amblypygid Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 Never fear, Chris! I haven't even looked at the Revell colour call-outs. About all that can be seen is the gear casing (thank you!) and the cylinders. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted May 14, 2018 Author Share Posted May 14, 2018 But first I turned back to the stabilisers. I primed them with grey Stynylrez/UMP primer while on the empennage, detached them, then started to lay down some VMA yellow. (Yes, you may be wondering what I was thinking. You are correct to do so.) The yellow covered the unprimed part perfectly in a single coat. Two coats later I had a mucky looking, runny, horrible yellow. So I sanded it all back to the bare plastic and started again tonight. Looks like two thin coats should be enough, with the enticing possibility that the remaining bits of primer that I didn't sand off will add some shading. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted May 15, 2018 Author Share Posted May 15, 2018 Before striping: And after Some touching up required. I can live with the slightly too thin black stripe on the left... Can't say I find masking stripes much fun, it's more nerve-wracking than I'd thought. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted May 16, 2018 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Nice stripes Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted May 16, 2018 Author Share Posted May 16, 2018 Thanks, Ced. I'm an idiot, though - got home tonight and thought "I've got time to spray the other side before the boy gets back from his swimming lesson". Even though my usual test spray spattered obviously and widely, I thought it would all be fine. Wrong. Why do I continue when I know there's a bloody problem? Still not sure quite why it was spattering so badly, couldn't see any tip clog and it was otherwise flowing freely on exactly the same pressure and paint consistency as last night. Wiped it off as best I could and I'm just hoping that the masking holds up and I can cover with a better coat tomorrow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 I feel your pain Chris - when that happens to me (often) I go for a strip down (fnaar!) then I deep clean the airbrush! 'Something' is blocking the flow and it could be tiny... I think I need to follow the advice from some on here and clean my AB with something stronger. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Chris: this is a very promising start! I like what you did with the wheel wells, and cockpit even though it won't be seen much I too recognize the strange notion of continue to spray even though everything has started to get pearshaped, it mus t be something in our heads that's not properly connected or something. In the end I'm quite sure that the fins will look the business! And stop tempting me with bombers, I'm on a Jet diet now thank you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted May 18, 2018 Share Posted May 18, 2018 Handsome stripes Chris. Add me to the list of people continuing to spray in denial - though it's slowly turning into a diagnostic process. I can't remember if you're spraying enamel or acrylic but if the latter a good strip down and scrub with IPA usually sorts out any issues. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted May 19, 2018 Author Share Posted May 19, 2018 Thanks, chaps. Nearly had another moment with the a/b this morning, but whatever it was passed quickly and thereafter the primer went down smoothly enough. Gave the a/b a good clean afterwards, though there's always some that gets into the impossible to clean housing behind the paint cup, isn't there? I've applied grey primer over the upper surfaces, with a deliberately mottled coverage on the wings to help bring some variation to the camo that will go over the top. This is also a big moment, one of the landmarks in a build: the wings are on and she's looking, umm, well, decidedly big. I'm going to have to get used to big as of late I've been picking up boxes with 1/48 jet kits inside (last night I acquired a Hobbyboss A-6 Intruder from MJW; well, it would be rude to ignore the chance to get a 50% discount, wouldn't it?) Here she lies in the painting station: There's some obvious seams on the backs of those inboard nacelles, eh? I think I should be doing some remedial work there to smooth them out. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 Nice mottling Chris, intrigued to see how that turns out 10 minutes ago, amblypygid said: there's always some that gets into the impossible to clean housing behind the paint cup I've been told that you should 'back flush' the last clean rinse by blocking the nozzle and (gently) blowing air back through the AB so it bubbles in the cup and, hopefully, gets to that area. I bought a nozzle blocker from Modelling Tools but you can do this probably just as well by holding something (wet paper towel you're using for the clean?) over the nozzle. HTH 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted May 19, 2018 Author Share Posted May 19, 2018 Yeah, I back-flush but it never quite gets it fully clean. I've taken to passing the needle all the way through a few times from back to front, as this always seems to bring some lightly pigmented fluid into the main chamber where it can be soaked up with a cotton bud, and then leaving some thinner in the cup until the next session (theorising that capillary action will pull some of this back along the needle and at least reduce the likelihood of the needle getting stuck, which has happened to me a few times in the past). What I really need is a very thin, long, brush; lots of pipecleaners advertised as being "small" but if anyone has any recommendations, please pipe up! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted May 19, 2018 Author Share Posted May 19, 2018 21 minutes ago, CedB said: Nice mottling Chris, intrigued to see how that turns out I suspect it'll be "very subtle" and only visible in the right light with a bit of imagination. Off to Duxford after lunch (yay!) but I might be able to get a coat of dark earth on it this weekend. I've also just spotted that a small gap has opened up below the port side of the cockpit glazing, which wasn't there when I glued it last night. Hopefully not too much primer has penetrated the cockpit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 Primer looks nice! Looking forward to seeing it painted! Håkan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted May 19, 2018 Share Posted May 19, 2018 Have a great time at Duxford - photos please! 