jrlx Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Superb crosses you managed to get, Tony! Great job to finish 2017 Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Great way to say goodbye to 2017, Tony Not wanting to teach you how to suck eggs, I'd just like to add that when spraying markings using masks, I also do some sort of desaturation prior to removing the masking (a greyish tone would work great on the whole balkenkreuz, IMHO) You can of course do it also now, or just ignore me and you are perfectly fine anyway Happy New Year! Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 or maybe even just a light micro meshing across the surface to scuff them up a bit. great finish to 2017 Tony. I trust you shall be continuing to provide similar entertainment in the New Year ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbudde Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Great finish in 2017! The sound of fireworks is obviious now. I'm glad it rained here cats and dogs (or vice versa) this evening , so everything is wet for midnight. You get it an hour later, I guess. Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Great work with the masking Tony, those markings look really good 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Excellent You and Crisp are making this marking masking business very attractive Happy new year all 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Great work on those markings Tony. More realistic than decals. Happy New Year to you and Yours. Simon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted January 1, 2018 Author Share Posted January 1, 2018 22 hours ago, jrlx said: Superb crosses you managed to get, Tony! 20 hours ago, bbudde said: Great finish in 2017! 6 hours ago, CedB said: Great work with the masking Tony, those markings look really good 4 hours ago, perdu said: You and Crisp are making this marking masking business very attractive 3 hours ago, Spookytooth said: Great work on those markings Tony. More realistic than decals. Hats-off to Maketar in this instance gentlemen - a really high quality product to work with and quite definitely not the last set that I shall be acquiring from them. So delighted was I with their masking stuff that I had a go at - rather unexpectedly it has to be said - knocking out a set of my own, of which more in due course. 22 hours ago, giemme said: I'd just like to add that when spraying markings using masks, I also do some sort of desaturation prior to removing the masking (a greyish tone would work great on the whole balkenkreuz, IMHO) Always happy to receive advice from a painting-maestro such as yourself Giorgio! I've been experimenting in that direction earlier. 21 hours ago, hendie said: I trust you shall be continuing to provide similar entertainment in the New Year ? Fear not hendie - I need to think about unboxing the Boxcar again soon and refreshing my memory as to where exactly we left off! Been getting some frustrating responses regarding image posting since last night - the last few images from the desktop version of Flickr in last night's update were being scaled down and I notice today all of them seem to be dropped down to 640px widths instead of the 800 I always post at. I'd been copying the urls into the forum as I'd always done from the Photostream and never had this problem before. I do hope this doesn't presage some shenanigans along the Photobuttock line... A workaround seems to be copying the BB code into the forum and then editing it down, but it's a royal PITA... Anyhoo, let's start the anno ignotum wit a look at my growing collection of makeup brushes: What? There are some really useful things in the makeup section. I don't care what the security guard said. Aha! This should do for panel lining: With the brutality and neglect these things suffer at my hands there's no point at all in me buying any expensive brushes. Once knocked back I'm not expecting the Payne's Grey oils to be that visible on the upperworks: Some attention to the Balkenkreuz along the lines Giorgio mentioned also, trying a thin wash approach: That'll get a rub down later. Same treatment to the undersides, here are after some attentions to the wash with cotton buds and sponge: Trying here to keep it subtle and asymmetric, in order to avoid turning the thing into a rectilinear diagram of every feature. Having done the topsides in a similar fashion - as expected the PG largely disappearring tonally amidst the RLM 73/72 design - I turned my attention finally to sorting out the decals. I mentioned previously about having acquired some multi-purpose decal sheets that could be used in either laser or inkjet printers, and which more importantly, needed no varnish or other treatment prior to application. It all sounds too good to be true - no? Well I thought so too but I put them to the test on a mule with a view to sharing the results - good or bad - with you. First up - print quality (dependent on your printer of course) is fine here at 300dpi: That unit badge btw is a scan from a book so that gives you an idea of the potential quality you can get from this set. These were printed as per instructions on the 'Photo Paper Matt' setting. Note the slight bleed to the lettering - in fairness the comprehensive page of instructions that comes with the sheets warns against 'heavy black fonts' (!), but as these are on a white decal film they would need trimming in