Opa Jur's baby steps.

[2996 Victor]

Hi,

Great work, I'd say, and a brilliant return to the hobby!

I'm in a similar situation, although I've been railway modelling for the last five years after a fifteen year break, it's nearly 25 years since I started an aeroplane kit!

I'm busy with the Airfix 1/72 Tomahawk IIb, and I've got the Xtradecal sheet as well.....

Keep up the good work, and keep posting, too!

Kind regards,

Mark

[Jonners]

Nice one, Jur!  Some great improvements there leading to very nice results. 

 

You mentioned the difficulty in painting canopy frames by hand: I absolutely agree, but it's possible.  The inevitable overpainting onto the clear panels can normally be removed by using a toothpick/cocktail stick sharpened to a chisel tip.  It is hard enough to gently chisel away the paint - especially if you are using Vallejo - but soft enough to avoid damaging the transparency.  Another suggestion with the canopy frames: if you paint the frames initially with the interior colour it will give the effect of the interior of the frames being painted, but it also helps to ensure that the painted frames look 'solid'.  If only the top colour is applied, especially if only one coat is painted, the frames appear slightly translucent.

 

Keep up the good work - this is a cracking site for 'How-To' top tips and inspiration.

 

Jon

[Jur]

Thank you all for your nice comments and especially for the helpful criticism and tips!

 

= Dstream, you are right that the canopies leave something to be desired. Next time I will spray first with interior colour before the camouflage. Or, even better, next time I choose a subject without a canopy

 

= 2996 Victor, I have been building a railway layout for 5 years as well! It is a very different challenge from model aircraft, but fun all the same. One goal I have set is that it shall never be finished, because what am I going to do with it then? I suspect that I may well reach that goal!

 

= Jonners, likewise thank you for your tip on the canopies. I will certainly try this. An additional benefit is that spraying the canopies before priming and camouflaging basically forces me to do the cockpit glazing as one of the first steps of a project. I hate doing it, and at least doing things this way I get it out of the way early!

 

So, on with the Gladiator. More Masking Madness:

 

 

Colour #5 sprayed on:

 

 

I actually think that I may have made a mistake or two in the pattern, which is complicated enough and with the colours not all that easy to distinguish on the chart that comes with the decals (just getting my excuses in early).

 

We'll see once I unwrap the thing, which will be tomorrow to give the paint time to cure. If so, just more masking and spraying. All good practice!

 

One thing is certain though: the model after this will be one in a single colour livery.

Edited June 28, 2020 by Jur

[2996 Victor]

2 hours ago, Jur said:

I have been building a railway layout for 5 years as well! It is a very different challenge from model aircraft, but fun all the same. One goal I have set is that it shall never be finished, because what am I going to do with it then? I suspect that I may well reach that goal!

Hi @Jur,

 

Great stuff - what scale/gauge/company are you modelling?

 

I tend to stick with 4mm scale, although I've got plans for a small narrow gauge layout based on the Ashover Light Railway in OO9, plans for an EM gauge Cambrian Railways layout, and recently I've been dabbling with the Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland, which will be 21mm gauge. I've got quite a few wagons built, particularly CamRys, but the rest is just on paper!

 

Anyway, looking forward to seeing the Gladiator reveal 🙂

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark

[Jur]

@2996 Victor, I am quite a heretic with my railway. I started out as a collector of continental H0 models and then thought that it would be nice if I laid some track to see them on the move. One thing leads to another and I now have a reasonably big layout with a fair bit of scenic work - but it isn't based on any particular prototype, and it is a mix of H0/00 scenery. Personally I don't care, my trains look good running on it and that's what I was after.

 

On the side I have built and am building a couple of NG micro's. I could put up a thread in the Railway section of the site if anyone is interested. Here is a teaser - can you figure out what you are looking at?

 

 

But enough of that here  - it is off-topic even though it does feature a flying object

 

 

Edited June 28, 2020 by Jur

[dogsbody]

10 minutes ago, Jur said:

@2996 Victor, I am quite a heretic with my railway. I started out as a collector of continental H0 models and then thought that it would be nice if I laid some track to see them on the move. One thing leads to another and I now have a reasonably big layout with a fair bit of scenic work - but it isn't based on any particular prototype, and it is a mix of H0/00 scenery. Personally I don't care, my trains look good running on it and that's what I was after.

