Jump to content

Spitfire 1a R6691 PR-J * Flt Lt F J Howell 609 Sqn * Airfix 1/24 - Weathering at last


Recommended Posts

Looking lovely in primer Charlie,  the Aifix Kit would always beat the Trumpeter kit with the surface detail IMHO.   I tried adding the domed rivets to my Hobbyboss 32nd MkVb and used the HGW rivets  unfortunately they are very shallow and hours of work adding them was wasted when they hardly showed.  I wish I could have got the archers set instead.

You have done a wonderful job on this model.

Chris

  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

I tried adding the domed rivets to my Hobbyboss 32nd MkVb and used the HGW rivets  unfortunately they are very shallow and hours of work adding them was wasted when they hardly showed.  I wish I could have got the archers set instead.

You have done a wonderful job on this model.

Thanks Chris, getting there slowly. Funny thing rivets, years ago we spent our time trying to remove them and now they're back in fashion.

 

10 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Excellent progress Charlie, and great attention to detail there

Cheers Stew. Hoping to get the Colourcoats out any day! But I may have under-ordered as I only bought 1 pot of Sky for the underside. I'll have to be careful with my spraying.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Johnson changed the title to Spitfire 1a R6691 PR-J * Flt Lt F J Howell 609 Sqn * Airfix 1/24 - Paint!

A new chapter. Not just for this kit, for me too with new paint. But before that, a trip through memory lane painting Battle of Britain Spitfires;

 

Top row - serious painting first started for me in the 1960s when Humbrol brought out their Authentic paint range. Unfortunately I have no models dating back to this era, though my original 1/24 Spitfire would probably have been done with these.

 

y4mFN_k3h4n3NYGTjzc6tpzqjfyGKdumJebUFFgI

 

Middle row - getting back into serious modelling in the late 1980s I started using Hannants Xtracolor. A game changer for me as the decals actually stuck to it! The colours of the dark green and dark earth lids seems a bit misleading to me, a bit dull and washed out. But they are actually better than that as these 1/72 Airfix Spifire Mk.1s show;

 

y4m7ktlrMPDq3FRF3g4AGEygJUe5CbNVC-76oB5_

 

QJ-G, finished with Aeromaster decals, probably dates from the 1990s. WZ-T is only a few years old. The Xtracolor Dark Earth seems to have got a bit lighter over the years.  And yes, I know, the crow bar shouldn't be red, or even be there!

 

Bottom row - First outing with Sovereign Hobbies Colourcoats; RAF Temperate Land Scheme. Here's how it went for the Sky underside;

 

y4mw-krXjRJ1FBO6R8IP6nBa5kbr8I6C7aNAj7tx

 

Very well!

 

Initially I was concerned about the lightness of the Sky S Type compared with other brands, but I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I followed the Colourcoats instructions to the letter and used their own thinners. Spraying through a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution airbrush with a 0.4mm nozzle. It went on beautifully.

 

Next up are the topside Dark Earth and Dark Green. Judging by the colour of the lids they look lovely. It will be interesting to see how they come out, they look much richer than the Humbrol and Xtracolor. I feel rather a lot of masking coming on!

 

Cheers, 

 

 

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Always good to get to the stage where the paint starts going on, as you say a new chapter B) Glad the paint did its stuff for you Charlie :) 

 

The comparison shot of the 1/72 Spitfires is interesting too, both the colours look less saturated on the later build but I assumed it was just the sort of difference you might expect between two photographs until you mentioned the apparent lightness of the later Dark Earth - is the difference in real life similar to that in the photos?

 

... and don't worry - most of us who were building Spitfires in those days were gleefully painting the crowbar red and congratulating ourselves on our attention to detail :lol:

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Johnson said:

But before that, a trip through memory lane painting Battle of Britain Spitfires

 

Hi Charlie,

 

A very enjoyable post detailing the paint history. I painted my 1/24 Airfix Spitfire back in the 70's with Humbrol gloss brown and a gloss green that bore no resemblance whatsoever to actual colors and never a matt coat touched the surface and I loved it. It has disappeared long ago. 

 

Colourcoats - great choice! Should turn out lovely.

 

Ray

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks @bigbadbadge @Stew Dapple @AdrianMF @Alan P @Ray_W for your support and comments, really appreciate it!

 

9 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

The comparison shot of the 1/72 Spitfires is interesting too, both the colours look less saturated on the later build but I assumed it was just the sort of difference you might expect between two photographs until you mentioned the apparent lightness of the later Dark Earth - is the difference in real life similar to that in the photos?

