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Vintage Revell kit. Vought Kingfisher. 1/72.


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13 hours ago, billn53 said:

Looking great. I don’t envy you the canopy masking job, though. At this rate, youll

 be done in no time!

Don’t know what happened with this canopy, maybe it’s because  the ridges are a bit ‘pronounced’, it’s hard to paint that. Some canopies can finish up looking spot on, but others need a fair bit of work.

I spent a while longer on them this morning, with the opti-visor on, again, because the painted ridges are standing out so much, they are a bit harder to clean back to the edges like that; I’ve done as much as I dare without painting them again!

I thin the paint even for canopies, I used to do them from the tin let and it could go on gloopy and come off in chunks when cleaning. The thinned paint is much easier to paint on anywhere and especially for canopies and is much easier clean back when doing canopy lines! I wonder if maybe I hadn’t let the first coat dry a bit longer!🤔

I don’t buy canopy masking because for me it’s much more fiddly than doing them the way I do; some of the pieces can be quite microscopic, and with my big tree trunk fingers!😂

All being well, the canopies May be fitted later today.😀

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I removed the masking off the floaty bits and masked up for the wing walkways.

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I used Revell No. 9 (anthracite) for them because they aren't so much just a line of paint; on the real aircraft they are slightly rough in texture and almost rubberised so that the airmen shoes/boots can grip and they dont go slipping and sliding all over the wings! I use Revell's No. 9 on tyres and on wing walkways, some times I use it instead of black for unimportant spots. I used gun-metal on the exhausts I'd fitted.

 

A couple of hours later, the paint was dry and I was able to remove the masking. I'd masked the Stearman at the same time and did its walkways too (efficient use of paint!:nod:).

I had also used up some time on the main float, the line between underside grey and intermediate blue needed tidying and I then used a very small section of etch glued into a tiny hole under the float on the centreline as the lug that the crew hook that giant elastic band around for launching off the launch rail.😂

IMG-1339.jpg painting the upper half of the struts for the main float. Much easier done before its fitted to the model!

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IMG-1348.jpg Here are the walkways on the wings after the tape was removed!

 

IMG-1349.jpg The 'Lug'.👂

 

 

I've decided now that although I have made and painted the beaching gear for this, that I won't fit it. I was having a rummage in my larger parts and found another of these cool little seaplane stands! It was left over from the first Seagull I made that didnt quite make completion; its a perfect fit on the Kingfisher; Why not?!:idea:😀

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I spent some time tidying up the gull grey on the underside, touching in any lines wot needed it, including the lines along the engine cowling and at the waist areas.

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...and did some last minute fitting in the rear cockpit. and a touch of desert pink on the pilots seat straps. I also spent a bit more time, trying to tidy the lines on the canopies; thats as good as I'm gonna get them; I'm happy enough with them.

IMG-1353.jpg I painted the pilots harness straps with a desert sand colour to make them stand out. I'll tidy all the intermediate blue areas once the canopies are fitted.

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IMG-1356.jpg The machine gun is fitted, its mount painted green and the shoulder pad in a light brown leather colour.

IMG-1357.jpg The white 'thing' is the little loop aerial I made from etch, I gave it a coat of white paint to help it stand out a bit.

 

It was getting late in the day; I'd just noticed I'd got the colour order wrong on the props for this and the Stearman so I rubbed off the yellow and red and switched the colours around. I decided to let the paint on the loop aerial dry before I fit the canopies; I'm not in any great hurry because thats when mistakes are made!:nodding: I can fit them with some PVA. I dont often use poly glue for clear parts now because it can frost the parts and ruin them.:oops:

I still have decals to fit on the main float and on the wings and fuselage, so once the canopies are on and happy I have the intermediate blue to touch in including around the canopies and on the rear end of the wing walkways; thats the flaps they'd be standing on!:yikes:

 

After all was dry and settled I finally fitted the canopies, I checked their fit already but checked them again, laid a line of PVA around the openings (but one at a time) and carefully fitted the clear parts! Tomorrow I'll go around the edges of them with more PVA to seal them up; and then I can finish working with the intermediate blue!

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IMG-1359.jpg Looking great!

 

Thats all I've done today!:huh:😂 More the morra!:yahoo:

 

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Canopies now fitted, I have done my touching in. Fitted the aerial and the pitot, and finally fitted the main float.

