Hawker Typhoon - Airfix 1/24 sliding hood.

[Dunny]

Lovely work Pat - I do like your pre-highlighting technique,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

This does look fantastic Pat, great effects .  

Cracking work. 

Chris

[mick]

great camo work

[James G]

Interesting techniques, great results!

[patmaquette]

Many thanks for all your messages, everyone. I'm glad you are following along with me to see how this one turns out! 

 

On 30/04/2022 at 21:35, Johnson said:

 

My eye keeps getting drawn to the wheel bay, quite amazing.

 

 

 

Thank you, @Johnson

Being as they will be in shadow, the wheel well parts (wall and roof) were painted in a dark aluminium colour initially (Citadel Iron Warriors). They were then temporarily taped in place between the wing halves and AK Extreme Metal Aluminium airbrushed through the lower wing opening from the direction of light. Some highlights were strengthened further with White Aluminium. This resulted in the rear and part of the side of the well being bright in comparison to the front (that is mostly in shadow). The upper undercarriage components were given a similar treatment, but using Citadel Boltgun Metal as the base shade.

 

 

 

 

 

The parts were given a wash with Nuln Oil and small quantities of AK True Metal silver applied to catch-lights.....

 

 

The metal straps for the oxygen bottles appear to have a "brassy" tint to them.

Once again, the kit has comprehensive detail. I saw a few items in photos that were missing from the kit, but nothing major, just some small bore hydraulic lines and cables.

 

Moving on to painting the camouflage for the upper surfaces, I used the plan given in the Ducimus book as a reference. I have the Top Notch masking set for the kit, but found it did not match the plan or period photos too well, so I put it aside.

 

 

That was probably a mistake, on reflection (see later).

I have some scaling dividers that were useful for transferring distances from the plan directly onto the model....

 

 

These are fancy ones, but you can get cheaper and simpler ones from art stores if you think they would be useful to have in your modelling toolbox.

The green (AK Air Series AK11840 RAF Dark Green) was airbrushed on freehand. The paint was well diluted with Ultimate Airbrush Thinner and with a drop of W&N acrylic flow improver. It worked fairly well to start with, but I found it began to separate out after a while and I had to blow it back into the cup and give it a stir from time to time, especially towards the end of what was a long airbrush session. I changed to using Vallejo Airbrush Thinner plus a drop or two of Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver when I later came to paint the Ocean Grey, and that worked a lot better. (I did try AK thinner and flow improver early on, but that went badly and I had to ditch the mix and clean out the airbrush. I guess it is for one of their other lines of acrylic paint).

Here is the result from painting the green. It was more difficult to paint than the MSG, but I think it is okay so far......

 

 

 

 

 

I've painted the Ocean Grey and will post some photos of that shortly.

Thank you once again for your interest and for passing by to read 🙂

 

Pat

Edited May 3, 2022 by patmaquette
Added photo of Top Notch mask set.

[patmaquette]

As my original marking out of the camouflage pattern had largely disappeared under the green paint, a fresh outline was drawn on using thinned Ocean Grey paint.

 

 

The grey was then airbushed freehand. It was a pleasant, albeit long process. The Vallejo thinners and flow improver worked well with the AK paint. It was a great exercise in getting used to handling my airbrush - although no doubt I will have forgotten about it by the time I get to airbrushing my next project and will have to learn it all again! 

 

 

 

I laid the paint down in a thin layer on each panel and moved on to another patch whilst I waited for it to dry off a little before deciding whether more paint was needed. Too little would result in a quilted look and the pre-highlight showing through too much. Too much and you lose the pre-highlight and shading effect. It's difficult to make that judgement when the paint is still wet. 

It was also difficult when it came to the boundary of the Ocean Grey. You want to put the airbrush nozzle close to the surface to get a nice, tight edge with little overspray. However, it is all too easy to lay down too much paint in the line and have it stand out. I tended to hold the airbrush further back and tolerated the extra overspray and hoped I could deal with that later!

 

 

Suffice to say, that should you be crazy enough fancy having a go at pre-highlighting (despite what you read here!), then I suggest either selecting a single-colour scheme or use masks! This is why I think I may have been too hasty in choosing not to use the Top Notch mask set!

