Heather's Workbench - the French connection, 1940 style

[Heather Kay]

My dishes are Mr Kipling size. I get them from a local independent  hardware emporium. For more general mixing, like weathering and making up colours for collector rings, I use a larger dish.
 

No photo, but I’ve just finished painting all three upper colours. Some will need a further coat, so that can wait for tomorrow.

[heloman1]

Plenty going on there Heather, looks like you are enjoying yourself? The Frogs had some pretty looking planes and a few dragons...

 

Colin

[dogsbody]

3 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

After over fifty years use, I dropped it on the floor earlier this year, and chipped a wedge out of one quarter.  Signs of mortality?   Ah well, three left and I only use one anyway, so 150 years to go yet.  Maybe I will finish my stash, as long as these companies stop bringing out new kits.

After over 50 years, we all have a few chips and divots knocked out of us.

 

 

 

Chris

[Heather Kay]

1 hour ago, dogsbody said:

After over 50 years, we all have a few chips and divots knocked out of us.

Indeed. A few more than I’d like, frankly. 
 

 

The state of play, complete with my paint pie tins.

[dogsbody]

Up here, on The Backside of Beyond, we call those tart tins.

 

 

 

Chris

[Heather Kay]

A slight pause has happened. This was due to having to visit the local hospital to have my little embuggerance sorted out. Happy to say the extra plumbing has now been removed, and things have returned to more or less normal again. I let myself have a couple of days to recuperate - things are still a little tender, as you can imagine - but I’m going to press on with the FK.58 this weekend.

 

 

The day job also took over my time a bit. Happily, most of the basic cab details are now done and I can move on to the boiler.

 

With the couple of days' grace, I felt it might be safe to lay a coat or two of Humbrol Clear Gloss acrylic over the enamels. I think the ColourCoats naphtha thinners lets the volatiles gas off quicker than other paints, but I tested a small area in case of undue reactions. Nothing happened, so I’ve now brushed three coats on ready for some transfers. Once they’re done, I’ll top coat with more gloss, then matt varnish to finish - after the details have been added.

[Heather Kay]

 

The transfers are printed by Aviprint in the Czech Republic. I have to say they are probably the best I’ve come across. Very thin, but quite strong (I managed to split this roundel, but you can’t see the join), they came away from the backing paper in seconds and conformed to the surface beautifully. I was all ready with Micro Set, as you’d expect, but I needn’t have worried.

 

 

I was so surprised by the way the other transfers behaved I thought it worth the risk for the rudder markings. The stripes are printed oversize, so I hoped to be able to wrap them round seamlessly. I’m letting setting solution do its thing, but if it doesn’t work Plan A was to paint them anyway. Happily, Azur printed all the stencil work separately and not on the rudder stripes.

 

 

Not sure if it’s a tiny bit of misregistration, but I’ll retouch the little spot of yellow outside the oval of the blade badges. There are two diagonal lines to paint on each blade, so I’m thinking on how to ensure they are the same location and angle. 
 

Cor! Lunchtime already! More later.

[Heather Kay]

 

I think I got away with it. The overlaps weren’t very successful, but nothing a spot of paint won’t fix. There’s some PE detail to go, which I think I’ll do after a protective coat of Clear on the stickers.

[rob Lyttle]

1 hour ago, Heather Kay said:

I think I got away with it.

We should have T-shirts print up with this quotation 😎

[Heather Kay]

Stages in prop blade striping:

 

 

I stuck the prop into a handy block of balsa, and marked a couple of diagonals on the block as a rough guide. A reasonably wide brush loaded with white acrylic was wiped across each blade. I wasn’t bothered by coverage as the end result would hopefully be two fine white lines.

 

 

Using a finer brush, black was painted slightly more carefully across the white stripes. I’m happy with that.

 

 

I think all the remaining parts worthy of sticking on have been stuck on. Elevator control horns were very trying tiny bits of PE, as was the gunsight which, thankfully, I didn’t completely mangle while folding up. The antenna masts were made from brass rod for strength.

 

 

The undercarriage was troublesome. I have a feeling the main legs are too long - they certainly don’t fit in the wheel wells if you want to model the thing in flight. The location nub is tiny, and even though I resorted to CA to fix the things in, I’m still not convinced of their robustness. The gear doors are designed to glue to little tabs on the main legs, but surprisingly they won’t fit with the wheels fitted! I had to glue styrene strip packing pieces in to allow clearance. To be fair, this sort of annoyance is typical for short run stuff like this.

 

Anyway, final paint retouching is done, all that’s fit to fit fitted, so I’ll crack out the airbrush later and get some matt varnish on this critter.

[Heather Kay]

Right, the Koolhoven is done. I'm just working out the RFI post, and I'll add the link to it shortly.

 

I sprayed matt varnish on the model last night, and let it harden overnight. Surveying my efforts this morning, I felt it was all a bit too flat and featureless. I did a bit of weathering using artist's pastel chalks to try and give some life to the thing. It sort of worked, I think.

 

Anyway, here's a shot that didn't make the final edit in the RFI:

 

 

You can just make out some streaking effects on the underside. The weathering was meant to be mild, as I don't believe the planes actually saw any combat operations. I wanted to show some dust and dirt thrown up by taxiing on a grass airfield, and a little exhaust staining from the twin exhaust ports. It's a bit less featureless now.

