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Heather builds Italy's "me too" contingent


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7 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

Backstory Vittorio always was a clumsy bugger, him dropping his spanner on the cowling doesn't surprise me.

:wicked:

Actually, that’s not a bad idea. I understand the paintwork suffered in the colder and wetter environment of Belgium, and the G.50s particularly ended up looking pretty scabby.

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This is all looking really good Heather, I've done a little experimenting with mottle with an airbrush and very low pressure with thin paint I find is the way to go.

 

:goodjob:

 

Davey.

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On 02/08/2020 at 21:50, modelling minion said:

Really nice work Heather, your painting is fantastic, especially when you consider these are all 1/72 scale.

Thank 'ee. :blush:
 

On 05/08/2020 at 16:30, DaveyGair said:

This is all looking really good Heather

Thanks Davey. I think I’ve pretty much nailed this squirty thing now. Pride comes before a fall, of course. It’s a tool that very much has its uses, and places to use. For the mottle camo, it is pretty much the only game in town.

 

No photos today, as I haven’t actually done much to any of the three models this week. What I have done is refine the cowling paintwork on the G.50, fit the undercarriage covers and touch up odds and ends. Did I mention I had glued the cowlings to both fighters? It’s back over the page now, and I’m too hot to bother to look!

 

I think I have a solution to the BR.20 glazing. I’ll hopefully get a chance to try it over the weekend.

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50198333492_a71d12c243_b.jpg

 

These two will look great in the display cabinet. I can see a chip on the Falco's cooling gills, despite my repair. Not sure how I’ll fix that, so one to think about. The Freccia has chiefly seen the tactical markings amended on the cowling. Some planes had the whole shebang painted yellow, but according to the kit instructions this one didn’t. I’ve repainted the rear section with camo colours, which was last night's little game. Both planes are on their wheels now. What little rigging there is on the Falco can be done before the top wing is fitted, which is nice.

 

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The Freccia underneath. I see some brass shining through on the undercarriage doors, so a quick swipe with a hairy stick will deal with that. One or two little details to fit, then gloss coats for both.

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7 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

These two will look great in the display cabinet.

Definitely! They look gorgeous :clap: Impressive camo painting, especially considering the scale! :worthy:

 

Ciao

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Nice one Heather.

 

Much better than my attempts. The airbrush gives a nice soft, slightly blurry effect that I have to try and acheive with a wash over the top. Unfortunately, neither my airbrush nor my hands are up to it on this small scale these days.

 

Pete

 

 

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Thanks for the kind words folks! I’m certainly much more confident with the airbrush now, so my love-hate relationship with the thing is swinging to the "love" side.

 

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The G.50 gets markings. The AML transfers were thin and settled nicely onto the surfaces. There was some discrepancy on layout, with the box top art not matching the colour views in the back. I went with my gut feeling, and I’m happy with it.

 

Not so happy with the CR.42, though. The Mister Kit transfers are like old boot leather. They really don’t want to settle, no matter which solution I throw at them, and they don’t really stick all that well either. My effort at the fuselage stripe also leaves me feeling a little deflated. I used commercial inkjet print transfer sheet. It’s commendably thin, but that means it often decides to fold up on itself. Getting a parallel strip to fit on a cone-shaped fuselage needed me to assemble it from parts, and the thin material isn’t opaque enough to hide the joins and overlaps. I’m going to leave well alone to let it all settle and dry, then review my options.

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4 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Hopefully the CR 42 will come good. I've picked up a Smer CR 42 kit which is hopefully turning up this week.

I soaked the upper wing roundels with Decalfix, which seems to be doing the job. That's good, because I didn’t hold out any hope the tail cross would conform to the fin and rudder at all. The fuselage stripe might end up with several patches of the white transfer to get it looking right. A lot of faff, but I will persevere.

 

Plan B is to get the Italeri CR.42, and then perhaps convert the Mister Kit one to a Belgian plane. The Belgians essentially took the aircraft from Fiat's factory in the standard Regia Aeronautica camouflage but without any markings.

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50202894218_22b6f828eb_b.jpg

 

Well, the Decalfix did the job, albeit leaving a sticky mess to clean up. So, I pressed on with the remaining markings. Ain’t she sweet?

 

Tomorrow, I’ll get a satin varnish topcoat on both Italians, sort out windscreens on both, add the missing weaponry, rig the outer struts on this wee beastie, and finally attach the upper wing. 
 

I’ll still get an Italeri Falco, though. It’d be rude not to.

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Looking good Heather,

 

As I don't anticipate making any more Regia Aeronautica kits, I have quite a few generic national markings ( old Micro/Superscale sheets)and also some Squadron markings for MC200 and SM 70 available in 1/72 if you run into any more problems, though of course I hope that does not happen. As I said in my SM 79 build Sky decals provide a large number of squadron letters/numbers in various styles, sizes and colours and they are all actually individually printed on the sheet, so could be used to make up quite a combination of markings should the need arise. Hopefully however, the ones for your Cicogna will be OK, but if not feel free to ask!

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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Thanks Pete! I hope the box transfers will be okay. One day, once the Western European Theatre stash for 1940 has been whittled down a fair bit, I shall look long and hard at the Mediterranean and North Africa. I expect quite a few colourful types to appear.

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Great work on the decals for both aircraft Heather, they really are coming to life now.

Good to see that you might be casting your eye on more Mediterranean/North African based types, it really is a fascinating theatre which resulted in some unique and very interesting colour schemes.

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7 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Good to see that you might be casting your eye on more Mediterranean/North African based types

It sort of naturally leads on from my current interest. So far, I’ve been studiously ignoring French planes with Vichy markings, and the rest of the Italian Air Force. Looking at the Med will cover all that and a bit more. What I want to avoid, though, is creeping further into Africa and on to colonial stuff. I think that’s beyond my immediate area of interest, as most of 1940 was concerned with the Eurasian landmass.

 

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Satin varnish done. I think all that’s left is the windscreens and fitting the Falco top wing.

 

Then the bench will be clear for the day job, and the Cicogna can get under way again.

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