DH 60 Gypsy Moth - Amy's Jason G-AAAH ++ Finished ++

[Beard]

Apparently, Humbrol 30 is 3.53% red, 42.75% green and 31.76% blue (it's unclear is this is the old or new one).

[rob85]

This looks an interesting build mate, the flash loooks, uummmm, lovely! Good luck!

 

Rob

[CedB]

Thanks Simon, doesn't look too bad and I've had problems deciding on the box art or Science Museum greens; I suppose it's a reasonable compromise.

Paint mixes are a dark art for me I'm afraid.

 

Thanks Rob  

[The Spadgent]

Looking great Ced. Nice progress sir. 

 

Johnny

[bbudde]

Oh what a pity!!! No fetish figure in its right dress, although it looks something like that.

Old Humbrol 30 looks good . Maybe with a coat ( mixture of ) Humbrol 88 deck green inbetween? Not sure. You have to try. Maybe two drops of Hu 2 emerald green too?

[Avereda]

9 hours ago, CedB said:

Thanks Benedikt - pink hots pants... no chance!

 

As a break from rigging the Rapide I sloshed some H30 on the Gypsy:

 

 

First coat, obviously, but what do we think?

 

Looks good to me, I think I'll spray Tamiya XF-5 on mine and compare and contrast

[CedB]

Thanks Johnny

Thanks Benedikt - I might read the help for iModelKit (now I know where it is) and see what it suggests. Maybe.

Thanks Avereda - that'll be interesting.

 

While the Rapide has some Milliput drying I brought Jason to the front, Micro-meshed the paint and slopped some Mr Surfacer 1000 on that blasted stand slot:

 

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

Now I have two models drying...

[Beard]

2 hours ago, CedB said:

Now I have two models drying...

 

It's time to start another then. 😁

[CedB]

Thanks Simon - it did occur to me but I don't think I can cope with three at a time; I just know I'd end up with three models needing my least favourite bit done (whatever that is!)

 

To fill the time I read the help on iModelKit and I now think I know how to use the mixer, at least better than I did before.

The problem of course is the reference. There are different lighting conditions on different photos. Also it's a problem choosing the right area of the picture for the colour selection.

Here are my mixers for Mid Brunswick Green (BS 226) and 'the best pixels' from a picture of Jason at the Science Museum:

 

 

 

 

Not the same eh?

Of course another problem is that the mixer suggests the best paint but I don't have it, so I choose 'the closest' in my stash and then have to mix another. Repeat ad nauseam.

Then the problem is overcoming my inherited thriftiness - I don't want to use too much paint from the pots so I use a syringe to measure.

Then the paint needs stirring with the badger.

Then the syringe needs cleaning between paint.

Then you have to mix it:

 

 

Then the paints don't stay mixed so you have to add some thinner and keep stirring it.

Then you apply some to the model and think 'Oooh, that's a bit grey' so you add some more green. Just a tiny bit.

 

All that said the app does a much better job at realising that some 'weird' colours are required; I would never have thought of adding RAF Blue and Grey.

In the end I have a colour that I like:

 

 

So, an interesting experience and certainly much better than I could have done without the app.

What a Diva.

[CedB]

Lower wing glued:

 

 

I have a cunning plan for the rigging - no holes, just jam the line into the strut holes (oooh, nasty!)

That means I don't have to drill holes and that means I can leave the kit silver parts (which I've grown to like) as they are because there won't be any holes to fill.

Simples!

 

I've looked at the control lines and had a rare moment of sanity by deciding not to try to model them at this scale. 

[bbudde]

Glad you found a solution. Not always easy.

 

[Grandboof]

Nicely done so far Will be watching the rigging with interest Thanks for sharing 

Martin H

[keefr22]

So not quite two pages late finding this one Ced - I can barely keep up with one build at a time, two concurrent ones & I've no chance at my age! So I'm glad the Rapide is finished now !

