Beer Barrel Run - Spitfire LFIX 1/72

[Leonl]

Coming along nicely.... up to your usual race pace....

[CedB]

Thanks Leon  

 

Primer exposed the fact that I hadn't sorted the seams. They're only little so my 'go to' filler for little gaps is Vallejo:

 

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

I'll sand that, touch up the primer and then I'll need to leave it for a while before masking.

[keefr22]

Oooh, a MkIX nightfighter - lovely!!

 

Keith

[Biggles87]

It does look good in black.

 

John

[Spookytooth]

Ooooops Ced, the trusty filler to the rescue.

As above, she looks sexy in black...

 

 

Looking good mate.

 

Simon.

[CedB]

Thanks Keith, John and Simon  

If you're attracted to black Spitfires, Simon (Beard) is doing one over here.

Is BM a bit slow again or is it just me?

 

So I've become a bit obsessed with D-day stripes. Jaime (@jrlx) did a great reference post on it here. Sadly the photos have been hit by the PB ransom but the main bit of interest is that the stripes are 18" which equates to 6.35mm at 1/72. Now you know I went on about the Washi tape? It has another benefit - it's 7mm rather than Tamiya 6mm which means I can do this:

 

 

That makes me very happy. Sad man that I am. I only have a short rule so I cut the first strip which allowed me to do the top:

 

 

The inner and outer strips are, of course, then end of the stripes so the width doesn't matter. (Seam? What? Nah, it's just the light  )

 

On with the first coat of white:

 

 

I'm brush painting with this 'cos I like it rough (fnarr fnarr!)

[Spookytooth]

8 minutes ago, CedB said:

I'm brush painting with this 'cos I like it rough (fnarr fnarr!)

Steady there Ced, this is Britmodeler you know, some some other site LOL.

 

Simon.

[Beard]

Interesting approach to the Invasion stripes, Ced, I had a mega-build of Overlord RAF planes planned but was put off by the stripes (plus I've run out of white primer and can't be bothered with going to Halfords to buy some more). I'd planned to spray the primer, mask the white then paint the black, mask that, then do the camouflage. Actually, thinking about it, I'm not sure if your way is easier.

[Brandy]

Looking good Ced. I see no seams......

 

I would probably have used white primer though, then masked and painted the black stripes. Black over white is SOOO much easier!

 

Ian

[CedB]

Thanks Simon (Spooky) - I'm trying to tone down the Dbl-Es and you've prompted me to try harder; it shall be done!

Thanks Simon (Beard) and Ian  My theory is:

 

 

Gawd, that goes on a bit doesn't it?

 

MY theory (ahem ahem) is that black primer will allow me to do some black basing. That is it. Hit the nail on the head.

[perdu]

Do you treat Vallejo putty like PPP Ced?

 

You ought to

 

I know the temptation is to not put much on so it doesn't mess up the primer but I find it dries quite rubbery and so it needs wet, fine sanding to get rid of the joins

 

The demarcation of the white stripes is odd too, but I know you've got it nigh on perfect

 

Seems all aeroplanes look good in black, I've just done a 1/144 scale Black Cat

 

Same applies

 

 

[The Spadgent]

"How much more black? And the answer is none, none more black".....Nigel Tufnel.

 

Johnny

Edited August 19, 2017 by The Spadgent

[Leonl]

Ooo looks good in black!

[Procopius]

6 hours ago, Beard said:

Interesting approach to the Invasion stripes, Ced, I had a mega-build of Overlord RAF planes planned but was put off by the stripes (plus I've run out of white primer and can't be bothered with going to Halfords to buy some more). I'd planned to spray the primer, mask the white then paint the black, mask that, then do the camouflage. Actually, thinking about it, I'm not sure if your way is easier.

I b'lieve I've mentioned before there's a brand of tape exactly the proper width: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AJVNY08/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[keefr22]

33 minutes ago, Procopius said:

I b'lieve I've mentioned before there's a brand of tape exactly the proper width: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AJVNY08/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

£43.05 UK delivery....

 

Do they bring it over in a Learjet...?! 

 

Keith

[Procopius]

It can be had for substantially less over here, of course. Always happy to mail it along for someone.

[CedB]

Thanks Bill Indeed I do treat Vallejo like PPP using the approved perdu 'wet sanding method'! Works a treat. I checked the stripe location and they're fine; it'll look better when the tape is off (hopefully).

Thanks Johnny  

Thanks Leon  If you're keen on a black Spitfire Simon is WiPing one here. 

Thanks PC.  How did you get on with the tape? I did have it on my shopping list but I've lost it... very kind of you to offer to ship it  

Keith I'll have a search and see if I can find it locally to save the Learjet!  

