DannyB Posted August 22, 2014 Posted August 22, 2014 Hi guys, hope you don't mind me jumping in late on this one! With my current P-51D nicely chugging along I thought I would take a break with a quick OOB build. Here's a shot of the sprues. They're not too bad bit there is a bit of flash and the detailing is a real mixed bag! The detail under the airbrakes is really crisp and busy but then the wheels just look like soft blobs! You can tell this is definitely one of the earlier kits done by airfix under their current 'new direction'. To get a break from NMFs, silver paint and to be a bit different I'm planning on doing the 4th Stormo, Aviazone Militaire Italia, Grosseto, c.1958 markings OOB. Not a huge amount to show, only picked it up last night, but have been filling the ejector marks in the cockpit and getting that ready for paint but I will get some progress shots up as soon as they are of something interesting! I know nothing about this aircraft or the Italian air force so any pointers or advice will be very much gratefully received!
Giorgio N Posted August 22, 2014 Posted August 22, 2014 Nice choice ! If you need any information, just ask, I researched some aspects of these aircrafts some time ago as I plan on building the same subject. Really however, they were just the former RAF aircrafts refurbished, for this reason they originally had the same colour scheme. They were later stripped of paint and finished in natural metal Just don't use the bombs supplied, 4th Stormo (the equivalent of a Wing) was an air defence unit. 1
DannyB Posted August 22, 2014 Author Posted August 22, 2014 Ah cool, cheers Giorgio! I did wonder how come the colour scheme was over PRU blue! I've got copies of the squadron walk-around books, would the detail pictures/colours be relevant for the export machines as most are from USAF airframes?
Giorgio N Posted August 22, 2014 Posted August 22, 2014 These were Canadair built aircrafts, as such some of the details will differ depending on the version represented in the Squadron book. These were Canadair Sabre Mk.4, roughly equivalent to the F-86E but all modified with the 6-3 wing. Details may also differ regarding the colours. Some colours also changed during production (the cockpit went from black to grey for example, although all Mk.4s had black cockpits initially) In general these aircrafts retained the original black cockpits although some Italian Sabres later in their life seem to have had grey cockpits. For the scheme proposed by Airfix go with black. Gear legs, wheels and interior of the wheel well doors were in aluminum. The airbrake well was green with metal pipes but the brake interior was aluminum.. or green itself on some aircrafts Wheel wells: I believe they were green as well and this fits with the colour found on a number of RAF aircrafts. However some swear that the wells were aluminum... Speaking of green, I've seen US interior green mentioned but to me the green used on these aircrafts was darker
DannyB Posted August 22, 2014 Author Posted August 22, 2014 Cheers Giorgio, that's really helpful. If the cockpit was black would that also mean the ejector seat was the same? Also, on the ejector seat, was the back pad always there? In some reference pictures the base pad is visible along with the head rest in orange but where the kit shows a raised back pad it's bare with the odd scratch in the metal. On the green front the squadron walkaround books show all internal areas, air-brakes, gear bays, ammo bays etc. a shade very similar to chromate green, though the only colour pictures are illustrations so of course open to artistic interpretation.
Giorgio N Posted August 22, 2014 Posted August 22, 2014 Yes, seat would be black. There are many pictures around of grey Sabre seats but these date from the time when the F-86 moved to grey cockpits (late 1953 for new build aircrafts) IIRC the back pad was the parachute of the pilot, for this reason there should be no back pad in the seat if there's no pilot. A good 2-part walkaround of an Italian Sabre can be found here: http://www.ams.vr.it/PIER/AircWalkAround/Dal%20Molin/CL-13%20Sabre%20Mk.4%20%28F-86E%29/CL-13%20F-86E%20Sabre.htm This is a restored aircraft but I understand it's been restored quite accurately. Just disregard the wooden plank on the seat and the error in the text where it says that the aircrafts came from RCAF stock.. of course it should be RAF. This aircraft was originally XD723 and served with 92 Sqn. RAF. Interestingly, this aircraft in RAF service would have had silver undersides but all received PRU blue bellies when refurbished 1
DannyB Posted August 22, 2014 Author Posted August 22, 2014 Great link, cheers mate! Haha, so the first bit of ejection pin repair I did last night was in vain! The back of the seat has 2 dirty great ones top and bottom, no need to worry about them now as I'll just sand off the whole thing, woohoo.
DannyB Posted August 23, 2014 Author Posted August 23, 2014 Got a good couple of hours at the bench last night and managed to really make some headway with this. Sorry for the lack of during pictures! Here's the cockpit, I used tamiya nato black with heavy dry brushing of gw silver. It's not the most detailed 'pit in the world but it'll do for this one as I'm planning on leaving the canopy closed. The kit instrument decals do enough to give the cockpit some interest but some better raised details would of been nice! If I do choose to do another I would probably invest in a resin substitute! Everything fits together really nicely, the only area which has caused me trouble is the base of the wing root. Nothing too major but definitely some filler required! And, this is where I left it on the bench. Hope the rest of the build goes as well as it has so far. Any c&cs welcome. 2
Tim Moff Posted August 24, 2014 Posted August 24, 2014 great info, I was deliberating the cockpit colours as so many different answers...black interior and seat it is then!!
