Dr Jimbo

Masking complete. Got bored of using tape so changed to maskol half way through. Will see if I can tell the difference when I take it off. Maskol messy but faster and less tedious. Tended to flow into the panel lines so needed to scrape it out with a steady hand and blade. Now for the dark earth.... James

Welcome to the forum. Looking good so far. This is next on the bench for me, so I’ll watch with great interest to see how it goes together. James.

I guess so. I totally accept that the back gets chipped more than the front, it just doesn’t sit right in my brain! Making slow progress over the weekend. Started on the camo, went with the darker green first. Mixed the paints as instructed by Tamiya, did a few texture coats and then realised that the green tone was much darker than the colour pic in the instructions. I like the tones of the picture and wanted to get a bit closer, so with colour visioned kids as a guide, added some sky and desert yellow. Got close enough, although seeing the final dried paint colour, could have added some more yellow to give it a bit more of a brown hint. As a result, I ended up adding more coats than I was planning to and lost some of the texturing. I’ll do some oil work and other stuff later and add them back in. Masking is a mare. Wanted a slightly feathered edge to the demarcation between colours, so used white tac sausages. I heard somewhere that white tac leaves less residue than bluetac. Soon found out that is complete balls. Masked both wings before I found out that it left a dark oily residue behind. Cleaned it as best I could with dry cotton bud, but ended up having to respray most of the edges again, losing more texturing. Anyhoo, changed my mind and decided to go for hard edges and mask with frog tape. It’s slow going. Will hopefully finish tomorrow and start on the dark earth on Tuesday. Keep calm and carry on, James.

Thanks Troy. The shed is what it is, there is so much cardboard and wood in there that I can’t get to the gaps without clearing it all out and would be a crazy fire hazard if I used a heater. One day maybe. I’ve been working on the smaller parts to add later. wheel covers. Layer of sky, layer of darker blend sprayed on through texture stencil, scratched with cocktail stick at edges only to give and almost dry brushed hint of chipping, then klear coat, then burnt umber/lamp black wash, then cleaned up with dry cue tip. Same for the wheels. They look a bit shiny, this will tone down when matte coat is applied later. There also a couple of scratches that I need to touch up too. The backs look a bit messy round the hub edges, but I was amazed how hard it is to paint cleanly, even with masks. More later, have to walk the dog. James.

Thanks Troy, points well made. As I said, I got a bit carried away and over enthusiastic, trying out the technique for the first time, not really thinking about the context of the plane I’m trying to build. For me, this build is about testing techniques I’ve not used before, seeing how easy or hard they are, and not really about building a historically accurate replica. I can hear you gasp in horror! Having said that, I do want a final result that vaguely resembles a plane of its era and I will probably dial back the chipping on the prop and spinner at some point later. It’s interesting that the prop chipping was more on the back than the front, although I can’t really think why that might be the case. As for the shed advice, I’ve thought about it all already. I keep the airbrush, paints and thinners all inside the house and take them out when I need them. My shed is an old asbestos thing with a corrugated roof with massive gaps between the roof and walls causing a constant draft. It has no power apart from an extension cable that I run from the house when I need it, which runs several lights, the compressor and fume extractor. I think a heater would blow the circuit! James.

I’m loving this build. I’m amazed how quickly you are getting through it. It would take me 3 months to get this far. I’ve also been watching will Patterson on YouTube and he obviously has a thing for MRP. How did you get on with it? James.

It’s been too cold to spend much time out in the shed, so haven’t got much done since my last post. Have been staring at small parts, tinkering, painting wheels by hand, realising I don’t have steady enough hands paint wheels by hand, striping wheels, making a mess, learning what removes Tamiya cement from kitchen work surface before my wife came home, making hub masks, realising making hub masks is really hard (cutting a perfect circle is nearly impossible) then painting the prop and spinner. I primed the parts, sprayed Alclad duraluminium, then hairspray, then did the yellow tips, masked them, then sprayed on satin black. The black went on OK, but there were a couple of areas where it didn’t behave itself, I assume something to do with the hairspray. Maybe I put too much hairspray on. It’s hard to tell when it’s a clear coat going onto a satin aluminium base. I wasn’t sure whether to start again or crack on, but the odd areas looked a bit like very fine paint chipping, so I’ve just left them. By the time I’ve put on a wash, matte coat, some oil effects, no one will notice. Then I did some chipping. First time with the hairspray. Bashed away at the leading edges with a wet stiff brush, got nowhere after 10 mins, then moved onto a cocktail stick which worked straight away. Need to learn a bit more control, got a bit carried away, but again, after the washes etc, I think it will look good. I’m aiming for quite a weathered plane after all. just remembered I forgot to do any chipping on the back of the blades, will have to look at that tomorrow. After that, spray the wheels, mark out the upper camo pattern in pencil and wait for the temperature to go above freezing before venturing out to the shed again. Please comment, I’m trying to learn from you all. Thanks, James.

