F203 - English Electric (BAC) Canberra B(I)12 - "Kiwi Konfrontasi" ++ Finished ++

[AdrianMF]

Very nice silver finish. The extra detail is looking good too!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[bigbadbadge]

Very nice indeed Dave, great work and your prep is now paying off and your extra detailing is superb.

Keep up the good work

All the best

Chris

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #9 - Dark Sea Grey vs. Dark Sea Grey! 

 

Slow and steady progress, however I'm determined to get this one finished before I get distracted by other modelling subjects! The Tamiya Silver cured nicely so it was time to carefully mask the hard edged lower demarkation lines which actually took a lot longer than I thought. Hopefully I've done a good job and it will not need touching up?

 

Now I've been using Gunze paints for a while now however haven't had the need to apply their RAF Post War Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey paints yet. I took it for granted that they would be a good match so just thinned a mix of their DSG and started blasting away with the airbrush. As I was applying this layer I did think that it was looking a little too dark. I realise that paints fade and there's that scale colour effect, however still thought it would be ok. I've also come across occasions where the darker contrasting camouflage colour manages to bring out the true colour of the lighter colour (Tamiya's Ocean Grey is an example), so I applied a small camouflage section of Dark Green and waited to see what the effect would be. It probably wasn't the best test, however it still looked a little dark. 

 

Scratching my head, I read a couple of old modelling articles and came across Ray Rimmel's Scale Models Canberra build where he used Humbrol Authentics DG HX1 and DSG HX2. Now I still have these old tins of paint but surely they're not as accurate as Gunze's new-ish paints? There was only one way to find out so I experimented with a few plastic party spoons and noticed an amazing difference straight away. Another spoon was painted in HX1 and I held the two together and compared them to the Gunze paints. I decided that the old Authentics were the way to go and if nothing else keeps within the spirit of this GB. 

 

Here's a few photos of where I'm at and I've shown a photo where the port wing is still painted in the darker Gunze paint. Next the sausage camouflage demarkation which I'm not really looking forward too.  

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhantomBigStu]

Looking good Dave

[bigbadbadge]

Ooooooooo the Cranberry looks stunning Dave, all that work you have put in has paid dividends. What a lovely job and a great thumbs up for The old Humbrol paints too.

Top work fella.

Keep up the good work

All the best

Chris

[PeterB]

Dave, 

 

If you are talking about the Mr Color paints then they have a couple of versions of both the green and the dark sea grey. The wartime ones are H73 and H75, and they also do a post war version labeleed as for Harrier,Jaguar etc. These are H330 BSC381C/641 green and H331 /638 dark sea grey - which ones did you use as there is quite a difference. I accidentally did my Javelin FAW5 in the wartime grey and it is a lot lighter as in the pic I posted about Steve's Vengeance (on his Wildccat post link I think). I left it on as it could be described as "faded". Their post war grey is a bit lighter than the Xtracrylic version, though as you can see in my pics of preserved Shacks it fades to a very "chalky" pale grey. The green usually fades to a very light yellowish green. As to the Huimbrol Authentic Colours that is what I used on my old Hornet and they are dark (though not as dark as in my pic as 40 years of pipe smoke have darkened it a bit)

Edited August 17, 2019 by PeterB

[Johnson]

10 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

I've shown a photo where the port wing is still painted in the darker Gunze paint

Dave, accepting that I'm viewing this on a laptop monitor, I have my recently finished Harrier painted in DSG and my old Sea Fury in EDSG sitting in front of me, both in Xtracolor enamels. The darker Gunze DSG looks closer to what I think of as EDSG, and it has that hint of blue that I associate with EDSG. The lighter DSG you've used (Humbrol Authentic DSG HX2?) seems very similar to the Xtracolor DSG.

 

Cheers,

[Rabbit Leader]

Thanks @PeterB and @Johnson for your colour feedback. To answer Peter's query first, yes I've used Gunze Lacquers - DG C330 & DSG C331. I also have their EDSG C333 and although I haven't tested it, this looks darker yet again. A while back, I had a similar issue with Gunze's Dark Earth where their Lacquer paint is quite dark, however their Aqueous H72 is (to my eye) a great match.  I wonder whether the Aqueous equivalents of these Lacquer paints are a fraction lighter? There's only one way to find out I suppose. 

 

Charlie, I appreciate your opinion and comparison of subject matter and do agree that t's so difficult to tell what's what when viewing any colour sample from whatever device you're using. I suppose at the end of the day, we are our own best judges and what doesn't look quite right probably isn't. The Clear coat will darken the colours anyway, so my lighter DSG will change yet again as I proceed through to that stage. 

 

Cheers and thanks.. Dave 

[Jinxman]

Looks lovely as only a Canberra can - and a thumbs up from me with the Humbrol Authentics, I still love 'em. 🎨

[Greg Law]

Looks like you are getting there Dave. I can see this will have an excellent finish once again. It clearly takes a lot of work to get that flawless finish. What putty are you using?

I never can get it that smooth. I will need to for my Glosters.

