Dave100TR

Great as always Dick - will you bring it next week? Dave

Looks a treat to me!

Stunning model -magnificent finish! Really wants to make me do one! Dave

Really great Stu!

That is really lovely. I also admire the subtle photography - well done!

Beautiful! Second Mirage I've looked at within half an hour - you can never have too many!!

French AF colours have always been a pig to match but I think this looks pretty close! Probably should be in Grey/Green as others have commented but the air superiority finish is so cool! Dave

God! Is that colour for real?? Good job on the build & finish

Beautiful job!!

Finally found it! Yes, very good build & finish. I would have pointed out the bit about the aerial too but lots of people have already got there before me!! Dave

Beautiful build & finish!

Really pretty! Lovely aircraft and a great build - well done! Dave

Fantastic paint job & great build!

Really beautiful! Stunning finish...

Hi Jack, I've only just got around to looking at your build thread - even more impressive than the ready for inspection one - stunning work!! Dave

What I used in the Me109 was Humbrol thinners - basically White Spirit I believe - and ground up artists' pastels. I found that, if I washed an area in the thinners and let it evaporate, and then applied the ground pastel to the same area, the pastel would stick in that area and become fixed. So by experimenting, I could apply more or less of the pastel to get different levels of dirt. Because the white spirit fixed the pastel, I could apply more if I needed it dirtier and it didn't remove what was already there. Also, there didn't appear to be any unwelcome residue. It works best on a flat finish and certain colours of pastel were better than others - earth colours & black worked very well. Also, I found that I could apply a flat varnish afterwards and the effect lessened somewhat but was still there. It's a bit hit and miss but I did a whole series of 1/32 Me109s at one time and used the technique a lot. For me it was really good for representing dirty exhaust from the ME109's engines because the exhaust stubs are very low and I could get a nice effect over the wing roots (or I thought so at least!!). I've tried the same thing with MiG's pigments (mainly on armour) but they don't seem to behave exactly the same as the pastel chalks. What I'm interested in trying to reproduce is this sort of thing: This is a Spit VIII from 79 Sqdn, New Guinea in April 1945 (reproduced in the Osprey "Aircraft of the Aces" series) and I don't know how to get the dirty, partially washed off appearance of the exhaust stains that seems so common in Spits in the Far East during this period. It seems to me that your technique using the white chalk comes much closer to the effect than my efforts! Of course, with a black & white pic it's difficult to know exactly how this looked - probably a very faded green/grey would look right - but when I saw your Spit I thought that you were really getting pretty close to what I want to achieve! Dave

Hi Jack, Thanks for the reply. Don't know Doc O'brien brand but certainly have MiG's pigments and have used them extensively on armour models - not so much on aircraft though. I used to buy artists' pastels sticks a rub them down on sandpaper to get powder and use that but, as you say, they only really work on matt surfaces. Replicating exhaust stains is a real challenge I think and your technique certainly gets very close! I did find that I could get pretty effective dirty exhaust stains by washing the area in white spirit, letting it evaporate and then apply powdered pastels. Even though the white spirit had gone, the pastel seemed to stick to the area it had been applied to - this also acted as a fixative and I found I could seal it without losing the effect. This is how I got the dirt on this ME109 and I had sort of forgotten the technique: I have some pictures of Spits in the Far East that have extreme examples of the finish you've achieved that I've always wanted to emulate but haven't found a way to do it yet. These show a lot of staining that appears to have been partly washed off with rain I guess. I think that powders are probably the answer - must have a go! Dave

Excellent work! Really love the finish and your weathering - especially the undersides. I haven't yet had the courage to make one of my Spits that dirty but, having seen wartime pics, some of them were filthy! You mention the use of weathering powders (pastels/chalks?). I. too, used to use these but have not done so for a while. Did you use these after a final varnish (I assume you use a varnish??) or before? In the past I have found that using pastels gives great results but a varnish will often kill the effect. I would be very interested in your method! Dave

Generally can't stand these special schemes - a real waste of a decent aircraft. But I must say you have done a brilliant job!! Well done!!

Lovely build and really inspirational pics! Must try the B & W idea myself!

Nice! Great scheme...

Really lovely build! And what a kit! I finished one recently that I had started years ago, put aside and forgotten all about. Coming back to it I realised how good it was.

Absolutely beautiful!

What can I add to what's already been said? Amazing work! Most of us wouldn't have contemplated doing this once - let alone twice!! Well done!

All very impressive! Well done!