jackroadkill Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Wow, that's some really good yellowing there, Mark. I may just nick that process.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliGauld Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Now that looks wonderful, let's hope it stays put this time. Cheers, Alistair 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 Great recovery again, looks great Mark. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 11 hours ago, Dunny said: Good lord - hope it stays there this time! Good luck and looking great, I have my fingers crossed that it will! 11 hours ago, jackroadkill said: Wow, that's some really good yellowing there, Mark. I may just nick that process.... Feel free! We can thank my Junior School art teacher who once said to me that “nothing is ever the same colour everywhere” 8 hours ago, AliGauld said: Now that looks wonderful, let's hope it stays put this time. I am confident it will, these acrylic craft paint dry very smooth and rock solid. 5 hours ago, bigbadbadge said: Great recovery again, looks great Mark. Chris I am becoming too practised at making recoveries! Upon this morning’s check, the finish is beautiful smooth and hard. We are a go for green tonight! Cheers. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 6 minutes ago, mark.au said: Feel free! We can thank my Junior School art teacher who once said to me that “nothing is ever the same colour everywhere” I did - had a crack at it this morning! And that statement is a good one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 (edited) First, masking…. I used blutack but because I wanted a hard demarcation rather than soft I made sure to press the edges down rather than leave them as “worms” (I also made sure to paint into the edges for the same reason). Then, a bit of a pre-shade… Then the base colour followed by the texturing… …and then remove the masking (because these craft paints dry hard in about 20min)… I had one small faux pas to fix and while doing so I took the opportunity to add a bit more variation into the green. It turns out the Sky survived the multiple brown attempts, there’s a couple of dings but they actually look like weathering so may just leave them as is. I’m quite happy with this a base paint job for a well used Spitfire. Next I’ll give it a sealing gloss coat before moving on to the markings. I’m considering painting them on, though I’ll have to use decals for the codes an S/N. Cheers. Edited January 13, 2022 by mark.au 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 It's impossible to judge the hues on my monitor (I doubt it's really pink and green. LOL) but the shades look very interesting. Good variations. Also good persistence! Well done. Here's a reference picture as a reward, though you probably know it well already. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Cracking job on the paint Mark , looks lovely fella. Looking forward to the weathering. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 7 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said: It's impossible to judge the hues on my monitor (I doubt it's really pink and green. LOL) but the shades look very interesting. Good variations. Also good persistence! Well done. Here's a reference picture as a reward, though you probably know it well already. Haha, not pink, though I must admit the pics I posted made it look so! Here’s a less blown out one (but still not that great either)…. Once the clear coat is on it’ll darken up too - at least I hope so, I planned for it to happen to being the hues to where I want them. The pic you posted is very interesting, I haven’t seen that one before. I see at least three different shades of brown and the camo pattern itself looks strange to me, I don’t recognise it as either A or B. That one’s weather more than I’m aiming at, I doubt any BoB Spitfire ended up looking that beat up, but it’s a great reference nonetheless. 3 hours ago, bigbadbadge said: Cracking job on the paint Mark , looks lovely fella. Looking forward to the weathering. Chris Thanks Chris, making a start on that shortly. Cheers 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 1 hour ago, mark.au said: I doubt any BoB Spitfire ended up looking that beat up, That's a good call, the caption dates it April 1941. Though it looks ready for the scrapheap it actually survived until 8 March 1945! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 Neat work on the paint job. Colin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmcgill Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 (edited) Here's another, clearer, copy of that photo of Mk.IIa P7895. P7895 was brand new in early Feb 1941 and this photo shows it as she was just 3 months later in April 1941. A time at which she wouldn't have been worked anywhere near as hard as airframes at the height of the Battle of Britain. Only you should decide how much weathering your model of N3173 with 10 months service in September 1940 should have. Edited January 15, 2022 by wmcgill clarity 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 17 hours ago, wmcgill said: Only you should decide how much weathering your model of N3173 with 10 months service in September 1940 should have. Well, there is that. Thanks for the pic, that's quite illuminating actually. Pictures, as they say, are worth the proverbial 1000 words so here's the last few days with captions... After chipping the paint form the wing roots I splashed on a sealing gloss coat, then masked and painted the walkway lines. When the masking was removed I distressed the lines to break them up a little. Next, I applied the masking to paint the roundels. First paint the white... ...then the blue... ...and finally the red. They came out beautifully, including the fuselage roundels which were, of course, the wrong ones... I fixed the fuselage roundels and moved on to decalling. Next I need to get a bit clever because I forgot to do something before decalling; this airframes previous squadron codes would have been painted over prior to the 152S codes being applied. I need to represent that with some fancy masking and careful brushwork (its previous codes were KL-N). Once I've managed that, I'll apply a sealing clear coat and begin the next stage of weathering. Cheers. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Oooo here we go with your trademark weathering really looking forward to this progressing now. Great job on the roundels etc, looks sweet. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Beautiful work on the Spitfire Mark it looks great so far 👍. I found with my build that once the painting and weathering process begins everything seems to come to life. Keep it up mate and this Spitfire will look awesome 👌 👍 👏 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunny Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Coming along nicely Mark - it is satisfying spraying the markings rather than decals! Cheers, Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliGauld Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Looking really splendid. Especially those markings. They look so much better when sprayed. Looking forward to your weathering. Cheers, Alistair 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 10 hours ago, bigbadbadge said: Oooo here we go with your trademark weathering really looking forward to this progressing now. 10 hours ago, Andy J said: I found with my build that once the painting and weathering process begins everything seems to come to life. 10 hours ago, Dunny said: it is satisfying spraying the markings rather than decals! 