[Rabbit Leader]

Thanks for your encouraging comments everyone. Greg, the wing joins have been filled with PPP (Perfect Plastic Putty) which although it looked ok on bare plastic, still didn’t hide the step gap between the fuse and wings. Basically I resorted to various grades of sanding sticks and wet n dry paper. Once the levels matched, I applied Mr. Surfacer 1000 along all the join lines and either sand this again or use a Mr. levelling  thinner moistened cotton bud to remove the excess. 

 

To be honest it’s just fill and sand, fill and sand until I get sick of doing it! Canberra’s are really smooth aircraft, so I’m trying to capture a clean finish with this build. IMO, the surface detail on this Frog kit greatly surpasses the latest Airfix Canberra’s from about 10 years ago. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

1 hour ago, Rabbit Leader said:

To be honest it’s just fill and sand, fill and sand until I get sick of doing it!

Aint that the truth brother ! 

[Greg Law]

Thanks Dave,

                        I have Perfect putty. I found it a little porous when I tried it. What do you think. Was it my imagination. 

I do know what you mean about the sanding. There was plenty of that on the He 280. In fact there could have been a bit more.

I'm expecting lots of sanding on the Beaufort. Thank goodness I will be doing it in a Garage.  

[Rabbit Leader]

@Greg Law, I gave the PPP two applications per join, the second after the first had throughly dried. It seemed to work ok and I found it had good coverage on quite large gaps. Like all fillers it has it uses but I wouldn’t use it for every gap I had. When I gave the wing joins a uniform prime, it highlighted that using this alone wasn’t quite enough. I doubt it would take well to a scriber, however could be wrong. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[stevej60]

Great to see this progressing so well Dave she's gonna be another beauty,no idea how you find the time with all the hosting duties!

[Ventora3300]

On 17/08/2019 at 03:39, Rabbit Leader said:

I decided that the old Authentics were the way to go and if nothing else keeps within the spirit of this GB. 

 

You've done the right thing, Dave, that 'lighter' grey looks spot on. I'm convinced that the older the kit, the paints and the suggested paint schemes, the nearer to the 'originals' it is - with a few well documented exceptions, of course. Not wishing to be 'ageist' but the term 'old Authentics' could also be applied to most of the modellers in this GB! I'll put my hand up for that! All the best. Mike.

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #10 - Blu-tak sausages and a 'Light' Dark Green! 

 

Moving this one along at a fairly rapid pace for me, I took the plunge and decided that a soft Green / Grey upper surface camouflage demarkation would be most appropriate compared to period Kiwi Canberra photographs. Now although I have seen this technique demonstrated many times before, I've never completed a full upper surface camouflage pattern myself, so this was going to test what little skills I have. The results are shown below and I'll claim partial victory with how this ended up. Some areas turned out 'harder' than others, however a clear coat and a bit of weathering here and there (not that I'm good at that either) may hide some of these differences. 

 

Initially I was worried about the Dark Sea Grey paint I used, but Humbrol's Authentic HX2 has grown on me and looks about right for a semi faded look. I decided it would be best to stick with the same brand, so HX1 Dark Green was applied to represent the green. This now has me worried a bit, as my eyes are now telling me that this is actually too light. Perhaps it's just me and I'm over complicating things too much? Anyway, they say Clear coats darken colours so I'll leave it and press on to a hopeful happy completion. One of the bomb bay doors gave way as I was just about to photograph it, so I'll reattach that one later. 

 

Cheers and thanks for your comments so far.. Dave 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Johnson]

22 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Some areas turned out 'harder' than others,

Isn’t that inevitable Dave? I get the same thing using paper masking held about 1mm off the kit with tiny sausages underneath the paper. A result of variation in the distance, angle, air pressure and duration of the airbrush paint application.

 

From the pics it looks excellent, it will look fine when you’ve applied the Clear coat and decals.

 

I’ve not tried your ‘sausage’ method, I’ll have to experiment!

 

Cheers,

[Greg Law]

Personally I don't mind the green colour. As far as the uneven edges are concerned it looks like the sausages were too uneven. This is why you have fussy sections and sharper sections. If you compare the sausage photo with the end result it is clear how this has happened.  I think this is an interesting exercise and I have learnt something from it. Still, I think the result is ok. 

[Jinxman]

That looks lovely.

I think with a clear coat, some weathering and the decals it will look splendid - it looks 'in-scale' to my eyes.

[Ventora3300]

I think that has come out beautifully, Dave, it looks 'real'. It is meant to be camouflaged and flying, after all, rather than too factory fresh and washed ever night before being hangared. I think the upper/lower wing wrap-around demarcations have come out really well. Well done! All the best. Mike

[Max Headroom]

Just caught up on this build and the Cranberry is looking a tad gorgeous! I built a Novo one many moons ago and remember thinking it ‘clunky’. Your fettling has worked wonders and I’m looking forward to you applying the TRANSFERS (not decals!).

 

Trevor

[stevehnz]

Looking very smart Dave.

Steve.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Personally i think the colors/demarcations work well but thats me. 

 

Dennis

[Greg Law]

Dave I think you are right. The green should be darker. I have been looking further into it and I seem to have a childhood memory of it darker.