Supermarine's best? [Now with added Seafire 47... & Seafang!]

[Bedders]

That looks really lovely Crisp. Watching that Sky go on reminds me of the fun I had making my 47 in the baby scale a coupe of years back. I've been thinking about doing a 46 to partner it, and your project is pushing me in that direction. When doing the research for the 47 I read in Morgan & Shacklady that the 46 was actually faster. I think they put it down to the extended curburettor intake which was less aerodynamically efficient than the original type on the 46. 

 

Looking forward to seeing this appproach the finish-line.

 

Justin

[Brandy]

I too had never heard of the Firecrest. Probably because a Sea Fury with a T6 wing can't possibly work...can it?

 

Ian

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

13 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

There is a nagging doubt at the back of my mind that the yellow on the decal sheet may be a tad translucent. Something you may wish to plan ahead for.

 

Martian

Thanks, Martian - I have seen other similar warnings, so I plan to replace the major ones; I have plenty of spare roundels of the right type & size, and have acquired

masks for the yellow CH / 104 & black under-wing LA461 marks. That just leaves stencils, and I should be able to live with any of those that are less than wonderful.  Given their age, the Airfix transfers look pretty reasonable.

 

Masks off now, and they seem to have done their job nicely.  You will detect that I plan to do a bit of weathering at the wing roots and on the edge of a few key panels (based on the evidence of the "aircrew team photo" shot at Culham already posted).

 

...and here is the very aircraft I am modelling.

 

Mine won't have a drop tank or rocket rail fittings.

 

Crisp

 

[Hamden]

 

 

Coming together nicely not far to go now!

 

  Roger

[giemme]

All looking very good, Crisp.Impeccable masking/painting job

 

Ciao

[HOUSTON]

IMMACULATE work.

 

Oh SO NEAT. 

 

KOOL !

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

20 hours ago, limeypilot said:

I too had never heard of the Firecrest. Probably because a Sea Fury with a T6 wing can't possibly work...can it?

 

Ian

That is a real insult to the Sea Fury!  The Firecrest was a classic example of the adage about not throwing good money after bad - it was an attempt to get something out of the years wasted in trying to get the Firebrand to work properly by changing the wing to a laminar flow version.  It didn’t work.  Too big, too heavy, a terrible view over the nose when deck landing (better than the Firebrand, but still awful), too ponderous.

 

The Firecrest was well over a ton heavier than the Sea Fury, had broadly the same engine and was a tad slower.  OK, I lied: a lot slower.  20%, in fact.  80 kts is a big margin in air combat - and remember that had this gone into service it might have ended up in combat against MiG 15s & 17s...

 

I guess it superficially resembles a Sea Fury because of the Centaurus nose, but whereas Hawker’s aircraft was a thoroughbred, Blackburn’s was a nag.  The fact that it lost out to the Wyvern - itself a deeply flawed aircraft - probably tells you everything.  There was even a proposal to turn the Firecrest into a turbopprop, but that never happened.

 

For all that, I have a strange affection for both Firebrand and Firecrest.  Two wheezing donkeys left well behind in an era of incredbly rapid development.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Tomoshenko]

Looking very nice, and found your insight into Vallejo paint  interesting and informative. I too have found that the model air types still clog a tad so I've opted to thinning them with their thinners. I tried using water, and although it works fine, the resulting bubbly froth resembled the 70s Cresta (It's Frothy Man) soft drink. Stirred but not shaken...mmm...interesting take on a well known secret agent's strapline, whom I believe also has a naval background...

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

1 hour ago, Tomoshenko said:

Looking very nice, and found your insight into Vallejo paint  interesting and informative. I too have found that the model air types still clog a tad so I've opted to thinning them with their thinners. I tried using water, and although it works fine, the resulting bubbly froth resembled the 70s Cresta (It's Frothy Man) soft drink. Stirred but not shaken...mmm...interesting take on a well known secret agent's strapline, whom I believe also has a naval background...

The real test is about to come; I can no longer put off sticking madking tape on top of Vallejo Sky.  If I can peel it off after spraying EDSG without any paint lifting, I’ll really feel as thiugh I’m onto something.  Until then, it’s still on probation!

[GordonM]

With regards to bubbles in paint, it makes sense not to shake it. I work for the ambulance service, we have certain drugs which come as a powder In a syringe which needs mixing with a vial of water. If you shake the vial after injecting the water you get large quantities of bubbles. The bubbles take a very long time to disapate, if bubbles are injected it's not good! We therefore mix by a circular swinging motion, thus minimising bubbles, clearly similar would work with paint.

[perdu]

I fear for you with acrylics Crisp and am crossing everything I have mobile enough to cross

 

And awaiting a reveal with trepidation

 

[abat]

3 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

The real test is about to come; I can no longer put off sticking madking tape on top of Vallejo Sky.  If I can peel it off after spraying EDSG without any paint lifting, I’ll really feel as thiugh I’m onto something.  Until then, it’s still on probation!

And I hope so too. An issue I’ve had with Gunze acrylic semigloss sky is not paint lifting but the tamiya tape leaving marks when you peel it off. I assume it’s due to either the paint taking an extraordinary amount of time to cure (more than days), leaving the tape on too long or not mixing it enough in the first place. Your Vallejo looks brilliant and I trust it will behave itself in your more capable hands. 