I think so. It’s been 8 years since he died and the kit has sat in my attic since then, so I’m not sure. I’ll get it out when I’ve finished this and have a look. I need to remind myself what I’m working up to anyway.

I’m with you on the choice of aluminium for the seat. I’m really excited to see how this comes out. It’s seriously impressive work so far. James.

MIG stencils arrived this morning. Small and flimsy, but I was excited about using them. Be careful taking the film off the top the PE, I managed to damage one doing just that. I had to try the stencils out, so used a darker mix of sky/cockpit green and had a go. I only used them in a few areas, using the less is more approach. It was a bit tricky holding them firm in one hand and using the airbrush in the other, but after a bit of trial and error managed a few patches with good effect. This evening I did a pure sky blending layer with really thinned paint 2:1, to remove some of the contrast and fill in some areas with little paint coverage. Sorry for so many pics, but this is for my reference as well as your interest! I’m really pleased with the outcome, especially the maskol and stencil effects, which you can just about make out. I need to learn and want to improve, so please say if you think more (or less) should be done. Last thing was to put some decanted Mr Surfacer 500 on those pesky cracks on the top fuselage. Tomorrow I’ll sand and paint the fuselage (for the third time), mask the underside and think about how I’m going to do the camo. I think I’ll mark it out faintly in pencil, then freehand the first colour. Not sure if you are supposed to do the dark earth or dark green first. Might not even matter, but please advise if there is a obvious answer. Then I’ll mask with thin whitetac sausages and frog tape. Hoping to get a sharpish line between the colours, but not masking tape sharp. Must remember the hairspray layer first. Thats all for today. Stay safe, James.

Chris, I have spent (far too many) hours reading threads and watching YouTube videos of all sorts of modelling techniques. With a full time job and kids at home, modelling time is limited so it takes me ages to actually get to a stage where I can try them myself. When I do reach the stage where I can put them to the test, I get nervous that it’s not going to work, but excited to be a step closer to being an awesome modeller. In a reflective mood, having a cup of tea in a quiet house with no one else up, my inspiration for modelling is my uncle. He was a pilot, in later life a wine taster, and an amazing model maker. He had a shed in the garden. Inside he painted the ceiling sky blue with clouds and hung his models up there. His prize models were lined up on a shelf. They were all WW2 era, beautifully brush painted and weathered. I vividly remember as a kid, being totally awestruck by that shed and all his creations! When he passed away a few years ago, he left me a part built Lancaster in some ridiculous scale, part metal, part wood, with detailing to knock your socks off. It has a wing span of about 3 feet and I have absolutely no idea how, when or where I’m going to build it, let alone where to put it when it’s done. It has 6 ring binders of instructions! Anyway, I’m slowly building up to the Lanc, but need as many skills under my belt as possible before I even try (as well as a much bigger shed to build it in and a new house to put it in). Jeez, not sure where that all came from... James

This looks very interesting. I’m in. Your instrument panel looks awesome. It looks really clean, shows a lot of skill and a steady hand with the hairy stick, something I have yet to master. James

Today’s update. Apart from some anxiety about colourblind colour choices, this is my favourite part of the build. First I used a piece of coarse sponge dipped in masking fluid to speckle the underside in various random patterns. I mixed more sky with JA grey this time, enough of a tonal difference to contrast yesterdays marbling layer. I then randomly sprayed it over the underside, making sure I covered all the maskol patches with varying amounts of the paint. I let it dry for 15mins then rubbed off the maskol. I thought it might be a bit tricky, but it came away cleanly with just a gentle finger rub. I’m pretty chuffed with the result. It looks super obvious now, but when blended, should be nice and subtle. Tomorrow I’ll do the blending layer, probably just plain sky. I might do more texturing after that, not sure yet. I’ll see how it looks tomorrow. I don’t want to overdo it, but it’s fun! James

Started the experiment tonight. I saw somewhere that when using different shades to texture a surface, start with darker and phenomenal build up with progressively darker shades. I started with sky and some cockpit green, mixed 3:1 ish, and did a kinda random pattern all over the underside. Still had some airbrush issues, with some pooling and spidering. It might be because everything is so cold in the shed, or just down to my rusty technique, or maybe both. It doesn’t really matter as this is the first of several layers and I’m sure will be well hidden in the end. When it’s dry I’ll give it a gentle sand just to make sure the surface is flat. The whole purpose of the process is to create random patterns and subtle visual variations so a bit of spidering is not a problem. I’m just annoyed I’ve forgotten how to control my airbrush! I’m waiting for my Mig texture stencils to arrive, so I’ll start painting the other bits over the weekend, the exhausts, prop etc, before I get onto the next coat of sky. James

So annoying when that happens. You can handle the model as carefully as you want, and suddenly a crack appears out of nowhere... James