Learstang Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 (edited) Thank you very much for the detailed reply, John! I tend to stay away from water-based acrylics for my airbrush, as they just don't seem to get along well with it (I have an old Badger 150). I build a lot of Soviet aircraft, as these are quite a passion of mine (why with what I know about Soviet aircraft, I could write books about them - oh, wait, I have!). I have some AKAN colours so on my next Soviet GPW aircraft I may give them a try, especially as my old go-to paints, Testors Model Master enamels, no longer seem to be in production (thank you very much, Rustoleum!). Best Regards, Jason Edited August 16, 2022 by Learstang 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 16, 2022 Author Share Posted August 16, 2022 8 hours ago, Learstang said: Thank you very much for the detailed reply, John! I tend to stay away from water-based acrylics for my airbrush, as they just don't seem to get along well with it (I have an old Badger 150). I build a lot of Soviet aircraft, as these are quite a passion of mine (why with what I know about Soviet aircraft, I could write books about them - oh, wait, I have!). I have some AKAN colours so on my next Soviet GPW aircraft I may give them a try, especially as my old go-to paints, Testors Model Master enamels, no longer seem to be in production (thank you very much, Rustoleum!). Best Regards, Jason you can brush paint Akan paints, I get far better results brush painting Akan, not that I do it too often, than I do using Tamiya or Mr Color rgds John(shortCummins) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 16, 2022 Author Share Posted August 16, 2022 Whilst looking at reference photos, I can really recommend Massimo’s excellent website, also recommended by Learstang, I realised that the cockpit floor should be green, so I gave it a quick coat of the Akan AMT-4. To help pick-out the framework it was highlighted with vallejo 70.907 pale grey blue. Also the radio was painted with the pale grey blue. The rear deck was first painted with MRP-259 pale wood, then some vallejo 70.828 woodgrain dragged over the top and the “boxes” painted with the pale grey blue. vallejo 70.995 German grey was used for the larger boxes… These boxes were then dry-brushed with some Tamiya XF-82 ocean grey… …and then the switches were picked out with some mig steel and red. The box looked as if it has a cross on the front so I pained it with some vallejo 70.918 ivory and picked out the cross in red. Next I’ll be adding some of the Eduard PE. until next time as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenoz Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 Good luck with this one. The same idea (lack of camouflage to display the wood) is linguering in my mind.. just lacking time etc... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81-er Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 Nice work on the detail painting, John James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 17, 2022 Author Share Posted August 17, 2022 8 hours ago, Silenoz said: Good luck with this one. The same idea (lack of camouflage to display the wood) is linguering in my mind.. just lacking time etc... thanks Silenoz I'd looked at building a MiG-3 but couldn't decide on a black/green or "white winter" scheme so "naked" she will be! quite a while ago I saw that someone hade built a Mosquito and painted half in full weathered camo and half wood and aluminium, it looked really good but I'm not sure I could cope with doing that, it makes my brain hurt trying to work out the logistics of "two schemes" on one model! 7 hours ago, 81-er said: Nice work on the detail painting, John James thanks James the "close up" photos show errors that I can't see with the naked eye but I consoled myself that most of it won't be seen once the fuselage is closed 😜 rgds John(shortCummins) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81-er Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 We all get that, John. Looks amazing in reality, then you take a close-up photo and suddenly it looks like it was painted by a blind chimpanzee 🤣 James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 17, 2022 Author Share Posted August 17, 2022 6 hours ago, 81-er said: We all get that, John. Looks amazing in reality, then you take a close-up photo and suddenly it looks like it was painted by a blind chimpanzee 🤣 James ha ha I might steal that line from you 👍 rgds John(shortCummins) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 17, 2022 Author Share Posted August 17, 2022 I’d only bought the PE set for the instrument panel and harness however I decided to used some of the PE pieces as they looked decent. The rudder pedals had both the “pedal” and straps. I really liked these red handles. This IP is very nice. There is other PE pieces that I may add, handles and catches for the canopy I’ll decide later in the build. Next