Bertie McBoatface Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 8 minutes ago, opus999 said: the finish on the wings is really bad. What kind of paint is that? And can you thin it down any further? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted October 17, 2021 Author Share Posted October 17, 2021 26 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said: What kind of paint is that? And can you thin it down any further? Both the yellow-orange and the RLM 81 are Mr. Color. I probably could thin it down more, I think I had it at 2 parts levelling thinner to 1 part paint (That's my go-to thinning ratio). The trouble with the yellow orange is that it starts out very yellow and take many coats to get the orange tint to show. Which is a little frustrating, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 1 minute ago, opus999 said: Both the yellow-orange and the RLM 81 are Mr. Color. I probably could thin it down more, I think I had it at 2 parts levelling thinner to 1 part paint (That's my go-to thinning ratio). The trouble with the yellow orange is that it starts out very yellow and take many coats to get the orange tint to show. Which is a little frustrating, really. I don't see anything wrong with your paint choice or ratio. It's about what I would have used anyway. One thing that might help would be undercoating the yellow with a matt pink paint. It sounds strange but it really does help bring out that golden yellow with the minimum of coats. It's a trick I saw on a figure painting channel but then I remembered seeing old school painter/decorators using pink undercoats when I was a lad. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2996 Victor Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 59 minutes ago, opus999 said: It's very sandpaper-y. Could you try polishing with fine MicroMesh? It could be just enough to take the high spots off and give a smooth surface without taking off the paint. It's saved my bacon a couple of times Cheers, Mark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted October 17, 2021 Share Posted October 17, 2021 This is looking really good. I really like the lines of this aircraft and your paintwork is bringing it alive! Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted October 19, 2021 Author Share Posted October 19, 2021 On 10/17/2021 at 10:26 AM, Bertie Psmith said: One thing that might help would be undercoating the yellow with a matt pink paint. It sounds strange but it really does help bring out that golden yellow with the minimum of coats Actually, that makes sense. I'll have to give it a try -- it turns out I have an opportunity as I just discovered one of my "Don't walk" stripes is in the wrong place! On 10/17/2021 at 10:40 AM, 2996 Victor said: Could you try polishing with fine MicroMesh? It could be just enough to take the high spots off and give a smooth surface without taking off the paint. It's saved my bacon a couple of times Cheers, Mark That was my first thought as well, but some very careful experimenting showed that the high spots were going to be sanded down to the black undercoat, so I quickly gave that up. 😕 On 10/17/2021 at 11:06 AM, Terry1954 said: This is looking really good. I really like the lines of this aircraft and your paintwork is bringing it alive! Terry Thanks Terry! I really like how this aircraft looks too. It's got me thinking of doing a "fastback" version... I haven't posted pictures just yet, but I put most of the decals on this weekend, and the blue stripes really look cool. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Just catching up on this one, and glad I did. Very nice work on the complex masking and the result looks great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted October 22, 2021 Author Share Posted October 22, 2021 Little bits and bobs this week. I didn't have any time to update so here comes a picture dump! I painted the entire propeller yellow orange, and then masked for the prop tips: A shot of propeller brown later... There were two options for under the wing -- fuel tanks or these things: Called "Ta-bombs" in the instructions, I had to look them up. Turns out they are known as "Ta-dan" bombs and they were phosphorus cluster bombs intended to destroy bombers in mid-air. It seems they weren't very effective, but put on a neat show as seen here: interesting discussion and more photos at http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=258910. Anyway, I decided that was a unique thing to put on the underside, so I decided to paint them. The instructions called for "Khaki", and I actually had some, except it was from the late '80s or early '90s. I wasn't sure what condition it was in, but after careful mixing, it was like new. Astounding! I decided it was a good idea to hand brush. Once that was done, they got a gloss coat in preparation for a wash. I had to fix one of the lines on each of the wings because it was on the wrong side of the black walkway. So, I had to do some careful masking: I panted it white and then decided to try @Bertie Psmith's suggestion of using pink to bring the orange hue out in the yellow-orange paint with fewer coats. I just dusted some red on until it was the right shade: While I was spraying the white, I painted spinner, which I had masked earlier: The yellow stripes did