 

Apropos of nothing, Brunswick Green is the colour the Great Western Railway painted their locomotives. No idea what shade it was though...!!

 

Good stuff again so far!

 

Keith

[CedB]

Thanks Benedikt and Martin

Hi Keith and welcome. I'm glad the Rapide's finished too! Great info on the GWR colours.

 

I thought my next job was rigging this lot and that the silver finish was OK:

 

 

Then I turned her over:

 

 

Those ejector marks are going to really show when she's on the ceiling. Rats. Upper wing marks attended to:

 

 

with a chisel and fibreglass pen. Masking and spraying will follow!

[Nigel Heath]

An old Frog kit, interesting challenge. That flash and the ejector marks - nightmare but nicely dealt with. Good to see the Mike Grant decals, they are a great product aren't they? Very impressed with the scanning treatment of the knackered old decals. Presumably you will print them onto clear decal film?

[CedB]

Thanks Nigel, very kind. Yes, the decals will be printed on clear laser paper - although I think I'll try the kit decals for the small insignia if they're usable.

 

Question: what silver acrylic paint do you use? I'm not very happy with the effect of the Vallejo Model Air aluminium:

 

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

(the grey bits are Mr Surfacer 1000 - don't worry). I've read this thread and this thread on HSS which suggests Games Workshop Mithril Silver or H11 (Silver) 50/50 with H28 (matt grey). I've just decanted some H11 from a spray can (yes, I did make a mess) so I'll try that.

Any other suggestions for acrylic silver for early (WWII) models appreciated!

[CedB]

Here're the silvers I have at the moment:

 

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

From the left, Tamiya XF-15 flat aluminium, X-32 titanium silver, Vallejo Model Air 71.062 Aluminium. Neither Tamiya seemed to cover particularly well despite lots of stirring. I guess I should be using it with thinners and building up the finish. They're all to 'bright' for me and look like metal rather than dope.

 

The blob at the rear occurred when I put some of the dacanted H11 spray in the airbrush. I know it's not de-gassed yet and I should leave it overnight BUT I'm impatient as you know. The paint instantly flowed out of the nozzle, around the seal and all over the booth, adding to the mess I made decanting it: 

 

 

Like the H24 I'd previously used it also coated the airbrush beautifully and dried in an instant so a strip clean was required. Never again. You can see the little bottle in the photo - once it's de-gassed I may just bin it.

 

Out this afternoon so I may pop in to Games Workshop and look at their silvers - 'Mithril' isn't on their website anymore but they have three variants which might be worth a try.

[bbudde]

Maybe you should use a metalizer flat aluminium like the testors one and don't polish them.  Just seal it after beeing sprayed. I tried it on an old matchbox K-1 excavator and it matched their usual dull aluminium colour or what they use(d). Cheers

[keefr22]

Mithral (& the darker Chainmail & Boltgun) was/were brilliant 'silvers'. They brushed & sprayed beautifully. Unfortunately personally (& I know a few others too) think the replacements are rubbish! If you've bought them, sorry - but YMMV!!

 

At the moment I really like Revell Aqua Silver & Aluminium - the latter being duller than the former. I find them pretty similar in use to the old Mithral et al and great for 'generic aluminiums'. They spray really nicely thinning with just our soft tap water....

 

I hope that decanted Humbrol 11 cleaned out of your airbrush OK Ced, I sprayed some of their decanted spraycan dark earth the other day & had a devil of a job getting the stuff out of the Iwata.

 

Keith

[The Spadgent]

10 hours ago, CedB said:

Question: what silver acrylic paint do you use? I'm not very happy with the effect of the Vallejo Model Air aluminium:

 

Any other suggestions for acrylic silver for early (WWII) models appreciated!

Hi Ced.

Looking good now you're done with blue you're on to silver.  

personally I can't sing the praises of Vallejo metal colours enough. Sprayed on top of a gloss coat they are amazing. Working wonders on my p-38 at the moment. If you do go down that route I'd invest in their metal varnish too.

dull aluminum is the lovely shiny one I used but they are all pretty special.