 

 

BM seems to be a bit faster at the moment so I'll post (slow) progress.

Prop tips have been blobbed with two coats of the Liquidex pen and masks removed:

 

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

That's recovered my confidence in using it and I'll use it on the LE stripes later.

 

Three coats (or was it four) brushed white on the top stripes:

 

 

Good enough for me. I had said I was going to spray the bottom and then I started masking and realised spraying wasn't going to work with all lumps and bumps so I started brushing:

 

 

Eduard would have the racks grey so they'll be done later.

Tape search here we come...

[CedB]

Well, that's an hour I won't get back...

PC first posted about the tape here and used it for a Sky band (oh no, BM slow again) and revealed his stripes later - nice!

I've searched and searched and I think the problem may be that 3M don't sell their 'inch' range in Europe. Searching for 6.35mm didn't yield results either.

In for a penny cent, in for a pound Euro I kept going and found one supplier here. Tape's cheap enough (£4 odd) but they only ship by courier... ho hum. Although it says the tape is 6mm I haven't found this range elsewhere so I've assumed this is 'approximate' and ordered a roll - the temptation to order more to justify the postage would have left me with 120' of tape and I don't expect to live long enough to use it!

I'll let you know when it arrives.

[keefr22]

Tamiya do 6mm tape Ced.....  I have to admit that having never been able to judge distance that well I always  use it for invasion stripes as I can't see the .35mm difference...!! 

 

Talking of stripes, I like the results of your brushwork - as they were mostly brushed on in real life I think they probably look better done like that than sprayed. And nice prop tips too, the pen looks to have worked really well!

 

Keith

[TheBaron]

Why on earth are stripes are such a fascinating feature to behold getting painted? There seems no explaining it short of hypno-regression.

 

I hope the tape works out.

 

You've probably mentioned this many times before Ced but may I ask about the gubbins extending the nose? It looks a handy device at the painting stage but I cant quite work out what is going on.

 

 

[CedB]

Thanks Keith I have a LOAD of the Tamiya 6mm tape, but thanks for the pointer. 0.35mm might not seem like a lot but, unless you widen the gap a bit, you end up with an overall set of stripes that's 1.75mm too narrow which messes up the placement of the decals, especially on the fuselage. I know your eye is pretty good and you CAN, if you start with the white, position the masking so it looks OK.

Thanks Tony  The gubbins (no, not gibbons as auto-correct seems to think) is part of the Sphere Products 'Small Model Aircraft Painting Stand', £15 well spent. It's great for holding models like this as long as you don't want the prop to spin - you need to drill a hole to get it in, but then it grips really well. There's even a pin vice with it. Bet you come away from that site with more than the stand though - they do some tempting stuff!

 

 

More stripes. The hard ones as they need to bend around the fuselage. Someone on BM suggested a great technique - position a strip of 'overlong' tape for one side leaving the top and bottom loose:

 

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

... then do the same on the other side and bring the top and bottoms together and pinch them to the surface. The bottom is still tricky but I tend to put up with crinkles and touch up later* There's also an extra bit of tape across the front stripe. Not too bad, just tricky.

 

I decided to spray these and looked for my Model Air Off White. Couldn't find it. Then I found two bottles of 'Aged White' and remembered I prefer that (not so bright) so I used that and ran over the wings while I had it in the airbrush:

 

 

I also brush painted some MSG on the racks as they'll be under the mask later:

 

 

 

That lot needs to dry before I can mask it and get on with the main colours.

 

* Note that I'm reducing my double-entendres as some members have commented. Any that you may see in the ext are in your own heads!

[giemme]

I'm loving this "Ced gets stripey" sort of adventure ...

 

Ciao

[Biggles87]

Me too, and a fantastic tip on the fuselage striping,.

 

John 

[CedB]

Thanks Giorgio and John

BM is... soooo... slow... I'm not catching up with my notifications but persevering with the posts so I don't have a big backlog (and forget what happened!).

 

I realised I'd have to mask the edges of the stripes and, rather than just do that, I decided to take a peek:

 

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

Can you see where I didn't pinch enough? I obviously missed burnishing into some of the panel lines too. To be honest I think I thinned the paint too much and had to do more passes than I would have like. I didn't used to thin Model Air. Lesson learned.

Final bit of messing about was to mask up and paint the remaining bit of the Sky band and paint the spinner using a little pot of H90:

 

 

Hard to see the difference, but it's also hard to see on the scheme!

 

Proper masking and main colours (Lifecolor) next using the black-basing technique (he said confidently). Wish me luck!

[Martian]

A bit of touching up (snurf, snurf) and those stripes will be fine.

 

Martian