indeed turn the right color with only a couple passes so that was a great suggestion Bertie! You'll see the result in some of the following pictures. Finally got to decals; Those blue stripes really make it, I think! Some of the stencils were teeny-tiny... you can almost see them in this picture (the ammo loading panels): So, the only disappointment I've had so far with the decals is that the decals over the flaps are a little more orange than the lines I painted. I made sure to match colors when painting all the yellow, but apparently the decals look different on the backing paper than the aircraft (which may have been a trick of the eye). If I'd used all the decals for the stripes and I.D. bands the colors would match, but then they would've been very orange. Oh well... not much I can do at this point. The markings over the flaps seem off-center, but that's how the instructions had me put them on... so,,, I did a wash in the wheel wells and controls surface hinges. Now I'm going to do some oil staining. After that, I was thinking of dullcoating the top to give the pencil lead something to mark on since all that filling and sanding around the nose wiped out some of the lines and it looks funny. after that I will use the Gunze semi-gloss coat to bring it back to the sheen in the photos I posted earlier in the thread. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 13 minutes ago, opus999 said: The yellow stripes did indeed turn the right color with only a couple passes so that was a great suggestion Bertie! Thank goodness for that! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted October 26, 2021 Author Share Posted October 26, 2021 (edited) I only had details to work on this weekend. No pictures to show, but they'd be boring anyway! One thing that happened at the last minute: I didn't bother to look at the pitot tube because they're always just a round peg, right??? Well... not so here. It turns out that the pitot tube connecting peg is keyed so it can only be installed one direction. Since I painted the pitot tube without checking the peg... you can guess what happened. Yep, the green was on bottom and the silver was on top. Jeez. Like my dad likes to say: if you have a 50/50 chance of getting something right, 90% of the time you'll get it wrong. That was an easy enough fix, though. I dull coated the top and sides of the aircraft and penciled in the panel lines I'd filled in or otherwise obliterated. This trick works great with flat finishes, but I discovered that it doesn't work so well with semi-glos because the semi-gloss makes the edges of the engraved panel lines reflect the light, so you can see which are engraved and which are penciled in. Oh, well, luckily there were very few and I doubt anyone will notice. This was the first time I used Mr. Color semi-gloss and I think it matched the sheen of the real aircraft. I'd say it is a "Satin" finish. The Kawasaki Ki-100 of the 111th squadron Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons I tried to match the exhaust on the side of the real aircraft. Hard to do using a b/w picture. Because I figured that this aircraft didn't get too much use before the war ended, I put only the faintest of chipping on. And... that's it! I'll post an RFI soon and put a link here. In the meantime, I've started on my new F8F Bearcat. Edited October 26, 2021 by opus999 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 That is one fine Ki-100! Beautifully done in all respects! The best all-around IJA single-engine fighter, and one of the most handsome. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 Impressive, very much something to aspire to when I tackle mine, that looks super. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 Beautiful job! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted October 26, 2021 Share Posted October 26, 2021 Very nice indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 On 10/25/2021 at 5:32 PM, 72modeler said: That is one fine Ki-100! Beautifully done in all respects! The best all-around IJA single-engine fighter, and one of the most handsome. Mike Thanks! I think it is one of the best looking Japanese fighters out there. It was smaller than I expected too. On 10/26/2021 at 3:17 AM, stevehnz said: Impressive, very much something to aspire to when I tackle mine, that looks super. Steve. Thanks Steve! On 10/26/2021 at 3:22 AM, TonyOD said: Beautiful job! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Thanks Tony -- I'm admiring your Zeke build right now.... On 10/26/2021 at 4:04 AM, mark.au said: Very nice indeed! Thank you Mark! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Very impressive indeed and built far quicker than anything I ever build! Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2996 Victor Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Beautiful work as always, Opus, and what a fantastic finish - you've absolutely "got" the sheen perfectly! Another stunning model to grace your collection, if I may say so. Kind regards, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted December 27, 2021 Author Share Posted December 27, 2021 I finally got around to catching up on my RFI's. The RFI for this one is here. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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