SUB-SAM Posted March 11, 2019 Share Posted March 11, 2019 Started on the sweet A5M4 as flown by Saburo Sakai. Made a good start on the cockpit. The kit comes with no cockpit detail, apart from a basic seat. - I have used a Brengun PE Japanese seat instead. -Added internal structure, radios and side control boxes. Still need to add instrument panel and control stick. Even though i'm fully able to, ill refrain from doing pipework etc inside because let's be honest what I've already done will be barely visible. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted March 11, 2019 Author Share Posted March 11, 2019 Seat and seatbelts in position. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putty Animal Posted March 13, 2019 Share Posted March 13, 2019 Super! One of my all-time favorite aircraft. And in my favorite scale too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted March 13, 2019 Author Share Posted March 13, 2019 17 hours ago, Putty Animal said: Super! One of my all-time favorite aircraft. And in my favorite scale too The kit is fantastic, I've never seen such a good fit of parts in my life. It makes a Swiss watch look shoddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted March 14, 2019 Author Share Posted March 14, 2019 Things happen fast with such a high quality kit, this feels nothing like meddling around with short run ww1 kits. In primer now, you can really see how beautifuly fine the detail is on it. I'm going to give the primer a good chance to dry, followed by Tamiya X1 gloss, followed by AK extreme aluminium to give myself a good metal finish in this scale. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 I've always liked the lines of the Claude. Its one of my favorite interwar/early war types. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putty Animal Posted March 14, 2019 Share Posted March 14, 2019 13 hours ago, SUB-SAM said: The kit is fantastic, I've never seen such a good fit of parts in my life. It makes a Swiss watch look shoddy. Rumour has it that they are doing the Ki-43 Hayabusa next. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted March 14, 2019 Author Share Posted March 14, 2019 2 hours ago, Putty Animal said: Rumour has it that they are doing the Ki-43 Hayabusa next. Oh wow, that will fill that gap nicely as I don't think there is a modern kit of the Ki-43 (other than stripping F-toys ones) ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted March 14, 2019 Author Share Posted March 14, 2019 Before proceeding with the model I decided to have a technical session. I like AK Xtreme metal but I wanted to experiment with how to get a realistic completed finish. I'm now aware the Claudes were Alu doped over duraluminium so I will skip the gloss stage to produce a more matt finish, otherwise it would look too much like natural metal finish. In terms of shading and panel lining. - I dislike using oil washes due to drying time and fingerprinting risk. - I don't like acrylic washes as they produce blotches and 'tide marks', sink too heavily into recesses and dry too quickly to work with. -I loathe pre shading and think a lot of people ruin perfectly good models by doing it. (It's also rediculous on 1/144). Once it's done it's done. So I got out the paint mules and decided to come up with another method. Introducing the Volumetric Shading Wash. Simply paint on with a brush, it self levels, shades and does panel lines at same time. It's helpful being an industrial chemist for such tinkering. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putty Animal Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Interesting! However I am but a poor gold & silversmith by trade. I cannot comprehend such alchemic wizardry. Can you explain how it is done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted March 15, 2019 Author Share Posted March 15, 2019 2 hours ago, Putty Animal said: Interesting! However I am but a poor gold & silversmith by trade. I cannot comprehend such alchemic wizardry. Can you explain how it is done? I'm half tempted to release them as a product, if people think the effect is good. I've always wanted to make a modelling related product, I think this could be a good one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 2 hours ago, Putty Animal said: Can you explain how it is done? Me too please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted March 15, 2019 Author Share Posted March 15, 2019 I sprayed the aluminium on. I have to say I'm a little disappointed in myself, my airbrushing practice was bad and it's not come out great. 😞 oh well its done now and it should look OK when I do the shading as above. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Now that is very "sweet", and I have a feeling this build is going to be very neat indeed. Love it. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putty Animal Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Nice! I happen to be converting one to an A5M2b at the moment, so I'm especially interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted March 15, 2019 Author Share Posted March 15, 2019 Yikes, the paint is worse than I thought when looking closely. Any ideas how to fix this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted March 15, 2019 Author Share Posted March 15, 2019 I had the pressure too low on the airbrush. God damn it, I've ruined it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putty Animal Posted March 16, 2019 Share Posted March 16, 2019 Wet sanding with -1200 grit paper and lots of detergent will be the best bet. It will have the added perk of reducing the panel lines to a more realistic appearance too. Hard to reach areas can be burnished back with 0000 gauge French polishers steel wool that you can find in hardware stores. This is an opportunity in disguise 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted March 16, 2019 Author Share Posted March 16, 2019 Yay I managed to un balls it up. First attempt was sanding using 7500 grit paper, trying on an out of the way area underneath. Problem was the coat was so thin it was impossible to do without exposing primer on edges etc so I stopped before ruining it. Second attempt, I sprayed relatively thick gloss coat, this smoothed the surface but you could still see the grains underneath (kinda like a clear resin counter with textured bits underneath) Then as a last attempt I decided I would blow an extremely diluted white semi gloss, with very light dusting over the top of the clear gloss. This has made it look a lot smoother and also made it look a lot more like Alu dope. Also got the red tail on. Can't wait to see it shaded soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 (edited) If anyone was wondering what happened. I had to move house... Now I'm moved I immediately started modelling again. Almost done now. Edited June 2, 2019 by SUB-SAM 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putty Animal Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 Wow, you’ve got to be happy with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmm Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 Very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUB-SAM Posted June 9, 2019 Author Share Posted June 9, 2019 This is finished, which can be seen here: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey-1980 Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Awesome looking Prototype 96 there! Dr. Horikoshi would be suitably impressed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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