work Rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Looks cracking Rich, a lovely dirty bird! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 Well we are now getting very close to the end of this build! All major painting is finished and clear coats are done, in the end I had to use a rattle can for the matt coat, acrylic matt wasn’t available! Weathering is pretty much all done, so now good tidy up is required. The gun turret is giving me some grief, the gun unit just doesn’t want to fit into the main clear housing. Have done some surgery but may have to pull it apart and rebuild it. Formation and Nav lights done. Cowling and engine just held temporary in place with bluetac, pus cockpit just sitting there so I can see how the whole thing looks. Am very pleased with the general finish, almost exactly the look I was after. Bomb bay has to be finished, still a bit of work there plus the bombs themselves to be done. Families of dust bunnies have already moved in and are resisting eviction!!! Ooo those flaps are fragile!!!! The engine is almost done finally and doesn’t look too bad. Just a little bit of painting to complete, plus the prop needs to be weathered slightly. Probably a day’s work left till it’s done and dusted, which is lucky as of Monday I’ll be away for around 22 days out of every 28, with a new project in north west Australia. No fun for the wicked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted September 9, 2013 Author Share Posted September 9, 2013 Finally it's finished!!!! At last I can put this one aside, with the final few jobs finished to complete this build. I finally managed to get the gun turret sorted and after a bit of struggle managed to get it fitted. Having no real info, drawings, or photos of the recognition lights on the starboard wing I decided to on a bit of artistic license there, so I add three separate “lights”, red/amber/green in this position. The bombs had their PE bits attached and painted, plus I decided to add a little bit of “graffiti” to the bombs. Finally all the little bits and pieces were fitted before the beast was taken out for the photo. I have attached a few here and the main ones will be posted in the completed gallery. Thank you for all your kind words along the way, it has been an interesting build and apart from the final stages of the interior build-up, it was a relatively simple and fantastic build. Please enjoy the photos. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Cracking Job Rich, suitably beaten up looking well used war time airframe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted September 9, 2013 Share Posted September 9, 2013 Oohhhhhhh, That's a crackin job you did. I love it. Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprue Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Superb Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RNoAF Aerobatic Team Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 That is really outstanding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 Wow that looks amazing, fantastic work, congratulations. All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Gordon Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 That does look well Rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted September 15, 2013 Share Posted September 15, 2013 Outstanding work, Rich! Cheers, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 Well I have made quite a bit of progress, after getting bogged down with the interior, though forgot to take some photos in between. I have finished all the major paint work plus the initial weathering. I am not a fan of the perfect pristine looking aircraft and much rather the actual worn day to day finish of an actual aircraft. Looking over all the reference material I have, the Avengers were a pretty hardy aircraft that could take a lot of damage whilst still being able to fly, a tough old work horse! So this is what I am trying to aim for. So without actual photos of the actual aircraft a little bit of artistic license is required using what photos I have I’ll try to make it look as it might have looked mid 45. Being carrier bound all efforts would have been made to keep the aircraft serviceable with bits swapped around other unserviceable aircraft to keep the bulk of the squadron flying. Sitting on the deck and operational flying in the tropics would have played havoc with the paint finish as a lot of period photos show. So, with luck the finish will be that of an old work horse with all the scars of months at sea. I’ll be trying a few different methods plus a couple of new ones I’ve been reading about. Unfortunately I can’t try the “bead blasting” as I don’t have the time (with changes to work shifts) but haven’t given up the idea, so it will appear on a later build! Ok here are the initial weathering photos, paint chipping is almost done, decals and further chipping require before clear cost and the real work! Hi Rich Overall a very good build. But, and maybe of use for futre builds, worn, faded, scuffed, stained, yes. Badly paint paint chipped. No. The only FAA planes I can think of showing bare metal are some Seafires. Aluminium needs protecting at sea, and from what I have seen, by this stage in the war, US paint was very tough. Grumman [and presume Grumman supervised sub contractor Eastern] specialised in Naval aircraft, chipping and flaking paint is not good in that environment. An example, Eastern Fleet Hellcat. well worn and used. No paint chipping, even in high wear areas, except possibly the wing root walkway, and that might just be primer showing. BPF Avenger more Eastern fleet Avengers here - http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234946248-fleet-air-arm-colours/#entry1400403 Same thing can be noted on US carrier based planes, no bare metal. Maybe, just maybe, here, at the front of the wing root. Here's a pic of very worn F4U-4 WW2 era, note matt finish anti glare panel on the nose, and faded wing fabric on plane behind. pic from here. http://retroscalemodeling.lefora.com/2012/08/12/two-monogram-f4u-4-corsairs/ Also posted as the link says, pics of WW2 era F4U-4 are rare. I mention this as you are obviously interested in accuracy, sorry it's a bit late. The pics may be of use to yourself and other in the future though. Hope of interest, and not bad form to post this? T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 It's not paint chipping, but rather paint splatter from above that happened whilst painting an island radio mast silver. Cheers, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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