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Steve 1602
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About Steve 1602
- Currently Viewing Topic: Seafire F45
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Annnnnnd........ after a satisfying Masking tape removal session, I’m left with this. I’m much happier! -
Except..... that those little patches kept bugging me and the more I looked at it, I wasn’t happy with the colour density of the dark earth against the middle stone. Nothing else for it and I re-masked the aircraft last night (yawn) and put down additional layers of dark earth. Obviously this meant I’d lost some of the contrast, so I put down some highlights (dark earth mixed with white) to get to this and then I brought all of that together with some dark earth lightly misted over the fading. I’m much happier how that looks. I’ll leave it for an hour or so and then remove the masking - all being well I can then switch to the gloss coat.
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Yes indeed - and what’s surprising is that it looks azure blue over so much of it. I’m assuming it’s been heavily abraded by sand and grit from prop wash. They look interesting- I don’t have any of that actually. I have a Tamiya weathering powder set, some Humbrol graphite powder for exhausts and then i also use Flory wash, MIG wash or oils and I have a couple of artists grey pencils. It’s all a bit ad hoc really!
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- George Beurling
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Nice work Charlie. The pilot looks excellent and that head angle makes it look far mor realistic than the normal ‘eyes front, hands on lap’ figures. Steve
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That’s always the way isn’t it! Thanks for the pics by the way
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Thanks Bill - actually I’m using the top photo as one of my reference pictures along with this one from the IWM. The second photo isn’t one I’d seen before and again illustrates that some of these machines looked quite ‘lived-in’! Overall I’m going for a faded, scuffed and worn look. I think I’m going to go straight to gloss and see what it looks like then. The patches that I saw this morning in the photo are not as readily apparent when looking at the model, so I can always touch up later. It’s trying to get the balance right that’s the challenge..... but then that’s the fun isn’t it?
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- George Beurling
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One of the Polish Fighting Team Spitfires perhaps Bill? I’m fully onboard with the same type different version/ schemes thing. They all look very good lined up - plus it does have the benefit of researching areas that are perhaps away from core interests - For example reading into various theatres of operations.
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Some daylight pics to check things over. I think it looks suitably ‘used’ without being abandoned, but would welcome thoughts. The leading edge of the starboard wing could do with another pass, as could the port cannon cover and aileron trailing edge, but overall it looks ok and should darken up a little under the gloss coat. I have a couple of areas on the starboard wing where white is showing from a misted white coat at camo boundaries. Fortunately most of it will be covered by insignia and I’ll try to lightly sand back the rest. A couple of tweaks and gloss coat and decals over the weekend I reckon.
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- George Beurling
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Thanks Bill, I took your advice and went with the dark earth. Quite a productive evening and I managed to mask up the camo pattern (again using paper templates cut from Tamiya instructions). Although I find this quite time consuming I like the end result. once the masks were on, I put some more white down to pre-fade some of the horizontal surfaces. I then applied several light coats of dark earth and was able to remove the masking. I’ll look at it in daylight and decide if I need to do some touch ups or if I can go straight to gloss.
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- George Beurling
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Looking really good Bill! The picture with all three Spits does capture some of the variety in Spitfire camouflage - there’s certainly no chance of running out of schemes! I’m looking forwards to seeing that shark mouth go on.
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Daylight comparison photos - I’m much happier with the colour in daylight than I was last night when I thought it might be a little too brown. I think I’ll probably move on to the dark earth. There are a couple of areas where I could improve colour density, but I think I’ll now wait until both camo colours are on and then I can target detailed areas as required. The stray hair and the talc dust has already been brushed off! These pics are always useful!
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Some more progress this evening. A bit of time spent masking the lower surfaces and reducing my masking tape stockpile! Then it was on with the middle stone.I applied several light coats and then toned down (or left) the pre-shading and marbling. I stopped at the point that I thought ‘one more coat’ - I’ll look at it tomorrow and decide if I need to apply any more middle stone or if I can get on with masking the camo pattern and laying down the dark earth.
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- George Beurling
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Thanks Bill - yes it’s got quite a nice colour to it I think. It certainly looks close enough to some of the period colour photos I’ve been looking at - well close enough for me! There are always the Mk Vs with an aboukir filter (available as aftermarket resin) or desert Mk VIIIs or IXs of course.....
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Here’s a photo in daylight of the underside (or what passes for daylight on a gloomy July morning in Southern England). I’m happy with that - there are two areas which need a small amount of colour - the inboard side of the radiator housing and one edge of the Vokes filter - but overall it’s the effect I was going for. Masking this evening and hopefully the first top color camo. I’ve also realised that there are no fuselage bands, yellow leading edges or invasion stripes to worry about! Happy days!!!
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- George Beurling
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I’ll certainly try to get some daylight pics - if nothing else it will help me pick up any bits that I need to redo! I think you are right about the group factor to improvement - particularly in a single type group - it’s the “that looks good, I’ll try it” factor. I’m re-scribing things and putting in rivet detail - not things I’d ever done before (well, not successfully!) If you fancy an Eduard IX in desert colours, I’ve got decals for a couple of Colin Gray’s aircraft that you’d be welcome to have - no big chins there!
