"Picchiatello", the Italian Stuka - Ju 87 B-2

[Massimo]

NIce pre-shading and lower side grey!!!!

Looks promising!!!

Bravo Giorgio!!!

Massimo

[Cookenbacher]

Nice, a surprise mid-week update!

The paint is looking fantastic Giorgio.

[Terry1954]

I have to agree with my colleagues, the paint is looking good., and oh how we are happy when paint goes on, isn't that right Giorgio...? 😁

 

In this case an excellent example of pre-shading. I must start using those techniques, they really work it seems.

 

Terry

 

 

[PlaStix]

Hi Giorgio. I hope you and yours are keeping well. Great to see the paint going on! Excellent progress!!

Kind regards,

Stix

[giemme]

On 25/02/2021 at 14:52, Massimo said:

NIce pre-shading and lower side grey!!!!

Looks promising!!!

Bravo Giorgio!!!

Massimo

Thanks Massimo!  That ain't no grey, though - not even by definition: RLM65 Hellblau, meaning Light Blue (azzurro, in Italian)  

 

17 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Nice, a surprise mid-week update!

The paint is looking fantastic Giorgio.

Thanks Cookie  It had to be done, I had to take advantage of the milder weather (up to 20°C during thge day, this week), also, if I limit my painting activity to the WE, this model is gonna take forever to be completed....  

 

16 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

I have to agree with my colleagues, the paint is looking good., and oh how we are happy when paint goes on, isn't that right Giorgio...? 😁

 

In this case an excellent example of pre-shading. I must start using those techniques, they really work it seems.

 

Terry

 

 

We sure are happy!     By all means, do try pre-shading: it takes a little experimenting to get used to it, but it really pays off IMHO  

 

4 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Giorgio. I hope you and yours are keeping well. Great to see the paint going on! Excellent progress!!

Kind regards,

Stix

Hi Stix, doing well here, thanks - so I hope for you. Thanks for your comment, very appreciated

 

Ciao

[giemme]

Hi everybody, apologies for being one day late on WE progress report - I went on till late last night at the work bench and I didn't feel like sorting pics and posting

 

This update is all about painting - beware! Lots of pics to follow

 

After airbrushing the underside, I sprayed a protective coat of Aqua gloss (forgot to take a pic  ) and masked for the topside camouflage

 

 

With all set and ready, I started airbrushing RLM71, using Lifecolor Dark Green through my trusty PROCON BOY, thinned with IPA. Something went wrong initially, though

 

You can see it better on the following close-up

 

It looked as if there were flakes inside the paint, despite of me stirring it vigorously before and after mixing it with IPA. The same happened on port wing and a few other spots

 

So I stopped there, micro-meshed those splatters and restarted with fresh paint. At that point, though, I add to spray more coats than I intended to cover the splotchy look, so I had to reinforce the pre-shading with a post-shading, adding Matt White to the mix and more thinner, spraying in the middle of panels. Here's the cowlings

 

 

the rudder

 

 

and the aircraft

 

More like it, I guess

 

 

Next pic shoes the pre and post shading better

 

Of course the second camouflage color, the markings and all will tone down the contrasts, but this is exactly what I was aiming for. I did remember to spray the inside of the wheel spats with RLM02, BTW

 

Then I gloss coated it in preparation for the splinter scheme masking

 

which took quite some time to be deployed...

 

 

I then airbrushed RLM70, this time using Tamiya Black Green; this is a very dark color, so I wasn't expecting any pre-shading to show through. Instead, once I was happy with the base coat, I added some Tamiya Flat Black straight into the airbrush cup, thinned to a watery consistence and post-shaded spraying along the panel lines

 

 

 

 

Propeller and top side of the pitot done too

 

Then I started unmasking: top cowling

 

 

Bottom cowling

 

 

This side needs a respray of the RLM65 along that fuzzy demarcation line

 

Rudder

 

 

and eventually....

 

Alright, I'm pretty happy about about how it turned out, but there are a few touch ups to do; port wing leading edge

 

The masking tape lifted some paint form the PE port walkway - not a big deal, since I need to respray it black, still a bit annoying, because it means I didn't prepped it properly

 

Another couple of paint lifts on the tail side, plus one self induced by scraping too hard with my tweezers to remove the masking tape: one on the spine, one on the fin and one on top of it

 

Here's another tweezers slip damage

This will probably get hidden by the back sliding canopy, since I'm going to pose it open - we'll see.

