Jump to content

mark.au

Members
  • Posts

    2,694
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    11

Everything posted by mark.au

  1. A simultaneous overstatement of my results and understatement of yours…. But thank you. I’ve used cheap thin sellotape for landing lights in the past, cut to exact size and captured by a smear of white glue on the inside edge of the light. I don’t do it often because, well, it’s a pain, but it does look good if you’ve got some detail to show off behind it. Oh, and it’s so fragile that it’s the very last task.
  2. I missed that same intake on mine, too. Almost there, this is looking very good indeed.
  3. What an attractive scheme that is, beautifully rendered too.
  4. That looks gorgeous, James. Very nice work.
  5. Everyone has an off day now and again... Luckily, it wasn't too big a sort shot and I was able to make cuts on the frames. This is where I got to with the exhausts. I noticed in some higher resolution photos I found that the baffles themselves seemed to have an enamel-ish finish so I attempted to replicate that when I painted them. I mixed up some flat black with a drop of burnt iron metallic and some gloss and applied it good and wet to get a nice sheen. Then I bush painted the exhausts themselves with Burnt Sienna and a dry brush of Raw Sienna followed by a black goop wash to dull it down. Last was just a smidge of silver pencil on the shroud clasps. That process is more or less shown below. I also processed the wings; first was a wash to accent some of the accessories panels and show some of the rivets and other surface detail. I used a very dark brown goop for this. There's just a touch of chalk pastels as well, mostly on the uppers. There's a little clean up required on the port wing but otherwise I'll add the exhausts and the exhaust staining and the upper are done. I'll also add the fuel tanks and other minor bits and pieces and then the wings are done. Oh, and the nav lights need painting. Finally, I finished the base paint on the fuselage. After doing this I had an idea on how I might have tried it differently than how I mottled the wings. It occurred to me that had I base-coated the topside with RLM75 I could have modulated how I laid the RLM76 on top to achieve the mottled effect. I might still try it. That's it for this weekend, they go by so quickly, don't they...? Cheers.
  6. That mottle looks just fine. Some of the mottle applied on the real thing was extremely rough and ready, yours is very tidy by comparison.
  7. Would definitely recommend. What I didn’t describe is the state of the intake pieces, a really poor effort at design and worse in production. I can’t use the correct ones for this airframe because they have sink marks I’m not prepared to fix.
  8. Thank you for the kind words. It really is. Communications were quick and helpful and less than a week after dispatch the replacement parts arrived in Australia. Did you spot the one teensy weenie problem with them? These things happen, correct parts on their way now. Hopefully. But, because I’m impatient and actually running out of enthusiasm for this one, I decided to have a crack at a replacement of my own making. I carved off the short-shot pane and cut a pane from one of the extra parts. I slowly whittled the new pane to size and when I was happy with its fit I glued it in. Can you spot the replacement? It’s the fifth from left in the top pic. There’s just a little misalignment in the mask which I only saw when looking at these photos; it’s corrected now. Speaking of the masks, they weren’t properly cut so each one required cleanup to its edges once I pried it off the backing sheet. It’s almost as if everything to do with Eduard’s 1/48 Bf110 is just not their best work. Speaking of which… Next, I painted the upper wing roundels. Wing assembly is on page 7 of the instructions. Once I’d completed those steps I went on to paint. On page 10 I found a surprise (bottom row)… For some reason the intern who designed this one decided that this particular intake is added much later in the assembly than [to me] would seem logical. My bad, I should checked…. Oh, and note also that the decals have suffered in the removal of the clear decal film that these new-style Eduard decals have. It’s my first experience with them. As it happens I quite like the effect as it’s nicely weathered them, but I’m not a fan I can tell you that. Previously, someone mentioned the exhausts were garbage (my word, not his) and he wasn’t kidding. The resin replacements can’t be found in Aus so I’ve started into the kit parts. Here’s the rough assembly, needs a tad of cleanup wouldn’t you say? If you’ve stuck with me to end of this whinge, good on you, I could barely stand it myself. But, I’m confident I’m through most of the slog now and it’s soon on to the fun bits with the fuselage. Cheers.
  9. I've decided on my [first] subject; it's going to be a 506th FG, 458th FS flown by 2nd Lt. Robert Harvey on 1 June, 1945. 2nd Lt. Harvey was lost on the VLR mission that day which became known as "Black Friday." I can't find any photos of this one so I'm going to have to wing it a little. I do know it was a D-20, S/N 44-72553 carrying squadron number 564 and named "Lady Diane" Now, if I can just get that Eduard Bf 110 finished...
