Sorry, They're Late

[Stew Dapple]

Those are both looking very nice Cookie  

 

Nice view from your parents' place too  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Jaffajake]

Gahh they're looking rather good!

[Cookenbacher]

Thank you kind sirs.

 

Got walkway lines and anti-glare patch masked on the Mk 24.

 

And then a varied coat of Alclad Semi-matt Aluminum.

 

Followed by some post shading with Vallejo Metal Color Semi-matt Aluminum and White Aluminum.

 

 

 

 

I usually don't do any varnishing with metallic finishes, but I think I'm going to risk it this time - I think a Satin finish would match the reference pics I've seen better than leaving it as is. Also, the Semi-matt Aluminum doesn't have the glossy smooth texture of a 'true' NMF, which led to decal problems on the Eduard LF.16 from the previous trio.

 

Six wheels and fifteen propeller blades masked up and painted.

 

Revealed.

 

The wheels will need some cleanup - they always do.

 

Closeup of the Mk 24's undercarriage doors. The doors on the right have been swiped from a Special Hobby boxing to match the later ones fitted to Mk 24's. I've also decded to go with silver on the wells and interior portions of the gear doors, as the reference pics I've seen seem to show silver. The Mk 24 I'm planning on building arrived in Hong Kong wearing a DFS camo scheme, but was painted silver somewhere along the way, and it stands to reason that the gear wells got a coat too.

 

 

[giemme]

Lovely metallic variations there, Cookie! I have a couple of NMF birds in my stash, your thread will surely be  a useful reference when the time comes

 

Ciao

[rob85]

That's some fine work cookie! Really like the varied finish, nice to see these whizzing along

 

Rob

[TheBaron]

More metals! Lovely modulation across those surfaces.

Tony

[CedB]

Very nice Cookie - I do love your metal finishes, they look great  

[Christer A]

Wheels and props...it's always easier to paint these things in bulk isn't it?

Nice finish too!

[Cookenbacher]

I went ahead and brushed a coat of Future on the Mk 24.

 

I don't think it ruined anything, and you never know whether a varnish coat will obliterate variations or accentuate them, in this case it brought more contrast. We'll have to see what a satin coat will do after decals.

 

Here's the Colourcoats Ocean grey on the Mk 22.

 

Masked and the Dark green on.

 

Unveiled. Once again, I didn't do any fading or variation on this one.

 

I went ahead and attempted to freehand the camouflage on the Mk 21. The Colourcoats act so nice that it gave me confidence that it may just work.

Here's the Ocean grey - post shaded by adding a few drops of Sky grey.

 

The Dark green added and post shaded with a few drops of Light Slate grey.

 

Sky band and undersides unmasked.

 

It was a bit nerve wracking, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

 

I think the plan is for the silver Mk 24 and 'clean' Mk 22 to get decals, while the Mk 21 will get painted roundels and codes, but we'll see.

[rob85]

That free hand has come out a treat cookie, you should be very happy with that! The other two are looking cracking as well. You sir are smashing it.

 

Rob

[Stew Dapple]

Top-quality freehand work there Cookie, nice work

 

The other pair look rather nice as well

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[CedB]

Very nice Cookie, they all look marvellous.

I can see by the lack of paint on the templates that your airbrushing, especially freehand, is probably a lot more precise than mine... another set of fine examples.

I know I've asked this before but what nozzle and pressure are you using from what sort of distance please? I'd really like to practice in the hope of getting closer to your finishes  

[giemme]

I agree with all the others, Cookie, you did an excellent freehand airbrushing job!     And it's in 1/72!!!  

 

The other two are also looking great, BTW, and I concur with you about the NMF one  

 

Ciao

Edited April 27, 2017 by giemme

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Those have turned out well Sir!

 

Ced I found thinning paints waaaaay thinner than milk was a turning point. That allowed paint to flow through a much smaller nozzle, which gives a very fine spray pattern. The paint comes wanging out far too fast still though so it allowed me to drop the pressure right down to 15psi or less. With the pressure down low, a small nozzle and very thin paint you can get in really close (nozzle around 3/4" from the model, less with practise) and spray with the needle valve cracked open slightly. You can just colour in as you go that way, and there's not enough energy in the spray to blast it everywhere so masking is not necessary for most things as overspray isn't an issue. The applied paint film is much thinner so even enamels are touch dry in seconds so you can build up many fine coats in a single sitting and not have to wait long to handle or start the next colour.

 

When I get round to that video I promised for Perdu on his Westland Wasp thread about spraying yellow, that's what I'm going to show. It's also how I sprayed white onto a black base on my Eduard Hellcat in a single sitting recently

[TheBaron]

That's been my experience also Jamie. Each build my paint just gets thinner and thinner now and the pressures lower. Looking forwards to that yellow tutorial. 

