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SAAF Dakota - ESCI kit


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I don't think I've posted anything in the WiP section before now, but I've been getting more than a little bit cheesed off with my seeming inability to produce decent results as I get older.  I posted under the 'Chat' section and other forum members offered very sound advice. Instead of drifting that thread I've decided to start this WiP as an incentive for me to extract digit!

 

The model is already well on its way to being completed, but it's the final finish that causes me the greatest frustration so that's where this thread is focussing.

 

Here's the base kit, bought for a tenner at the last Driffield show:

20180303_104112

I know that the latest Airfix kit is very nice, but with a bit of effort the ESCI kit is okay. 

 

I have a small assortment of DC-3 / C-47 decals, some probably being 30 years old:

20180303_105140

 

As a kid in South Africa in the early 80's, however, I regularly saw SAAF Dakotas droning overhead and thought that they looked the business (if rather antiquated). 

 

My parents bought me this superb, well-known book of Herman Potgieter's photos - this is the SA edition sold under the 'Princess' label: 

20180303_113043

...and this Potgieter photo in particular shows the scheme that I want to reproduce:

20180303_113031

 

To help with the blue castle insignia I have some of these old Superscale decal sheets, which are very nice except for all the fin markings having red instead of orange stripes. Not a problem here, as the camouflaged SAAF Dakotas didn't have fin markings:

20180303_110424

 

So, that's the kit and inspiration; next is the partially-completed WiP.

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Nice Jonners, I’d better go and check my stash as the first three photos look very familiar to my own  personal collection. I bought the same kit for a Tenner (Aussie dollars!), have quite a few of those decals and also own that great SAAF book as I fell in love with all the great photos when I first flicked though it many years ago. 

 

Look forward to some positive and encouraging Dakota progress. 

 

Cheers.. Dave. 

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Here is the model which, as I said previously, is quite late on in the building process. The top colour is lighter than the Dark Earth specified in the SAAF scheme, but DE seems far too dark when compared with photographs (and the aircraft as I remember them).  I used Ford Tuscan Beige from a Halfords rattlecan; fingers crossed. The underside was hand-painted in PRU Blue, firstly using Humbrol acrylic 230 which left a 'bitty' finish despite my best efforts so I rubbed the bits back and handpainted again using Xtracolour enamel. I then gave the whole model a good rub down with some of my 20-year-old Micromesh bundle and broke out the blu-tack and Tamiya tape:

20180301_081516

 

A search in the outside workshop brought my Badger 200 airbrush out of deep hibernation...

20180301_082057

and I rigged up a foldaway spray booth out of cardboard boxes with an extractor fan in the utility room.

 

Unfortunately I discovered that the paint drops back into the pot when the airbrush trigger is released, leading to a delay at each attempt to spray, so I cleaned it to within an inch of its life yet the problem remained.  Study of a parts diagram leads me to think that it is missing its needle bearing, so a new one is on order. Hopefully it will arrive soon while enthusiasm remains high!

Wait, out.

Jon

Edited by Jonners
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Thanks for the encouragement, Dave.  I also strongly recommend this Potgieter book for SAAF enthusiasts:

20180303_125756

The photography is stunning.

 

Apologies as usual for the inexpert photography, which is courtesy of my smartphone. The Tuscan Beige seems very pink under artificial light, but it isn't too bad under natural lighting:

20180303_125056

Jon

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Very slow progress with the Dak, by which I mean virtually none as I'm still waiting for delivery of a new airbrush needle bearing.  In the meantime I've completed the wheels and props but will leave them off until everything else has been completed.

20180306_141947

Jon

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On 3/3/2018 at 6:15 AM, Jonners said:

20180303_110424

Have the same Decals in my file. I had always planned to spray the orange first then remove the red and place the decal.

     I agree with the others above your work looks good. I think we (all modelers) can sometimes be overcritical of our own work. 

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I love this scheme on the Dak and you seem to be doing a superb job so far,...... popcorn at the ready,....I`m going to enjoy this one!!!

 

Cheers

        Tony

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Thanks for the very encouraging responses, everyone. I'm hopeful that the airbrush part will arrive today and, crucially, that it will fix the paint feed problem so that I can make progress!

