A pair of Airfix Hawks in 1/72. Finished.

[Paulaero]

So, a makeup artist as well now eh Steve ...

 

Nice to see them both in colour

[Terry1954]

Impressive Scotland pics Steve. I had no idea Scotland was in colour... 🤭

 

And equally impressive Hawk nose lamps. That pencil method is rather neat, and executed with panache.

 

Enjoy London reunion!

 

Terry

 

 

 

 

 

[stevehnz]

Stunning, at long last we have transitioned to painted models, phew. They do look a bit wonderful, though I think your nose light rings need a much deeper groove around them, how else will you get the pin wash to take?  

Steve.

[giemme]

Beautiful Scotland scenery, Steve  

 

The pencil trick worked wonders   I might have to use it myself on my current build, on the Finemolds airbrakes, because the scribed lines on the brass surface didn't quite survive the painting process....  

 

Ciao

[perdu]

Hands rubbing Mr Burns time

 

"Excellent"

 

Really good Hawk update too, a bonus for we modellers as you know Steve.

 

London, I suppose as an Essex boy you has a stamp on your passport letting you in, enjoy that too.

[mark.au]

Perfectly satisfied on all fronts with this update.  Carry on.

[Brandy]

4 hours ago, perdu said:

I suppose as an Essex boy you has a stamp on your passport letting you in, enjoy that too.

No need Bill. They'll know he's Essex when he pronounces "water" with 2 w's, as in "wawter".

 

Ian

[Navy Bird]

Likey likey!    

 

Cheers,

Bill

[81-er]

1 hour ago, Brandy said:

No need Bill. They'll know he's Essex when he pronounces "water" with 2 w's, as in "wawter".

 

Ian

The waw'a in Majaw'Ka don't taste like wot it aww'a

 

James (Furrock born & bred) 🤣

[TheBaron]

20 hours ago, Fritag said:

Improvised a mask with a punch and a couple of layers of Tamiya tape and then a bit of pencil eye shadow around the lamp lens.

 

'New lamps for old' (kit).

Tidy bit of work Steve.

 

20 hours ago, Fritag said:

Half a dozen or so random piccies from bike rides/walks various last week:

How does he do it?

[Fritag]

On the train to London and so a morning BM window of opportunity…

 

On 10/19/2022 at 8:46 PM, Paulaero said:

So, a makeup artist as well now eh Steve ...

 

On reflection I could've been wiser in my choice of metaphor 

 

In the spirit of full disclosure I should say that I was a lad during the time of the New Romantic movement.  Loved the music - never went as as far as the make up.  I probably feared that photos would find their way to the RAF commissioning board at Biggin Hill and kibosh my application for pilot training.  

 

This (healthy?) deterrent effect of potential disclosure has also so far served me well during the social media era…   And in conversation with anyone under the age of (say) 50.

 

On 10/20/2022 at 12:49 AM, stevehnz said:

They do look a bit wonderful, though I think your nose light rings need a much deeper groove around them,

 

What's wrong with my nose rings? Aren't they all the rage nowadays?  Do you think I’m too old for them?... 

 

On 10/20/2022 at 7:50 AM, giemme said:

The pencil trick worked wonders   I might have to use it myself on my current build, on the Finemolds airbrakes, because the scribed lines on the brass surface didn't quite survive the painting process....

 

I'd expect fine results from your artist's hands G 

 

On 10/20/2022 at 10:08 AM, perdu said:

London, I suppose as an Essex boy you has a stamp on your passport letting you in, enjoy that too.

 

20 hours ago, Brandy said:

No need Bill. They'll know he's Essex when he pronounces "water" with 2 w's, as in "wawter".

 

18 hours ago, 81-er said:

The waw'a in Majaw'Ka don't taste like wot it aww'a

 

James (Furrock born & bred) 🤣

 

Well now; the RAF specifically set out to get rid of, what it referred to as my “home counties accent” during officer training (don’t think they’re allowed to ‘discriminate’ against regional accents nowadays); and I was even commended on having lost it when I graduated from Cranwell as a baby officer.  So I think Essex has  disowned me; and so, nearly, did my mum (quote: “wot’s wrong wiv the way we talk”).

 

On 10/19/2022 at 11:33 PM, Terry1954 said:

That pencil method is rather neat

 

I've decided that it works nicely on and against the red of the Valley Hawk and so I used it as the first stage of my weathering process on the Valley Hawk.

 

The graphite - softened by rubbing with one of Tamiya’s (excellent) conical cotton buds and moderated by judicious use of an eraser (I’m not risking using the word ‘rubber’ with you lot) was a nice controllable medium for the minor grime and little leaks that were apparent on the Valley Hawks notwithstanding the care in their upkeep.

 

Working from pictures of the real thing.

 

Not easy to get the iPhone to show what I mean; but these are the best I could get:

 

Fuselage underside (grime etc. copied from the excellent underside photo on the cover of the Roy Braybook - book)

 

 

 

Wing tips and fuselage. Some light airflow staining from the vortex generators, ailerons and leading edges.  Also a tiny bit of shading to try and subtly emphasise some of the removable panels without overdoing it.

 

And I’ve also drawn in the outline of the avionics bay doors either side of the nose.

 

I used a template to pencil in the outline, then a sliver of eraser followed by the cotton bud to take it back to a much less visible state, and then a few little scribblings smudged with the cotton bud to add a smidge of airflow staining.