 

Im also interested in your weathering techniques. Have you brush-painted some silver on the high wear areas? Will this be a salt weathering or such like process or is it just pre-shading? Time and patience will reveal the answer. 

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Nothing much to see here, you might think:

 

...until you turn her over, that is:

 

I think we can say that the masking point of no return has been passed.

 

The metallic surrounds to certain panels (Vallejo Metal Color Duraluminium, to be precise - and whatever I may or may not think about Model Air, I LOVE Vallejo's metallic paints) are not pre-shading, @abat; I am not a great fan of pre-shading, to be honest - I just don't think it looks right.  It will effectively be hairspray technique, yes - though using AK Worn Effects fluid, which is basically the same thing.  That will be sprayed tomorrow morning, and then once dry I'll bang on the base coat of EDSG.

 

Oh, one other thing coming close to being done:

 

The yellow-tipped blades (anti-clockwise in this picture) are done and glued in place - though still to be weathered - but the others are just dry-fitted so droop a tad.  You get the gist, though.

 

More tomorrow

 

Crisp

 

Edited October 1, 2017 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[perdu]

Everything crossed

 

 

 

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2017 by perdu

[Procopius]

2 hours ago, abat said:

And I hope so too. An issue I’ve had with Gunze acrylic semigloss sky is not paint lifting but the tamiya tape leaving marks when you peel it off. I assume it’s due to either the paint taking an extraordinary amount of time to cure (more than days)

Correct. Gunze has serious problems with Tamiya tape.

[abat]

41 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

@abat; I am not a great fan of pre-shading, to be honest - I just don't think it looks right.  It will effectively be hairspray technique, yes - though using AK Worn Effects fluid, which is basically the same thing.  That will be sprayed tomorrow morning, and then once dry I'll bang on the base coat of EDSG.

Thanks Crisp, generally not a fan of it either but then this weathering business has me totally stumped. I’ll watch your hair spraying with great interest. 

 

15 minutes ago, Procopius said:

Correct. Gunze has serious problems with Tamiya tape.

Aha! Does different tape behave better? Or just use alternative brands (such as the one being road-tested by Crisp) if it’s going to be masked! Apologies to Crisp for moving a little off topic. 

[hendie]

Glad to hear that your droop is only temporary Crisp. 

I use acrylics all the time and I've never had problems with paint lifting <- I hope that wasn't famous last words.

I'm with you on the pre-shading.  Artistically it looks nice but realistically it's just not there, with the exception of a few, very few cases that I have seen.   Good luck with the reveal

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

1 hour ago, abat said:

Does different tape behave better? Or just use alternative brands (such as the one being road-tested by Crisp) if it’s going to be masked! Apologies to Crisp for moving a little off topic. 

Almost all my tape is Tamiya - the white stuff is their ?vinyl? flexible stuff.  I’ll be honest; when this came out I was really excited about the idea, but I just couldn’t get on with it.  This being a mojo-restoring build, I’m re-trying several things - Vallejo paint, Tamiya fiex tape - that aren’t on my usual go-to tool set.  Having tried it again, I’m especially optimistic about the tape; this time I seem to have got the hang of applying it better - the Sky mask edges were mostly whote Tamiya.  [Famous last words; now watch lots of hideous bleeds as I spray dark colours!]. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained

[Richard E]

On 30/09/2017 at 4:27 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

 

...and here is the very aircraft I am modelling.

 

Definitely a case of "if it looks right, it is right."

 

A very restorative build and it certainly looks like you're recharging your mojo Crisp.

[Procopius]

3 hours ago, abat said:

Aha! Does different tape behave better? Or just use alternative brands (such as the one being road-tested by Crisp) if it’s going to be masked! Apologies to Crisp for moving a little off topic. 

You just have to wait it out, as far as I can tell.

 

2 hours ago, hendie said:

I use acrylics all the time and I've never had problems with paint lifting <- I hope that wasn't famous last words.

Well, Vallejo is different. It has a weaker grip than Harold Macmillan.

[CJP]

Mojo build - masking tape - fingers crossed - good result!

[giemme]

Neat masking job there, Crisp    

My  about it: when masking over acrylics, especially Lifecolor (which are vinyl based just like Vallejo's) I spray first a light Future coat on the base coat. This way, I avoid paint lifts, tape markings and even blue tack markings (happens to me when I use brand new stuff rather than used one).

 

Ciao

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

55 minutes ago, giemme said:

Neat masking job there, Crisp    

My  about it: when masking over acrylics, especially Lifecolor (which are vinyl based just like Vallejo's) I spray first a light Future coat on the base coat. This way, I avoid paint lifts, tape markings and even blue tack markings (happens to me when I use brand new stuff rather than used one).

 

Ciao

Thanks, Giorgio.  A bit late for this session, but fingers crossed!

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

EDGS base coat sprayed - as should be obvious from the pic, still wet when taken, so hot off the press!

 

Second variation coat still to be painted, and then we'll find out about this masking tape!

 

Edit:  Since I am recording my experiences with unfamiliar materials, this time I added about 10% of Vallejo’s own brand thinners, and it sprayed even better with no apparent reduction in coverage.  And it is undeniable that it doesn’t stink (though personally I don’t find that Tamiya acrylics, one of my two normal paints of choice, are bad in that regard; with the other, Gunze lacquer,you pay for rock-hard cured surface with the need for ventilation!).

 

Crisp

Edited October 2, 2017 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[keefr22]

Nice!

 

Keith