Another 72nd scale Academy SEAC Liberator,..... painting stages

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,

               I`ve rescued this one from the shelf of doom ,....... so as it was basically built up already it had the nose area modified to delete the gun window at the left side of the nose,..... then was sprayed white using a rattle can of Humbrol acrylic matt White as an undercoat for Tamiya Bright White which has a glossy sheen. Masking tape was then applied and Aeromaster Dark Slate Grey was brushed onto the model,.....here it is on my tea tray,..... which is my usual working area these days;

 DSCF2552 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

After a few more coats of DSG,...... Humbrol enamel Extra Dark Sea Grey was brushed on to complete the Temperate Sea Scheme camouflage and the wings were also attached to the model,....as were the end fins. As the reference photos for the chosen aircraft from 160 Sqn RAF and other aircraft from the same unit appeared to have had the rubber de icer boots overpainted with camouflage which has rubbed away in sections, I elected to replicate this by painting the de icer boots black and then sanding and scraping sections away to reveal the camouflage painted underneath; DSCF2581 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

DSCF2579 by Tony OToole, on FlickrDSCF2581 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

The outer wings were painted using gloss varnish ready for the decals and the white areas had a coat of Klear,...ready for the decals;

DSCF2580 by Tony OToole, on FlickrDSCF2581 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

Here are the decals applied,......from the excellent DK Decals RAF & Commonwealth Liberator`s sheet,...... representing FL936/V of 160 Sqn,.... which was later painted Azure Blue overall for long range PRU duties,.... but eventually shot down. The model has received a coat of Aeromaster Matt varnish and also seen are the bomb bay doors,....the rear left one has two holes drilled into it to replicate camera apertures seen on the Lib`s of this unit for their PR duties, the undercarriage and propellers can also be seen plus the British 4 gun Boulton Paul turret components from the Pavla RAF Liberator conversion set;

DSCF2605 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

DSCF2607 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

So that is it for now,

Cheers

         Tony

 

Edit,..... I meant to say that I am going to try to convert the waist window doors into the style of waist gun position mounting twin .303in Brownings which were fitted to many British flown Liberator Mk.III`s,.....I`ve drilled and cut out the centre of the doors and will glaze them using scrap clear plastic,....I`ve not decided whethe to fit the guns yet as the waist positions on this aircraft were often used for oblique photography.  

Edited March 6, 2018 by tonyot

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looking good 👍

[tonyot]

Here are some photos of Liberator Mk.III, FL936/V of 160 Sqn, based in Ceylon;

 

FL936-V 160Sqn Coastal scheme - 5 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

liberator aggra india, raaf crew member nfd by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

This colour side view shows a light blue outline to the fuselage roundel and while some aircraft did have a light outer ring (could have been blue or the original yellow?) the roundel of FL936 appears not to have a light outline. 

22308728_1823841970964075_7510937140333710334_n (1) by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

And here is FL936/V after it was re painted with Azure Blue (not PRU Blue as described in the photo title,....as this actually refers to a later Liberator!),...one of two aircraft in the unit re painted in 1943 as a colour scheme experiment for long range PR duties;

most likely FL936-V, 160 Sqn note earlier pitot and no nose window. PRU Blue overall - 8 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

Other 160 Sqn Liberator`s in India, which were used for reference;

 

In this view, FL936/V can be seen in the distance (as seen in the first photo) under the wing of FL945/H,.... note the camera apertures in the rear bomb bay doors and also the worn rubber de icer boots with camouflage paint flaking away,...the temperate red white and blue fin stripes were retained on the unit until light blue replaced white for the centre of the roundels;

pl18232 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

Cheers

           Tony

 

 

Edited March 6, 2018 by tonyot

[heloman1]

Nice rescue Tony, the white came up very nice. A satisfying feeling when you can bring an old tired model back to life...

 

Colin

[Jonners]

Looking good, Tony, and the way that you've recreated the worn de-icing boot paint seems very effective.

Jon

[Blitz23]

Always a big fan of your builds Tony, looks great!

[tonyot]

Thanks for your kind words everybody,....... a bit more progress today;

DSCF2611 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

As you can see,...... having removed the masking tape from the nose glazing,.....and despite blocking up every orifice ,.... the white spray has found itself inside the glazing!!! The nose glazing cannot be removed either as it was faired in using filler as it was slightly too large for the nose!!! So,...... I`m trying to polish the inside using cotton buds and cocktail sticks through the nose wheel bay door and astro bubble opening! Also seen are the waist gun gatches, having been cut down in order to make the British style used on Liberator Mk.III`s and some V`s;

DSCF2608 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

And here are the finished waist hatches, with clear plastic windows made from scrap plastic and framework made from black painted plastic strip;

DSCF2614 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

For comparison, here are the British twin .303in Browning waist gun positions on another 160 Sqn Liberator;

160 lib1 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

160lib3 - Copy by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

The gunner stood to one side of his twin guns which were remotely aimed,........

