mark.au Posted March 27, 2021 Author Share Posted March 27, 2021 Update on my modelling progress coming later, but I'm interested in the collective opinion on the weathering, specifically the exhaust staining. Below, is a pic of the most extreme exhaust staining I've yet seen on a Mosquito. This is a No. 544 Squadron PR.XVI in India. What I'm wondering is the flight hours required to achieve this impressive exhaust staining? My model of a PR.XVI which worked quite hard through May and early June 1944, and is modelled as it would have appeared after returning from its last D-Day operation, after midnight actually, on 7th June. Merlins certainly deposited plenty of exhaust staining in a pattern similar to that above on Lancasters, too, for example, in quite short order. So I wonder whether my Mossie would have had stains like the above, or somewhat more restrained? Thoughts or opinions? Cheers; Mark. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted March 27, 2021 Author Share Posted March 27, 2021 ...and here's the model update. Since the last update I've progressed through gloss coat to decals, to panel wash and sealing clear coat. Notables include trying a new gloss coat product and not being overly pleased with it, back to Future/Shine for that. I put some thought into whether the serial number would be painted over and repainted or whether the serial number would be painted around when the D-Day stripes were applied. I decided it's more likely that on 4th or 5th June the approach would be the most pragmatic, so I masked and sprayed the PRU Blue over the D-Day stripe and recalled it that way. The decals worked well enough; I had some orange-peeling to deal with from the poor quality of the PRU Blue finish, which was compounded by the failed new gloss coat product. I was able to get a better finish with a bit if polishing but the red do-not-walk decals over the radiator required a lot of attention to remove the silvering. A couple of pics; Note that the wings are not yet permanently attached. I'll do that after I've applied the exhaust stains and attached the undercarriage. I may need a bit of seam clean-up at that point - the wing-to-fuselage join isn't as clean as it was on G-George or the VF-34 Hellcat before it. We'll see. Cheers; Mark. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 Looking good Mark. I would think your Machine wouldn't have such extreme exhaust staining but could be wrong. One thing though when doing the exhaust staining don't forget to add some to the outer parts of the horizontal tailplanes. I am sorry of you were already going to fo this anyway, they did capture the sooty staining too. Chris 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted March 27, 2021 Author Share Posted March 27, 2021 Thanks Chris, I saw that on your Mossie build and made note of it then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted March 31, 2021 Author Share Posted March 31, 2021 Have been away from the bench since Monday so no modelling update to report. However, today is the 100th Anniversary of the the RAAF and I came down to Canberra to watch the fly by. Here's a snippet of what was on show (unedited pics, including the spots on the lens 😉, I just tidied up the crop)... (I must clean that lens...) It was an absolutely perfect day for it. If there's interest, I'll put more shots up (I'll have to check if there's a specific area for that kind of thing...). Back to the bench on Friday, I'll likely have the Mossie done by the end of the weekend. Cheers. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 Lovely photos Mark, nice to see thank you, love the pics of the Tucanos particularly. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tail-Dragon Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 The Mossie is looking lovely! Even with Tamiya's in the stash, I still find myself building and enjoying the Airfix kits. Looking forward to the completion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 Gorgeous, the paintwork looks superb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 On 3/23/2021 at 1:28 AM, mark.au said: mine is making things realistic even if I’m not always skilled enough to replicate what I see. A frustration I share! I see some very realistic and accurate weathering done by other folks and I have no idea how they do it. Or I do know how to do it, but haven't hit that level of proficiency yet. I may have made this statement in one of my builds, so you may have seen it, but I have a dorky saying: "Is it cool, or is it correct?". I found when I got back into the hobby I was doing some of the weathering trends because they looked "cool" in the sense that they imparted a sense of realism, but when I actually started finding pictures of my subjects (or just using my observations of the world around me) I found that a lot of those techniques provided completely inaccurate results. I took me a few builds to learn subtlety too. When I learned a new technique I found I would over-do it a bit just to make sure that people could see I knew how to do it! 🙄 Beautiful Mossie! I think the PRU blue finish turned out very realistic. It looks great. Too bad the kit was fighting you, but you really can't tell from this end. Makes me wonder how the upcoming 1/72 Airfix Mossie will be? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted April 1, 2021 Author Share Posted April 1, 2021 Thanks gents. Just for you, Chris. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 2 hours ago, mark.au said: Thanks gents. Just for you, Chris. Thanks Mark, that's a cracking scheme, hmm off to look to see if I can locate some decals. SWMBO will be mad, ooops. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 Re the exhaust staining: the airstrips in use in India and Burma were more austere than their UK counterparts, that coupled with the fuel in use might account for the extreme staining in your photo? I doubt your subject would have built up such a covering in a couple of months of ops, even given the increased sortie rate leading up to D-Day. As usual, no help again from me 😂, but whatever you choose in sure it'll look right! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted April 3, 2021 Author Share Posted April 3, 2021 Back at the bench and some progress... If anything, they're perhaps a bit overdone. However, MM312 flew back to back sorties on 5th and 6th June for a total of 5hr50 flight time and would certainly have had some exhaust staining. I'm not unhappy, it's a good representation of the work rate sustained by the squadron through May and June. As you can see in the bottom photos I have attached the undercarriage as well. The final flat coat will be applied tomorrow, to the fuselage also and then it's be time to attach the wings. This might require a little clean up, but otherwise all that will remain will be the antenna and post plus a little scuffing and grime with pastels and this one will be done. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Staining looks good Mark, nice to see undercarriage on too. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted April 4, 2021 Author Share Posted April 4, 2021 My last three (four?) builds I’ve left the wings off until after almost all painting and weathering is complete. This approach has the distinct feature that the model is in progress, in bits and pieces all over the bench and then suddenly, it’s finished. This one was no exception; one minute I was fiddling with fitting the undercarriage into the nacelles many steps after Airfix’s designer had intended I tackle that task, and then next I’m removing masking and attaching the antenna wire. In between, there was a bit a clean up required on the wing join, it wasn’t as clean as previous models so a little putty and repair was required. Took all of about 30min to do that. The masking came off well enough; I missed one canopy frame which I hand painted and there were a couple of spots which required the toothpick to clean up, but otherwise aside from some light pastel work on the wings and installing the antenna wire this one went from no wings, all masked, to complete in about 90min. I finished it with a final clear flat gloss, particularly on the panels and sections of airframe that were made of metal. This is a mix I make which adds equal parts flat clear with Future gloss which makes the finish somehow “smoother” and gives a better representation of painted metal than with a flat coat only, at least to my eye it does. I left the exhaust staining dead flat, as is the D-Day stripes. Speaking of the exhaust stains; I keep going back and forth on them but came across this image of a warbird that had just completed a 30min display. If that short a flight can leave this much deposit, I’m more confident that 6hrs plus of flight could leave staining such as I’ve applied. So that’s a wrap for the Airfix PR.XVI of No.140 Squadron. RFI to come in a few days when I’ve taken the glamour pics, as will the article on the work done by the squadron in May/June 1944. Thanks for following! Next up is yet to be determined but it’s possibly either an FAA Avenger or another attempt at a biplane with an RAF S.E.5a Cheers; Mark 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArnoldAmbrose Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Gidday Mark, as I've just said to another modeler, 1/600 scale ships are my thing but I have a penchant for the twin-engined fighters of WW2 also. Two of these are the Beaufighter and the Mozzie. I like what you've done here. Regards, Jeff. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunny Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Mark, Lovely finish - congratulations! Cheers, Roger 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Great work Mark, you have built an absolute stunner . It's lovely to see a PR Mossie . Oh wow either next projects will be great too. Looking forward to the RFI pics Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted April 5, 2021 Author Share Posted April 5, 2021 Thanks gents, I appreciate the comments. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Superbly done, Mark. Really appreciate your attention to detail and commitment to reflecting realism throughout the build. An exemplar I will surely refer to when the time comes to build mine! Alan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted April 5, 2021 Author Share Posted April 5, 2021 1 hour ago, Alan P said: Superbly done, Mark. Really appreciate your attention to detail and commitment to reflecting realism throughout the build. An exemplar I will surely refer to when the time comes to build mine! Alan Thank you Alan, your comments and input along the way were much appreciated (as were everyone's). Cheers; Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 Final posting in this WIP... here's the RFI. Thanks again for following along. Cheers; Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 Mark -- I've been away from the forum for a while, so I'm just now catching up. I have to say, the weathering (exhaust specifically) really looks spot on. I think you really captured the grime from so many hours of flight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarylH Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 (edited) What a wonderful build. There is an Airfix PRU bird in my near future and your build log is a sweet reference. Edited August 30, 2021 by DarylH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted September 5, 2021 Author Share Posted September 5, 2021 Thank you gents, this one turned out to be a favourite of mine. Cheers; Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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