anyway. (There is a clear version of the film available also.) They reckon about 40 seconds soaking time - which was quite accurate - during which there was a slight waft of colour seen in the water around them, though not enough to be a major source of concern in terms of colour and detail reproduction. Putting the decals on at first gives a bit of a heart-attack as they suddenly go all spectral and fey, as well as looking quite 'thick' (I deliberately didn't cut these down as I wanted to see how the surrounding film performed across complex raised/recessed surfaces). At this point I wasn't overly hopeful: They don't seem to respond to Microsol but I gave them a good bath in the stuff to see how well the film stood up to chemical influences - no apparent detrimental effect was visible. Rolling a cotton bud over these a few times to squeeze out any excess moisture I did as the instructions said and played a hot hair-dryer across them and within seconds there is a dramatic change: Ignore the clumsy cuts in the panel lines - that was done post-application with a scalpel to see how strong the film was - keeping the hair dryer playing across these for about a minute as instructed the carrier film seems to grip in quite well: With more care than I clearly showed here in pressing out air bubbles and pushing into the panel lines when still wet, much better results than these seem achievable. Not easy to show but I tried to take an oblique to indicate the final thickness: The results on the mule were promising enough that I trimmed out a set of unit badges and hakenkreuz to use, but when looking at the aircraft codes on the fuselage, wondered why I would go to all the trouble of cutting out each letter individually to apply as a decal, when it might be simpler to turn them into a set of sub-Maketar masks, using the same kind of sticky transparency we cover the boys' school books with: Simple enough to cover the printout with the transparency material and then proceed to cut out the negatives: About 20 minutes work to create a set for each side of the fuselage: Prior to attaching the masks to the fuslage they had a blast of 3M spray mount, and then some black was airbrushed on: Errr...what black did you use exactly?: Well scrondle my trollicants - what feckwit dumped NATO black in the cup and not Flat Black? I ask you. Not to worry eh? That had a layer of Klear previously so we can just make it all better by wiping off the offending letters with some IPA and start again: Hmmm. Actually, now that you mention it, you didn't actually get round to putting a layer of Klear on the balkenkreuz last night did you me old fruit? x2 The spectre of <insert German compound noun describing serial stupidity here> stalks the land.... Maketar to the rescue again then I guess: 30 sexagesimal divisions of the hour later: [Ode to Joy plays in background]: With that little inconvenience dealt with the final task of the day was to get the unit badge on the gondola and 'that' symbol added to the fin and rudder: The decal film behave well - no air bubbles this time (having practiced previously) - and they gripped nice and tight after a hot waft of hair dryer: I'll do a survey in the morning and work out what needs doing at this stage and in what order, but we're getting near to the conclusion of the build. Heading up to Dublin on Wednesday and with the GB ending on Saturday it'll be close but seems not entirely impossible that this baby will creep in under the wire. Nighty-night modellers! I hope you had a good start to the year. Tony 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Truly excellent progress, Tony I love the weathering, the balkencreuz desaturation, the code spraying - well, everything, in fact Ciao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 an interesting entrance to the new year. That transfer paper looks interesting. Do you see a white edge once you have trimmed the transfer out? It's been a while since I printed my own decals and the last lot, while printing out nicely, were a touch on the thick side for my liking. 32 minutes ago, TheBaron said: Actually, now that you mention it, you didn't actually get round to putting a layer of Klear on the balkenkreuz last night did you me old fruit? ah, I'm glad it's not just me that has days like that then. I headed downstairs just after lunch to do some modeling and as I passed the hot water boiler I heard that horribly ominous ssssssssssssssss sound...... yep... another darned leak. Just about 2 inches from the last leak and on the same length of pipe that cost me an arm and a leg to get repaired. We get our water from a well here and the stuff plays havoc with copper pipes Guess where the rest of my afternoon went? I've carried out a complete bodge emergency repair so hopefully it will hold until I can get someone reliable to look at it. This is really looking like a thing of beauty. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Beautiful start to the new year dear boy. Nearly there now. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 1 hour ago, hendie said: ah, I'm glad it's not just me that has days like that then. Me too! Glad I'm not the only one to dump the wrong stuff into the airbrush too. My attempt once to spray a final 'matt coat' with cellulose thinners didn't end well! Still, very nice recovery there Tony, and really neat work with the masks - both aftermarket & home made! Paint job is looking terrific all round! Fingers crossed she makes it across the finish line in time! Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Tremendous result Tony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted January 1, 2018 Share Posted January 1, 2018 Really good work there Tony and an exciting set of posts to go with it! Happy endings are the best 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Excellent progress, despite the hicups along the way! Nearly there now! Please note that the GB ends at 23:59 of 7 January, this coming Sunday. Not on Saturday. So, you have one day more than you mentioned in your post. Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted January 2, 2018 Author Share Posted January 2, 2018 16 hours ago, giemme said: I love the weathering, the balkencreuz desaturation, the code spraying - well, everything, in fact Right back at ya Giorgio! You're own work has been an inspiration for me - particularly so in the area of aesthetics and colour. 16 hours ago, hendie said: Do you see a white edge once you have trimmed the transfer out? Hendie, this was the best shot I could get using the magnifiers off my visor held over the camera lens, but hopefully it gets you in close enough for an appraisal: I've a few sheets of the stuff left over (and only likely to use it for more complicated things like badges since growing enamoured of the masking approach for national and squadron markings over the course of this build) so PM me an address if you'd like a sheet to try out. Alternatively, 'tis this stuff here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074QR8QTB/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Visually, I find that it's only in a quite strong oblique light that they give a sense of being raised from the main surface here, but I suspect that with large decals you might find this effect more prominent, say on a large wing roundel for example. 16 hours ago, hendie said: Just about 2 inches from the last leak and on the same length of pipe that cost me an arm and a leg to get repaired. We get our water from a well here and the stuff plays havoc with copper pipes Guess where the rest of my afternoon went? Plumbing. My bête noire! I can handle most repair tasks around the house these days but Harry Copper and the Piping Hot is not one of them, so you have my sympathy. Are you in a limestone area perchance? Our kettle practically makes a block of chalk a week from boiling out the dissolved minerals... 15 hours ago, The Spadgent said: Nearly there now. Do you have that same bittersweet reluctance to finish at this stage Johnny? These apparently objective bits of matter consume so much attention that they become quite a psychic fixture don't they? God knows what I'd be like with a robot (though that statement is a philosophical problem in itself...) 14 hours ago, keefr22 said: My attempt once to spray a final 'matt coat' with cellulose thinners didn't end well! Ouch! I believe that tourists climbing Yr Wyddfa could hear the language off ye and had to cover the ears of their children Keith... 14 hours ago, perdu said: Tremendous result Tony Thanks Bill. As I write there is a ball of fawn-coloured sewing thread glowering at me from the shelf in that 'Make me into a beautiful rope' way that they have... 13 hours ago, CedB said: Happy endings are the best 12 hours ago, jrlx said: Please note that the GB ends at 23:59 of 7 January, this coming Sunday. Thanks Jaime. Now then. The morning's correspondence dealt with it was time to descend to the (salt) cellar. @bbudde had previously posted this rather inspiring shot of an He115 and I knew at once I wanted to do something similar in the weathering mode: You've got to be careful when reading such images of course to try and distinguish between the granularity of the original photographic medium, print reproduction, and any subsequent compression artefacts added to the image in digital reproduction, but from a number of angles you can see how the salt environment produced significant variation across the aircraft skin of Dornier 18s. Note the magnificent green modelling shorts, plaid slippers and seaman's hose; that'll give the lie to those Jeremiahs who insist that building model aircraft just isn't a glamorous activity any more. Soon as Stella McCartney sees this she'll be on the phone again, looking for advice. You watch. I'm a bit sick of it tbh. I had to change my mobile number because of Karl Lagerfeld last year. Twice. I had hoped to use Maldon sea salt (being closer to the site of the North Sea demise of this aircraft), but I'm afraid that this is Cornish stuff we're using here, so rather more authentic for Western Approaches subjects. Flame wars have started on forums over less but you'll just have to deal with this level of recklessness now. For brushing water onto various regions I again found that makeup brushes were more suitable - this one being both wide enough for coverage and soft enough to avoid knocking off any brass hinges (which nonetheless I managed to do to a couple anyway...): 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...': Also known as the dreaded Seeaufklärungsgruppe Dandruff.... I've never tried this technique before but from watching various Tubetorials I think I've got the gist. The hope/ambition/delusion is to try and have the effect tailor-off as we move back from the leading edges of various regions: In adding salt therefore with