shortCummins Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 looking very nice so far. I've not used any of the Flory washes however I have used the UMP versions, don't know/care which (if any) are better but I do know they "stick" far more to non-gloss surfaces. I "normally" only use "dry" Q-Tips or kitchen towel to remove the dried wash(s) from gloss surfaces, I tend to use aqua gloss rather than Klear so I don't know if that makes a difference? using them on a "flat" surface makes them far more difficult to remove. love a sharks mouth Spit 👍 rgds John(shortCummins) 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 That wash looks really good to me John - popping the detail and 'dirtying' the finish nicely. Good job 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 Hi fella, hope you are well, the wash on the Spitfire wing looked great, I can never get a consistent look with the wash I use oils in the panel lines it takes a bit longer but get a better results for me that is. I must retry and get more practice. Have you done anymore on the 32nd Spitfire yet? All the best Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted May 25, 2020 Author Share Posted May 25, 2020 Thanks Chris. I have some oils but don’t like the idea of smelly solvents as SWMBO has a very sensitive nose whereas my sense of smell has almost entirely disappeared over the last few years. I usually use watercolour washes and pastels, but I thought I’d give the Florey washes a try. The 1/32 Spitfire is still ‘ waiting in the wings ‘ and I want to try something different next, but I might re-activate it as well, I usually have a Spitfire ( or two ) going on in the background. Stay safe everyone. John 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 Hi John Yes the smell can be off putting, I will have to practice a bit more. I will pick up my Spit again soon and have a 48th Vb on the go at the moment well, nearly finished. Will be good to see your 32nd one on the bench again. Stay safe and all the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted May 26, 2020 Author Share Posted May 26, 2020 I’ve now spread some ‘ mud ‘ behind the wheel wells and some black gouache along the underside to represent the heavy oil staining invariably seen on the Spitfire, although I might still ‘ adjust ‘ this. On the upper surface I have done some light chipping applied with a sponge on the wing roots before spraying a coat of W&N flat varnish, and when this had dried I attempted to represent some dirt/mud usually seen around the chipping on the wing roots but with pastel dust this time, I have a very limited range of Flory washes and could not get a colour I was satisfied with. While on the subject of the washes, I find that after a thorough shaking they are very frothy in the neck of the bottles, perhaps because they are still relatively full, so I am dipping a pipette past the froth to get to a lower level and this seems to have reduced the ‘ beading ‘ as well. I added a very small amount of pale grey to the varnish in the hope of achieving a slightly faded finish, which I didn’t think had worked very well until I compared the finish to MH 434 and there is a detectable difference although it doesn’t show too well in the ‘photo. Finally an overall plan view which shows some of the areas overpainted in RAAF Dark Sea Grey like starboard outer wing and fuselage behind the cockpit, and RAAF Foliage Green further back on the fuselage, and on the starboard tailplane One thing I am slightly dissapointed with is the white leading edges, I did not intend them to be quite so scruffy and I had created a ridge between them and the camouflage which has made it difficult to remove the wash. Now if I can find the canopy, wheels, cockpit flap and arial I’ll be nearly there. Thats it for now, as usual all comments welcome. Stay safe out there. John. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Looking good John 3 minutes ago, Biggles87 said: One thing I am slightly dissapointed with is the white leading edges, I did not intend them to be quite so scruffy and I had created a ridge between them and the camouflage which has made it difficult to remove the wash. Got any Micromesh? It's great for removing ridges and bumps without scratching the surrounding paint. I'm not very good at 'grit' but I have a piece of 4000 on the bench for 'rubbing down' (gently) stuff like this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 on both accounts Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted May 26, 2020 Author Share Posted May 26, 2020 Micromesh! What a good idea, why didn’t I think of that? I’ll have to rub off the varnish first, but it’s acrylic so shouldn’t be too difficult. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 Looking very nice John. Shame about the ridge but as others have said should be able to knock it back a bit with some fine micromesh. They look very impressive together fella. All the best Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted May 28, 2020 Author Share Posted May 28, 2020 Well did y’ever have one of those days boys? Yesterday I had a plan, I would lightly rescribe some of the underwing panel lines, apply more wash, remove the oil staining because I wasn’t happy with it, then return after an hour to rub off the excess wash before giving the underside a coat of W&N flat varnish. This is what actually happened. The rescribing went well and the oil staines were removed, then I got out the ‘ dark dirt ‘ wash and started to apply it to the required areas, so far so good. It was at this point that I managed to tip over the bottle and spread about a third of it over the bench and should have listened to the little voice in my head saying “ stop now “ rather than carrying on. After cleaning up the mess, I went off to do other things then returned to wipe off the wash and prepared for the flat coat. I mixed up the varnish and