 

 

Compared to the standard USAAF style waist gun position containing a .5in Browning with a hatch that opened upwards and inwards as seen on most Liberator`s apart from the early British aircraft and also the later variants which had squared off glazed positions;

 

liberator bz826 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

Gunners window by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

And for interest,.... here is the 4 x .303in Browning equipped Boulton Paul turret (similar to that used on the Halifax), which was fitted to the RAF Liberator Mk.II- VI variants;

 

standard (1) by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

I`m using the Pavla conversion set for the latter,..... but may have cocked the glazing up a little!!

 

Cheers

          Tony 

   

Edited March 8, 2018 by tonyot

[Mr T]

I was looking at an old Matchbox Halifax and wondered if the BP turret off that would work. I have the Pavla set for the CC Liberators and the glazing does look quite fragile

Edited March 8, 2018 by Mr T
Tidying up

[tonyot]

14 hours ago, Mr T said:

I was looking at an old Matchbox Halifax and wondered if the BP turret off that would work. I have the Pavla set for the CC Liberators and the glazing does look quite fragile

I did use the Matchbox turret for my previous Liberator Mk.III,..... and agreed,.... the Pavla turret glazing is very fragile! 

Well its finished at last,..... thanks for all the kind comments folks;

DSCF2645 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

DSCF2665 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

Cheers

          Tony

[stevehnz]

That is everso nice Tony, I'm liking that a lot.

Steve.

[TheBaron]

I do like the way that you've reclaimed this aircraft - it looks most fine and sits quite convincingly in that last photo.

Lovely work,

Tony

[occa]

Another excellently researched looker !!

 

Tony, is it known what codes and markings the Azure Blue version had ?

[Gazontipede]

Another marvelous job Tony. Clearing the interior of the nose glazing from the white over (under?) spray must have taken the patience of a saint!

 

Given your undeniable talent with the hairy stick, do you have any suggestions or advice for using brushes over large surfaces?

I'm currently trying a 1/72 Tamiya Mosquito PR.IV and finding a degree of difficulty in getting the paint (Tamiya acrylic mix thinned to skim milk consistency and multiple thin coats) to behave over large surfaces. It just doesn't seem to want to go on smoothly as I'd like.

Up to this point I've only built 1/72 single seaters (Spit, Tiffie & Tomahawk) and things have gone well with the finish being quite smooth after a few coats. Not so with the Mossie wings and fuselage alas. Small bits like the nose section seem to be behaving just fine, oddly.

It may be something as simple as needing a larger brush - currently using a 1/2" flat. Any suggestions?

[tonyot]

47 minutes ago, occa said:

Another excellently researched looker !!

 

Tony, is it known what codes and markings the Azure Blue version had ?

Cheers Occa,

                 Re the Azure Blue repaint,...... there were two of them,...... what I believe is FL936 retained the code V and it can just be made out in the photo, painted in what appears to be black, behind the waist gun positions. Note that it also has had anti glare `boxes' fitted over the superchargers, as per the later 100 Group Liberator`s. I have a feeling that DK Decals may be releasing this option on a future sheet. The roundels still appear to be blue and white to me,.....and this compared well with the date of the repaint trial which was 29/03/43.

 

Cheers,

           Tony 

 

[tonyot]

1 hour ago, Gazontipede said:

Another marvelous job Tony. Clearing the interior of the nose glazing from the white over (under?) spray must have taken the patience of a saint!

 

Given your undeniable talent with the hairy stick, do you have any suggestions or advice for using brushes over large surfaces?

I'm currently trying a 1/72 Tamiya Mosquito PR.IV and finding a degree of difficulty in getting the paint (Tamiya acrylic mix thinned to skim milk consistency and multiple thin coats) to behave over large surfaces. It just doesn't seem to want to go on smoothly as I'd like.

Up to this point I've only built 1/72 single seaters (Spit, Tiffie & Tomahawk) and things have gone well with the finish being quite smooth after a few coats. Not so with the Mossie wings and fuselage alas. Small bits like the nose section seem to be behaving just fine, oddly.