 

Lastly , some poor masking on the underside - oddly enough not along the demarcation lines bit on the middle tape patches - a real Friday Afternoon masking job  

 

 

This is were I left it last night; now I need to micromesh around the areas to be touched up or resprayed, then I have to gloss coat the RLM70 painted parts and then I can re-mask locally and respray what's needed. All good fun  

 

All comments welcome

 

Ciao

 

[TheBaron]

Those touch-ups'll be nothing to someone who lashes the paint around with such superlative skill as yourself Giorgio. 👏

[keefr22]

Good save on the splattery paint Giorgio, it's all looking rather splendid now, despite those minor hiccups, which I agree with Tony you'll have fixed in no time!

 

Keith

[The Spadgent]

THAT! Is looking fantastic. 🙌🙌👌👌

just the kind of pre shade I like. Nice post shading too. Beautifully executed Giorgio. Well worth the wait. 
 

Johnny

[bbudde]

Wow!!!

Cheers

[fubar57]

Looking really smart. I hate those surprises as seen in the last photo. You think you have everything covered, spray, remove the tape and there it is......

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by fubar57

[hendie]

Very nicely executed paint job Giorgio.

Definately high on the skills level to produce work as fine as that without overdoing things.

[CedB]

Excellent finish Giorgio and a great example of your attention to detail and infinite patience  

[perdu]

Giorgio, whilst I doubt the wisdom of the Italian Air Force operating the 'on-stilts' version of the Stuka I can only sit back and say.. ohhh!

 

Your paintwork again shows me what can be done, the pity of it is that I can never learn well enough how to do the same things you do.

 

Brilliant work old friend, brilliant.

[giemme]

12 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Those touch-ups'll be nothing to someone who lashes the paint around with such superlative skill as yourself Giorgio. 👏

Thank you Tony, much appreciated  I did keep into account I would have some touch up to do, nonetheless with a bit more care during the masking I could have avoided some

 

11 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Good save on the splattery paint Giorgio, it's all looking rather splendid now, despite those minor hiccups, which I agree with Tony you'll have fixed in no time!

 

Keith

Cheers Keith, thank you  For the vote of confidence too    

 

11 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

THAT! Is looking fantastic. 🙌🙌👌👌

just the kind of pre shade I like. Nice post shading too. Beautifully executed Giorgio. Well worth the wait. 
 

Johnny

 I knew you'd have liked it, Johnny  Also because I blatantly nicked the multi-hue pre-shading from your threads  

 

10 hours ago, bbudde said:

Wow!!!

Cheers

Thanks Ben

10 hours ago, fubar57 said:

Looking really smart. I hate those surprises as seen in the last photo. You think you have everything covered, spray, remove the tape and there it is......

 

Yeah, I hate those things too....  Anyway, no big deal - thanks for your comment

 

10 hours ago, hendie said:

Very nicely executed paint job Giorgio.

Definately high on the skills level to produce work as fine as that without overdoing things.

Very kind of you, Alan  I did try to keep things properly balanced, and the following steps will contribute to that for sure, in smoothing the edges and all that; I'm pretty happy with this as a base, though.

 

2 hours ago, CedB said:

Excellent finish Giorgio and a great example of your attention to detail and infinite patience  

Thank you Ced, you are too kind

 

1 hour ago, perdu said:

Giorgio, whilst I doubt the wisdom of the Italian Air Force operating the 'on-stilts' version of the Stuka

 OK, that was only for the VTOL version...    

 

1 hour ago, perdu said:

I can only sit back and say.. ohhh!

 

Your paintwork again shows me what can be done, the pity of it is that I can never learn well enough how to do the same things you do.

 

Brilliant work old friend, brilliant.

Thank you Bill, much appreciated  

 

Ciao

[Spookytooth]

All looks good Giorgio.

Paint splatters are a pain, but you soon showed them who`s the boss.

A tidy up here and there as you said but that`s the hobby for you.

 

Take care.

 

Simon.

[Cookenbacher]

Oooh, nice paint work Giorgio, I love the variation and overall effect.

[Biggles87]

Me too.

[rob85]

That is some flipping delightful paint work G! Really nice and smooth, and where you see paint lifts I see weathering... all in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

 

Rob

[giemme]

On 02/03/2021 at 12:09, Spookytooth said:

All looks good Giorgio.

Paint splatters are a pain, but you soon showed them who`s the boss.

A tidy up here and there as you said but that`s the hobby for you.

 

Take care.

 

Simon.

Cheers Simon, thanks  Yep, that's the hobby  

 

13 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Oooh, nice paint work Giorgio, I love the variation and overall effect.

12 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Me too.