Jon

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The new needle bearing for my airbrush arrived in this morning's post; in terms of cost vs weight you'd think it was intended for the Space Shuttle. £6.48 for a titchy piece of plastic that measures 4.5mm x 2.5mm.  Yes, I was sad enough to actually measure it!  (For our colonial chums, £6.48 is quite a lot for a teeny plastic tube - at least it is in Yorkshire.)

20180307_133255

What made it rather more irritating was that, when I tried to fit it, the original bearing was actually still in the airbrush! Instead of being bright white it had darkened with past use and I simply hadn't spotted it. A good push with a flattened cocktail stick returned its snug fit around the needle. So, I now have a spare needle bearing (but not that £6.48...).

 

Anyway, Yorkshire grumbling aside, off I went for a bit of years-out-of-practice airbrushing. I thinned down some Xtracolour Helicopter Olive Drab as I used to get reasonable results with Xtracolours, but I really didn't get on with it at all. Having nearly dragged defeat from the jaws of victory I reloaded with Humbrol 116 enamel which was a huge improvement and left me just about winning on points:

20180307_154611

 

Careful later removal of the masking, which was my first ever attempt at using blu-tack, has resulted in this effort:

20180307_194144

(Under artificial light on my desk.) There are parts where my near-disaster will need rectification, and the Micromesh will be called into action once the paint has dried thoroughly, but I'm fairly pleased with the results which will doubtless improve once I get back to using an airbrush regularly.

 

The Tuscan Beige is definitely too light, even taking scale effect into account, looking closer to the deep buff used on the old Mirage scheme rather than dark earth. I'll have to live with it.

Jon

 

PS.  £6.48!!!!

Edited by Jonners
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Flipping heck! I'm going cross-eyed...

 

So, the paintwork has been touched up (as far as I can be bothered with), the surface imperfections have been Micromeshed (ditto) and a couple of coats of Klear have been applied. Time for decalling, which is usually my favourite part of a build as everything comes together at this stage.

 

The emergency exits and cutaway points on the camouflaged SAAF Dakotas were liberally outlined in short yellow stripes and yellow stencilled text. It seemed to me that these stripes would be straightforward to replicate using sections of thin yellow decal stripe.

20180309_202620

 

Ye gods! Each stripe is only about a millimetre long and I'm on the verge of borrowing my wife's reading glasses! And I've just noticed how the photograph magnifies how some of the corners don't quite match together. Curses.

 

Not sure how I'm going to represent the tiny yellow text, but I'll come up with something - if I still have any enthusiasm after putting all the tiny stripes on the port side!

 

Jon

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On 7-3-2018 at 9:23 PM, Jonners said:

The new needle bearing for my airbrush arrived in this morning's post; in terms of cost vs weight you'd think it was intended for the Space Shuttle. £6.48 for a titchy piece of plastic that measures 4.5mm x 2.5mm.  Yes, I was sad enough to actually measure it!  (For our colonial chums, £6.48 is quite a lot for a teeny plastic tube - at least it is in Yorkshire.)

20180307_133255

What made it rather more irritating was that, when I tried to fit it, the original bearing was actually still in the airbrush! Instead of being bright white it had darkened with past use and I simply hadn't spotted it. A good push with a flattened cocktail stick returned its snug fit around the needle. So, I now have a spare needle bearing (but not that £6.48...).

 

Anyway, Yorkshire grumbling aside, off I went for a bit of years-out-of-practice airbrushing. I thinned down some Xtracolour Helicopter Olive Drab as I used to get reasonable results with Xtracolours, but I really didn't get on with it at all. Having nearly dragged defeat from the jaws of victory I reloaded with Humbrol 116 enamel which was a huge improvement and left me just about winning on points:

20180307_154611

 

Careful later removal of the masking, which was my first ever attempt at using blu-tack, has resulted in this effort:

20180307_194144

(Under artificial light on my desk.) There are parts where my near-disaster will need rectification, and the Micromesh will be called into action once the paint has dried thoroughly, but I'm fairly pleased with the results which will doubtless improve once I get back to using an airbrush regularly.

 

The Tuscan Beige is definitely too light, even taking scale effect into account, looking closer to the deep buff used on the old Mirage scheme rather than dark earth. I'll have to live with it.

