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

[BadKarma75]

very nice paintwork there Christer, I use the Vallejo range myself and get on really well with them all apart from yellow in any brand lol. looking forward to the big finish

[Mark4700]

This is turning into a very educational build. Fine modelling skills and excellently explained. Loving it.

[F4u]

Well done with the paint, great work and skill.

Guy

[Christer A]

Thanks guys!

I'm very glad that your liking it, and the ride so far!

I can't really see the end yet, but I can see where the end begins so to speak

[Joss]

Excellent build, the squiggles preshading is cool I might have to try it on my next build!

Joss

[Christer A]

Thanks Joss!

I've finally started to paint the fuselage now.

Here's a teaser while the paint dries

[Christer A]

Finally the major painting seems to be done. What a relief.

It didn't turn out that bad either.














The keen eyed notices that I haven't removed all masking yet, the reason being that I have some painting to to in those areas. The fuselage band is to be covered in something that looks likes its done in the field, and the wing walkways still needs to be filled in and so on.

High time to order some masks too, since I plan to paint all markings.The prospect of painting them is a little scary, but what could possibly go wrong?

//Christer

Edited April 26, 2016 by Christer A

[rob85]

I am rather excited about seeing the paint go on, really does bring it together! Looks very nice, the finish is great with the squiggles underneath and the leading edge chipping looks like real chipping.

Rob

[RussellE]

Looking very good Christer!

[spitfire]

What an amazing epic build this is, I will have to keep this one for reference when I attempt to build mine, even the squiggles are neat.

Cheers

Dennis

[F4u]

Very nice Christer the paint looks good as does the chipping its starting to look like a nice Tiffie !

Guy

[Christer A]

Thank you for all your kind words! It really encourages me to finish the beast.

I haven't removed any maskol from the fuselage yet, so there's still a lot of chipping to bring forth.

Also, ordering some Miracle Masks for all roundels, fin flash and code letters now.

[bigbadbadge]

This is looking very nice, great work so far. I love the pre shading you have done too. Should look fab and very impressive when finished.

All the best
Chris

[Christer A]

Thanks Chris!

[rob85]

Thank you for all your kind words! It really encourages me to finish the beast.

I haven't removed any maskol from the fuselage yet, so there's still a lot of chipping to bring forth.

Also, ordering some Miracle Masks for all roundels, fin flash and code letters now.

Masking your own markings as well! Your putting your all into this one

Rob

[Christer A]

Masking your own markings as well! Your putting your all into this one

Rob

Well, as the saying goes

[Christer A]

Time for another update, but still no markings...Those are still a little scary.

I've focused on a few areas that needed a little different paintjob.

First of all, there is a colour profile in the Typhoon Supplement from Airfir Model World Magazine showing the Sharkmouth Tiffy in January -45 which is exactly what I'm looking for.

Here, they've just painted over the Sky tail band with fresh paint, and I did the same using a few drops of black into the normal colours.


Then I turned my attention to the wing walkways. I could use the decal, but the Aviaology sheet for this individual states that the walkways were very worn, so I thought I could have a go at painting them instead. Remember that I've painted everything aluminium first, and added lots of Maskol. Before I did the black lines I added some more, just to get the underlying cammo paints to show through. This is the result.




The effect work as I had hoped, even though it looks a little bit too regular and blobby right now.

Further weathering might help, I hope.

Then I redid the welloe leading edge ID-markings

Same principle here as for the walkways but here it looks a lot better I think. Compare to my old try some months back

Now its worn down to both Dark green / Sea grey and metal.

Unfortunately, I hadn't cleaned the right wing thoroughly from all vaseline, so when I removed the masking, some paint lifted with it.

Oh well, repaints are fun too I guess.

Soon time for a clearcoat I hope!

[Christer A]

It was high time to start painting all markings from Miracle Masks.

I've dreaded this, since I've NEVER used vinyl masks before

The instructions supplied with them were a great help though!

I decided to start small, with something easy, namely the reg. number MP197 (or whatever it's called)
It took a while to get the hang of it, but just one color sure simplified things a lot!

It worked!

No bleeding paint either!
After that I tackled the Fin flash too.

For the RAF colors I used Tamiya mixes that I found here on BM.

Blue 95% XF-8 Blue and 5% black (might be a bit more)
Dull red is 85% XF-7 Red and 15% XF-68 Nato Brown

To my eyes that looks ok.

The roundels on top of the wings took a long time to fit.

The open gun bay covers were not helpful at all to get the masks in their proper location.

Many hours later and I could start on the fuselage roundels and also the underwing ones.



Practice makes perfect and this time it didn't take that long time to fit the masks. Off course, smooth surfaces helps a lot!

After what felt like ages i could finally remove all tape and masks, and be rewarded with this:





Yep, I'm mighty pleased with result!

Whoever suggested that I should paint all markings, thank you!

And also a big thumbs up for Miracle Masks! Time-consuming but worth every minute in the end.

[Val]

Amazing work!! The sprayed on markings look amazing!

[Bodmin]

Looking brilliant. The detail inside the wings is really good.

[Christer A]

Thanks Val & Bodmin!

To spray these markings, it took me closer to 15 hours I think. When everything was removed there was a sizeable ball of masks and Tamiya tape...

Edited May 31, 2016 by Christer A

[F4u]

Great work those markings have come out good, well worth the time and effort.

Guy

Edited June 1, 2016 by F4u

[Christer A]

Thanks Guy!

For a quite long time I've had a sinking feeling regarding the SAC white metal legs. It seems that they started to bend more and more, and whenever I tried to bend them back I felt like I was pushing them over their (low) fatigue limit (technical term).

I actually started to contemplate to heat them up just a tad, so that I could normalize the worst areas. That action had probably led to disaster!

Finally, I resorted to securing them in place with lots of CA and also the interconnecting strut.

That fortunately did the trick!

Whew!

When the gear cover is attached to the outer part of the leg, it will become even stronger.

Then off course, it all needs to be weathered, but you noticed that already...

With the landing gear more or less in place, my attention then shifted to the wheels. Brassin ones from Eduard to be exact, but the pouring lug is awfully big. So big infact, that my razor saw couldn't cut through it.

The solution was found among the more brutal tools at my disposal. Hacksaw FTW!

That made a quick job of it!

After that, just paint and glue the together and we end up with this:
Now, how did I go about when weathering the old wheel?

Something to ponder on for a while.

One thing is for sure though. Mud is needed!

[F4u]

Those wheels look good but like you say need a bit of weathering.

Guy

[Christer A]

Thanks Guy. Will this do?

Mig Earth wash, Tamiya black washes in the hubs, some pigment and pigment fixer was used.

However, the wheels should be installed too...and one of them didn't cooperate. Bring out the Hobbit Trilogy then (it's good as support at least...)

And finally, with all landing gear and covers in place:




Until next update!

(which should contain decals, I hope)