 

On the side I have built and am building a couple of NG micro's. I could put up a thread in the Railway section of the site if anyone is interested. Here is a teaser - can you figure out what you are looking at?

 

 

But enough of that here  - it is off-topic even though it does feature a flying object

 

 

 

That's an eye-full. Tower that is.

 

 

 

Chris

[Jur]

Hole in one, Dogsbody!

[2996 Victor]

1 hour ago, Jur said:

@2996 Victor, I am quite a heretic with my railway. I started out as a collector of continental H0 models and then thought that it would be nice if I laid some track to see them on the move. One thing leads to another and I now have a reasonably big layout with a fair bit of scenic work - but it isn't based on any particular prototype, and it is a mix of H0/00 scenery. Personally I don't care, my trains look good running on it and that's what I was after.

 

On the side I have built and am building a couple of NG micro's. I could put up a thread in the Railway section of the site if anyone is interested. Here is a teaser - can you figure out what you are looking at?

 

 

But enough of that here  - it is off-topic even though it does feature a flying object

 

 

Excellent! @dogsbody got there way before I did! I for one would be interested to see some pics, if you felt like starting a thread.

 

Anyway, I'll stop hijacking your thread 🙂

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark

[Retired Bob]

Hi Jur, welcome back to the obsession hobby.  Perhaps you might be better if you broadened your horizons and built something other than Airfix.  If canopies are a problem try an Eduard kit, their Profi range comes with pre-cut canopy masks and coloured photo etch to detail the cockpit and if that does not appeal their Weekend versions are just the plastic kit at a lower price.  Just a suggestion, do you have a local model shop or are doing the on-line thing, if you are lucky enough to have someone local that is helpful for advice and the ability to see what is available.

Regards

Bob

[Jur]

= Retired Bob, thank you for your comment. I will certainly move on to other brands besides Airfix. To start off with I just find them to be in the sweet spot between cost and quality. The Gladiator is a Revell kit by the way. Once I have built up some more confidence I will surely include other makes as well. In fact I have started on a Heller kit, but that is not really a step up from Airfix. Still cheap though!

 

There used to be a model shop not far from me but they closed a couple of years ago. Further downtown there is a model railway shop who also sell some kits but that is decidely not their specialisation. I tend to do most of my purchases online these days. I have been in semi-self isolation since March.

 

On the bright side, the Internet is amazing and sites like this one are very rich in information, guidance and just plain good old banter so it goes a long way!

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Righto, back to the Gladiator then. Unveiling the 5th colour, light green, revealed not unexpectedly a number of flaws in the finish. Blu-tak sausages give nice colour separation but you lose some control when you want to  match up patterns later. Furthermore in several places I just got the shapes plain wrong.

 

 

 

So, Ho, Ho,Ho, back to the paintshop we go, wearing new masks to touch up the light green. This time I just put on some masking tape without sausages.

 

 

Well, as a glass-half-full person (what happened to the other half?) I think that turned out to be an improvement:

 

 

 

This was followed by yet another pass, light brown this time to sharpen up the separation.

 

The results:

 

The left hand side is looking pretty good now, but there still are imperfections on the right hand side.

 

 

 

This is going to need at least 3 more passes of touch-up. Easiest of course is to just get out a paint brush (although that bit of missing green near the tailplane definitely needs the airbrush) but I don't really want to do that because it will definitely show.

 

I'm sure you are now just as bored of this as I am, so I'm going to leave this overnight to muster up the will to carry on I should also attack those huge gaps near the cabane struts which I hadn't really spotted so much before these macro photos.

 

In the meantime I can perhaps show some small progress I've made on another subject. I have started a new WIP for that one.

 

More tomorrow.

 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2020 by Jur

[rob85]

Welcome back to the hobby, your doing a cracking job! Your paint work is clean and smooth, better than anything I did when I first re-started with the hobby.