 

The 1/72 models I posted earlier were also painted freehand and I was successful in tidying up overspray by using a paintbrush. I did the same this time, using AK paint in a wet palette with Vallejo flow improver and thinners as they worked so well in diluting the paint for airbrushing.

 

 

 

The time now came for the great reveal - removal of the masking. I was delighted (and relieved!) that the masks had performed well. Only a small amount of paint lifted off when the masks were removed, and this was quickly touched-in by brush painting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I now need to think about the next steps ahead. I think a panel line wash will be needed, so my next step is to do a gloss coat. I've tried many products, but find getting a good gloss that withstands subsequent oil washes to be a very hit-or-miss affair. This time I thought I would try out Mr Hobby H30 Clear mixed in equal amounts of Mr Color Levelling Thinner on one of my in-build projects first of all: a Special Hobby 1/72 DH Hornet.

 

 

I gave the model a good rub over with a piece of cloth from an old tee shirt to smooth the surfaces a bit and then applied a light dusting of gloss coat. I left it to stand for 10-minutes and then laid on a couple of wet coats, followed by some spot treatment where needed. It sprayed on beautifully......

 

 

But the result is not satisfactory as it stands, so I think I will leave it to dry off for at least a couple of days and then give it a polish up, possibly followed by a further coat before testing it with oil washes and popping on some decals to check they don't silver.

Back to the Typhoon, another thought I have is about wear and tear on the wing walkway. Maybe I'll add some aluminium before gloss coating. I can then airbrush paint the walkway and then rub the paint away in areas of wear - much as described in Jay Blakemore's article in June's Airfix Modelworld. I also want to do some chipping effects along the wing leading edge - I'll probably do this by sponging.

 

Thanks to you all once again for your interest and for stopping by to read this post 

 

Pat

Edited May 3, 2022 by patmaquette
Added a couple more photos.

[Christer A]

That highlighting technique turned out more than great!

[patmaquette]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your kind comment, @Christer A. The underpainted highlights have worked well, but I think have become less noticeable now that varnish has gone on the model. I have found this before, so was not too worried that they were a bit strong initially.

 

Progress has been slow and not straightforward, but I think I'm getting there!

I masked off and sprayed the wing walkways aluminium, following up with a coat of Klear....

 

 

NATO black was added and, after a short drying time, was rubbed with a slightly moistened cloth to expose the aluminium beneath.....

 

 

I used the kit's decals as a template for the walkways, but I think they may be a bit narrow, as there should be some black to the right of the foot step. Maybe I put the masks in the wrong place: we'll see when I come to remove the masking from the fuselage later on.

 

My model will have the panels open over the gun bays. On the real aircraft, these would cast a shadow on the wing surface beneath. I represented this with Mr Hobby Smoke, having first outlined the area of shadow using tape and some imagination....

 

 

 

The shadow was airbrushed by having the nozzle near to the wing where the panels would be close to the wing and the shadows strong & sharp, and lifted away to give a more feathered edge where the distance was wider.

 

 

 

Now came the time for gloss coating. As mentioned previously, I find getting a good gloss coat for washes and decaling to be very hit or miss. The Mr Hobby H30 Clear sprayed on my DH Hornet paint mule mentioned in the previous post was given a light going over with 4000 grade Micromesh before laying down a second coat, this time using Mr Hobby Topcoat semi-gloss decanted from an aerosol can. I found I had to put on a lot of varnish to get a good gloss. This unfortunately put so much into the engraved panel lines that the wash had little to settle into.

 

 

 

So after some head scratching, I opted to spray just a single coat onto the Typhoon and then do the panel lines. I would then decide what to do about the decals afterwards.

Here is the "glossed" Typhoon model.....

 

 

 

 

I used oil paints with Liquin Fine Detail medium for the panel lines, as I thought that a wash would stain the unsmooth surface. I started with the loose panels first to develop the best way to apply the mix, and then went on to do the undersides. I found that brushing it into every single detail and then wiping it off with a cotton bud moistened with thinners did spoil the surface and didn't really add much "depth" to the recessed rivet detail. So by the time I reached the upper surfaces I was putting the mix only into the panel lines. I used one fine brush to apply the mix and another, clean one, to wipe away any surplus. A wipe over with a finger completed the task.

