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Mitsubishi A5M4 Claude 1/144


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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.

 

20190311-223324.jpg

 

- 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.

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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. 

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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.

 

20190314-000528.jpg

 

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. 

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2 hours ago, Putty Animal said:

 

Rumour has it that they are doing the Ki-43 Hayabusa next.  :penguin:

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) ? 

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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.

20190314-212952.jpg

 

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. 

 

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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? 

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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.

 

20190315-225112.jpg

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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 :)

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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.

 

20190316-232048.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

If anyone was wondering what happened. 

 

I had to move house...

 

Now I'm moved I immediately started modelling again. 

Almost done now.

 

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Edited by SUB-SAM
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