Tamiya 1/72 Bf109G-6, Eduard (Platz) 1/144 FW190D-9 - BOTH FINISHED

[Ngantek]

This is my first Tamiya kit, and I've been blown away by how well engineered it is and how easily it all goes together. As a rookie moddler, I thought something relatively easy would be a good bet. I've had a few queries and observations along though way, so to catch up, this is the build so far.

 

 

The cockpit and fuselage assembly goes together beautfully.  It's plenty detailed enough for me and fits so nicely that it seems a shame to hack aftermarket additions into it. I've just added a few Eduard seatbelts.

 

 

The canopy poses open, so I figured I'd try and mask both in and out. Is that a thing at 72nd scale? The instructions call for the centreline post on the rear canopy panel to be painted inside, which is frankly what gave me the idea. Anyway, the hard part, it turns out, was finding a way to attach the canopy with the 'open' stub still attached. I could of course have masked the cockpit and painted it separately, but wanted to try and paint it in situ. In the end, I opted to try and put some paper under the canopy and attach it lightly with some PVA and masking fluid. This bit was a pain. The paper kept shifting and then knocking the other two canopy pieces off (which are also only attached with PVA). In the end I'd rubbed off enough paint inside that I had to remask, respray and try all over again.

 

Anyone have some good suggestions how better to approach this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've made the rookie error of trying to build in parrallel and align jobs together, in the hope that not only would it make setup and cleanup more efficient, but also would open up windows to do things on one kit while the other is drying. In reality the setup for each operation (masking, part prep, filling, etc) seems to take so much longer than the operation itself, that this just seems to mean that nothing ever gets done! Here we can see I thought I'd align the 109 with a nice Eduard 144 scale Dora and a couple of MKM 144 Ta-152Hs. Remind me never to do this again!

 

 

I've never tried a luftwaffe mottle before. I attempted, after the yellow panels and RLM76 all over, apply the wing and upper camo via masking, then mottle afterwards. The Tamiya paint suggests Yellow 1 from 9/JG54, which has more of a stark 'top camo, mottle underneath' scheme, rather than a more overall gradual one.

 

 

 

 

Here's a beef of mine. I used Tamiya's paint mixes called out in the instructions. The RLM74 (XF-24 dark grey :1, XF-27 black green :3) has come out really green. I have very little knowledge on the subject, but it certainly seems a lot greener than other models and schemes I've seen (and personally not a nice to the eye). Bit of a bummer. I've looked a lot online and this mix is often quoted. I think I'll just go on my personal aesthetics next time.

 

 

I'm new to airbrushing, so my attempts at the mottle were plagued by issues of not getting the mix quite right, nor the skilll with the hand. This is the result. It the 'top-to-sides' dinleation seems to stark to me, and I tried to blend it in in a few places.

 

 

I've hit them both with some Gunze GX100 ready for decaling. I love this bit. From being so fragile with masks and wet paint everywhere, suddenly it's all locked in and the thing is bullet proof. Also super smooth. As soon as you hit the thing with decals, there's manky stains all over the place (at least if you're me). The blue band came out rather too dark, and I've stupidly applied the decal band over the top, with all the associated issues of trying to get it flat and into the panel lines.

 

 

and here's the dora just for good measure. Lovely kit, fits beautifully for 144 scale, particularly compared to the MKM ones. I inaccurately went with mid war RLM 74/75/76 frankly to save time, but also I think it looks nicer,

 

So there we are, I've just made a godawful mess with the decals. Anyone use the vallejo stuff? I don't know how to keep it from gunging up the whole place!?

 

Anyway thanks for looking and grateful for any tips!

[FalkeEins]

 wow.. where to start. Gustav looks great !  Not sure about masking the inside of the canopy.  I'd  mask the outside framing,  paint with internal colour and then do it again with external colour.  Can't help with tips on airbrushing the mottle - it's always hit and miss with mine. I would say though, dial the psi right down and get in close.

 

 

 

Stating the obvious ..the paint mix has to be just right. But then I use enamels. I always tone things down a little afterwards with a very very thin over-spray of the 76.  Probably not necessary at all for the particular machine you're building though. 

 

Your 'green' grey mix looks fine to me. Here's a piece of 1944 Fw 190 stabiliser retrieved from the ground 70 years after the event - classic Luftwaffe fighter colours, Farbton 74 Graugrün, Farbton 75 Grauviolett.  (note the red stencil is red and the grass is green..)

 

[neil5208]

Good work so far, best way I have found to get a softer edge is to make sure you spray perpendicular to the surface mask. It looks like you have sprayed under the round shape of the bluetac rolls, also use less air pressure that way the paint is not being forced under the roll edges

[Ngantek]

Many thanks for the tips. I've got a long way to go before getting a mottle that nice! Such a smooth effect! I like the idea of bringing together with some RLM76 misted on, but the damage was done with the sharp demarcation and underthinned 74. 

 

I did try and spray perpendicular to the mask but messed it up when going along the 'spine' and canopy, the overspray evidently filled in the gap. Any suggestions to avoid this? Hold up some paper to mask or maybe spray closer and more carefully?

 

I suspect I'll try freehand next time, depending upon the specific paint scheme I'm trying to match. But despite seeing the faults, I'm broadly happy with the result as a first go. I've learned a lot so far thanks to you guys and it'll be nice to compare to as I get better at it. 

[Ngantek]

Some rather disastrous decal applicaton attempts and then another (rather over exuberant) dousing in GX100. Getting good gloss layer is very much a work in progress, and I'm still experimenting with whether misting the first coat on improves or tarnishes the final result; the effect of a final spray with MLT; and quite how much drenching is the right amount!

 

I'm currently taking the mess and decal bulges back down with abrasives (starboard wing vs untouched gloss port wing).

My abysmal record with decals and unnecessary mulch generation not withstanding, Is it ever possible to skip this step and maybe do the levelling over the final matt coat?

 

Also a question about cleaning up defects (for example that massive blue stain that crept in while I was busy not tidying up after myself), what works well? thinned brushing over with paint? respray? hide as a 'weathering feature'?
 

I find models get stuck and concertina together around these stages, what with the amount of sanding, re-varnishing and messing around getting all the extra gubbins together for final assembly.

 

 

[Ngantek]

So for a next update, we all came down with Covid just before easter and I've spent the week and a half since having a lovely time doing the 'entertain cranky toddlers while sick and locked in the house' thing, which lasted just long enough to get us to the elder one's birthday party, with all the unspeakable horrors that that entails. So not much progress, just looking enviously at other WIPs on the forums and generally feeling too shattered to get much done. A few sessions getting all the little bits together for final assembly on this and the beaufighter (which always takes ages), but nothing much.

So this evening with the first chance to have a go, I was keen (rather too keen it turns out) to make some real progress, and frankly get these off my desk so I can play with some new toys.

 

First, I messed around with washes; enamel washes, oil washes, acrylic washes, but had very little success with any of them. The issues seem to be twofold, or so I theorise. (1) what with all the gloss I've been hammering them with, I think perhaps the panel lines are becoming unuseably shallow, and (2) Having taken the gloss layer back rather heavily with abrasives (rather too much in places) to level the decals, we're in the situation where the satin skin grips the wash much better than the gloss in the panel lines. So in all cases I generally struggled to get the wash off without also sweeping it out of the panel lines. Any suggestions here?

 

Unfortunately, I forgot that there was still some bare enamel on top of the varnish on the Beau and bare acrylic on 109, where I'd been touching up the paintwork, cleaning the bad lines and so on. So rather unsurprisingly, the oil wash attacked the enamel and the acrylic wash attacked the acrylic (I was surprised at the latter actually. Acrylic wash was in vallejo, and the touchup was Tamiya, but it seems vallejo airbush thinner contains alcohol or something that tamiya is soluble in). Then I tried cleaning a bit with IPA and put a blimming great fingerprint right on the cowling. Aiyee. 😩

 

So at this stage, I thought, bugger it, all I'm achieving is putting marks all over the place, perhaps I'll just leave it as best as I can and give the models some matt to seal that all off before I do any more damage. Time for some Gunze GX113.

 

Which is where things took something of a turn for the worse. At first I cut it with a bit of gloss to see what kind of range of eggshell mixes I could get. The result was pure gloss. Oh, I thought, and hit everything with just GX113. Still gloss. At this point, having filled the airbrush cup quite high for another go, I got bit over exuberant and spilt the stuff all over the wing. 😭. Yes of course I put my finger straight in it to try and wipe it away. Yes there is a fingerprint down to bare plastic. Arg. I sprayed the wing liberally with MLT in the hope that it would level some of the drops out and pretended not to look at it.

 

Right try again. I misted it on with not much trigger, a lot of pressure and range. Maybe a tad satin this time but still gloss. What was happening? Is Mr Color levelling thinner too good at levelling? I don't remember having this problem before.. surely the issue was getting it glossy rather than the other way round?

 

Yeah well as I'm sure you know, turns out muggins here had failed to stir the blinking pot, and had been spraying the shiny stuff at the top. 🤬. So back we go to the models which now were about 1/2 inch thicker in all dimensions. The misty flat layer was starting to do good things finally but unfortunately, I was still involved in the process. Another spill, this time on the other wing (and yes the topside), and all down the tail fin. More MLT and prayers. At this point I was rather looking forward to the inevitable moment that I spilt acetone over the whole thing. But mercifully I managed to get them to the other side of the room, out of my reach, before any further misery was inflicted upon them.

The rare 109G-6 v3827b with an extra cannon outboard on the port wing.

 

Mummy, please make it stop

 

 

So here we are. Not quite sure whether to push on regardless, try and patch things up somehow, strip back to plastic or just bail out entirely! The poor wee beaufighter came out of it comparatively lightly, but still looks rather the worse for wear. There's a big blob of uncleaned wash that I missed and have now sealed in tight for all eternity.

 

 

 

So... not the best day. I mean.. I did manage to paint a couple of propellors and a fish without killing anyone... The matt black misted over Alclad steel gives a kinda nice effect I suppose maybe...? I do have the unequalled distinction of having somehow managed to make a mess of a modern tool Tamiya kit.