It may be something as simple as needing a larger brush - currently using a 1/2" flat. Any suggestions?

Hello Mate,.....thanks and glad you liked the Lib!

Gosh I wish I had a quid for every time somebody asks how I brush paint,.....but no worries, glad to help if I can.

- Brushes,...... I use fine artists brushes and find that when covering larger areas a wide flat brush does the trick better as it is quicker to fill them in and uses less paint.

- Paints,.....I use various paints,....acrylics and enamels but prefer the old Polly Scale and Aeromaster acrylics,....however my stock is rapidly running down. I don`t generally thin my paints,....but when using Tamiya paints I find that mixing it with flow enhancer helps,....Vallejo 73.524 Thinner Medium is the one which works best,..but it can be tricky to get right and Tamiya is a sod to work with.

- Method,...... I try to apply as little amount of paint as possible and find it easier to sand each coat and then apply another on top,....building the layers up rather than slopping it on. It usually takes 2-3 coats to get a decent finish and for the last one it is more of a dry brush application, scuffing the colour on. This scuffing also helps to flatten any brush marks from earlier coats and a final light sanding and buffing helps to flatten the paint again.

- Varnish,.... I always apply a coat of Humbrol 35 Gloss Varnish (from the large tins,....not the bottles or small tinlets) as this helps to level the paint again and provides a good basis for the decals. Another coat of gloss seals the decals into place and then the matt varnish,.... whichever one I can get,..... is applied in the same way as the paint layers,...... a final dry brushing/scuffing of the varnish helps to remove any brush marks. 

Cheers

         Tony

[Gazontipede]

Thanks Tony! I'll give the sanding between coats a shot. (I'm a bit stuck with Tamiya acrylics at the moment.)
I'm not surprised you get asked about your brush painting a lot. You get results that many of the rest of us can only dream about aspiring to.

 

Do you think you'll give the azure blue Lib a shot at some point?

[tonyot]

11 hours ago, Gazontipede said:

Thanks Tony! I'll give the sanding between coats a shot. (I'm a bit stuck with Tamiya acrylics at the moment.)
I'm not surprised you get asked about your brush painting a lot. You get results that many of the rest of us can only dream about aspiring to.

 

Do you think you'll give the azure blue Lib a shot at some point?

Oh yes,....I`ll be doing the Azure Blue one a go,.....and probably the PRU Blue one too,...... hopefully DK Decals will be including them on their next RAF Liberator sheet,.... I`ve been helping them with it!

Good luck with the painting,

Cheers

          Tony 

[modelling minion]

More great work Tony.

Think you can get DK to release some of these great schemes in 1/48?

Would be nice if someone did the BP turret in 1/48 too, especially as the Monogram ones have very visible joints where there shouldn't be any.

[Rabbit Leader]

On 10 March 2018 at 11:49 PM, tonyot said:

Oh yes,....I`ll be doing the Azure Blue one a go,.....and probably the PRU Blue one too,...... hopefully DK Decals will be including them on their next RAF Liberator sheet,.... I`ve been helping them with it!

Good luck with the painting,

Cheers

          Tony 

I was only just thinking that you'd make a great research aid to Franta from DK Decals Tony! 

So good to hear this as DK have been very prolific of late and have some very exciting decals schemes in the works. 

 

Cheers.. Dave

[tonyot]

2 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

I was only just thinking that you'd make a great research aid to Franta from DK Decals Tony! 

So good to hear this as DK have been very prolific of late and have some very exciting decals schemes in the works. 

 

Cheers.. Dave

Yes,.... we`ve been coming up with some good stuff!! He likes doing the interesting s which others don`t,.... mainly because he is a superb artist who can get intricate nose art correct. I`ve helped on quite a few sheets,.....but never been credited for some reason!

2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

More great work Tony.

Think you can get DK to release some of these great schemes in 1/48?

Would be nice if someone did the BP turret in 1/48 too, especially as the Monogram ones have very visible joints where there shouldn't be any.

Cheers mate,......and I`m trying!!! Yes a BP turret would be nice,....... but then we need a Halifax to go with one too!!

 

Tony

[heloman1]

Congratulations mate, that looks rather tasty.

 

Colin

[tonyot]

40 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

Congratulations mate, that looks rather tasty.

 

Colin

Cheers Colin,....lookinf forward to your Merlin too,

 

Tony

[heloman1]

Hi Tony. no progress this last week, we were away campimng over last weekend and then the throat came back again. Doc put me on meds, little enthusiasm at present.

 

Colin