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Yokosuka K5Y2 (Willow) IJN – 1/72 Valom


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The orange didn't behave properly, really... Any ideas why that happened? Is it the paint you used?

 

I like the wood effect on the propeller and the resin base looks good.

 

Glad to know the extra week will be useful!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

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On 1/6/2018 at 10:27 PM, jrlx said:

The orange didn't behave properly, really... Any ideas why that happened? Is it the paint you used?

 

I like the wood effect on the propeller and the resin base looks good.

 

Glad to know the extra week will be useful!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

Hi Jaime,


Thanks for that. The extra week will make it possible to finish!

 

I'm not sure what happened with the paint. The Vallejo primer was fine. The topcoat was Lifecolor gloss orange, thinned with Lifecolor thinner and sprayed through an Iwata Eclipse at ~20psi. I'm sure it was user error (maybe not enough time after the primer). Anyway, I waited for it to cure, then sanded lightly and repainted. It came out better than the first attempt (but not great). I don't have photos yet – will hopefully post another update tomorrow.

 

Regards,

David

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Some progress has been made, and thankfully I'm in the home stretch. The orange paint has been redone, and other features picked out by brush. Still a few pieces to be attached:

 

IMG_0142

 

Decals have been applied, but still need some MicroSol treatment. I've used the hinomaru from the Valom kit, the tail markings from the Arii kit, and painted decal sheet cut to order for the red stripes on the floats.

 

IMG_0143

 

I'm unsure of what oil washes to apply over the orange (although I think these planes had a red-brown undercoat, so that may help with the weathering). Also, I don't know what unit the markings are for, as the Arii kit only has Japanese for that section. I may try and post an image if anyone can read Japanese.

 

Some work on the base has involved filling in the holes with white glue for the floats to sit at the right depth. Pieces of plastic have been included to help fill in the void rather than waiting for ever for the white glue to dry. I'm also trying some PVA+paint washes on the surface to tone down the BLUE.

 

IMG_0139

 

Getting there. Thanks for looking.

 

Regards,

David

 

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Great progress, Mike! The orange painting turned out very well, just like the rigging, which looks very well done!

 

I like the base, as well. May be you don't need to tone down the blue: when I went to NZ I noticed the Pacific had a very dark and deep blue tone :D

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

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OK, this ought to be the last progress post. I've finished the Willow, including some weathering and oil washes:

 

MvBeI

 

IMG_4131

 

IMG_4120

 

Second figure glued on:

 

IMG_4160

 

The last touches done on the base, including adding the white glue for the Willow to sit in:

 

IMG_4156

 

Once the Willow is in, and the glue has had a little while to dry, I'll post some images in the gallery.

 

Thanks for looking.


Regards,

David

 

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Hi John and Jaime,

 

Thanks, you're too kind!

 

I did forget to post the following information. I mentioned earlier that I was using the tail markings from the Arii kit:

 

IMG_0144

 

I’ve managed to translate the text from the Arii instructions (photo –> online optical text recognition –> Google translate –> Wikipedia), and I've come up with:

 

Takuma Naval Air Group (Formed 1 June 1943),

Takuma, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan

 

Sounds plausible. However, I don’t know what the last (or is it first?) character from the Arii kit means. I had originally thought that it might have been a year, but I don't think so now:

 

Untitled2

 

Any takers?

 

Regards,

David

 

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1 hour ago, JOCKNEY said:

Congratulations David

 

The ORANGE ! came out really well, I will need to pick your brains about how you made the base, it looks the business 

 

:partytime:

 

cheers Pat

Hi Pat,

 

Thanks. Yes, it's pretty orange. I ended up using the Lifecolor gloss orange neat (running into time trouble).

 

As for the base, it ended up being a bit of a pain. I'll update this WIP to include more details on how I did the base (it'll be well after the gallery closes). Feel free to PM me too. By the way, Ray who just completed a QANTAS Cat had a really nice base, although I'm unsure of how he did it exactly:

 

 

Regards,

David

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6 hours ago, JWM said:

It turned our very nice! Congrats.:)  

I have two Willows in stash (Ari and AZ), but no Valom. One day I will do them...

Regards

J-W

Hi J-W,

 

Thanks for the kind words. I'm just relieved to have made the extended deadline.

 

I know AZ have a Willow, but I don't know how it compares to the Valom offering. I was going to do the Arii one for this GB, but the Valom one was on sale, so I got that as well. Do you have an idea which of the two is best (not that I'm looking for a third Willow kit right now...)?

 

Regards,

David

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Finally, the Willow and its base is done (and even the figures come with rigging!):

 

IMG_4161

 

I’ve also posted some images of the completed build in the gallery (and amazingly, wasn’t the last one to post).

 

The floats never fully recovered from my handy work, and were a bit wonky. This affected how they looked on the plane, and in turn, how the plane sat in the water. Tant pis. Despite problems with painting the Willow, and with getting the colour wrong on the water for the base, I’m reasonably happy (and relieved) at how it turned out. That said, I have a long way to go with my airbrushing, as well as painting figures.

 

There were also some things that the model needed (that weren’t supplied with the kit) that I would have liked to have done before the deadline, and that I may still get around to doing, including scratch-building:

 

·      The navigation and formation lights, especially the prominent ones above the wings and tail (I had started these and will eventually add them).

·      Pitot tube

·      Correct-shaped propeller (I may still do this).

·      The eight grab handles on the wingtips (too hard to deal with now).

·      Finer windshields out of clear plastic sheet and metal wire (maybe on the Arii Willow).

 

Thanks to those that encouraged and advised along the way. Also, a special thanks to @jrlx for hosting this GB, and for always being enthusiastic with all the builds.

 

Regards,

David

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Thanks for the kind words and for this last picture, which is very life-like! Again, congrats on an excellent work!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

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