 

Cookie: hats off on that freehand work there. That looks most excellent.

Tony

[Biggles87]

9 hours ago, giemme said:

I agree with all the others, Cookie, you did an excellent freehand airbrushing job!     And it's in 1/72!!!  

 

 

 

Me too

 

John

[Cookenbacher]

Thanks everybody, what I didn't post was all the practice pieces I painted before the Spitfire. First, I painted camo and stripes on a bunch of old mixing cups I had lying around the airbrush station, and then graduated to a spare Academy P-51 fuselage. After that I felt ready to go.

 

Unsurprisingly, Jamie has explained it perfectly. I sprayed at 12-13 psi and outlined the edges of the camo first with the airbrush very close to the plastic and barely pulling back on the trigger, in order to get a nice controllable thin line. This is where the Colourcoats paint was key - any other paint I've tried to do this with would clog the nozzle after 3 or 4 seconds, but I can thin Colourcoats enough to do so without it breaking down. I live in very different environment from most of you (high desert) and you may be able to get these results with other paints. 

 

Then I filled in the camo with the airbrush a bit further back and starting from the middle of each camo 'splotch' and walked it to the outline. I then added a few drops of a lighter paint and post shaded in the same session. It will take a long time to dry completely, because I thinned with white spirit, but I think that is key to not having my airbrush clog.

[giemme]

Great airbrush tutorial, Cookie!

 

Ciao

[CedB]

Yes, thanks Cookie  

[Fritag]

Thanks too.  All airbrushing tutorials greatly appreciated.

 

Lovely stuff Cookie.

 

On 07/04/2017 at 2:08 AM, Cookenbacher said:

the most egregious.....

 

Egregious.  One of my favourite words.  Lovely word to use in court when expressing justifiable (ok - partisan and not all justifiable) outrage at how awful (ok - probably not that bad)  the conduct of the other side has been......

[Cookenbacher]

On 4/27/2017 at 11:43 AM, giemme said:

Great airbrush tutorial, Cookie!

 

On 4/27/2017 at 3:04 PM, CedB said:

Yes, thanks Cookie  

 

On 4/27/2017 at 3:48 PM, Fritag said:

Thanks too.  All airbrushing tutorials greatly appreciated.

I can't tell you how heartening it is to have three Britmodellers such as yourselves appreciate my efforts.

 

On 4/27/2017 at 3:48 PM, Fritag said:

Egregious.  One of my favourite words.  Lovely word to use in court when expressing justifiable (ok - partisan and not all justifiable) outrage at how awful (ok - probably not that bad)  the conduct of the other side has been......

HA! I try to use such strong terms only for the most important of matters, such as tiny 1/72 parts that are off by a mm or two.

[Cookenbacher]

Walkway stencils masked on the 21 and 22.

 

Got the yellow leading edge markings done on the 22 too.

 

Unfortunately, I over thinned the Tamiya yellow, and it found some panel lines to run through.

 

Clean up required.

 

Same for the Mk 21.

 

The decals are on the 24.

 

Even Stynylrez doesn't stick to metaliser very well and came up with the masking tape.

 

Anti-glare patch cleaned up and spinner test fitted - it's the SH backplate attached to the Airfix spinner.

 

The prop blades for the Mk 21.

 

I noticed a lot of reference pics where Griffon Spitfires had a metal strip along the prop leading edge that chipped heavily.

 

I'm a little disappointed to report that I don't have the proper stencils for the C type overwing roundels for the Mk 21, so I think I'm going decals all around for these three.

[giemme]

Nice progress, Cookie - despite of a few issues.  Decals on the 24 look spot on!

 

As for the yellow bands, have you ever considered a) brush painting some Future along the mask edges, to prevent leaking and b ) using a flat white or off-white undercoat prior to painting yellow? 

Ciao

[CedB]

Veerryyy nice Cookie, they look superb.

Bad luck with the run through and anti-glare patch but well saved on both.

Have you thought about making your own roundel masks? I'm lusting after one of the new circle cutters at the moment... and I see they're selling the ultra-fine sprue cutters and a nice visor. They don't seem to be available in the UK yet... rats.

[TheBaron]

Commiserayshuns on the outbreak of black scuff yellow lurgey  but yippee on them prop blades Cookie. That is one hell of a line of circles adjacent to the yellow strip on that wing underside btw- what on earth were they all for?

1 hour ago, CedB said:

Have you thought about making your own roundel masks?

Beware of this character Cookie - he got me doing my own roundels as well!  (...and I have to say I'm glad that he did!)

 

Super-marining from yourself as ever.

 

Tony

 

PS. Meant to say how envious I was of those New Mexico landscape shots you posted a while back. It reminded me of my favourite documentary 'It Came From Outer Space'...