That large Sharkmouthed Typhoon from Airfix (update 2016-08-22, Gun bay repainted, Build complet, RFI next!)

[Christer A]

With the seams properly tackled, time to face some other challenges.

Behind the headrest there's a rail for the sliding canopy.
It looks a little sorry in plastic, but this is what Airfix provides.

I, on the other hand, have bought the Eduards cockpit set, if you remember, and there are quite a few parts that still haven't been used. Time to remedy that! This long piece is supposed to be the rail:

How to fold that with no dedicated tools? Well, I used an old kitchen-knife and a saw to to this

Fine enough for me.
Chop away some plastic then.

With a few extra pieces it ends up like this:

I wonder what will happen with some paint on?

But that, and the cockpit will have to wait until after Christmas!

//Christer

[Christer A]

Right, even though I'm knee deep in Spitfire this one isn't forgotten!

I've been slowly tinkering away on some bits and pieces.
Propeller blades is a interesting story, filled with fin flash and the odd ill fitting part.
http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z461/Christer_A/Modeller/Big%20Tiffie/P1040159_zpsjbtkfggx.jpg/img]
The fill part in the root is there to avoid large sinkmarks due to too thick plastic.
That idea didn't work fully since it needs filling and sanding anyway

After lots of sanding and priming, and sanding and priming i finally got on ok result.
Splash some paint on it, and make sure to paint all details on the nice hub..

Nothing can bee seen afterwards, but it was fun to do atleast!

How big is a Tiffie airscrew in 1/24?
This big:

Almost big enough for a RC model!

Any usable tips for weathering the blades?

[Biggles87]

That's a nice smooth finish on the prop blades, if you have n't under coated it in aluminium the only other thing I would suggest is a,Charima Colour pencil or something similar rubbed at irregular intervals along the leading edges at the very end of the build.

John

[Christer A]

Thanks John.

No, I didn't think to undercoat it with aluminium. D'oh!

Ok, a colour pencil or similar is the way to go then. Along with some suitable reference photos of worn blades

[Christer A]

Why let a search for reference picture deter me from experimenting?

A friend of mine demonstrated superbly how to use vaseline as a chipping method.

The rather large bland Tiffie-propeller of mine seems like a god candidate...

Lets get chipping then!

I started with some Vallejo Metal colour, Semi Matt Aluminium (why cant they have a catchy acronym like VMC-12 or something?)

I cut up some pieces of sponge from an aires set (it was close by) and started to apply it on the leading edge of the blades and here and there on the spinner.

Then, blast some black on it and see what happens:

Let it dry for a bit (this is the hard part! No touching until the paint is safe to handle) and the wipe it off with some cloth or tissue paper.


Hey! The method works fine!

Looking at the actual result I'd say the front part of the blades are good, the rear not so and the spinner could do with better placed chips.

But hey, it was a fun experiment!

[Grey Beema]

Great modelling though - I'd love to be able to emulate it..

I have this model in my stash. I was even looking it over yesterday. TBH it scares the cr4p out of me. So I put it away for another day...

[Christer A]

Thanks Grey!

It still scares me, especially the thought of painting it!

However, it's a kit that rewards patience, thought and pauses (and actually following the instructions!), which is good for a slow builder like me

[Christer A]

Time for another update, this time with some product placement, and general good guy alert.
Lets start by finishing of the cockpit then.
We need the cockpit sides finished

Note the extra plastic shim on one of the sides. They wont close properly otherwise...

They're to be painted black, and then I'll add the last remaining stencils from my Airscale set.
If I just could remember wherever I put it!
After a thorough search through the entire modelling den, I admitted defeat and started to contemplate other options.
Do without?
Just rely on the Eduard etch?

No, I Figured I'll contact Airscale directly to see if they had some spares that I could buy.
Well, Peter of Airscale is not just a master builder of fantastic Tigercats, he's also a very nice chap!
He actually sent me this

Two sets of misaligned prints, that he cannot sell to any discerning customers. That wont bother me for my four small stencils!
Then we can finish up both sides. (Radio missing in these pictures, but not forgotten!)


Gunsight was a little boring looking when just following the instructions

Fortunately, I've learned that if you brushpaint some oil paint on it and then wipe it off, it could look a little more like actual leather.

That turned out better than I´d guessed.

Ok then, time to add the last 3 etched levers on the throttle. Sounds like a job for Gator Grip white glue.


Some brown wash finished of the belts

Installed the gunsight as well (and some foil in the bottom to simulate the lamp)

Eduard also has some supports for a separate reflector glass, but I'm not sure that there actually was a separate glass on Tiffies.
On the other hand, that would mean that they displayed everything on the front glass...

Oh well. Lets join the other side then

And with that, almost everything disappears!
Oh well, I still have all the pictures of the cockpit...

