Werdna Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 Hi all Can't remember the last WIP thread I did, but I thought this project might be worth one I decided to make this a project after a visit to York Air Museum at Elvington last year. I won't burden you with the details again, but here is a link to the thread I started about it at the time: Thanks to the kindness of @SafetyDad I have the majority of the decals I needed to get started. I hadn't made a start before now because: 1. I still needed the 'D5' decals and was looking at getting a set made up - until I realised I had them all along. Sitting in the stash is a Tamiya 1/48 He219 which includes provision for an NJG3/D5 scheme... 2. I also had no experience of airbrushing a nightfighter 'reverse mottle' scheme - but after a bit of practice on some test pieces (and a bit more to follow), I reckon that by the time it comes to painting, I might just about be ready So, on to the obligatory pics.. This will be OOB (apart from the decals and mask kit)... Last pic for now - cockpit parts underway and primed, before painting.. That's it for now. There are still some issues I'm not clear on, such as the spinner colour, spiral/no spiral, etc, so if anyone has any views on that - or anything else related - I'd welcome the input. Meanwhile, hopefully this will provide entertainment for some.. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 Oh hell yes. I'll watch this closely. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SafetyDad Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 11 hours ago, Werdna said: Hi all Can't remember the last WIP thread I did, but I thought this project might be worth one I decided to make this a project after a visit to York Air Museum at Elvington last year. I won't burden you with the details again, but here is a link to the thread I started about it at the time: Thanks to the kindness of @SafetyDad I have the majority of the decals I needed to get started. I hadn't made a start before now because: 1. I still needed the 'D5' decals and was looking at getting a set made up - until I realised I had them all along. Sitting in the stash is a Tamiya 1/48 He219 which includes provision for an NJG3/D5 scheme... 2. I also had no experience of airbrushing a nightfighter 'reverse mottle' scheme - but after a bit of practice on some test pieces (and a bit more to follow), I reckon that by the time it comes to painting, I might just about be ready So, on to the obligatory pics.. That's it for now. There are still some issues I'm not clear on, such as the spinner colour, spiral/no spiral, etc, so if anyone has any views on that - or anything else related - I'd welcome the input. Meanwhile, hopefully this will provide entertainment for some.. Regarding the spinner colours, I would suggest you ignore the red/white as above on the box art - these were unique to 3C+PN as far as I know. White spirals on Dark Green or Black spinners were common in the Nachtjagd. A quick Google will give you some ideas. The spirals did vary in terms of their shape and extant within differing units - Have a peek at other NJG3 aircraft to get a feel for this. Or you could be radical and have one spiral and one plain - just to be different. It did happen. HTH SD 11 hours ago, Werdna said: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted March 26, 2021 Author Share Posted March 26, 2021 12 hours ago, SafetyDad said: Or you could be radical and have one spiral and one plain - just to be different. It did happen. One spiral is usually enough for me - so that could be an option.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted March 26, 2021 Author Share Posted March 26, 2021 Cockpit tub mostly done. Seats are just waiting for belts to be fitted, before going in... Seats can go in tomorrow , then it's on to the fuselage, I think... 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 Quick update. Seats are in and cockpit tub now joined to main fuselage. It's just a butt join, no locator pins or anything, so took a while to line up properly, and really needed a third hand to apply the cement, but got there in the end. The other 'issue' is that the entry hatch under the fuselage is designed to be posed open with ladder extended. My preference is to have things closed up, but the hatch doesn't conform properly when closed, so needed a bit of filler around some of the edges. The 'porthole' in the hatch itself seems to have no option for a glass panel in it - does anyone know if it's supposed to be like that? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Looking good so far 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 Small update - this is going to be a big model.. Tail on, props painted (but not weathered yet), tail wheel components built & painted, engine nacelles built, rad cowlings painted and exhaust covers built & painted. Seem to have spent a lot of time today with not much to show.. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SafetyDad Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 I've had a look at my references for information on the 'porthole' on the entrance door. Most Ju88Gs seem to have it, but some don't... Here's a good view But look closely - I'm not convinced that this opening goes completely through the entrance door? Now look at this one No apparent opening here. Finally this Badly marked photo, but this opening does appear to be completely through the door? (All photos from online sources - posted under fair use for the purposes of research & discussion - I will remove any or all at the request of any interested party). Thinking this through, I can't see any justification for a tiny viewing port in the entrance door of a nightfighter. More likely to me seems the possibility that this opening is part of a latch/handle mechanism to open the door from the outside. As such, perhaps the latch can be recessed to minimise drag when closed, which would explain the 'non-visible' example above? I stress that this is informed speculation on my part (and I'm well aware of the dangers that this involves!). Others, as they say, may know more... SD 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted March 30, 2021 Author Share Posted March 30, 2021 1 hour ago, SafetyDad said: Thinking this through, I can't see any justification for a tiny viewing port in the entrance door of a nightfighter. More likely to me seems the possibility that this opening is part of a latch/handle mechanism to open the door from the outside. As such, perhaps the latch can be recessed to minimise drag when closed, which would explain the 'non-visible' example above? Thanks SD - that's really useful. Whatever the actual purpose of the 'hole', that last pic does seem to confirm that it is indeed an opening, with no glass. The area forward of the hole is slightly faired, as if to promote airflow over it - which probably wouldn't be necessary if it was glazed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard502 Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 Could the "porthole" be an opening to eject spent cartridges? Part Nr. A35 looks like a hose leading from the dorsal gun (breech) to the bottom of the canopy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted March 30, 2021 Author Share Posted March 30, 2021 1 hour ago, Richard502 said: Could the "porthole" be an opening to eject spent cartridges? Part Nr. A35 looks like a hose leading from the dorsal gun (breech) to the bottom of the canopy. It's certainly possible - I'll see what I can find out, thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted April 5, 2021 Author Share Posted April 5, 2021 Bit more progress. Wings built and attached, along with the nacelles - all of which required some filler along various joins, but nothing too serious. Just enough to make it interesting I decided to add the mounts for the FuG 220 now, rather than later - whether that was a good idea or not remains to be seen... Landing gear doors with PE actuators added. Priming and painting is one of today's jobs, hopefully.. Rear armament and cartridge chute done. There's also a PE ammo belt which feeds from the ammo box (already fitted) to the gun breech. Still need to work out how on earth to add all this to the rear canopy without actually shrinking myself to 1/48 scale... Today's other main goal is to mask the canopy so I can get start getting some paint on the model. Not looking forward to that... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 Canopy masked (not as tedious as I thought it might be) and temporarily attached. Primer and pre-shading in dark grey/light grey done. RLM 76 will probably go on next, followed by the RLM 75 upper surfaces. Then I need to work up the courage to apply the reverse mottle, which I'm still practising - and seem to be getting worse at... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SafetyDad Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 Looking just fine there. I've not seen pre-shading done in both dark and light shades before, but will steal your idea Good job on the masking as well SD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 She's looking great, Werdna. I'm intrigued - what do you mean by a reverse mottle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 2 minutes ago, jackroadkill said: She's looking great, Werdna. I'm intrigued - what do you mean by a reverse mottle? Thanks Jack 'Reverse' mottle is supposedly how this particular scheme was applied at the time. In other words, rather than spraying spots of RLM75 over the top of RLM76, the upper surfaces were painted RLM75 first and then the RLM76 was 'spidered' over the top - ie the reverse of the usual way of mottling. Easier to explain it than it is to apply it, sadly.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 35 minutes ago, Werdna said: Thanks Jack 'Reverse' mottle is supposedly how this particular scheme was applied at the time. In other words, rather than spraying spots of RLM75 over the top of RLM76, the upper surfaces were painted RLM75 first and then the RLM76 was 'spidered' over the top - ie the reverse of the usual way of mottling. Easier to explain it than it is to apply it, sadly.. Ah, I get you. Well, I'll look forward to the results - I'm sure you'll do a grand job of it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted April 12, 2021 Author Share Posted April 12, 2021 Well, the paintwork is done, but it in the end it wasn't done in the way I expected. Straight RLM76 out of the bottle (Vallejo) just looked too 'blue' whereas all other examples of this aircraft seem to be significantly lighter in tone. I ended up adding around 30% white to the RLM76, which then looked like a nicer shade, to me at least. I had planned to lay down the RLM75 first and then freehand the RLM76 over the top in order to give the desired effect. But in practice, it just wasn't working. Test after test on the paint mule just didn't give me the results I wanted, so I started looking for alternative methods. I stumbled on a nightfighter scheme on another site which someone had achieved by using blu tack to mask the RLM75 while over-spraying with RLM76. Much easier if - like me - your airbrushing skills are not up to the previous method. It's not an identical effect, but it's close. So here's what it came out like: I was reasonably pleased with that, but it did look a bit 'stark' in terms of demarcation. So I decided to spray a light mist of a thinned down RLM76 mix over the top of the mottle, which gave it a bit more of a subtle look. Not sure if the pics will show much of a difference, but here's the result: I'm currently debating whether to go over it again, to further reduce the difference in tones. Views welcome After that, we're probably near to the clearcoat and decal stage now - hopefully it's all down hill from here. I mean 'down hill' in the positive sense, obviously... 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 That's looking grand. I've not mottled with my airbrush yet but found that when brush-painting a very thin coat of the base colour over the top of the mottle cut down on the starkness factor. I'm tempted to suggest going with another fine mist coat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted April 12, 2021 Author Share Posted April 12, 2021 I think you may be right. I'll sleep on it though, and have another look in the morning. It's also possible that weathering, panel line washes and various other effects might reduce the contrast further in any case. We'll see... I'm calling it 'mottling' mainly because I don't know what else to call it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted April 15, 2021 Author Share Posted April 15, 2021 So I did go over the mottle once more, and I'm happy with the contrast now. Clear coat on and decals now done. The upper wing crosses didn't survive the water, for some reason and I didn't fancy using the kit decals. Fortunately, I managed to dig out some paint masks which were an identical size, so I painted them on instead, using RLM66 which matches near enough the 'grey' colour of the nightfighter decals already on there. Another clear coat next, followed by a panel line wash and weathering... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted April 17, 2021 Author Share Posted April 17, 2021 Slow going, but a bit more progress. Panel line wash done, cockpit 'greenhouse' now refinished after much overspray from previous painting efforts and loosely fitted for the pic. Matt coat also done, as well as some touch up to some of the decals. EZ6 antenna/glass now fitted. I left it until now to fit the landing light in the port wing, but the fit is terrible, so it will need some filler and some minor repainting to blend it in. I should have done this before the primer/paint stage, but we live and learn. Then I'll start on the weathering. I mistakenly thought I was close to finishing this, but I'm not so sure. It's an enjoyable build though.. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werdna Posted April 19, 2021 Author Share Posted April 19, 2021 Not far off now. Some light weathering around the engines, plus fitting a few ancillaries now done. Just some assorted PE and the FuG 'antlers' to go on and I think we're there... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 She's looking bonny, Werdna. That finish turned out very well indeed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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