Darker versions of the base colours (including the markings) were mixed from oil paint, except for the black of the invasion stripes for which a mid-grey was used.

 

 

 

 

 

Localised patches were brush coated with Klear where the decals would go. Several coats were needed. The decals themselves were applied using Klear. The method was to put the decal into warm water and, once it was ready to slide off the backing paper, put a generous amount of Klear onto the model and then slide the decal onto this. More Klear was popped on top of the decal and worked over the surface and around the edges to make sure there was no air trapped between decal and model before finally positioning it. The brush was used from the centre-out to push out surplus Klear from beneath the decal. The brush was swished in water to remove the Klear and then wiped on a paper towel before returning to the model to remove more excess Klear. Once done, the area surrounding the decal was brushed with water to dilute any remaining traces of klear before drying off with the paper towel. The decals settled well into any detail without the need for Micro-Set or Micro-Sol (and these react badly with Klear anyway). I'll post some photos later.

 

I'll also post photos of the problems I found adding the undercarriage. I think I am ready to matt coat the model, but maybe there is something more to be done before doing so? Any thoughts?

 

Many thanks for reading & for your interest. Any comments would be most welcome,

 

Cheers,

Pat

 

 

 

[Dunny]

Hi Pat,

 

Really enjoying seeing this astounding build progress. Your attention to detail is impressive and I'm sure the end result will be suitably jaw-dropping! As far as washes go I swear by Flory Black or Grime these days (over a Tamiya X22 gloss coat). I find them less likely to mess up acrylic base coats than an oil wash. Keep up the sterling work!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[patmaquette]

On 28/05/2022 at 06:05, Dunny said:

As far as washes go I swear by Flory Black or Grime these days (over a Tamiya X22 gloss coat). I find them less likely to mess up acrylic base coats than an oil wash.

Thank you for your kind words and recommendation, Roger. I'll give the Flory washes a try.

 

I purchased Master set AM-24-011 "British RP-3 Rockets" for my kit, and was mightily impressed with their quality and engineering. Here are the contents of the small bag....

 

 

The set includes decals, photoetch and 3D printed supports along with the turned parts.

 

 

I have no idea how they made the beautifully detailed ignition cables!.....

 

 

The only parts preparation needed was to remove the 3D printed supports from their backing. I used a photo-etched saw for this. The material is not strong so you have to be careful to avoid breakages, especially when cleaning up the sawn surfaces. I managed to break some, but fortunately Master provide some spares in the set. I painted these a very dark green (Humbrol 161) using the very smallest Microbrush to get into all the nooks and crannies.

 

The fins were cut from the two sheets of photoetch and any pips removed with a fine file. They slotted very nicely into the rocket bodies and were held in place with the turned nozzle that pushed into place with gentle finger pressure. I didn't use any glue.

 

 

 

Now came some fiddly work. Small stiffener strips have to be placed at the root of each fin on both sides - giving eight pieces for each rocket. These tiny, narrow parts have to be folded along their full length. A pe bending tool proved very useful for this. The bends want to be shy of 90 degrees so that they rest against the curved rocket body without leaving a gap....

 

 

 

I held each rocket body in a vice and placed the stiffener into position before fixing it in place with Klear: just touching some at the join until it had wicked right around the part.

 

 

 

The warhead was dry fitted to the body and the assembly primered with grey Stynylrez. 

 

 

Once dry, the warhead was airbrushed Mid Bronze Green.....

 

 

before removing from the bodies which were then sprayed Vallejo 71.093 Field Green to give a little colour variation between them and the warheads.

 

The support shackles were positioned using the Airfix launch rail to set the spacing. The rear shackle was set using the Airfix rocket (that has the shackle moulded on) as a reference. A small set square was placed across the fins to make sure the rocket was set set squarely on the lauch rail before the shackles were glued in place with Klear.

 

 

Having Klear in a small bottle with a brush is quite useful. However, if you put it in an empty Tamiya glue bottle (as I do) then clearly label it. Also, I have a rule to never have both green capped bottles of Klear and Tamiya glue on the workbench at the same time as using one instead of the other will definately end in tears!