 

IMG-1360.jpg The canopies have now been touched in all around with intermediate blue, and I extended the wing walkways all the way back; the decals include one for each spot on the flaps and since I'd already painted mine in I finished them the same way. Means I can keep those decals as spares for wherever they will be needed. I fitted and painted the aerial at the front of the canopy area.

 

IMG-1361.jpg I also fitted and painted the pitot. Just a little touching in with the Gull grey now.

 

IMG-1362.jpg Doesnt quite look like a seaplane yet, but it does look like a plane now!

 

I turned my attention to fitting the main float, its all painted now and is better to be fitted so that I can apply the decals to it and to the model.

 

IMG-1370.jpg Once the float was on and happy I started touching in the mounts for it with PVA, just to cover any gaps at the joins.

 

IMG-1371.jpg After the PVA was dry, I painted the areas with the gull grey.

 

NOW its looking like a seaplane! 😀
 

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IMG-1369.jpg There's a slight flaw in the rear canopy, I have trimmed it inside and out and spent ages getting it to fit the best I can; but its a tiny bit too wide and since my last attempt to close a gap with a tiny bit of pressure overnight failed (the canopy cracked), I decided that its looking as good as I can get it. I'm happy enough with it, On the real aircraft, this forward section and the rear section slid back as there was a mounting point in line with the centre strut of the main float, it went up to above the radio area. They connected/hooked a winch cable to this for when the aircraft was to be hoisted back on board after recovery from flight.

 

IMG-1374.jpg These are the wing floats and their struts, before I can fit these I have a decal to be applied inside the area where the wing float is fitted, under the stbd wing, fits inside the square of holes that the struts are attached. I could fit it after but what's the point? It only becomes a struggle and the decal might not stick down properly after all that. I prefer the easy way, fit the decal, seal it down and then fit the floats!

 

IMG-1299.jpg The mounting holes for the wing floats and struts on the underside of the wings.

 

The decals arrived this morning, and I'll have to get my stand for the iPad, the instructions/locations are on the iPad, downloaded from Scalemates (brilliant webpage!). The model has now been varnished ready for the decals, so this and the Stearman can be finished pretty much any time, but I have to be in the right frame of mind to do decals because they often need full concentration. Maybe tomorrow, or the next day!:think:

 

Next time I post pictures for this will be in RFI.:yahoo:

 

 

 

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It has been good to catch up with this build Mark.

 

You were certainly right about the coverage of the upper blue colour, it went on very well indeed with those coats. The transparencies look wonderful, and the idea about leaving them to dry for a couple of hours before tidying up was a good one, as the paint would still be slightly soft, aiding the process no end - I will have to remember that one!

 

You have a mighty fine seaplane there now, great work.

 

Ray

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Thank you Ray! I'm very pleased with this, the upper colour is intermediate blue by Colourcoats, The lower gull grey is Humbrol, I was going to use Colourcoats for the lower colour but didnt have enough; I have now put in an order for some, though now its a little late, but the humbrol did just fine as all colours are thinned so they go on much better. I wonder how I got paint to work at all before I started thinning! Goes on much easier, smoother, and spreads easier, builds and deepens each time, go gloop, no thick patches; if I can get the decals I think some of my previous models could do with a repaint in this way! I'd need to find something to successfully strip the paint though because I wouldn't want to sand it off and lose feature lines.

I'll be busy this morning with an appointment and a bit of shopping but I'll see how I feel later today.

 

Thanks again Ray.

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I'm still here; wasn't able to do anything on the model for a couple of days, wasn't feeling great one day and it was out 37th Wedding Anniversary on Weds, but after watching a documentary on TV this morning about the B-24 liberator, I though I ought to go and do something.

Here is wot I WILL say; I HATE doing decals that are long thin straight lines, in any colour! They never work out properly and no matter how long they are left to dry and settle they still go 'wrong'! I'd sooner just add the lines by fine black pen with indelible ink later on. I spent an hour getting the lines to fit properly and did finally get them on; I left them for well over an hour and a half before heading back to put the roundel on top of them on the top of the wing, carefully put Decal-set on and applied the decal; it slipped under one of the lines! Can you believe that? The lines were actually featured on the later version of this aircraft but I thought I'd see how they looked. They did look okay until they started shrivelling and bending again; so I took 'em off.:nod: Never lost my temper once!:wow:

 

I WAS able to get the red line fitted around the main float without too much hassle! Its the warning/danger line for the propeller, It did have to potential to go very wrong but I kept it in control and finally finished all the decals on the Kingfisher AND the Stearman! I'm always a little apprehensive about decals but I can do them okay, once I get into it I just need to take my time with them.

