jrlx Posted June 10, 2021 Author Share Posted June 10, 2021 Hi again, I repainted the area around the cockpit opening. When I removed the masking tape, the seat was grabbed out with it: IMAG7253 The finishing was still unsatisfactory: IMAG7254 However, a dry fit of the canopy showed that there was a big gap between the back of the canopy and the fuselage: IMAG7255 IMAG7256 This could be sorted out by inserting a piece of 0.5 mm (IIRC) plasticard: IMAG7257 First, I removed the paint and primer from the area: IMAG7258 Next, the piece of plasticard was glued in place: IMAG7259 Then, the excess plastic was removed and adjusted to the shape of the fuselage: IMAG7266 Primer was applied only to the plasticard: IMAG7275 While the RLM02 repainted area dried, I reapplied the missing seatbelt to the seat: IMAG7276 Latter, I glued the instrument panel in place. Again, there are no positive location tabs or markings, therefore it was placed in a way it held to the surrounding edges: IMAG7277 The coaming of the instrument panel was glued on top: IMAG7278 IMAG7279 I used CA glue for glueing these parts without damaging (much...) the paint work. The blemishes were taken care of by applying highly diluted paint by brush. Next, the seat and seatbelts were glued in place: IMAG7280 The canopy was glued with Revell's Contacta Clear: IMAG7281 I used Squadron's grey putty mixed with RLM02 to fill in the gaps around the canopy. A few other surface defects were also taken care of with putty: IMAG7282 While the putty cured, I brushpainted the main landing gear hubs gloss black. The tires had already been painted tire black: IMAG7283 Finally, a new layer of black primer was applied and the model was ready for painting: IMAG7284 Thanks for looking. Jaime 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted June 10, 2021 Share Posted June 10, 2021 Great save on the canopy fit. I can't wait to see how this looks once you are finished. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted June 10, 2021 Author Share Posted June 10, 2021 1 hour ago, billn53 said: Great save on the canopy fit. I can't wait to see how this looks once you are finished. Thanks! I still have a few more steps to post, before showing the final result. Cheers Jaime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted June 12, 2021 Author Share Posted June 12, 2021 Hi again, I bit more progress, now in the painting phase. The model should be painted in two tones of aluminium (natural metal and polished metal) in certain areas but most of the fuselage and wings is RLM02. I started with the natural metal areas, using Alclad Aluminium. For some reason (too low pressure?) I got a grainy finish. So, I sanded off and polished the metal painted areas, before applying a new layer of Aluminium: IMAG7285 The new layer of Alclad Aluminium turned out very well, as usual with Alclad: IMAG7286 IMAG7287 Next, I masked the Aluminium areas before applying Polished Aluminum. The masking of the wing to fuselage joins was very rough for the moment: IMAG7288 IMAG7289 Alclad Polished Aluminium is a High-Shine metal colour and should be applied over a gloss black primer. So, I applied first Alclad Gloss Black Base on the areas to be painted: the panels aft of the air intake ring and the panels where the main landing gear legs will be installed: IMAG7290 Then, Alclad Polished Aluminium was applied. After allowing for drying time, the masking of the metal joins between wings, stabilisers, tail fain and fuselage was corrected: IMAG7293 IMAG7294 Polished Aluminium, like all High-Shine Alclad colours is very sensitive to masking. In order to strengthen it a bit, I applied a coat of Aqua Gloss before masking those areas: IMAG7295 Before painting RLM02, I applied a pre-shade layer by mottling Sky on the centres of the panels: IMAG7296 IMAG7297 Thanks for looking Jaime 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted June 12, 2021 Author Share Posted June 12, 2021 Hello, Continuing with painting, I applied RLM02 to the model. However, when I cut the masking tape around the panels where the landing gear legs will be installed (I used a nº 11 blade for that), I made some damages to the surrounding area's primer, which were now very noticeable after a coat of paint. In this picture I had already started to sand the blemishes away: IMAG7298 After sanding and polishing, I got back to primer/plastic: IMAG7299 On the opposite side the blemishes were no so bad: IMAG7300 A seam