I’ll be working on the seat. until next time as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 The PE parts look good, but some of them would prove too small for me to handle even using tweezers. I believe that the Mig3 used a variety of Sutton harness with holes in the straps which the ones provided in your PE don’t appear to have. John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 18, 2022 Author Share Posted August 18, 2022 7 hours ago, Biggles87 said: The PE parts look good, but some of them would prove too small for me to handle even using tweezers. I believe that the Mig3 used a variety of Sutton harness with holes in the straps which the ones provided in your PE don’t appear to have. John. thanks for the info John I'll have to use the Eduard PE harness as if I searched and found a "correct" set and then ordered them, I fear I may end up "shelving" the build as I'm impatient to get onto the painting of the aircraft and even waiting only a few days for the new parts to arrive would leave me twiddling my thumbs and I'd likely get seduced into building something else. I could pick-up my Tamiya 1:32 Spitfire but I'm "saving her" for the colder months when I can dedicate more time as I really don't want to "rush" that build, if Kotare were to release their MkI then I'd have to "pull my finger out" as I really would like to build one of them. Previously I've tried building more than one kit at a time and found that I didn't enjoy either build as if I'd built them separately, I know some modellers have 2 or 3 kits "on the go" swapping between them while waiting for something to dry, or some other more efficient use of their hobby time but I just can't get my head around that sort of thing? I think that I use the "waiting" time to either plan how I'm going to approach the next part of the build, do I need to "scratch" anything, what parts need painting or (sub)assembling or even, typically towards the end of a build, what's next, what scheme, what (if any) aftermarket would I like etc etc. loosing that "thinking time" I think would detract from my overall enjoyment of the hobby? rgds John(shortCummins) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted August 18, 2022 Share Posted August 18, 2022 I usually have several kits going at any one time but that’s because I have the attention span of a dead rabbit these days and swap around frequently. I also find that when getting stuck because of a fit/detail problem it helps to leave something for a couple of weeks (months?) and return later, often to find that it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. The downside of this approach is that I have lots of incomplete models and few finished. John 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenoz Posted August 18, 2022 Share Posted August 18, 2022 14 hours ago, Biggles87 said: The PE parts look good, but some of them would prove too small for me to handle even using tweezers. I believe that the Mig3 used a variety of Sutton harness with holes in the straps which the ones provided in your PE don’t appear to have. John. oh boy, you would go mad trying to mount these: I do understand the thing about wanting to finish in one go.. and not wait for detail parts... I have a whole cupboard semi finished project for several reasons. some are effectively awaiting upgrade parts, so you start another thing in the meantime, and you need some paint.. so you start another ... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 19, 2022 Author Share Posted August 19, 2022 I had thought of painting the seat headrest and cushion as if they were “brown leather” however in all the reference photos show them to be black so I’m going to attempt to paint them as if they were black leather. To start the cushions were brush painted with a base of vallejo 70.995 German grey. Black leather often has a slightly blue(ish) tinge so I used vallejo 71.087 steel blue was highly thinned, 99% thinner 1% paint was used as a wash/filter… …this is very subtile and almost invisible but I’m hoping that it’ll give the effect I’m after? Akan A-14 steel/grey was dry-brushed to give some highlights. Next a “magic wash” was added to the leather parts. “magic wash” 1 part aqua gloss 3 parts water 1 drop Liquitex raw umber acrylic ink The magic wash dried a little too glossy for my taste so I gave the seat a coat of MRP-127 super clear matt varnish. The super matt flattened the leather so to bring back a little “lustre”, new leather should appear polished?, I brush painted some vallejo 70.522 satin varnish. I had to make the hole in seat back for the harness, not there in the kit part… …and the PE harness was then added, the “damage” caused by making the hole was touched in with some German grey. The seat was then assembled and the harness bent to shape and nailed in place. Next I’ll be assembling the cockpit. until next time as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 19, 2022 Author Share