 

 

I think I’m pretty pleased with the nose avionics bay panels.  Airfix reproduced them with it’s typical trench panel lines and they looked awful and had to be filled.

 

I tried re-scribing the panel myself but even the lightest line I could scribe looked overdone.

 

So it was pencil or nowt.  I think pencil.  But I could yet change my mind…

 

I will do a pin wash on the Valley Hawk; but probably restricted to features like the aileron and rudder hinge lines and the GTS exhausts/grills/RAT doors etc.

 

There won’t be a lot of other weathering on the white/grey areas (tiny bit of staining maybe) as they always look pretty clean and the residual Airfix panel lines hardly need any more emphasis!

 

 

The graphite effects doesn't seem to work quite so well on the grey/green of the TWU Hawk and all I’ve done is pencil in the nose panel and then tone it down.

 

Still not 100% convinced of the pencil against the green; but the (bit more extensive) weathering on the camouflage will mostly be oil and I’m hoping I improve the look.  Otherwise it’s coming orf….

 

 

But the immediate next step is this:

 

 

Xtradecal X72-166 and X72-168 and I also have X72-167 for some extra code letters/numbers.

 

Hopefully some stickering on Sunday.

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Fritag
Typo

[perdu]

With regards to the avionics panels on the camo-Hawk might our honourable buddy consider, on the colourful camouflager using a black coloured pencil for the task? Cutting the point to a, well obvs really, a pointy point the effect you got with graphite might, if subtly used, do the job for you on the camouflage finish.

 

Or as I often do use a 5B kept sharp for that purpose. It's deep black works well over matt paints.

 

 

 

[tomprobert]

I love your approach to weathering - it’s visible if you look for it but not ‘in your face’.
 

You see so many beautifully built and painted models ruined by over-zealous weathering these days - just my opinion of course - and it just looks wrong. This, on the other hand, looks spot on to my eye. 
 

As you were…

 

Tom

[giemme]

6 hours ago, perdu said:

With regards to the avionics panels on the camo-Hawk might our honourable buddy consider, on the colourful camouflager using a black coloured pencil for the task?

+1 for that. I often use a black pencil for dirt and stain effects on dark colored liveries, so I guess it should work fine also for panel lines tracing. Eraser and cotton will still be valid allies if you feel it's overdone. My

 

Ciao

[Terry1954]

9 hours ago, Fritag said:

(I’m not risking using the word ‘rubber’ with you lot)

 

Very wise Steve, some troublesome readers around here for sure..........

 

Another splendid update, and I can only agree on the weathering compliments, and I'm with Bill and Giorgio on the use of black on the darker machine.

 

All very neat indeed, and what a treat to anticipate stickering on Sunday!

 

Terry

 

 

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

On 07/09/2022 at 21:21, hendie said:

I thought my threads were long but this must be the only thread on BM where length is measured not by pages but by the number of Prime Ministerial changes.

In Australia that’s now a widely recognised standard measurement of time; useful as it fills the large gap between ‘day’ and ‘year’.

[Serkan Sen]

22 hours ago, Fritag said:

Still not 100% convinced of the pencil against the green; but the (bit more extensive) weathering on the camouflage will mostly be oil and I’m hoping I improve the look.

 

I have some bad experiences with oil/acrylic/enamel panel wash techniques. I am now using only aqua/gouache colors which are very cheap (water paints for primary school kids) and very forgiving. They can be easy removed out by washing with water any time. Any shades of color can also be obtained by mixing the paints. The excessive paint can be wiped out with a mostioned paper towel after couple of minutes (or hours, or days, or weeks, or months...)

 

Serkan

[The Spadgent]

Lovely painting dear boy. I do think you’re right about the pencil on the green though. Maybe a black pencil. I’ll sit firmly on the fence and see what happens. Good luck with those decals. 
 

Johnny. 

[bigbadbadge]

The Scotland photos look wonderful and hoe you had a great time there Steve.  The hawks look fantastic and am very impressed with the lining around the lights and the airflow leeks and flows too.

Please can I ask what pencil you were using there as I struggle to get the effects I want with my current selection.

Great work

Chris

[Brandy]

The big question now is: Are we going to see these at Telford this year?

 

Ian

[HOUSTON]

Super duper paint job.

if it goes on display at Telford IPMS show that would be great. 

Nearing the end ?

 

[mark.au]

4 hours ago, HOUSTON said:

Super duper paint job.

if it goes on display at Telford IPMS show that would be great. 

Nearing the end ?

 

 

You might need to specify which year you're hoping to see them at Telford...

 

It's entirely unreasonable of me I know, but I'm sort of disappointed that you're using decals...  I don't know what I was expecting but the level of detail and accuracy you've achieved so far suggested you might be hand painting the stencils or something...  Nonetheless, I am looking forward to the results of the stickering, I'm quite certain these two Hawks will jump to life with their identities confirmed.

[Bandsaw Steve]

4 hours ago, HOUSTON said:

 

Nearing the end ?

 

Seems unlikely.  He’s only 171 pages in.

[Serkan Sen]

8 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

13 hours ago, HOUSTON said:

 

Nearing the end ?

 

Seems unlikely.  He’s only 171 pages in.

I fully agree. Not before reaching 200 pages...

[perdu]

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