[Christer A]

Right then. Time for another little paint test. This time black basing versus squiggly brown.

Since I have a spare tail on (standard issue in this kit) i did some dark brown squiggly bits like this

Painting the normal ocean grey on top of that gives this

And with black base

Perhaps a better shot in natural light?

Black based again.


I think I covered the squiggly bits a little bit too much, but the black basing is too stark.

Any opinions on that?

[Christer A]

I wasn't satisfied with the brown squiggles so I redid them, with some added blue

Like this

Thin layers for the love of....something!


Not as thin layer as I wanted, but the effect is much better this time.

[(ex)Sgtrafman]

I quite like the sqiggly effect, very subtle.

Iain

[Christer A]

Thanks Iain! Yeah, the brown/blue squiggles are the way forward, but I wonder how to do the green then?

Brown and red?

Red and Yellow?

It seems that I need to experiment even more

[Christer A]

But the experiments can wait!

I started with some aluminium on the exposed edges. Vaseline applied randomly with a sponge.

And then the entire tail was spaghettied. Why just the tail and not the whole lot?

'Cause it's a lot of Tiffie!

First layer on the underside.

Very thin layers to build up the pain properly.

Second layer to finish it of.

Yes! It turned out exactly as I wanted it.

Now, I'll let the paint harden, and then it's time for Ocean grey.

[Christer A]

I got the tip to use yellow for the green areas

Looks promising...

I wonder why the rudder got another shade of grey though? That's not the plan. No preshadeing at all on it either. My reasoning being that it wont weather in the same way as the rest of tha airframe, since it's fabric.

With all vaseline and masking removed, this is the result.


Looks good to the naked eye, but almost impossible to capture with a camera, at least with my poor photographic skills.

Right, it's time to tackle the rest of the painting then...

[Christer A]

Hello!

A small update could be in order, just to show that the Tiffie hasn't been forgotten since starting two Spitfires.

I've been painting the yellow ID strips on the leading edges.

It looks like the tip of the right wing was a little too much chipped, so I'll redo that.

What do you guys think?

[F4u]

Just had a read through the WIP and what a great job you are doing detail on the Tiffie looks great , the pre shading squiggles is not a method I have seen but looks quite effective.

Maybe a tad to much chipping on the wing but hey they did get well used and abused !

I have one of these in the que to be done so will be following with interest.

Guy

[Christer A]

Thanks Guy!

I've just learned that the yellow ID markings were painted after the cammo, so that means I have to do it in the correct order. Still the vaseline-chipping method works, so I'll do it the same way

Edited March 21, 2016 by Christer A

[Christer A]

Right. The rest of the family went away to the parents in law leaving me to take care of the house and rabbit. I will neglect them both off course and instead splash some paint on this.

And by splashing, I mean this!

More random acts of pre shading:

Time to let the airbrush do its job then!

After about 30 minutes I needed to take a brake from it and shake some blood back into my hand. Not used to these long painting sessions!

After all fumes had settled, and the clearcoat hardened somewhat, I took a few pictures out in the quite lovely Easter/spring weather.



The preshade effect is there, it's just very hard to see, and my photo skills aren't really up to the task.

Time for the gloss coat to harden a little before I tackle one of the wings. It's to hard to the entire topside in on go I think

[rob85]

Looking very nice Christer! Glad this keeps moving forward as your work on it is brilliant.

Like the effect of the squiggles, very effective and a very nice finish to your paint aswell

Rob

[Christer A]

Thanks for your kind words Rob!

[F4u]

Making some nice progress good skills with the paint work.

Guy

[Christer A]

Thanks Guy!

Left top wing has now been coated with Vallejo metal color. Hopefully I'll be able to start painting it tonight.

[BadKarma75]

looking fantastic, some great detail work on the cockpit. always loved the look of the typhoon and have this monster on my 'try to persuade the missus for xmas list'

[Christer A]

Thanks!

I've just finished up masking the wings, and I hope to spray dark green in a little while.

Photos to follow!

[Christer A]

Time to tackle the top wings then!
This time I sprayed the entire wing with Valejo Semi matt Aluminium. I like these colors!

Tried to add some maskol in areas of wear. Fingers crossed that it'll work!

To make things a little more interesting, there is still some Vaseline residue on the leading edge making things a little more tricky to handle.

Lets do the funky preshade again then.

Time to paint, and mask and paint and mask and....

Somehow I arrived at this uniform look:

Some thinne Tamiya RAF Dark green later:

Now comes the hard part. Wait enough time to let the paint harden before ripping off all masking like a kid unwrapping presents on christmas.

Fortunately, i managed to restrain myself....

Protective gloss coat next, and then some walkways and yellow ID markings!