Hope that helps.

 

Long John Silver.

Edited May 20, 2017 by The Spadgent

[CedB]

Thanks Benedikt - I'll have a look at the metalizers; are they smelly?

Thanks Keith - I agree! Sadly I bought several colours - I should have tried one first as the Runefang Air just wouldn't go through my 0.2 nozzle, even thinned. I might try a larger nozzle on something later. The H11 did come out of the brush after a deep clean. All over the place though - messy!

Thanks Johnny - your P-38 is certainly a good advert for the Vallejo stuff. And the second coat of Model Air aluminium has worked out OK I think:

 

 

Good enough for me to start rigging tomorrow.

[keefr22]

Looking very nice this fine Sunday morning Ced!

 

K

[bbudde]

Hello, yes they are bit smelly as they are thinned for airbrush . You can paint small things with a brush , but that's a bit difficult. I don't believe that they are acrylic but you can overlay them on acrylics without much reaction. Just try them Imho they are much finer than normal paints. No idea what kind of flakes they use for that. Cheers and a.nice sunday.

[TonyTiger66]

I just caught up with this Ced. One of my favourite aviation subjects.

I have a soft spot for Amy, she got her degree from a university I used to work for, she is one of my favourite aviatrix ladies.

There were even songs written and recorded about here here in upside down, bouncy marsupial land .

 

Your paint colurs look great, it looks like you've solved the conundrum of the silvers (and with scientific research prowess, the green!).

 

My 1p worth for the aluminium dope silver would be a Vallejo colour. I'm not at home so I can't tell you the range or product number. I don't think I'm entirely hopeless/useless here though, it will be easy to find in the range:

 

Its their colour that is intended to represent German RLM 'Silber' (the German spelling; hope I got that right Benedikt?).

 

It's a lovely shade. Really nice for things like inter-war Avro Tutor's and the like, and of course, for its intended German biplanes.

 

Its one of the few Vallejo shades I have used and like; others, especially German WWII, have been a bit off to my, admittedly old and slight colourblind eyes.

 

Hmmm,  should have been in the rather wonderful, and far superior 'Record Breakers' Group Build, this one !

 

Much more well heeled Group of modellers over there you know: Good bar with after hours, pretty barmaids, real ale, pool tables and an excellent vintage dart board !

 

All best regards

TonyT

[CedB]

Thanks Keith

Thanks Benedikt - I have some Alclad already but spraying in the house without a vent is frowned upon!

Thanks TT - I'll look out for the Vallejo; 71.063 Silber on the shopping list.

 

 

This morning I looked at the struts which I think I need to fit into the bottom wing before I start. Here are the main struts on the sprue:

 

 

A quick look in the walk around section shows:

 

 

No bits sticking out and tapered bottoms with just the point touching the wing (other shots show them hinged onto, rather than into, the wing).

Care needs to be taken then to make sure there's some sort of lug left when cutting the part from the sprue. Great.

 

The instructions also seem to show them leaning forward:

 

 

but they don't. Probably the best method is to get the central struts fitted. NOT like this:

 

 

Don't worry, that's just a dry fit - they go the other way around. While we're getting things wrong, the remaining straight struts (part #20) are too short. I realised I'd used them for the tailplane as they seemed to fit the holes:

 

 

unlike the other parts which are too short. I cut the struts from the tailplane leaving the nubs in the holes and fitted the (shorter) struts that remained:

 

 

I really wish the parts were numbered on the sprue. Still, every little lesson is a brick in the wall of my learning (pause... wretch... sorry, better now).

 

I shall ponder a method of holding these so I can glue them:

 

 

in the absence of one of those wonderful bi-plane jigs - £25 is too much (even for me as a tool tart) as I don't build enough bi-planes. I'll 'rig' something (= bodge) later.