 

I now have all the decals fitted and varnished with Klear and started painting the struts for the wing floats; as the model is in dark blue plastic I felt it would be better to paint them before they go on. I lined them up in a bulldog clip and painted most of the two sides before taking them out and painting the end I couldn't get earlier. I've used a different grey for them just to prime them for now and I'll see how they look tomorrow. The little mounting pins/stubs are all at an angle because they are all at an angle from the wing towards the float itself. I went around and cleaned out the holes in the wings and the holes in the float but I think I'll fit a line of masking tape on in front and behind the line of the holes in the floats to stop glue and paint from getting onto the floats which are all painted!:idea:

 

Here are the struts, all primed in a lighter grey for now, depending on how they look tomorrow I'll paint them with the top coat.

IMG-1382.jpg I kept these on the sprue and trimmed it back, I needed to make sure I still had the part number.

 

IMG-1383.jpg I'll have to think how I'll assemble these and fit them to the wings! I reckon I'll fit all the struts into the floats first and then gently 'encouraging' the other ends to meet the holes in the wings. Its like two struts going into one hole in the float so I think its the easiest way!:nod:

 

IMG-1384.jpg I used a small drill bit and then a thin needle file to make sure that the parts and the glue go into plastic and not paint. The holes on each float have to accommodate two struts each, I'll dress the ends once the glue has set using PVA.

 

Its getting closer to completion so I'm just being careful and doing it all in stages.

 

Hoping to do this tomorrow, get it finished.

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I remember the days when I had a steady hand and decent eyesight and I could paint a canopy freehand with a OOO brush.

Nice work.

I like your neatly labelled spare parts drawers in the background. Impressive organisation.

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3 hours ago, John_W said:

I remember the days when I had a steady hand and decent eyesight and I could paint a canopy freehand with a OOO brush.

Nice work.

I like your neatly labelled spare parts drawers in the background. Impressive organisation.

Thank you .

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Another great aeroplane. Sorry I have been stalking your posts as the subject matter is just so great. I love this one to bits. The canopy you did was brilliant and without masks too. 👌

 

 sorry to hear of your decal woes but it sounds like you nailed it.

 Looking forward to seeing them in place.

 

 Great work.

 

 Johnny. 😀

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Thanks, but A lot of my models get overlooked. I thought I’d done pretty well right up to the Stearman, but that came to nothing when the wings collapsed. It was just a rubbishy little kit.

it’s gonna take a while to get back to modelling after that. It’s just fate, it lets you go so far and then reels you back in because I was obviously getting ahead of myself.

 

 

 

Edited by Markh-75
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34 minutes ago, Markh-75 said:

Thanks, but A lot of my models get overlooked. I thought I’d done pretty well right up to the Stearman, but that came to nothing when the wings collapsed. It was just a rubbishy little kit.

it’s gonna take a while to get back to modelling after that. It’s just fate, it lets you go so far and then reels you back in because I was obviously getting ahead of myself, just telling me how insignificant I am.

I am not a very good modeller , I don’t use an airbrush or use weathering products, and my builds go unnoticed most of the time because they are not very good.

 

 

Whaaaaa? The stearman was the build that drew me to your other wonderful models. I saw that one the other day and was so impressed that you actually picked this little kit and made such a good job of it. I was planning on doing another one more like yours as my one was heckled for being too dirty.  I’ve learned to tone my weathering back a bit but I still over do it sometimes,  but hey they’re our kits right.😀

 

Don’t be so hard on yourself, you have no reason at all, I have just paged through your builds and they really have inspired me to do a floatplane. I’m currently doing a Firefly so at least I’m getting closer to the water. 🙃

 

The use of tools and paints and what not varies from modeller to modeller and in the end all that matters is having fun and enjoying modelling.  you sir are a fantastic modeller from what I have seen and I have found it’s encouragement from the lovely folks in this site that helps us through tough builds.  I hope I didn’t cause you any harm by my post on your kaydet thread. If I did I sincerely apologize, I only wanted help you through a rough patch and see what I know would have been a lovely model judging by your others.

 

All the best.

 

Johnny.  