 

The parts were now glossed and decalled. The decals are very thin and love to curl over when placing them on the part. The larger decals have a band that wraps right around the rocket along with some text underneath and in the centre. The decal film is shaped in and out around all of this and makes it incredibly difficult to get everything in place without it wrapping over in some place or another. My solution was to cut the bands away from the text and apply them separately (actually in different sessions so the first decal had already set) and I then had no problem.

 

 

 

The warheads were now glued to the bodies. A dark wash was applied before matt varnish and weathering with a 6B pencil and pale earth coloured pigments. I wonder why these warheads seem to be so weathered - I can't imagine they are being kicked about. I kept the rocket bodies relatively neat and clean.

 

The rockets were now glued to the pylons already attached to the underside of the wings. A small, flat piece was used to align them whilst the glue set.

 

 

 

The ignition leads were next. 0.5mm holes were drilled into a temporary holder and the end of the ignition lead that goes into the nozzle was pushed into this.

 

 

I painted the cables black and the connector shells silver and plugs brass. (A hole had been drilled in the back of each pylon for the socket and was painted similarly). 

This was given a wash with Citadel Nuln Oil gloss.

 

 

The cables were a very nice fit into the nozzles. I dipped the end into thin CA and placed it into the nozzle and held it there briefly to set. I'll bend them to shape tomorrow once the model has been stood the right way up.

 

 

 

I hope this was of some interest to you. Suffice to say, I was really pleased with the Master set, enjoyed assembling it and would recommend it to anyone thinking about buying some for their own model.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Pat

[mick]

excellent work on the rockets

[patmaquette]

22 hours ago, mick said:

excellent work on the rockets

Thank you, Mick. Here they are turned up the right way.....

 

 

I have made a temporary base that has pins which slot into holes drilled in the wheels. Hopefully this will stop the legs from splaying out until I complete my next big task, which is to make a base for the model.

 

 

 

Inevitably on a huge model like this, there will be lots of details that would benefit from further tinkering. There are some details left to paint and further weathering to do, but here are some close-ups of the current state...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll write something about the Brassin Hispano cannons that I used for the kit as there are some things to watch out for. I mentioned earlier about problems with the undercarriage legs - so I'll post something about that as well at some point.

 

Thanks for looking and please do let me know if you have any questions or comments,

Pat

 

 

 

[Johnson]

Haven't visited for a while, so an enjoyable catch up. The rockets are amazing, both the kits and your assembly and finishing. Great to see the model on it's feet, And excellent photography, thank you.

[224 Peter]

Well, what can I say? 

I'm in awe, a magnificent build. 

 

I'm just starting on my one from the"stash" and realise it will be a long, long process. 

The 1/24 Hellcat was my last big scale kit and in comparison, it was much more straightforward. 

The new Mk IX Spitfire will be following.... 

[Winded Penguin]

This build seems more like a once in a lifetime meal out at a top restaurant, with all the best wines chosen by experts and served with each course.

The cutlery and crystal glasses worth more than a small car, etc.

 

It's a sumptuous experience just reading through your thread.

Goodness knows the pleasure you must be getting out of the challenge, working on this amazing kit (and seeing all the aftermarket parts is like the icing on the cake) 👍

[Ettore]

Hello Pat
I renew to you the compliments I gave you yesterday at the Hyeres exhibition, as you can see I'm on Britmodeller too .....
take a nice day

 

Ettore

[bigbadbadge]

Pat, mot visited for a while and just caught up, wow what a beauty, great paint and details , those rockets look the business too.

Great work all round 

Chris

[Samuraiwarrior]

Hi Pat, 

I found this build very late on in the build, so I apologise for not being along for all the ride. 

But I have looked back to the start and have been totally enthralled by the methodical and explanatory way you have tackled the kit. 

I doff my hat to you Sir, your Typhoon is an absolute beauty and one of the best things I have ever seen from start to finish. 

Thanks for sharing. 

Kevin 

[patmaquette]

Thank you everyone for your very kind praise! It was all way over the top and made me smile.

It was great to meet you @Ettore and I'm glad you liked the model when you saw it in the flesh.

 

I went ahead and made myself a display case for the model. I did the Perspex top first and then cut a base frame to match. A baseboard was then made to fit into the frame.

