It’s alive! - 1/72nd Airfix Do17E conversion to Do17P Frankendornier

[CedB]

Get well soon Heather, best wishes from here  

[Heather Kay]

Thanks Ced. Spectacular bad timing on behalf of my body, sadly. Learning to cope is hard, but I’m getting there.

[Heather Kay]

 

Getting there. Once the Kristal Klear has dried, I’ll brush the interior RLM 02 over the frames. That’ll hopefully act as a seal for the masking edges.

[stever219]

As others have said get well soon Heather.  Having spent much of the last six months battling with sciatica and unable to lie, sit, stand, walk or even think comfortably I feel for your predicament; fortuitously this was the first six months of my retirement!  All those “little jobs around the house” are still waiting for me.......

 

I’ve enjoyed following you progress with this conversion: I need to relocate my stalled Spanish Civil War “F” and 2 “Z”s.

Edited April 4, 2020 by stever219

[Heather Kay]

1 hour ago, stever219 said:

As others have said get well soon Heather.

Aww, thanks! 

 

Sadly, getting better now depends on the whole CV19 thing going away so I can go back to hospital for the next stage. In the meantime, extra plumbing and inconvenience is my lot. Hey, and indeed ho.
 

 

I am inclined to think I might be about ready for some primer. That ought to set a few cats among pigeons. I hope I don’t need a lot of remedial work before proper painting, as I’d rather like to get this model finished soon.

 

As the vac glazing was intended for the 17F, I’ve had to be a little creative with masking under the nose to give an interpretation of the 17P layout. I realise I have neglected to fit the cockpit front machine gun … and the upper cupola glazing is open to the rear, which might not be correct for the 17P. Let’s just say it is what it is and it’ll have to do. Right, where’s my paint box gone?

[AdrianMF]

Sound masking and filling - looks ready for primer to me!

 

Sorry to hear of your pains. Would it help you to consider a standing up workstation? If you have some spare timber it might be possible extend your desk legs, or stack an incidental table on top of your regular one, or clear out a cupboard shelf to work on?

 

Regards,

Adrian.

 

 

[Heather Kay]

25 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Would it help you to consider a standing up workstation? If you have some spare timber it might be possible extend your desk legs

That’s a sound idea. My bench is just an old internal door perched on a pair of Ikea trestles. If I could get under the thing I could raise it about four notches. It’s the getting under it that’s an issue, and Best Beloved is not really able to help. I have been standing while doing the masking, but there are some jobs that really need elbows being supported.

 

I'll work something out. 

[Martian]

That work looks impeccable!

 

Martian 👽

[Pete in Lincs]

Lovely looking Dornier, Heather, I'm looking forward to the paint and I'm hoping your troubles will be fixed as soon as possible.

As for work the workstation, leave the desk where it is and put an upside down box on top of it! Cutting mat on top of that, and away you go!

Multilevel modelling. Thinking outside the er, box?

[Heather Kay]

A nice day for getting some primer down.
 

Always keen to try new ideas, I thought I attempt airbrushing Humbrol 1 acrylic. Mixing up what I thought would be the correct consistency, using Humbrol's own acrylic thinners, I found the stuff would begin to ball up on the surface. I tried more paint, less thinners. That worked a bit better, but I still wasn’t happy. I left it to dry.

 

Time to crack out the rattle can stuff. 

 

 

The can was warm. It had been in our loft space with plenty of solar energy heating it up today. In my modelling room, it’s about 22 degrees. I shook the can for ages, at all angles. The first couple of passes all was well, then the siphon seemed to draw up lumps of pigment and it got splattered all over the shop.

 

 

To crown it all, the vac form glazing really hasn’t fitted at all well. I am really not happy about taking it off and trying again, and resigned to living with it as the best of a bad job. The ruddy primer is almost the last straw though. 
 

I wanted to make progress, but painting - as usual - is proving my bête noir. Grrr.

[Heather Kay]

 

That's better. More agitation of the can rather than me. Some minor imperfections to deal with, and I’m still thinking about the transparencies. They’re only stuck on with Kristal Klear, so can be pinged off fairly easily. 
 

