1/48 Special Hobby Phonix DI Austrian WW1 fighter

[Epeeman]

All,

 

I had to self-isolate this week due to coming into contact with somebody testing positive for C19.   Luckily, I have been fine and now allowed back out.

Although dull, it did at least give me lots of time to finish this Special Hobby kit of the Phonix DI fighter showing here.

 

The kit is the usual mix of plastic injected, PE, resin and clear acetate parts.    This is a nice kit that goes together well - the only area to be aware of is getting the engine in as there are no attachment points of formers to fit onto.  Therefore, a lot of time spent getting this in to fit and align correctly to avoid the cabane struts catching on the exhaust pipes.  Enjoyable build nonetheless.

 

Mostly built OOB with the exception of the following:

 

Straightening the upper wing which is molded with a distinct bow;

Adding more basic details to cockpit involving making a firewall between engine and cockpit with MG ammunition boxes; air pressurisation pump for fuel tank; throttle quadrant; additional linkages and spade grip to the control column and compass;

adding missing pipes from engine to wing mounted radiator.

 

Brush painted and added the brown mottle effect using small pieces of torn kitchen sponge, cotton bud and small brush.  Rigged using 0.09 mm fishing line (painted steel) - turnbuckles simulated using a blob of CA glue on the line then painting brass.

 

Camo marking quoted from instruction sheet:

 

'Phonix D1 328.26, Flik 39D originally Flik 14J.  The aircraft was used by Oblt. K. Benedek and Fw. J. Malz who accomplished 1 confirmed and 1 unconfirmed shot down mid 1918'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards

 

Dave

[arfa1983]

Very cool mottling camo. Love the death's head! 

[MikeR]

Nicely done and a great job with the mottling!

 

Mike.

[CplPunishment]

Very interesting subject choice. And I too like the results achieved with the mottling. Very nice indeed.

[Hobo]

That looks amazing! You're one of the few modelers I've ever seen to pull off the dreaded mottling schemes from World War I.  Looks like the "torn kitchen sponge technique" may be the key. Do you have any more tips concerning the paint work - beside the use of torn kitchen sponges, cotton buds and small brushes - that you can give us? Thanks much for sharing.

[Gary Brantley]

Yes sir, that's fantastic!  A great scale model with amazingly effective camouflage work!   Please take a bow for this one. 🏆

[pheonix]

First class in every department Dave. The mottling is very good indeed - as is the rigging and general finish. Just what we have come to expect from you - another winner!

 

P

[Epeeman]

2 hours ago, Hobo said:

That looks amazing! You're one of the few modelers I've ever seen to pull off the dreaded mottling schemes from World War I.  Looks like the "torn kitchen sponge technique" may be the key. Do you have any more tips concerning the paint work - beside the use of torn kitchen sponges, cotton buds and small brushes - that you can give us? Thanks much for sharing.

 

Thank you all very kindly, gentleman!

 

Hobo - what I did was to literally pull apart one of those kitchen cleaning (the ones with the hard scouring pad on one side) into small 'clumps'.   I then got a small dish with the very thinned down (if too thick the paint will dry rough as opposed to smooth)  brown paint colour.  I then put a piece of the sponge between a set of locking tweezers dipping into the dish.  I then dabbed out the excess paint on some paper before dabbing (gently) onto the model surface - I then just built up by continually applying the sponge onto model.  I also changed over the sponge pieces from time to time to try and very the pattern slightly.  After this, I used a cotton bud dipped into paint, removing excess paint on paper as before.   Dabbing randomly .   The small brush was used to dry brush paint into crevices on surface the sponge and cotton bud could not get into.

I used this method as I understand sponges and rags were used to apply the mottle onto the real aircraft.

This was the first time I tried this method, so don't pretend it is perfect.   Next time, I will try using more smaller pieces of sponge to reduce size of each 'blotch'.

I hope this (bad!) explanation makes some sort of sense?

 

Regards

 

Dave

[Harold55]

I really love this, everything looks really great, paint scheme, rigging and overall alignment.  Just a fantastic job. Shame we can't see your handy work to improve the interior but I impressed that you tackled it.  The camo is first rate and I agree with the prior comment in wanting some more info on it as you 100% nailed it!

[Hobo]

6 minutes ago, Epeeman said:

 

Thank you all very kindly, gentleman!

 

Hobo - what I did was to literally pull apart one of those kitchen cleaning (the ones with the hard scouring pad on one side) into small 'clumps'.   I then got a small dish with the very thinned down (if too thick the paint will dry rough as opposed to smooth)  brown paint colour.  I then put a piece of the sponge between a set of locking tweezers dipping into the dish.  I then dabbed out the excess paint on some paper before dabbing (gently) onto the model surface - I then just built up by continually applying the sponge onto model.  I also changed over the sponge pieces from time to time to try and very the pattern slightly.  After this, I used a cotton bud dipped into paint, removing excess paint on paper as before.   Dabbing randomly .   The small brush was used to dry brush paint into crevices on surface the sponge and cotton bud could not get into.

I used this method as I understand sponges and rags were used to apply the mottle onto the real aircraft.

This was the first time I tried this method, so don't pretend it is perfect.   Next time, I will try using more smaller pieces of sponge to reduce size of each 'blotch'.

I hope this (bad!) explanation makes some sort of sense?

 

Regards

 

Dave

Thanks much Dave. Yes, the above explanation will help me out a lot. It's now just a matter of doing it and learning along the way. Thank you very much for the above tips. Cheers and happy modelling. 

[Epeeman]

3 minutes ago, Harold55 said:

I really love this, everything looks really great, paint scheme, rigging and overall alignment.  Just a fantastic job. Shame we can't see your handy work to improve the interior but I impressed that you tackled it.  The camo is first rate and I agree with the prior comment in wanting some more info on it as you 100% nailed it!

 

Thank you, kindly Harold!

 

Please see my mottle painting description above.   The key to joining and applying the top wing is to apply the cabane struts first.   Whilst the glue is setting, I get the top wing and lay it upside down on my bench.   I take the model and make sure the struts match up with the corresponding wing joining points.  IOnce everything matches up, I apply a drop of CA to the struts to 'lock' it all into place.

The final step is to take an box (usually the kit box) and place the model with the upper wing attached placing into the corner of the box so that both lower wing and upper are supported by box edges.  This will then gently push the wings parallel with each other.    You van then check (once set) holding up and looking with mark one eyeball to check all is correct.

This does take time but pays dividends in the long run.  

 

Regards

 

Dave

[swralph]

Looks great Dave.😀

[theskits62]

That looks great and a subject that you don't see very often. Lovely build and I agree with everyone else that the mottling looks really good. Bravo !!

[bigbadbadge]

Great job  Dave, you have created an excellent model there, great, no amazing work on that mottled finish. Fab job fella. 

Chris

[Lewis95]

Great job there buddy. An absolutely excellent finish. 

[Natter]

Nice idea to get turnbuckles in this scale.  A really interesting model, well executed.

[dov]

The camo is great! Congratulation!

[RMCS]

Wow 

[beastieboy]

wow what a great job,