 

Hi Stew - from the photos, it would appear to be so;

 

y4mckljoMn9RhzuqrW9X1avnTNUuq0C1g1swr0Zi

 

y4meULxr7_UDkNuQqWkRI5qC7u-jKrOCkTFwothf

 

And I'd like to say it was deliberate... but I'd be lying! :blink2:   I also notice that QJ-G doesn't have an armoured windscreen. WZ-T has dreadfully feathered edges to the top colours and was made in a bit of a rush. I bought the kit on a whim out shopping with Mrs J who commented 'not another kit you'll never make!'  I immediately got on with it to prove her wrong. I like them both, but they're far from perfect.

 

Regarding X4330 QJ-G, I read somewhere (might have been on BM) that the pilot was none other than a young PO J. E. Johnson. Whether this is correct I couldn't say.

 

5 hours ago, Alan P said:

In my opinion the best paint out there. Glad you're getting on well with them.

 

3 hours ago, Ray_W said:

Colourcoats - great choice! Should turn out lovely.

 

Colourcoats are satin finish and having been used to gloss Xtracolor I'm wondering about the decals - adhesion and silvering etc. I'll probably do some experiments before committing decals to the model, but does anyone have experience with decals on Colourcoats? Should I use a gloss coat first?

 

Cheers,

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would use a gloss coat, have used Klear and Alclad Aqua Gloss with no problems before. Recently tried AK Gauzy Intermediate as well with no issues. Even Testors Dullcote thinned with Mr Color Levelling Thinners didn't dent the Colourcoats, they're pretty bombproof enamels 👍

  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Charlie,

 

Sorry I should have phrased my question better; I meant the apparent difference in the Xtracolors in the earlier and later builds of your 1/72 Spitfires; is the colour difference that pronounced in real life, or is it just a photographic effect like a change of light or the angle of the models?

 

Regarding transfers on a satin finish; I always use a little Klear to bed the decals down from force of habit, and I'd definitely recommend something like that or as Alan advises, a gloss coat before applying the transfers. It might not actually be necessary with all transfers, but it certainly doesn't hurt and of course the likelihood of silvering does depend on the quality of the transfers as well.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No need for apologies Stew, the question was fine, I just made it a bit complicated in my mind as usual!

 

So, the answer is yes, there appears to be a subtle difference in reality. The two photos were taken within minutes in daylight. I've just had another look and it's not so apparent under artificial light, but I'll check again tomorrow. [edit - same in daylight].

 

Odd considering that they are both Xtracolor Dark Earth. But there is about 20 years difference in the ages of the paint and it seems to me that the paint formula may have altered in that time.

 

Thanks for the decal advice. I'm going to do a few experiments but I think some gloss coat or Klear would be a good idea.

 

Cheers,

Edited by Johnson
More info
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Paint, paint and more paint. Don't think I've ever used quite as much on a single model. But now done.

 

y4m_mvquYIq6Z7ZQsd7sjr8pM0sChy5A2tDBGght

 

Getting there has taken weeks, mostly working in the evening as real life tended to get in the way earlier.

 

I had to work out the basic camouflage pattern. Easy on a Spitfire? Just follow the profiles? Maybe, but they varied quite a lot and I'm trying to recreate a particular plane; 609 Sqn's R6691 PR-J in August 1940. And there's only one photo of it AFAIK. The other photo of 609 Sqn's PR-J, you'll find on the web, is another earlier plane (different aerial mast for a start). I reckoned R6691 was probably going to be pretty similar to R6692, so back to the IWM film. But R6692 is painted in the 'A' pattern, and R6691 in 'B', so mirror the pics in Paint Shop Pro. Most of the profiles of this plane are wrong, including the ones that come with the Montex decals, but they help a bit. The Airfix instructions colour call-outs were best and the BM Spitfire Mk.1 walkaround was very useful.

 

y4mPDqr_zu6eP1IKLQCQfv9c403fj8udwL8kJfOU

 

The camouflage lines had to be transferred onto home printed 1/24 plans, enlargements from 1/48 plans in the Valiant Wings book.

 

My normal masking techniques, paper and blue tac sausages, wasn't going to work at this scale, nor on a plane that has hard demarcations between the paint colours. I didn't want to use Tamiya masking tape as that would almost certainly have resulted in ridges between the colours, something I hate and very much wanted to avoid. So I tried Frisket masking film. It has a matt surface that you can draw on, or use a fine marker, and it's very low tac - much less than Tamiya tape. Experiments proved that it worked, but would it stick to the model which is largely covered in rivets?

 

y4mokliBoDFCOD7PvyL-oCB29Wobrpyj8ZB0pcu4

 

I transferred the camouflage lines from my 1/24 paper plans to the Frisket Film, it's translucent enough to see through so I could copy the panel lines, and the camouflage, and then cut out the individual masks. I painted the Dark Earth first. In hindsight I should have painted the whole of the topside DE (as I would at 1/72). It would have been much easier/quicker and I managed to miss some areas and had to apply more DE paint later.