Having looked at my paint mule, where I tested the Humbrol stuff, I think that might be worth persisting with. Some experimentation is called for, I think.

[Heather Kay]

I’m still undecided about the glazing. Instead, I elected to attempt a coat of RLM 65. I reckoned I could still make adjustments to the glazing stuff after some paint.
 

 

Well, that was good. Yes, I’m using Humbrol acrylic. Let’s call it an experiment. What I discovered was interesting.

 

Thinning the paint with the maker's thinners does work, as you’d expect. Quantities and ratios aren’t that critical, but getting the overall consistency to roughly like milk is important. Next, getting my airbrush to squirt at a pressure that worked best was interesting. Full chat, about 25psi on the little compressor and the trigger right back, caused the paint to ball up on the surface. Lowering the pressure helped, but I tried an idea to limit the paint flow as well. You see, I am a died-in-the-wool single-action airbrusher. I find it hard to handle a dual-action airbrush. I had a notion that introducing a stop of some kind to prevent me pulling the trigger right back too quickly would let me control the paint flow better. I wrapped some standard masking tape round the airbrush barrel, effectively stopping off about half the trigger's travel, and you know what? It worked a treat!

 

Anyway, I’ll let that coat of paint harden off overnight and try some masking tomorrow. 

[LorenSharp]

Excellent job so far on the painting, I know the feeling with cans of spray paint. I've come up with several new shall we say "Colourful metaphors" when ever I've not used my airbrush. I do hope you are feeling better soon. Doing anything thing when not well is a trial,especially modelling.

[Heather Kay]

22 minutes ago, LorenSharp said:

Doing anything thing when not well is a trial,especially modelling.

Cheers Loren! When I’m under the weather, I usually find it best to chip away at small jobs on a build. Armchair modelling and research is also a good way to deal with illness. I’m already pondering the next model I would like to build, but I do plan to finish this Dornier before I do that. It’s been hanging around the bench for far too long!

[Martian]

5 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

Cheers Loren! When I’m under the weather, I usually find it best to chip away at small jobs on a build. Armchair modelling and research is also a good way to deal with illness. I’m already pondering the next model I would like to build, but I do plan to finish this Dornier before I do that. It’s been hanging around the bench for far too long!

Very sage advice Heather. I woke up feeling very down today and forced myself into the Martian Cave. Although I still don't feel great, I am in a much better place than I was this morning.

 

Martian 👽

[Heather Kay]

Enough procrastination. Time to tackle the top sides.

 

My original intention had been to recreate the essentially bog standard Luftwaffe camo, namely RLM 65 underneath with the RLM 70/71 on top in the classic splinter pattern. Whatever happens, a measure of masking would be required. A little further investigation, mainly around units and markings, led me to a conclusion I hadn’t anticipated!

 

 

This conclusion. This is a profile from the On Target 70th Anniversary Special "The Battle of Britain - Camouflage and Markings 1940", Peter Scott and Gary Madgwick, published by The Aviation Workshop Publications Ltd. What we have is a Do17P, operating over France and the Low Countries early in 1940. The basic camouflage has been augmented by being over sprayed by RLM 65 further up the sides, leaving a feathered edge, and then blotched over with what might be RLM 70 and 02. 
 

Now, I hadn’t intended to attempt this, as my airbrushing skills are still wanting. However, it appealed to me. It’s unusual and will stand out among my otherwise standard Luftwaffe bomber fleet, it doesn’t require overly complex masking to demarcate between lower and upper surfaces, and the unit markings are a single colour with no badge evident. Perhaps even my crack-handed airbrushing might be able to achieve the look - besides, it’s a form of practice with techniques I shall need to use when I get to the Italian Air Force.

 

 

So, I deployed some Humbrol acrylic 241, which is their idea of RLM 70, and got a coat on without any masking at all. Free and easy. Once that’s hardened, though, the masking tape will have to come out for the RLM 71 splinter.

 

At least another step forward in this convoluted build.