set the compressor to give about 12-15 psi but when I started it I was only getting about 5psi through the airbrush and no varnish! When I removed the nozzle tip the pressure rose but then dropped again when I replaced it, so I decided to dismantle the Airbrush ( a Neo ) but struggled to remove the needle, and then I realised that after I had last used it, which had also been for flat varnish, I was called away to talk to someone and had not gone back to clean it. I put it in my ultrasonic cleaner for about 5 minutes and now for good measure, it has been soaking in cleaning solution for nearly 24 hours. I think I’ll concentrate on ‘434 for a while. Oh yes, nearly forgot. I tried rubbing back the white leading edges with Micromesh as advised to no avail, in fact it looks worse now, so I'm going for the extremely weathered look Frustrated of Haute Vienne. John 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 Those days happen to everyone, John. Just move away and resume another day, with fresher mind. Coincidentally, the same thing happened to me last time I sprayed Tamiya Gloss Black on my current Lightning build; I left all the residual paint inside the airbrush cup overnight! Luckily, a full load of cellulose thinner in the cup, left there for a whole day, sorted it Keep going Ciao 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 Sorry to hear about the woes John At least, knowing that bad things come in threes, you should be fine from now on… 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted May 29, 2020 Author Share Posted May 29, 2020 Thanks for the sympathy guys, airbrush sorted now. john 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted June 8, 2020 Author Share Posted June 8, 2020 No I hadn’t given up, it’s just that life got in the way on many levels since the last update so there has been little time for modelling. On MH434 I did managed to refit the snapped off undercarriage leg and fit the canopy so I’m calling her finished now ( except for some minimal exhaust staining ) and have finally decided on a scruffy underside finish for the Mk VIII. All that is left is to fit the canopy, aerial and pitot and that will also be done, and they should be appearing in RFI in the next few days. Just noticed that I have forgotten the tail wheel doors! I should have another couple of items for RFI soon and then I’m planning to build an Eduard 1/48 Bf108 which I started in the UK just before we left for France 15 years ago! Thanks to all who have stuck with me during this long build, and for your advise and encouragement. Stay safe. John. 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 A stunning result - a great pair of Spitfires. Stay safe Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Nice finish John, good job 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Great job, john! Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Nice work John, two very nice Spits! Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Looking very smart, that pair. Have you seen this video yet? This is from Duxford BoB show 2019. I was there. I still get goosebumps watching this. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Just watched an old episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot John, in which the plans of Britain's latest pre-war fighter (the Mayfield Kestrel - or as the company owner said 'until we find a better name' - shades of the Shrew!) are 'stolen' by a German sympathiser. Anyway, as can be guessed wheeled out of the hangar is a Spitfire. But instead of an early mark they used a MkIX - despite googling I can't find if it was MH434, but with a couple of short entertaining 'Hanna-ish' displays I guess it might have been. Thing is it was painted overall in a lovely light blue that I suspect was possibly meant to imitate the prototype Spit's often discussed colour. It looked very pretty and I'm very tempted to build one of my Spits as a 'Mayfield Kestrel'....!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted June 9, 2020 Author Share Posted June 9, 2020 Thanks for posting the video alt-92. I watched it with a huge lump in my throat, I wish I’d been there too. I was at the BoB 60th anniversary show at Duxford and as I got out of the car all of the BoB Memorial Flight Spitfires arrived in formation and did a ‘ run an break ‘ into the circuit, it made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I watched that episode of Poirot too Keith, I’m pretty sure it was MH434. John PS the only slightly disappointing aspect of my Spitfire flight was that the Merlin didn’t sound the same from Inside the aircraft. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted June 9, 2020 Share Posted June 9, 2020 3 hours ago, Biggles87 said: I’m pretty sure it was MH434. It was John, did a bit more searching after posting and found a 434 history page that had thumbnails of all her star appearances and poirot was shown there. I also recorded the prog off catch up & I'm pretty sure the pilot climbing in was Ray Hanna and not an actor. Going to see if i can mix a 'close enough' blue later...!! Keith 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted June 9, 2020 Author Share Posted June 9, 2020 You may have noticed that the cockpit entry flap is closed, it was tacked on that way with PVA when I used a spare cockpit as masking for spraying the varnish. Unfortunately it has been tacked on for too long and is now reluctant to come off and I don’t want to risk removing anything with it, so it will have to stay that way. John 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted June 22, 2020 Author Share Posted June 22, 2020 The Mk VIII has finally made it to RFI along with a friend, if anyone's interested. Hunter F5 next.( the Bf 108 will have to wait ) Stay safe everyone. John 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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