I have had Perspex cases made in the past, but I thought for this one that I would have a try at doing it myself.. That took a long time - hence my absence from Britmodeller for a while! After watching a few YouTube videos on how to bend the material, I made a folding bench using some leftover boards. Hinges and nichrome wire for the heating element and other assorted items were found on eBay. A 15VDC, 10A power supply was kindly donated by a colleague.

At the risk of boring you, but maybe useful for anyone thinking of doing something similar, here is the folding bench....

 

 

In the photo you can see a lower panel. Attached to this on the right is a fixed panel. That has slots cut into it to internally route the cables out the way. An on-off switch is on the side. To the left of it is a hinged panel that you lift to do the fold. The narrow piece on top is the folding bar that clamps the Perspex in place. The folding bar has to be positioned to match the thickness of the Perspex so that when the bend is made the corner is closely supported. If there is too much clearance then the bend is not so crisp. If it is too tight then you have problems doing the fold. It's not a difficult thing, just that it needs a little practice to get the best result.....

 

 

The folding bar gives the inside edge of the bend, so this is what you need to work to when marking out where to do the folds. I marked the fold positions onto some low-tack tape and then peeled this off after the job was done.

 

 

 

The heated wire runs inside an aluminium U-channel. I polished the inside to reflect heat. The wire is held between two eye-hooks. The position of the wire can be shifted in the channel by turning the hooks.

The nichrome wire is looped through a brass terminal block. It goes through the eye-hook at one end and through a tension spring at the other. A spade terminal connects the power supply and provides good electrical contact to the nicrome wire in the terminal block.

 

 

 

The bench was sized so it could fold a 600mm wide sheet. Further allowance was needed at each end for hinges and electrical connections. The tension spring keeps the nichrome wire taught as it expands in length when heated. indeed, the amount of expansion is a useful way to estimate the wire temperature. Various gauges of wire were purchased and tested before selecting an optimum one for the folder.

Here are a few results from the test bench (in open, outside air, without aluminium channel) that you may find useful should you want to build something similar.

Heated length 780mm.

Temperature above ambient = change in length/(original length x 0.000014).

0.5mm diameter wire: 14.5 VDC, 2.6 A, 38 W.

0.63 mm wire, 14.6 VDC, 3.79 A, 55.5 W, 3.5 mm stretch,

0.78 mm wire, 14.9 VDC, 8.4 A, 125 W, 7.5 mm stretch, temperature rise 690 degC.

The 0.78 mm wire was selected and, as-installed in the folder, gave a stretch of 11 mm which indicates an average temperature rise of 1000 degC.

 

I decided on 3mm sheet for the case and ordered material cut to size with the edges given a polished finish. The supplier also kindly threw in some offcuts for me to experiment with for bending and gluing. I found that the fold could be made after the Perspex had heated for 2 minutes. The hinged part of the folding bench is lifted and the Perspex is bent against the folding bar. The hinged piece was chocked at 90 degrees and then the heater wire turned off and the Perspex left to cool. The bend stayed at 90 degrees and did not spring back at all when removed from the folding bench. I had made allowances for the bends (using a formula for folding metal) when estimating the sizes of the material, but found that no allowance was needed - probably due to the material stretching a lot more than would be expected for metal.

Further trials were made with the offcut pieces so I could control the distance between two bends. That is because the display case was made by folding a long piece of sheet into a U shape and then gliung in side pieces. It was critical to get the bends in the right places so the sides fitted snugly.

Here is the first bend.....

 

 

With the hinged panel chocked in place whilst it cooled.....

 

 

Then the second fold.....

 

 

The sides were glued using low odour "foam safe" cyanoacrylate. My favourite is from Bob Smith Industries....

 

 

A long, thin dispenser made the job of applying the glue along the inside edge straightforward, despite my anxiety to not mess things up. Some blooming did occur and this was polished out the day after. I did get a join fail at one end, so this was reglued. An air fan successfully avioded any blooming this time.

 

I think that is about it for the Perspex top. Let me know if you have any tips about doing things better of if you would like any further details or clarification about what I did. I'll post about the base frame next, as I think you need a well-earned break after reading through this lot!

 

Thank you, everyone,

Pat

[patmaquette]

I've put some photos of the completed model in the "Ready For Inspection" area.

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235118984-airfix-124-bubble-hood-typhoon-1b/