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On 17/09/2022 at 09:08, The Spadgent said:

Whaaaaa? The stearman was the build that drew me to your other wonderful models. I saw that one the other day and was so impressed that you actually picked this little kit and made such a good job of it. I was planning on doing another one more like yours as my one was heckled for being too dirty.  I’ve learned to tone my weathering back a bit but I still over do it sometimes,  but hey they’re our kits right.😀

 

Don’t be so hard on yourself, you have no reason at all, I have just paged through your builds and they really have inspired me to do a floatplane. I’m currently doing a Firefly so at least I’m getting closer to the water. 🙃

 

The use of tools and paints and what not varies from modeller to modeller and in the end all that matters is having fun and enjoying modelling.  you sir are a fantastic modeller from what I have seen and I have found it’s encouragement from the lovely folks in this site that helps us through tough builds.  I hope I didn’t cause you any harm by my post on your kaydet thread. If I did I sincerely apologize, I only wanted help you through a rough patch and see what I know would have been a lovely model judging by your others.

 

All the best.

 

Johnny.  

I asked for the whole build of the Stearman thread to be removed because I feel such a big flopping failure, I won’t attempt to make another. I didn’t want a lot of talk about a model that no longer exists so I had it erased. I spent a lot of time on that model only for it to break up and I then crashed it into the bin.

Edited by Markh-75
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21 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

Whaaaaa? The stearman was the build that drew me to your other wonderful models. I saw that one the other day and was so impressed that you actually picked this little kit and made such a good job of it. I was planning on doing another one more like yours as my one was heckled for being too dirty.  I’ve learned to tone my weathering back a bit but I still over do it sometimes,  but hey they’re our kits right.😀

 

Don’t be so hard on yourself, you have no reason at all, I have just paged through your builds and they really have inspired me to do a floatplane. I’m currently doing a Firefly so at least I’m getting closer to the water. 🙃

 

The use of tools and paints and what not varies from modeller to modeller and in the end all that matters is having fun and enjoying modelling.  you sir are a fantastic modeller from what I have seen and I have found it’s encouragement from the lovely folks in this site that helps us through tough builds.  I hope I didn’t cause you any harm by my post on your kaydet thread. If I did I sincerely apologize, I only wanted help you through a rough patch and see what I know would have been a lovely model judging by your others.

 

All the best.

 

Johnny.  

Thanks for trying to cheer me up. When I’m hit like this though, it can be difficult to get me out of it.

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10 minutes ago, Markh-75 said:

I asked for the whole build of the Stearman thread to be removed because I feel such a big flopping failure, I won’t attempt to make another. I didn’t want a lot of talk about a model that no longer exists so I had it erased. I spent a lot of time on that model only for it to break up and I then crashed it into the bin. I’m ashamed of it and for thinking I’m any good at modelling. I feel like smashing every one I’ve built.

That’s where the thread went. 🙁

 I’m sorry you feel that way. I for one thought it and your other builds are superb. I’ll not talk about it any more as it’s obviously raw at the moment. 
I’ll gladly follow along with your builds as I’m doing with your float plane if that’s ok by you. If you don’t want me around I’ll understand. 
 

all the best.

 

 Johnny.

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6 minutes ago, Markh-75 said:

Thanks for trying to cheer me up. When I’m hit like this though, it can be difficult to get me out of it.

No worries. There’s a lot of love on BM. We have your back in such times. 🤜

onwards and upwards dear boy, back to the kingfisher. 🤩

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I have nothing to do anymore now and I couldn’t make a model to save myself, I’ll stay in bed today I think. Find something else to do tomorrow. 
It’s just grim when this happens. I’ll take time out I think until I feel better.

Edited by Markh-75
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Hi There,

Take a step back and it'll come back when it comes.

Your work has been great so far and I've enjoyed watching the builds.

You have proven so far that you don't need an airbrush and weathering products to produce a great looking kit.

Take your time and see how you feel in the future.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

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  • 5 weeks later...

Apologies folks, I was just a bit overwhelmed by the loss of the Stearman, I hate when stuff like that happens but thankfully it doesn’t happen much. I know it’s only a plastic model, but I’d taken a lot of time and effort on that and in the end it broke up.🥴

The Kingfisher is safe and out of the way in the cabinet for now until I’m feeling better, I have not been very well for about a month with the onset of colder weather with a chest infection and other symptoms.

once I’m feeling better I’ll be able to complete the Kingfisher.

Thanks everyone.

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