Thank you Cookie and John, glad you like it

 

11 hours ago, rob85 said:

That is some flipping delightful paint work G! Really nice and smooth, and where you see paint lifts I see weathering... all in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

 

Rob

Yeah... but no, they are paint lifts     I fixed them already, anyway, and tonight I should be able to fix the overspray/paint leaks, too. Glad you like my paint work, Rob

 

Ciao

[VT Red Sox Fan]

Giorgio--just catching up--the use of the wine foil on the spats is genius.  I really appreciate your walk through the painting--the pre-shading is amazing.  The post shading on the dark green is something I will try.  I am sorry if I missed it, do you have a recommendation for the white, thinner to the dark green--really would like to try this on my builds--amazing.  Best, Erwin   

[Brandy]

Beautiful paintwork as usual Giorgio. As others have mentioned, minor setbacks for a man of your skills. I just wish I had a basic idea of pre- and post-shading techniques. Painting has never been my strongpoint.

 

Ian

[giemme]

On 06/03/2021 at 14:58, VT Red Sox Fan said:

Giorgio--just catching up--the use of the wine foil on the spats is genius.  I really appreciate your walk through the painting--the pre-shading is amazing.  The post shading on the dark green is something I will try.  I am sorry if I missed it, do you have a recommendation for the white, thinner to the dark green--really would like to try this on my builds--amazing.  Best, Erwin   

Thanks Erwin, way too kind  As for the post shading: I used Lifecolor Matt White to give the faded effect to the Lifecolor Dark Green. It's a bit extreme, if you just want to add light in the middle of panels you can use a light grey and/or some yellow, so that the faded effect isn't too "in your face". I thin Lifecolor paints (any vinyl based acrylics, really) with IPA and a bit of Windex, or just IPA, depending on the color (even if they are from the same producer, there are differences in terms of density from one color to another). As for the Tamiya Dark Green, I just added Tamiya Flat Black for the post-shading, thinning with cellulose thinner and regular alcohol. HTH

 

On 06/03/2021 at 17:29, Brandy said:

Beautiful paintwork as usual Giorgio. As others have mentioned, minor setbacks for a man of your skills. I just wish I had a basic idea of pre- and post-shading techniques. Painting has never been my strongpoint.

 

Ian

Thanks Ian, I fixed the paint mishaps, see below  You ought to try pre-shading, it really is quite simple; you just spray a very thinned dark color along the panel lines, and you don't need to be precise, because the idea is that it should barely show through; then when you spray the actual base coat on top of it, you just need to do multiple thin layers, till you're happy with the result. Post-shading requires a bit more of practice, but it's no rocket science

 

Anyway, here's WE progress report, all focused on painting; first off, I fixed the paint issues. Cowling

 

Port wing leading edge (I left the wing root as is because I will add some visible chipping there, so it's OK if it looks scruffy)

 

Tail area

 

and the underside

 

Not very visible on the above pic, but for some reason the RLM65 touch ups didn't blend in properly, and they show up much lighter, almost white, against the previous coat - even after gloss coating. I'm not too worried, anyway, because there's going to be some weathering and dirtying up there, so it should blend in eventually

 

Next step: Italian Stukas were initially German machines, with markings and all; the original markings got overpainted once they reached their final destination with the Regia Aeronatica, but with Italian paints. So the underside crosses were covered with Grigio Azzurro Chiaro (Light Blue Grey), while the top markings were painted over with Verde Oliva Scuro (Dark Olive Green). There were no specific indications on how to carry out the overpaint, so there were a lot of variants among the different groups; I only have two pics of Captain Cenni's aircraft, so what I did here was a mix of "modeller's licence" and guess work.

 

Underside: I scanned and printed the crosses from the decals sheet, as a reference for the masking

 

the overpaint should look like a field job, so I went along the edges with blue tack worms

 

then I airbrushed Lifecolor Grigio Azzurro Chiaro

 

 

I still haven't made up my mind of I want to add some post shading to that, or just wait for the weathering - I shall ponder. Anyway, the same color went on the dive brakes

 

For the fin swastikas, I did cut suitable masks with my Curio (I should point out that I sealed the mask edges by brushing on some Aqua Gloss, with a fine tipped brush)

 

while for the wing crosses, I went again with blue tack worms and Tamiya tape

 

 

Here they are after airbrushing and a bit of dark post shade (adding Italeri Flat Black) along the panel lines

 

 

 

And again, but after a protective gloss coat

 

 

 

 

That's it for this update - next task: spraying the Savoia's crosses on the fin and rudder and the white fuselage band, then I'll see If I can cut masks for the under wings fasci. I did that in the past for my Macchi builds, but they were bigger than the ones used for the Stukas; I'm not sure the Curio will cut properly the finer details, so I might as well resort to decals - they are Cartograph, after all, so I know they'll behave properly and I hate them less than others' ...  .

 

All comments welcome

 

Ciao

[The Spadgent]

Really working that post shade. Looking fabulous. 👏👏👏

 

Johnny

[hendie]

Would you consider contract painting Giorgio?  Your skills in this field are way better than mine