 

 

And the family album of French single-seater interceptors. I keep saying it, but I really do need to get the new display cabinet sorted out to make room for the larger planes waiting to be built.

[CedB]

Very nice Heather, a great addition to the collection  

[Heather Kay]

Thanks Ced!

 

RFI here:

 

 

 

[Cookenbacher]

Ha! There's the collection pic I wanted to see.

[Heather Kay]

I still have eight French aircraft to build, all but one twin-engined machines. They are waiting patiently for extra display space to magically appear, along with loads of Axis and Allied large machines. I am expecting more to be added in due time.

 

I am entertaining the idea of creating my own paint masks for French markings, something I’ve done quickly before for rudder stripes. What I’d like to do is ask the BM hive mind what colours I should acquire to let me paint the tricolours properly.

 

I am bending towards Humbrol acrylics for these jobs. Hu60 scarlet red seems to work well, Hu34 white is obvious, but which blue? A good match is Hu89 middle blue, but that’s only available in enamel at present. The acrylic matt colour range doesn’t seem to have a suitable shade currently, although I see Hu14 French blue and Hu47 sea blue in the gloss range. Until now, I’ve been trying to match as best I can to existing transfers, but if I am to paint the whole thing, a standard set of colours would be ideal. Are there specific colours available from other paint ranges, such as Colourcoats?

 

Any ideas, and thanks for your input!
 

 

[alt-92]

6 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

Are there specific colours available from other paint ranges, such as Colourcoats?

Hataka Blue range, those are hairy-stick-compatible acrylics. 

http://hataka-hobby.com/products/blue-line-early-ww2-french-air-force-paint-set/

 

[Heather Kay]

22 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

Hataka Blue range, those are hairy-stick-compatible acrylics. 

http://hataka-hobby.com/products/blue-line-early-ww2-french-air-force-paint-set/

 

They don’t seem to cover markings, just camouflage.

 

Nice they do hairy stick versions now, though.  

 

 

 

[alt-92]

Oh drat. I mentally skipped over that part. Good question.
Tricolor cockades/roundels are certainly less dull than their British counterparts though.

What doesn't make it simple is that even the flag has a bright and dark option!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_France - with RGB/CMYK values

 

Edited June 1, 2020 by alt-92

[2996 Victor]

Hi Heather,

 

The Koolhoven is looking great (I hesitate to say "cool"!).

 

Also been trying to work out which class the GWR loco belongs to - the angle of the photos disguises the proportions a bit, but the Collett cab, flat top tanks(?) and extended bunker suggest Small Prairie or 48xx. How wrong am I?

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark

[Heather Kay]

7 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Also been trying to work out which class the GWR loco belongs to

It is a small prairie. This one is being built to mid-1930s condition, with all the extra bunker and tank top clutter.  

[2996 Victor]

33 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

It is a small prairie. This one is being built to mid-1930s condition, with all the extra bunker and tank top clutter.  

Fantastic, Heather! Hope to see some pics when it's completed! 🙂

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark

[Heather Kay]

7 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Hope to see some pics when it's completed!

I’m sure I’ll share some, but it’s a little way off yet. It’s a commission build for a client in the Netherlands.

 

 

Today was all about rolling flat etched brass into boilers and roofs. It went better than I expected. With things perched in place, it makes it feel like I’m nearly finished!

 

 

[Heather Kay]

Hello again! 

 

You knew it wouldn’t be long before I found something fun to build.

 

 

A Potez 63-11 from our old friends Azur. As luck would have it, there’s been a build thread on this very kit, back in 2015. Ah, those were the days, eh?

 

 

 

I'm in the early stages of researching the prototype, but there’s some interesting markings here. My first instinct is to build No 156 for the Battle of France collection, but this might be time to look at starting my North Africa and Mediterranean 1940 collection. That would save me having to build another one later, because this kit looks hard. 

 

Phew! Not much fiddly PE. Maybe not so hard, then.

 

Ah, lots of masking to do, so as you were.

 

 

Then there's this pile of junk lovely set of resin parts. Quite apart from separating fragile undercarriage parts from the pouring blocks, will it be strong enough to survive life in the display cabinet? Hmm.

 

 

Oh, and I’ve got to make the propellers. In the words of Able Seaman Johnson of HMS Troutbridge, I’m not 'appy.*

 

As I said, early stages with this. The parts count in styrene is low, but in resin it’s too high. Once I feel happy I know a bit more about the type, and gathered reference material sufficient to satisfy my needs, I’ll make a slow and steady start. Now, back to the GWR loco, which is becoming a proper bench hog.

 

 

 

For overseas readers, that’s a reference to a very long running BBC radio comedy of the 1960s called The Navy Lark.

[AltcarBoB]

I have just built the AZUR Potez 630 and it has the same resin parts. I ended up reinforcing the undercarriage with 0.45mm brass wire.

[Heather Kay]

7 minutes ago, AltcarBoB said:

I have just built the AZUR Potez 630 and it has the same resin parts. I ended up reinforcing the undercarriage with 0.45mm brass wire.

I am seriously entertaining the possibility of making the entire undercarriage from metal. Looking at the castings, one looks like a banana - which can’t be good.