Jon

 

PS.  £6.48!!!!

 

On 7-3-2018 at 11:22 PM, Tempestwulf said:

That tiny bit's about $12 NZ, a bit silly for such a tiny bit but necessary evil. I've had to replace my Tamiya sprayworks nozzle before after dropping the a/b with the guard off, so I feel the pain. I felt stupid too.

The price regarding this teflon part looks expensive but hey they are supposed to last as long as your airbrush!

I have never replaced one in the 25 years that i own my Badgers, i just replaced one nozzle set and two needles in all those years as well..

I love those airbrushes as the parts are still available and production after all these years..

 

But anyway i love your build Jon can't wait to see it finished!

It looks nice allready.

 

Cheers, Jan

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, janneman36 said:

But anyway i love your build Jon can't wait to see it finished!

Thanks Jan; it isn't going to win any competitions but I'm enjoying doing it.

53 minutes ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

You are a very patient person to apply all those bits of yellow decal Jon,

Hah! My wife would think you were talking about a different chap...thanks anyway. I think those tiny bits of stripe will bug me every time I look at them because they aren't absolutely in line or equal in length - but life's too short. They'll do.

Jon

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So, after some reasonably full-on real aviation at work, I come home and relax with a bit of...replica aviation!!  

 

Nothing too dramatic*, just more slightly tedious adding of tiny yellow stripes on the port side and the early stages of adding yellow to the door hinges.  Not completely done yet, but nearly there.

20180311_205130

I really must stop taking these close-up pics, as they only highlight how rough my efforts really are!

 

I'm contemplating finishing the model as Dakota 6885, as the aerials, camouflage and long engine air filters all match that aircraft. There is a small MAV Decals sheet for 6892 as it appears in Hermann Potgieter's photo earlier in this thread, but this aircraft carried the smallest intakes and, in an increasingly-common absence of mind, I forgot about this earlier in the build.

 

Unfortunately my collection of spare decals does not include suitable numbers, so I'll have to come up with a plan for that bit.

 

Jon

 

*Unlike the real aviation at work...

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Slow but steady progress. National markings (from the old Superscale sheet) have been applied, wheels have been fitted and the tail number has been contrived from some 1/48 Airfix Spitfire Mk1 serials - these are a bit smaller than they should be for a SAAF Dakota, but they're the closest numbers that I could find. I can live with it.  

20180312_134013

The soft edges of the camouflage vary between acceptable and rubbish, but that's down to how I wielded my airbrush vs the blu-tack masking. A (re)learning point. The yellow escape hatch markings are pretty much complete, bar a couple of stripes, and the yellow 'text' still has to be added to most of the yellow-edged instruction panels.

20180312_134142

I've realised that the blade aerials aren't quite the right shapes (and the front aerial still needs 'wings' adding), but I'll probably keep them as they are.

 

Still to do:

- Finish the yellow bits.

- Overall matt varnish coat.

- Paint the aerials.

- Add the props.

 

Jon

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Hi Jon,

 

this looks real good, and I think you are pretty much spot on with the tan color.

Beautiful Dak.

JR

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59 minutes ago, jean said:

this looks real good, and I think you are pretty much spot on with the tan color.

Beautiful Dak.

Thanks JR, good of you to say so. Yes, the tan colour is growing on me. A straight Dark Earth would definitely be far too dark, even though that is the specified original colour. 

 

Perhaps a silver and white one next time.

 

Jon

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I think the colours are actually very close to an operational aircraft. The "dark earth" bleached quite a bit. Just a sugestion: you can try to slightly town down the colour even more by adding a very light mist of pale grey once all decals are on and the matt coat is on and dry.

 

I have the same kit, built many years ago, which is up for restauration due to the brown being dark earth and not the actual lighter shade. So I'm following with interest....

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12 hours ago, Rizon said:

you can try to slightly town down the colour even more by adding a very light mist of pale grey once all decals are on and the matt coat is on and dry.

Maybe so, Rizon; I understand what you mean by toning it down.  I am probably going to try some subtle weathering by drybrushing (and 'dryscrubbing' - just made that up) using slightly lighter matt enamels. 

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