DannyB Posted August 28, 2014 Author Posted August 28, 2014 Things have been running along nicely with this one, everywhere that has needed filler has got it, canopy is all masked up and it's ready for paint. For the first time I've used foil, I normally use tamiya tape burnished down and trimmed, but the canopy frame edges are really delicate on this and I wasn't sure I'd actually be able to see them through the tamiya tape! I've used standard kitchen foil and microscale foil glue so we'll see how that comes off at the end. All the sub assemblies are ready for paint too, there is always something satisfying when you check back across the sprues and through the instructions and realise everything is done and ready to go, no more parts cleaning. 3
Giorgio N Posted August 28, 2014 Posted August 28, 2014 Actually the Airfix sabre canopy has the lower frames thinner than they should be, masking a bit less may be an easy solution to this. Model's looking good though ! I see what you mean with some more detail in the cockpit ! For my Sabre I've bought an eduard zoom set for £ 1.50 at a sale some time ago, however I've yet to check if it fits
DannyB Posted August 28, 2014 Author Posted August 28, 2014 Cheers guys. Anything to lift the cockpit would be a good idea, I've not found a 1/72 resin pit yet but it would really add to this kit. So far, for me, the biggest let downs are the cockpit and the rear wheels, someone really must of had a bad day when they were moulded!
Giorgio N Posted August 28, 2014 Posted August 28, 2014 Cheers guys. Anything to lift the cockpit would be a good idea, I've not found a 1/72 resin pit yet but it would really add to this kit. So far, for me, the biggest let downs are the cockpit and the rear wheels, someone really must of had a bad day when they were moulded! Danny, Pavla has a set specifically designed for the Airfx kit http://www.pavlamodels.cz/katalogy/detail.php?k=cockpits&c=C72099 They also have the canopy and the ejection seats sold as separate bits and the main wheels (that however are not brilliant IMHO)
DannyB Posted September 1, 2014 Author Posted September 1, 2014 Managed to get a decent amount of time at the table today, getting this one moved along nicely. All of the landing gear bits and pieces done first. I started off with a coat of matt black, then alclad semi-matt aluminium, GW nuln oil wash and finished with GW runefang steel heavily drybrushed on top of everything else. Unfortunately I didn't notice the ejection pin marks in the gear doors until it was too late, will have to remember to fill them next time! Next up was the gear bays themselves, again matt black base coat then vallejo pale green, a GW nuln oil wash and GW runefang drybrushed. Not perfect but at this scale I'm pretty happy with the result. Then on to the fun bit Painting the PRU blue on the underside. I started with a vallejo UK PRU blue base coat to get all of the over-spray from the wheel bays covered and to give a nice base coat for the pre-shading. I used vallejo dark sea grey and RLM 84 as my dark and light shading. I also included some shading on the gear bay doors and fuel tanks. Then it's another thinned coat of vallejo PRU just to bring everything together. Really pleased with the result, some nice variation in the colour, now just have to wait for it to dry! As always any c&c's welcome. 6
DannyB Posted September 1, 2014 Author Posted September 1, 2014 Cheers guys Not too much to show for my efforts tonight, I've painted the tyres and masked off the underside getting ready to start on the topside. First up though will be the black anti-glare and gun panels.
DannyB Posted September 6, 2014 Author Posted September 6, 2014 Two first for me today. First time using humbrol enamels for a bit of major painting and my first go at a free hand wrap around camo. I started off with a base coat of vallejo dark sea grey (I was going to go this way at first but it was playing up) which was then lighten with tamiya white. Just wiggles around the middle of the panels to break up the flat paint. Then, like I said I was going to use solely vallejo modelair but I just couldn't get the mix right and it kept clogging up the brush! So I had a dig around and remembered I had actually picked up the right humbrol colours when I bought the kit, so it was pull out the enamel thinner and take the plunge. After the first coat of grey. And, with the green down. I know it's not perfect and in a few areas the shapes aren't quite right but I'm pretty happy with it. A good hunt through some references showed that there wasn't a 'bare metal' panel up front as noted on the paint instructions, so I went with the references and didn't bother but I do have the black anti-glare panel to mask up and spray. As ever any c&c's are welcome! 3
Tim Moff Posted September 6, 2014 Posted September 6, 2014 looks great, can only hope my pre-shading has the same effect as that was what I was after!!
DannyB Posted September 6, 2014 Author Posted September 6, 2014 Cheers guys. Tim: There are some really good tips here http://doogsmodels.com/2014/07/03/technique-black-basing/ and in the 3-layer camo section. I normally struggle to keep the variation of pre-shading and end up losing it when I put over the top coat but, having worked with these bits next to me this time around I've kept it all together! One of the best tips I've found is; If you think about just doing another quick coat or touch-up, DON'T, put the airbrush down and step away! 1
DannyB Posted September 11, 2014 Author Posted September 11, 2014 Not a lot to show at the moment as I'm working through the extensive stencils supplied with this one but had a horrible moment last night when I realised I had applied them in the wrong order! I generally find stencils decals incredibly dull some they go down first before any insignia or flight markings just to keep things moving else there is a risk that if I do the exciting ones first I won't bother! But, with this one the national/flight markings have to go down first then stencils after, wish Airfix would warn you of this first! Also, heads up anyone looking to do this one, the red stripe that goes around the fuselage is numbered wrong on the instructions, it should be long piece across the top and short round the bottom.
Tim Moff Posted September 11, 2014 Posted September 11, 2014 similar situation to you...will x check which should go first, but I reckon the National will go on after your experience...thanks for the tips, will look at your method of pre-shading next time around...seemed great on my MSG and DSG.DCG Harriers, bit more difficult on the darker cam...
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