the intention of spraying a lighter colour, I tried to create this impression through a gradated density of salt. Instead of spraying white (which would have seemed too high-contrast) I went for heavily thinned Medium Sea Grey (Tamiya XF83) - or rather about half an airbrush cup of thinner, with 3-4 drops ofpaint in it, sprayed at 10 psi: I always find the first tentative 'reveal' in such situations a bit of a 'nail-biter', but from first glimpses of a test area on the starboard outer wing (in the photo above) it seemed to be about right, so I held back from going any further: Not only is this an enormously subjective (non-empirical) process regarding colour perception, but it's important (I found) to notice how different lighting angles either accentuate or diminish the intensity of the effect. Look for example at the starboard wing when seen from the reverse angle: For my purposes that looked about enough, though my confidence in the technique grew when I realized that in spraying over Klear with a thinned pigment means that any exaggeration of contrast can be knocked back with a gentle Micromeshing. Still some sort to remove from the ailerons and flaps (the aircraft equivalent of sand in your knickers when changing at the beach...): As a first outing I'm happy enough with the intensity of the effect this time around. When fully dusted and MM'ed back in places to avoid overly-graphic borders between regions I A couple of hinges to rebuild on the starboard aileron as you can see! That will sit for a day or so before I come back to it for a final survey/appraisal of surface effects, giving that all time to settle in my head before commencing final operations. Experience has taught me to put it away for a day or so at this stage and come back to it with a fresh eye - the temporal equivalent I guess of looking at a painting in the mirror, or a landscape in a black glass... All other parts such as aerials, windows etc are painted and Kleared ready for installation so I don't need to build any more than the webbing for the gun mounts before installation. That's it for today amigos. Famille Baron is decamping to Dublin tomorrow to go and see Goya's magnificent Los Caprichos (The Disaster of War): http://www.cbl.ie/getdoc/fcae1939-84ee-486f-8a6e-0212a456d97d/Temporary-Exhibitions.aspx Never having seen any of these prints in the flesh I'm quite excited to get this chance. If you're ever in Dublin, the Chester Beatty library (where these are showing) has a superb cafe - Silk Road - that serves absolutely superb Middle Eastern food: http://www.silkroadkitchen.ie/phone/silk-road-cafe.html They are generous with the portions too, which is always nice. Yum! This may be followed possibly by a visit to Mark's Models to top up on paint and brass... Hunker down, I believe there's more storms a' coming. Los Baron. 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 That is simply excellent; another technique stashed away for future consideration. Salt staining / fading is really hard to get right on a model, but I’d say you’ve nailed it. Maketar are bloomin’ marvellous, aren’t they? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Salt weathering spot on ,to my eye! Can't wait to see this completed Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomoshenko Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Bonkers brilliant Tony, proper bostin loike! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 All this salt work is making me thirsty!!!! She looks wonderful Tony. Putting her to rest is a nice idea, fresh eyes when you come back to her. Enjoy your trip to Dublin sir/family. Simon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 That's shabby! In a good way....!! Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 3 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: That is simply excellent; another technique stashed away for future consideration. Salt staining / fading is really hard to get right on a model, but I’d say you’ve nailed it. 'nuff said methinks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbudde Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 (edited) 8 hours ago, TheBaron said: That will sit for a day or so before I come back to it for a final survey/appraisal of surface effects, giving that all time to settle in my head before commencing final operations. Experience has taught me to put it away for a day or so at this stage and come back to it with a fresh eye - the temporal equivalent I guess of looking at a painting in the mirror, or a landscape in a black glass... Looking very promising so far. Keen on the finish very much. I tried one day something similar with dry earth from the garden on a tank, but never took it to the end. Shame on me, when the weathering stuff is so close on the outside. Anyway. Have some nice days in Dublin. Cheers Oh, or one as I read precisely now. Edited January 2, 2018 by bbudde 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Wow! Very impressed with the salt fading technique! I think the results are superb and will probably give it a try in my Do 24. Cheers Jaime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Beautifully done, and some nicely cleared hurdles that were obviously thrown in by someone wishing to see the Do-wnfall of this one....sorry Enjoy Dublin and the food! Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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