 

with the decals, they do come off the backing quicker than airfix. But that’s no bad thing, your best not to leave them in the water too long, I tend to give them a quick dip in freshly boiled water then slid them off the paper onto the model then set them by pressing down with a folded cotton pad dipped in boiling water. They conform to the panels etc well then.

 

hope that makes sense, and great work.

 

Rob

[dogsbody]

Ah! The old Matchbox Gladiator. The first Gladiator I ever built decades ago. I still have a few in the stash.

 

 

 

Chris

[2996 Victor]

Good progress, I'd say - I've never tried the shadow-shaded camo scheme, so I'm most impressed! My dear-departed Dad built one of these for me when I was a nipper (40+ years ago), although it remained in its bare plastic red/beige. I think it's still up in my Mum's loft 🙂

 

Keep up the good work and kind regards,

 

Mark

 

PS off to find your new WIP thread, now.....

[Jur]

I'm still faffing about with the Gladiator (I'm not sure it will have a happy ending) but in the meantime I have put up a thread in the Railway forum about my Micro layout.

[Jur]

Right, after several more passes of touch-up and an veritable orgy of masking, I consider the camouflage finished:

 

 

 

I think it looks acceptable (although I just now notice a nasty masking line running over the right tail plane, aargh! To be honest, on the actual model you barely notice this - these macro pictures make it seem a lot worse than it is). The colour contrast between the ordinary and the shadow parts is actually quite stark but I followed the Vallejo colours from their RAF set, for better or worse.

 

There must be better ways of tackling this difficult scheme but if so, I haven't found them yet. What would help is transparent masking tape so you can keep track of the underlying pattern when masking up for the third and fourth colours. I don't know if that exists in a form that is suitable for our modelling.

 

In my usual hamfisted way I snapped off one of the cabane struts, but I still have it and it is tucked away in a small plastic bag in the box of the kit (I'm writing this out in full so I can come back here later and remind myself of where I put it). I don't think this is fatal, I should be able to fit it once the upper wing is on.

 

So this gets me to the next stage, which is.... not sure, actually. Apart from finishing the engine and putting the cowling on, what else should I do before giving the kit a coat of gloss varnish and putting the decals on? I could fit the undercarriage struts but knowing myself I would probably knock one off when manipulating the model for the varnishing and the decaling. So, I'm inclined to let it thoroughly dry for a day or so and then do the varnishing.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Jur

[Jur]

After varnishing, decaling, more varnishing, pin washing and then fitting the loose bits and bobs, here is what it's at:

 

 

 

 

 

I suppose I ought to try some rigging but I'm not at all confident about that. What do people use these days? I have used EZline on my model railway layout, but I don't find it all that EZ. It swirls and curls and goes everywhere except where I want it to go. A bit like my cat. Unless I improve my snake charmer skills I would probably want to try something else - stretched sprue perhaps? Do people still use that? Measure it with a precision compass and fix it with tiny blobs (or massive blobs in my case) of superglue?

 

The little voice I rarely listen to is telling me that I should try this on some worthless throwaway model first. Ha, as if this one doesn't fit that bill! On the other hand, I did get that shadow scheme reasonably ok in the end so I wouldn't want to ruin it all at this stage.

 

Let me mess up another biplane first and experiment on that. If I ever get it done on this Gladiator I'll get back to you. For now, these were my Baby Steps. Having completed this bunch I don't think I have any excuses left about restart or re-entry and all that palaver. If I mess it up now I'm doing it as a big boy.

 

P.S.  just this morning I found vinyl masks for a Gladiator shadow scheme. Now they tell me. Perhaps I should build and Airfix Gladiator and some point and try it all over again?

 

Perhaps. Not now, there are other plans brewing...

[SAT69]

Like you, I got back into the model building thing after a long hiatus. You're making rapid and excellent progress. Your most recent builds are wonderful. We move ahead and keep learning!

[2996 Victor]

Excellent result!

 

As I mentioned previously, I've never tried the RAF shadow shaded scheme, but now I'm inspired to have a go! Yours is a splendid Gladiator.

 

Looking forward to your next WIP 🙂

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark