Tamiya Aichi M6A1 Seiran 1/72

[sandros]

This topic is about Japan's latest WWII submarine based floatplane.

The kit comes from Tamiya, en exceptional little kit with few parts, fine reccessed panel lines, one piece thin canopy, very good level of detail and great fit.

I used a photo etched set from Eduard (which is discontinued) and parts from a vacumed formed canopy from Pavla (which is rather badly moulded). The rest of the model is OOB, while the finished item is going to be displayed on a tarmac base made of plaster from a new greek company - Creativiy Models - along with some American pilots (CMK figures) inspecting the war trophy on a ruined runway.

Construction begins with the treiler, which consists from few parts and will be assembled in minutes. After a black base it was sprayed with Deck tan and 2 hours later took a brown wash. An old no 3 damped brush, removed most of the material and with a fine brush i tried to imitate the wood grain and lines. A mixture of clear red- orange sealed the final paint job.

 

 

 

 

 

The fuselage was complete, painted in XF 71 with a few drops of XF58, followed by many layers of wash mainly with dark brown till Light dust, The dials were picked up with a fine brush, some details addes from lead wire, along with photo etched parts and voila!

 

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2016 by sandros

[Crossofiron1971]

Wow, lovely build, love the wood effect!

[Martian]

Great start, the beaching trolley is exceptional!

Martian

[Squibby]

Agree with the above posters about the wood effect on the trolley, looks absolutely fantastic.

 

I've got to say your cockpit buildup looks equally good. Nicely detailed and painted. Looking forwards to the rest of it.

[sandros]

Thank you all for your kind comments. The trolley received further treatment by painting the minor details and doing some chipping effcects. The fuselage is now closed together - the fit is fantastic - the floats are allready painted and weathered and the whole model is primed waiting for preshade and painting.

Hinomarus are intented to be painted using masks from maketar, but is has a long way until that moment.

Stay tuned - Thank you all!

[sandros]

Well, there is progress in the project, and some better photos.

The whole model was primed with Gunze black primer (my favorite) and received some preshade, with grey on the underside and cockpit green and khaki in certain panel on upper surfaces.

 

 

 

 

Floats and trailer were painted and weathered few weeks ago, so this is the look I am after for the rest of the plane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The model was painted with a rather dark version of the basic color – I used Tamiya XF61 - and some lighter shades of the basic color in order to achieve some contrast.

 

 

Then begun the weathering process .  The model received a satin varnish to protect the basic color and after 6-7 hours it was sprinkled with salt. It sprayed with tamiya XF-11, and the whole process repeated for four times, each with lighter shades of the aforementioned color.

The model gently sanded with various grades of micromesh, received another coat of satin and now it goes for the challenge…to replicate the red brownish primer on the upper surfaces, along with some metal chipping.

Thank you for watching

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2016 by sandros

[Squibby]

Oh I love a good multi layer paint job. I'll be watching your progress with interest.

 

Particularly interested in seeing how the salt mask shading comes out If it turns out anything like your floats this is going to look absolutely amazing.

[Doc72]

Interesting project and it already looks gorgeous!

How do Tamiya acrylics work with the salt masking? I tried it once and it wasn't a success at all because the salt left a very persistent whitish clouding. Apparently, the water content of the paint had dissolved some of the salt. On your model, however, everything looks alright.

[sandros]

Hello everybody

Thank you for your comments

Doc72, one of the key elements is the salt itself. It should not be grainy. Try to use thin salt, like powder. You can also add few drops of dish detergent in the water in order to break the surface tension and applied it with a medium wide brush. Better control and coverage this way than airbrush. The surfase should not be mat nor glossy either. A satin surface is fine. Where the salt is melting, you can add more, in order to absorb the excess moisture. You must give the salty surface enough time to be completely dry before painting, that's cruscial. Finally - when you use tamiya acrylics - dilute them with laquer thinner and allow at least 30 minutes before removing the salt. For the surface to be compeletely free from salt residuals do not afraid to rinse the model under tap water. That is why the model is not masked and all the oversprays on the undersurfaces will be fixed lately.