  10. Welcome! I like the idea of a bunch of railroad models, it would add so much variety. There are literally tens or hundreds of thousands (millions, even) of photos already in the public domain to choose from. I’m sure the collective wisdom can follow the rules already clearly established and well policed by our excellent moderators and we will somehow manage. The sky’s not falling just yet.
  11. I love these rabbit holes and explore them for my builds every chance I get. I can’t see a flaw in your reasoning.
  12. Great! Welcome aboard
  13. Oh yes, that would be a great looking model. Oh yes, that would be a great looking model.
  14. A bit late to this one but I'm very much looking forward to following along. This one is on my bucket list. So far so good, the cockpit looks very nice indeed 👍
  15. After not a lot progress through the week, I had a nice long bench session on Saturday and advanced the painting. I did manage to get the upper surface of the wings painted in the week, and now that was dry, and the underside well cured, I created the mask set and started the underside markings. First, I painted the covered Luftwaffe marking with MSG. Then, worked my way through the roundel colours going inside to out. The roundels themselves were a little interesting as they aren't standard for the end of the war. My suspicion is the roundels were painted in Europe when the aircraft was captured and unlike some of the other captured airframes I've modelled, they weren't brought up to spec prior to the exhibition. Regardless, it's clear from the photos that these roundels were simple equidistant red/white/blue circles. They came out just nicely, no paint lift or bleed to deal with (the photo looks like everything is a little yellowed for some reason, the white is actually white ). I positioned the roundels paying close attention to the photo evidence available. I had already spent a bit time cleaning up and enhancing - as much as I was able - the two photos I have of this aircraft. In studying them I was able to set the roundel position fairly accurately. I positioned the roundels using the aileron counterbalance as my reference. In this position the roundels were slightly inboard of where the standard position for the Luftwaffe markings are, hence the offset visible between the painted out markings and the roundel. Once the roundels were dry I turned my attention to the upper surface, and the camouflage. I mixed up a batch of RLM75 and applied a fairly rough mottle knowing that further treatments would clean it up. Th next step is to smooth everything out with a very thin overspray of the base colour, RLM76. This I did and then took stock; I wasn't too happy to be honest, something looked wrong. In looking at the original again, there's very little contrast between the colours applied, it's almost just a hint of the RLM75 rather than a true mottle. I took a black a white photo of mine and compared it to the original and there was a very marked difference. I mixed up another thin 76 and applied it over the mottle in several coats toning down the contrast progressively, all the while taking a photo and comparing to the original. After a few passes, I got to something I really liked, and to my eye matched the original in terms of the contrast and overall look. Now, I'm not claiming this is correct in terms of how it would have looked IRL, nor is this a proof, but I do think it translates very well against original photos of these airframes, or at least some of them. Now that I have my desired finish in place on this wing, I'll do the other one and then as much of the fuselage as I can while waiting for the replacement canopy. There's plenty I can do on the wings as well; the markings, the exhausts and even the weathering. Cheers.
  16. Thanks! Join in, you know you want to 😊 Buildings! Didn’t think of that but that’ll add some variety for sure. Excellent, lots of Corsair photos about… 😉 You’re ahead of me! I’ve got a few ideas for mine, too many though!
  17. looking good! I second everything James said 👍
  18. I sent Eduard a Support request Friday afternoon my time and received a response telling me they are sending me a replacement on Monday afternoon, also my time. Pretty good customer service so far, I'd say. You dad sounds like my dad, they should have a beer together... Funny you should say that, it's exactly what I got/get from following your progress on the Ventura. Thanks Alistair. Yes, I shouldn't have to but in my experience at least it doesn't happen often. There is... The first thing I did was insert the little support thingies in the various intakes on the wings. Whereas in the past I have fiddled around with trying to cut a piece of stretched sprue or wire to perfect length and then glue it in, I tried something a bit different this time. I drilled through the top of the intake and down into the wing and then inserted a piece of wire which I cut off flush with the plastic surface. I the just put a small drop of CA glue on the hole and sanded it smooth when dry. That worked well. With that done, I finished the weathering in the wheel wells and then added a simple pre-shade. And then finally through the doldrums, it was time to through some RLM78 at it. It's good to be painting again. The pre-shade is a little washed out in these photos but I think you get the gist. The lower side is done, when it's properly dry I'll turn the wings over and paint the uppers. Thanks for following, cheers. The usual disclaimer about lack of proof reading...
  19. Uh oh, I thought of a third option…. 😆 I realised I don’t have a green/grey P-51D in the collection…. Those 357th FG look fun…
×
×
  • Create New...