[Terry1954]

Coming along Heather. I do like that scheme you have chosen which is a nice break from the "standard" 70/71/65 scheme applied around that time in that location on types like this, that I for one might have expected. Research always pays off!

 

Terry. 

[Wince]

On 05/04/2020 at 20:00, Heather Kay said:

I’m still undecided about the glazing. Instead, I elected to attempt a coat of RLM 65. I reckoned I could still make adjustments to the glazing stuff after some paint.
 

 

Well, that was good. Yes, I’m using Humbrol acrylic. Let’s call it an experiment. What I discovered was interesting.

 

Thinning the paint with the maker's thinners does work, as you’d expect. Quantities and ratios aren’t that critical, but getting the overall consistency to roughly like milk is important. Next, getting my airbrush to squirt at a pressure that worked best was interesting. Full chat, about 25psi on the little compressor and the trigger right back, caused the paint to ball up on the surface. Lowering the pressure helped, but I tried an idea to limit the paint flow as well. You see, I am a died-in-the-wool single-action airbrusher. I find it hard to handle a dual-action airbrush. I had a notion that introducing a stop of some kind to prevent me pulling the trigger right back too quickly would let me control the paint flow better. I wrapped some standard masking tape round the airbrush barrel, effectively stopping off about half the trigger's travel, and you know what? It worked a treat!

 

Anyway, I’ll let that coat of paint harden off overnight and try some masking tomorrow. 

I’ve just got myself my first dual action airbrush as I tend to be trigger happy. Having the adjustment on the end helped me get the quantity of paint right. But looks good and how you got the humbrol to spray is an achievement! I hate the stuff

[CedB]

Freehand airbrushing? Brave…

 

I've watched Cookie doing this with some amazement and he suggested practising on plastic bottles. Worth a try?

[Heather Kay]

4 hours ago, CedB said:

I've watched Cookie doing this with some amazement and he suggested practising on plastic bottles. Worth a try?

I’ve got a paint mule for tests and experiments. It’s proved its worth, but I need to be more dedicated to practicing.

 

 

Using the paint plan from the Airfix Dornier as my guide, I set about masking. As ever, I got a bit confuzzled over which colour I was actually covering with tape, but we got there in the end! Then another session with the airbrush, this time with Hu242 representing RLM71. I’ll get the tape off in a while to see what’s what.

[Heather Kay]

 

Fairly happy with that. I am reliably informed the lack of contrast between the colours is about right. I shall now think about the feathery bits and blotches.

[AdrianMF]

Looking good! Interesting scheme too.

 

33 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

lack of contrast between the colours

You can see why the early bombers ended up being described as "all over dark green", even in some Airfix instructions in the '60s and '70s.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[bbudde]

Hello Heather, The contrast looks  just right to me. Nice work so far.

Cheers

[bbudde]

5 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

being described as "all over dark green", even in some Airfix instructions in the '60s and '70s.

 

Yep, my old 1:72 Ju 87 told me that too. Just Humbrol 91 on the top surface.

[Heather Kay]

My love-hate airbrush relationship continues.

 

I set things with a low pressure and a limited trigger stop, and mixed up some Hu65 to work on the feathering along the fuselage. It was going well, until the airbrush began to spatter. 
 

After quite some time, I ended up doing a fairly deep clean on the airbrush. By this time, it was also obvious that mild overspray had ended up on my carefully masked splinter from earlier. 
 

With not much to lose, since I will have to retouch the splinter later, I tried some RLM71 mottle on the 65. I don’t think my current nozzle can go as small as I think I need, and it just ended up as round splotches rather than thin squiggles. 
 

By now, I was a bit dispirited, so everything has been cleaned up, mixed paint tipped away, and the model set aside to dry. I’m rather thinking I shall end up retouching everything with the good old reliable hairy stick. I’ve got a couple of sacrificial brushes that can be cut down for splotch work. We shall see.

 

In either case, budgets won’t let me acquire a smaller nozzle/needle combo at present.

 

Addendum: I’ve checked the spec of my Iwata, and apparently it’s fitted with a 0.35mm nozzle. I think much more practice is required, then.