 

y4mANIBGKV2dV7sqSs9WJQ7JliPgRtgQNZRZgffL

 

The film stuck to the surface - just! But the age old problem with sticking a flat film to a 3D curvey surface did cause a few problems. I did get a few patches of feathering between the colours, but having the corresponding mask that covered the green, it was easy to use this and touch up the DE.

 

And on with the green;

 

y4mp1ClUQtVGeOwL-kT7aJxR6EO-0xaYIrtEO7Fc

 

The only way to paint something this big is to do it in sections. I'm using Colourcoats for the first time, and I love the colours. But the Dark Earth definitely went on better than the Dark Green. The DE was smooth and gave a good satin finish, the DG was much dustier and came out fairly matt. Variations in the ratio of thinner to paint, the pressure or the distance of the airbrush to the model made no difference. I don't think that it will cause issues downstream as the whole model is going to get a coat of gloss, which is where I'm headed next. But not for a couple of days to allow the CC paint to harden off.

 

y4mEYWUObbp5iHrxbuJ_E-OSk_rA8vZ7U-lbTmC7

 

Thanks for looking! Back soon.

 

  • Like 17
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Johnson changed the title to Spitfire 1a R6691 PR-J * Flt Lt F J Howell 609 Sqn * Airfix 1/24 - Paint, paint, paint...
13 hours ago, Johnson said:

the DG was much dustier and came out fairly matt

 

Hi Charlie,

 

Looking wonderful.

 

I don't know how Colourcoats handle this, but if I get this phenomena with lacquers or Gunze/Tamiya aqueous acrylics I give the offending area a rub with a used but clean Tamiya 3000 sanding sponge. Makes all nice and smooth. I use the 3000 only because I have some. Others will use a finer grit. I then gently buff with a microfibre cloth. This process works for me. I try to get each layer how I want it before going on to the next. I usually find the next layer does not correct the prior. 

 

Your call though. Looks good in the pics and not sure what the effect is like with Colourcoats.

 

Ray 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ray,

 

I haven't really thought this through yet and decided how to proceed. But my initial thoughts are that the difference isn't that great on the important areas (like where decals are going). It was worst, really quite grainy, on the curved wing fillets, maybe something to do with the shape? Some very fine sanding as you suggest may be required there.

 

The whole model will need a coat of gloss, and here I will be following your Spitfire XIV build (I think - I'll have to check, I have it bookmarked!), and using Mr Colour GX112 gloss thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner. I also think you have a particular technique when applying it?

 

But I just looked and I'll need to order more GX112, I have enough for about one 1/72 Spitfire! I'll do some experimentation with the gloss/thinners on CC paint to check compatibility, but CC are rock hard, almost brittle when dry, and I've read good things about them.

 

Cheers,

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, Johnson said:

Mr Colour GX112 gloss thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner.

 

Hi Charlie,

I see you have made a note on compatibility. I would check this and use a recommended gloss coat for Colourcoats seeing it is an enamel. I am an advocate for GX100 and GX112 over lacquers and Tamiya/Gunze Aqueous Acrylics, but dangers lie for in wait for those covering vinyl acrylics and enamels. I think after a year's work it is worth opening this up to the BM Brain's Trust or @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies for comment.

Ray

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Ray.

 

I've posted in the paint advice section, so see if anything comes of it.

 

Just re-read your GX-112 / leveling thinners tutorial (Spitfire XIV build) again, and it's very tempting! But definitely no action for 48 hours to allow the base coats to dry, then proceed with caution, as you say it's taken a while to get this far.

 

Best regards,

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The AK Real Colours behave like a lacquer and covered very well. They say they are enamels but I do not think they are in terms of chemical process curing like a typical enamel. Hence my nervousness of using GX over a true enamel. 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looks great Charlie,  the colours look fantastic   just bought my first sets of Colour Coats so looking forward to giving them a try. 

 

Thanks Chris!

 

I hope you get on with them as well as I have. Did you also get the CC thinners? I've found it very good (I was a long term white spirit user). Really does what it says, fast drying, good mix and the excess paint goes back in the tin for next time, not something I've been able to do before.

 

I think the colours, Dark Earth / Dark Green, are the best I've ever seen. The Sky was a bit different to what I'm used to, but now I really like it. Colour is a funny thing, so many different opinions on the 'right' colour. I own a 1:1 jeep, and the number of people who come up to me at shows and say 'nice jeep, but the olive drab colour isn't right...' I've given up trying to explain that there never was a single 'right' colour!

 

Cheers,

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Charlie, they arrived today   I will have to look at the thinners as I use Humbrol thinners and have recently bought another large bottle do will have to see. 

Ha ha I used to get comments about my car (in the Avatar) as it is an import it was on a 1969 plate instead of the correct 67 plate it has been reregistered on and people came up to me saying o had the wrong door handles etc etc , OMG .  The jeep sounds fun fella.

I will see how how I get on with the paints. 

Chris

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...