on the tail fin's leading edge was also apparent and was filled in with PPP: IMAG7301 After painting, I got this: IMAG7306 IMAG7207 It's not perfect but I'm pretty sure it won't be noticeable after a coat of flat varnish. The tail fin's leading edge looks better: IMAG7308 Then, it was time for some weathering. Since this was a prototype and didn't go into war operations, I decided to give it a light weathering treatment: just a light coat of dark brown wash. For that, I used Vallejo's acrylic "greased earth" wash. Here's the set-up, after applying a gloss coat to the model: IMAG7311 I applied the wash and let it dry for less than 10 minutes: IMAG7312 The wash was almost completely removed using damp cotton buds, in the direction of the air flow: IMAG7314 Then, a coat of Alclad's Flat Kote was applied: IMAG7315 IMAG7316 As expected, the remaining blemishes around the landing gear area were reasonably masked by the flat coat: IMAG7317 IMAG7318 Thanks for looking. Jaime 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted June 12, 2021 Share Posted June 12, 2021 Can't wait to see it finished!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted June 12, 2021 Author Share Posted June 12, 2021 7 minutes ago, Shalako said: Can't wait to see it finished!!!! Thanks! Just one or two posts more and it will be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted June 13, 2021 Author Share Posted June 13, 2021 Hi again, With the painting and weathering done with, I removed the masking, being extra careful not to damage the metal painted areas: IMAG7320 IMAG7321 Unfortunately, there was some damage to the more fragile Alclad Polished Aluminium-coated area of the landing gear: IMAG7322 The canopy, on the other hand, was reasonably clear and distortion free, allowing a view of the seatbelts: IMAG7323 and of the instrument panel: IMAG7324 The metal areas near the nose turned out ok. The tone difference between the Aluminium around the air intake and the Polished Aluminium on the panels to the right can be clearly seen: IMAG7325 The blemishes to the landing gear area were repaired by brush. Alclad is not really intended to be used by brush but it works for very small spots: IMAG7326 To enhance the panel lines on the metal areas, I applied the same brown wash used before directly along the panel lines. Here's the set-up: IMAG7327 The following pictures show the results: IMAG7328 IMAG7330 IMAG7331 IMAG7332 It's nearly finished now. Thanks for looking. Jaime 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 (edited) Hi again, This will be the last update of the WIP. The last step to complete the build was glueing the landing gear and tail wheel in place. This was a last hurdle, since there was no positive location points or tabs for the landing gear legs. On the other hand, the instructions suggested a location for the legs (top of the rectangular panels of the polished metal area) which would result in too much lateral spread for the legs. Therefore, I decided to locate the legs on the lower part of the rectangular panels. To allow for more adjustment time, I glued the legs with 5 minute-Araldite instead of CA. Here's what I got: IMAG7333 IMAG7334 IMAG7335 IMAG7336 As can be seen, the fit of the parts is deplorable. After allowing the Araldite to cure, I applied a drop o CA to reinforce the joins. The tail wheel was also glued in place: IMAG7337 Here's the model before the final step of glueing the main wheels: IMAG7338 The following pictures show the finalised model: IMAG7339 IMAG7340 I'll post better pictures in the RFI area. I'll post the link here later. Thanks for looking and for all the comments. Jaime EDIT: the RFI post can be found here. Edited June 16, 2021 by jrlx RFI link inserted 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Beautiful work mate! Simply beautiful!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Lambess Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Stunning 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Well worth the effort, that looks great.👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrlx Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 3 hours ago, Shalako said: Beautiful work mate! Simply beautiful!!! 34 minutes ago, Neil Lambess said: Stunning Just now, Back in the Saddle said: Well worth the effort, that looks great.👍 Thank you very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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