6 hours ago, amblypygid said: What I really need is a very thin, long, brush I've got some wire things that came in a set and use them, sometimes. I've also seen a video somewhere showing an interdental brush head being used, pulled off the holder and stuck on a stick - they come in different sizes so might be worth a look? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted May 20, 2018 Author Share Posted May 20, 2018 Afraid there was no one to take photos, Ced. The rest of the family went on a Rapide five minutes before I was due to Harvard, all part of a cunning plan to mollify my son, who went utterly berserk last year when I flew a Tiger Moth and he wasn't allowed to join me. However, the Harvard I was due to fly was diverted to perform a manual inspection of a Sea Fury's malfunctioning undercarriage. By the time that had been sorted (safely, thank goodness), the pilot had decided that fuel consumption was a bit high, so wanted to refuel (cue debate with ground crew as Classic Wings haven't operated this aircraft for long enough to know its quirks). By this time my wife had no idea what was going on, had assumed that I'd taken off earlier and couldn't find me. We eventually landed about an hour later than originally expected. All well in the end, a great flight, and I established a tradition of only flying aircraft painted in trainer yellow. I also got the opportunity when we landed to experience a PR.XI do some high speed flypasts on its second day of flight. Actually, I saw a lot of firsts for me yesterday: finally got to see the Blenheim aloft (first over my house in the morning, again in the afternoon), then the newly resident P-47D as we drove up to the museum (wonderful to see a Jug flying at Duxford). Lots of other flying too. Classic Wings were busy all day with all of their usual types, and there was a high energy display from TFC's Corsair. Given that a fair few types were over at La Ferté-Alais for their airshow, I was pretty chuffed. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Sounds like a thrilling day out Chris. Nice one! That mottling looks a good basis for some excellent paint variation. I like that technique myself because of the way it introduces such a nice variation as you move around then aircraft in the light, but which always makes it so damnably hard to reproduce in a photograph... Lovely work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted May 20, 2018 Author Share Posted May 20, 2018 Thanks, Tony. I'm not sure that much variation shows up in the Dark Earth coat, though. Reminded me how much of a time saver an airbrush can be, even with all the cleaning faff. I brush painted my Halifax B.II, and that took weeks of work just to get a single colour on, compared to 20 minutes with the spitter. Some areas (stbd elevator, port engines) where the mix ran too thin, but conveniently most of those will be covered up with Dark Green. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Sounds like you had an interesting time Chris - Harvards are thirsty, I'm told Great result on the finish - I can see a variation on the port wing especially... nice! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted May 20, 2018 Author Share Posted May 20, 2018 Thanks, Ced. I've had a little go at post-shading the brown by airbrush, not something I've tried before as I usually post-shade with oils or heavily thinned acrylics (which aren't entirely satisfactory for large flat surfaces as tide marks show up really clearly). Think it's quite subtle; I mixed up some matt varnish, Dark Earth, and Hemp (which is a bit greener than I'd expected) and applied at low pressure. We'll see how it looks once it dries, but first I must prepare for my son's schoolfriend's party. Woo hoo! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted May 20, 2018 Author Share Posted May 20, 2018 Too subtle by far; virtually invisible in fact. So some more obvious work with a Hemp/varnish mix, and a paint mule flying close escort... Much more contrast, especially in full sun. I'll see how it looks when the DG is on later this week. Still got a problem with those seams on the inboard nacelles. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Yep, too subtle for me too, although it is visible on the starboard wing (a bit). Getting a model to look realistic is really hard for me... one of the things I need to research and practice, so I'm really interested in your techniques 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted May 20, 2018 Share Posted May 20, 2018 Looking good! Håkan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 The postshading did the trick all right! I think you had too low contrast in the primer coat. Some black or white there would've worked fine in mine experience. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted May 21, 2018 Author Share Posted May 21, 2018 Thanks, Ced, Håkan, Christer, Not a clear picture; lighting is a bit weird today, but here's the starboard wing with some DG applied. As I did with my Wellington, I'm masking and painting sections of the airframe, using clever putty as my masking material. This is because the putty is versatile and easy to shape and reposition, it doesn't hold its shape for too long, especially where there's a thick part, so by the time the full airframe is masked, the first masks will have started to spread out. The variation in the DG is simply because I didn't spray a full coat on those parts! But, as expected, it has toned down the variation in the DE. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 It may not have been such a great war machine but I think the Halifax III looked a better aircraft than the Lanc!!!!!......i know i’ll get a telling for that comment Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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