I hope theese tips will be helpfull.Keep in mind do not rush, this method takes time

P.s.

Keep the air presure - depending on the aibrush -  low. I used an Iwata HP-B plus 0,2mm and the pressure was at 0.8- 0.6 psi

Edited November 30, 2016 by sandros

[Doc72]

Thanks a lot! I will give it a try.

[sandros]

Finally, after a series of problems, delays, drawbacks but also commitment on finishing the project, the model is complete. It was used almost every known method of chipping, trying to integrate them according to my experience and skills. Imagination filled the reference gaps, as good and color photos of this floatplane are few and scarce. I tried to emphasize on drama as the model placed on a base, depicting an airstrip, cleared from maintenance base debris, in order to be inspected by USAF pilots.

After the salt chipping, I used sponge chipping with hull red, in order to reproduce the primer, it is not rust, steel and gray in very worn areas, and various tones of green in order to achieve intense color wear. Some touch ups with a very fine brush complete the paintwork. One of the toughest processes was the painting of clear parts as the curved window edges make homemade masking a nightmare. A very rare Eduard vinyl mask set came to the rescue. It was very hard to find and very pricey for the quality but it was the only option.

Another challenge was painting Hinomarus. Paint after successive layers of salt had become very unstable and even varnish could not protect it from peeling, especially on wings. The right marking was painted twice and the whole weathering process repeated from the beginning for the particular area.

Fabric surfaces receive a reverse preshade by painting first with a light green tones following with darker ones, in order to leave lighter highlights. Engine cowling and wing panel lines demarcated with masking tape and sprayed with diluted smoke to enhance the sense of depth. After a semi gloss varnish a mixture of stone gray and light gray wash completed the upper surfaces paintwork.  

Fabric surfaces were painted with light green shades – as a reverse preshade – and completed with the basic color. The panel lines demarcated with masking tape and sprayed with tamiya smoke to achieve more depth. An Alclad semi mat sealed the whole paint job. The under surfaces received oil dot fading and the upper surfaces a light gray panel line wash.

The model was placed on a base made by Creativity Models, the rubbles and debris are from juwella. The figure comes from a CMK US Navy pilots set.

Thank you for watching.

 

Finally, after a series of problems, delays, drawbacks but also commitment on finishing the project, the model is complete. It was used almost every known method of chipping, trying to integrate them according to my experience and skills. Imagination filled the reference gaps, as good and color photos of this floatplane are few and scarce. I tried to emphasize on drama as the model placed on a base, depicting an airstrip, cleared from maintenance base debris, in order to be inspected by USAF pilots.

After the salt chipping, I used sponge chipping with hull red, in order to reproduce the primer, it is not rust, steel and gray in very worn areas, and various tones of green in order to achieve intense color wear. Some touch ups with a very fine brush complete the paintwork. One of the toughest processes was the painting of clear parts as the curved window edges make homemade masking a nightmare. A very rare Eduard vinyl mask set came to the rescue. It was very hard to find and very pricey for the quality but it was the only option.

Another challenge was painting Hinomarus. Paint after successive layers of salt had become very unstable and even varnish could not protect it from peeling, especially on wings. The right marking was painted twice and the whole weathering process repeated from the beginning for the particular area.

Fabric surfaces receive a reverse preshade by painting first with a light green tones following with darker ones, in order to leave lighter highlights. Engine cowling and wing panel lines demarcated with masking tape and sprayed with diluted smoke to enhance the sense of depth. After a semi gloss varnish a mixture of stone gray and light gray wash completed the upper surfaces paintwork.  

Fabric surfaces were painted with light green shades – as a reverse preshade – and completed with the basic color. The panel lines demarcated with masking tape and sprayed with tamiya smoke to achieve more depth. An Alclad semi mat sealed the whole paint job. The under surfaces received oil dot fading and the upper surfaces a light gray panel line wash.

The model was placed on a base made by Creativity Models, the rubbles and debris are from juwella. The figure comes from a CMK US Navy pilots set.

Thank you for watching.

 

 

[stevehnz]

Nice job on this, I do like your panel variations, very deftly done & rather convincing.  

Steve.