Posted August 19, 2022 Magic wash was used to enhance the detail on the side panels and ten given a flat coat. The control column and foot pedals were attached to the cockpit floor… …followed by the seat. Side walls attached to the floor… …along with the IP. To ensure that the sides were in the “correct” position the cockpit sub-assembly was placed in the fuselage and clamped in place. Next I’ll be buttoning-up the fuselage. until next time as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81-er Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 Very nice work there, John. Your efforts on the seat were well and truly worth it, and the whole cockpit area looks very nice indeed now. James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 Seconded. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted August 19, 2022 Share Posted August 19, 2022 Phew! I made it here while you're still in the early stages. Must have lost my place in the countdown to the start. Tsk. Anyhoo, looking good as always, John. keep on keeping on. BTW, Southwell/Loncoln model show. Lincoln 23/10. See you there? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 20, 2022 Author Share Posted August 20, 2022 18 hours ago, 81-er said: Very nice work there, John. Your efforts on the seat were well and truly worth it, and the whole cockpit area looks very nice indeed now. James thanks James as I had to wait for "several" coats of paint to dry (for the leather cushion) the seat took over a day, this would have been a good time to have another model to work on! 17 hours ago, Biggles87 said: Seconded. John thanks John 16 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said: Phew! I made it here while you're still in the early stages. Must have lost my place in the countdown to the start. Tsk. Anyhoo, looking good as always, John. keep on keeping on. BTW, Southwell/Loncoln model show. Lincoln 23/10. See you there? thanks Pete write 50 lines "I must not be late for the start of the build" I didn't know the Southwell/Lincoln model show was on, thanks for the "heads up" I look forward to meeting up 👍 rgds John(shortCummins) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 22, 2022 Author Share Posted August 22, 2022 Before nailing the fuselage halves together I wanted to add some wiring detail to the radio deck. I found this on massimotessitori’s reference site… This drawing makes it slightly easier to understand where the wires should go. I had tried to make the “deck” look like plywood but wasn’t really happy with it… …so I made a template from pieces of Tamiya tape… …and cut some of the Uschi “wood” decal to shape… …which was then applied to the deck. Thin wire, the same wire that I used to make the instrument bezels, was then bent to shape to represent the cables… EzLine was used for the thinner wires. This was then added to the fuselage… Thanks to fubar57 for pointing out where the radio deck fits as the instructions are a bit vague! …and the rear of the fuselage glued together. Next I’ll be finishing off the fuselage. until next time as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81-er Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 Nice detailing work, John. I think you made the right call using the Uschi decal, much more realistic. Not that it was bad before, mind you. James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 Cockpit details looking good John, great job. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 22, 2022 Author Share Posted August 22, 2022 11 hours ago, 81-er said: Nice detailing work, John. I think you made the right call using the Uschi decal, much more realistic. Not that it was bad before, mind you. James 11 hours ago, bigbadbadge said: Cockpit details looking good John, great job. Chris thanks chaps she's moving slowly along 👍 rgds John(shortCummins) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted August 23, 2022 Author Share Posted August 23, 2022 Before adding the front pieces of the fuselage there was a small gap and step that needed some attention. Sprue-goo was used to fill the gap and “level” the step. Once the sprue-goo had cured it was sanded flush… …and vallejo 70.976 buff was used as a “base colour” for the area behind the radio deck… I’m using Uschi van Der Rosten wood decals, these are “transparent”, unlike the AK versions, so by painting the “base” a different colour it will make it appear that the wood is a different type? Once again a masking tape was used to make a template… …and then Uschi wood decal was applied. I’ll cut out the “hole” once the decal has fully cured, just before I add the cockpit glass. Next I’ll be completing the fuselage. until next time as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins) 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Delicious delicate bits. Pause now to readjust your eyesight 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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