55 minutes ago, AliGauld said: Especially those markings. They look so much better when sprayed. Looking forward to your weathering. Thanks gents. Yes, the weathering will be fun on this one - weathering can hide all sorts of foibles and I’ve scored enough own goals on this one that there’s plenty of foibles to cover… 😂. The added bonus is that the pic posted by @Bertie Psmith and @wmcgill shows just how far I can push it without going over the top. I came quite close to giving up on this one, there are so many things I did poorly or rushed that it got a bit demoralising constantly having to fix things I caused or did. But my mojo rebounded on it last night after completing the decals and I actually relish the challenge of somehow representing the painted-over codes. Thanks for the comments, cheers. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted January 17, 2022 Share Posted January 17, 2022 Maybe I missed it, but were those pre-cut roundel masks? If so, where did you get them? I have taken to painting my Japanese Hinamaru and would like to work my way up to painting roundels. This looks terrific so far! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted January 17, 2022 Author Share Posted January 17, 2022 20 minutes ago, opus999 said: Maybe I missed it, but were those pre-cut roundel masks? If so, where did you get them? I have taken to painting my Japanese Hinamaru and would like to work my way up to painting roundels. This looks terrific so far! Thanks. The masks are pre-cut masks, a set made by a company called Pmask from Poland. This set is Po48001 and covers every roundel applied to Spitfires plus fin flashes. I think I got it from Hannants but it might have been from an Aussie online retailer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted January 18, 2022 Author Share Posted January 18, 2022 I almost always begin the weathering process with the underside and this was no exception. My Spitfire is a well used, BoB workhorse that was around 10 months old at the time depicted. Time enough for the Merlin to have developed some serious leaks, as they usually did. I mixed up my usual blend of black goop and emphasised the key access panels as well as the flaps. Next I simply dabbed it on and around the carb intake and then used the airbrush to simply blow it back along the airflow. Just like the real thing. I worked quite patiently [for me] and after several passes, perhaps as many as 10 or 12 I was satisfied with the level of oil streaking. I used a cotton bud to clean up where the oil ought not be and then turned my attention to the rest of the underside. The general griminess was all applied with the airbrush in multiple light passes. I want to represent an airframe under constant load. When I was done I added the final clear gloss sealing coat and called it done. The only thing remaining on the underside is the pitot tube and the matt finish. The matt will tone down the grime around the guns and ejector ports but I'm going to leave the oil streaking as gloss, as it would be IRL. I have to work on my display now as with no wheels I can't just set it down! I also can't apply the final flat coat either until that's all done too. I have an idea on how I want to build the stand but I won't know for sure until I can get to the hardware store to see if they have what my imagination is seeing... I am stalled on the prop though - I may end up attaching the kit prop as built for the time being. The pics will have a blurred prop because I'll point a fan on it when I take them 🙂 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunny Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 10 minutes ago, mark.au said: I almost always begin the weathering process with the underside and this was no exception. My Spitfire is a well used, BoB workhorse that was around 10 months old at the time depicted. Time enough for the Merlin to have developed some serious leaks, as they usually did. I mixed up my usual blend of black goop and emphasised the key access panels as well as the flaps. Next I simply dabbed it on and around the carb intake and then used the airbrush to simply blow it back along the airflow. Just like the real thing. I worked quite patiently [for me] and after several passes, perhaps as many as 10 or 12 I was satisfied with the level of oil streaking. I used a cotton bud to clean up where the oil ought not be and then turned my attention to the rest of the underside. The general griminess was all applied with the airbrush in multiple light passes. I want to represent an airframe under constant load. When I was done I added the final clear gloss sealing coat and called it done. The only thing remaining on the underside is the pitot tube and the matt finish. The matt will tone down the grime around the guns and ejector ports but I'm going to leave the oil streaking as gloss, as it would be IRL. I have to work on my display now as with no wheels I can't just set it down! I also can't apply the final flat coat either until that's all done too. I have an idea on how I want to build the stand but I won't know for sure until I can get to the hardware store to see if they have what my imagination is seeing... I am stalled on the prop though - I may end up attaching the kit prop as built for the time being. The pics will have a blurred prop because I'll point a fan on it when I take them 🙂 Looking good Mark! Can I ask how you created the cordite staining around the gun ports? To my eye they are so much better than I currently achieve, Cheers, Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted January 18, 2022 Author Share Posted January 18, 2022 8 minutes ago, Dunny said: Looking good Mark! Can I ask how you created the cordite staining around the gun ports? To my eye they are so much better than I currently achieve, Thanks Roger. I use the airbrush with a very thin mix of a dark grimy colour I mix up with black, brown and grey (not the same goop I use for the oil stains). I aim the airbrush at the leading edge of the wing and rock the airflow back and forth over it with just a touch paint going through it. This mimics the actual mechanics of the cordite stains as closely as is possible in scale. I build up the stain until I get where I want. The ejector ports are done similarly but with a small tape mask so that I don’t put any stain forward of the port. I hope that’s clear, let me know if I can explain it better though… Cheers 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 Nice work Mark looks very realistic mate 👍 👌 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunny Posted January 18, 2022 Share Posted January 18, 2022 21 minutes ago, mark.au said: Thanks Roger. I use the airbrush with a very thin mix of a dark grimy colour I mix up with black, brown and grey (not the same goop I use for the oil stains). I aim the airbrush at the leading edge of the wing and rock the airflow back and forth over it with just a touch paint going through it. This mimics the actual mechanics of the cordite stains as closely as is possible in scale. I build up the stain until I get where I want. The ejector ports are done similarly but with a small tape mask so that I don’t put any stain forward of the port. I hope that’s clear, let me know if I can explain it better though… Cheers Perfect explanation - many thanks That may get used... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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