 

 

 

oh. and I'm out of gunze.

 

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by Ngantek

[Ngantek]

I never really made log for the Dora build. The poor thing has sat poked into my croc clip stand pretty much all year as other models have come and go. Anyway I stuck all the bits together, and seeing this is the thread with the most info on it, here it is:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fantastic little kit. I hope they issue some more Platz tools.

 

 

Cheers, 

Andy

 

[Mattlow]

Nice 190D...

 

and the 109G-6.. where's that got to?

 

I think you're hard on yourself.. (I suppose we all are).. but these are 1/72 and 1/144 models, so your efforts are pretty good for someone still working things out... Your mottle, for example, is a whole lot better than my first attempts..

 

Matt

[Ngantek]

57 minutes ago, Mattlow said:

Nice 190D...

Thanks Matt,

 

 

57 minutes ago, Mattlow said:

and the 109G-6.. where's that got to?

Ah! Sorry! RFI here (it was  while ago, forgot to update this thread!)

 

 

 

57 minutes ago, Mattlow said:

I think you're hard on yourself.. (I suppose we all are).. but these are 1/72 and 1/144 models, so your efforts are pretty good for someone still working things out... Your mottle, for example, is a whole lot better than my first attempts..

 

Matt

Thanks it was a good learning experience. I don't have a whole lot of luftwaffe kits but it would be fun to try the mottle again now I've had a bit more experience!

 

Cheers for you comments!

 

Andy

[mark.au]

I missed this the first time around.  Quite an entertaining read, and despite your travails a pretty good result too.  The mottling in particular looks great to my eye, on both.  
 

Here in Canberra at the AWM they have an original paint 109 and the mottle on that is quite messy, far messier than we modellers tend to produce.  I took some pics earlier this year, making sure they were correctly exposed and a true representation.  I should dig them out…

[mullac2001]

Looks mighty fine to me ,  i would be happy with that. Job well done i say , do agree the black art of airbrushing is a frustrating lesson long in the learning

[Ngantek]

15 hours ago, mark.au said:

I missed this the first time around.  Quite an entertaining read, and despite your travails a pretty good result too.  The mottling in particular looks great to my eye, on both.  
 

Here in Canberra at the AWM they have an original paint 109 and the mottle on that is quite messy, far messier than we modellers tend to produce.  I took some pics earlier this year, making sure they were correctly exposed and a true representation.  I should dig them out…

Thanks Mark, it feels like a while ago but I can see my neurotic tone has remained intact. It's a nice little model. Belt decals aside, the tamiya cockpit virtually builds itself into a really good looking result, I was very happy with that in particular. I was still deep frying stuff in gloss though.

 

Yeah I'd be fascinated to see the 109 mottle. I guess it's not too dissimilar to the discussion on invasion stripes; they were probably more haphazard than we modellers depict, but how to copy the shonkyness without it just looking like bad modelling. I'm sure many would also like to see the photos. Sounds perfect for nice long blog post or something but where might one put such a thing? 

15 hours ago, mullac2001 said:

Looks mighty fine to me ,  i would be happy with that. Job well done i say , do agree the black art of airbrushing is a frustrating lesson long in the learning

Yeah for sure. Particularly for this mottle stuff, a year in, I still don't know how thin is thin, it seems to vary each time. I do thin darker -> thinner at moment.

 

Thanks for your kind words!

 

 

Andy

[bigbadbadge]

Missed this apllogies and although Nazi stuff gives me a cold shudder,  you've done a great job on the FW.  The Beau looks interesting,  is that a 1/144 kit too, looked good.

Chris

[AliGauld]

Sorry Andy,

I missed this before.

Excellent stuff.

The Dora is particularly spiffy.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Ngantek]

55 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Missed this apllogies and although Nazi stuff gives me a cold shudder,  you've done a great job on the FW.  The Beau looks interesting,  is that a 1/144 kit too, looked good.

Chris

Thanks Chris it does me too a little. Without wanting to inflame the old debate, I did find myself stopping at the tail marking. There's a good argument that it's important that we don't hide from these things, and I agree, but I still decided I'd rather not display it. Certainly when it comes to the point where one is ordering sheets of them to make up for the ones not included, it's definitely not something I'm comfortable with personally. 

 

Yeah the Beau was a nice little 144 Mark I models kit. Like yourself, I have the much-praised Airfix kit to look forward to. I actually spent my childhood upturning model shops across the land looking for a 72nd Beaufighter but never found one so I'm particularly looking forward to it.

 

54 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

Sorry Andy,

I missed this before.

Excellent stuff.

The Dora is particularly spiffy.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

Aiyyee why the apologies!? Thanks though, the Dora was free hand and I think benefitted from it by comparison. It's just a little thing I'm just going through that tidy desk frenzy!

 

Cheers,

Andy

[AliGauld]

While in the past I have used the tail markings, they do give me pause for thought.

To get round this my recent Luftwaffe builds have all been captured examples.

It works for me.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair