Popular Post woody37 Posted January 22 Popular Post Posted January 22 The first of 2025, this build was an impulse buy having picked up the Wingleader book on RAF Boston's & Havocs at Telford last year that created the inspiration. I was drawn to the heavily weathered night fighter scheme where much of the night black paint had worn off as this would be a great experiment in weathering and something a bit different. The assumption was that this amongst other similarly weathered aircraft weren't prepped adequately before the paint job. There are a few tricky areas that probably led to some self induced cock-ups along the way, and so it needs a little care along the way. The paint job was tackled in the following way: 1. Black primer using thinned Mr Surfacer 1500 2. MRP dark earth & dark green rough camouflage application 3. Hairspray decanted into the airbrush for finer application 4. Tamiya XF-85 Rubber black sprayed over the camo - important to use acrylic here rather than lacquer to be able to get it off again 5. The black was rubbed off using moist ear buds and cocktail sticks 6. Gloss coat ready for decals and oil weathering Unfortunately, I didn't get enough weight up front so a brass rod was fitted to keep it from sitting on its tail. More info on the build can be seen here: Quote Firstly, the real aircraft courtesy of the Wingleader book to show the effect I was aiming for: And the result. I've varied some of the patches on the paintwork using artistic licence in the absence of a colour photo. Definitely a fun build and one that I didn't want to spend too much time on. Certainly want to build a few other Havoc / Boston's to go with it at some point. Thanks for looking Neil 65 3 19 1
georgeusa Posted January 22 Posted January 22 A wonderfully done well used A-20. In fact, comparing the photo to your finished kit, yours is less weathered than the photo. You could have gone even more extreme and crazy. Great job and thanks for sharing. 1
Navy Bird Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Fantastic work. I absolutely love your hairspray technique. I've never tried that so I've added it to my to do list. I used salt once, but didn't really care for how it turned out. Cheers, Bill 1
cpoud117 Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Fantastic work on that scheme. Too bad about the tail-sitting, you can always attach it to a base. 1
Dunny Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Neil, A lovely finish on this one - great effect you have achieved on this worn finish. Having built a couple of these I know it can be a tricky little kit, but the rewards are definitely justified in this case! Cheers, Roger 2
Andrés S. Posted January 22 Posted January 22 Very good overall work, but the paint peeling off the wings is spectacularly good. Very well done sir !!! Andrés. 1
Longhorn Posted January 22 Posted January 22 That looks really good Neil, a great idea to try and reproduce such an effect. 1
TheyJammedKenny! Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Great job on this, and using black as a primer/undercoat is a great idea I should try myself for aircraft in camouflage, especially around areas representing clear perspex. 1
Sky Keg Posted January 23 Posted January 23 This is by no mean’s an easy kit to put together especially at this degree of excellence. Outstanding craftsmanship and realism!!! Mike 1
bigbadbadge Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Great looking Havoc Neil, wonderful paint effects and a superb looking model. Cracking work Chris 1
Classic 315 Posted January 23 Posted January 23 What an excellent finish - many have tried, many have failed. Really well done! 1
Dave Slowbuild Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Another cracking build Neil, you are a magician sir! Dave 1
JWM Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Very nice and convincing result! The Havoc looks really like the early Havoc should look like. Regards J-W 1
woody37 Posted January 23 Author Posted January 23 On 1/22/2025 at 5:12 PM, georgeusa said: A wonderfully done well used A-20. In fact, comparing the photo to your finished kit, yours is less weathered than the photo. You could have gone even more extreme and crazy. Great job and thanks for sharing. 23 hours ago, Navy Bird said: Fantastic work. I absolutely love your hairspray technique. I've never tried that so I've added it to my to do list. I used salt once, but didn't really care for how it turned out. Cheers, Bill 23 hours ago, cpoud117 said: Fantastic work on that scheme. Too bad about the tail-sitting, you can always attach it to a base. 23 hours ago, keith in the uk said: Wonderful job , looks spot on to me. 21 hours ago, Dunny said: Neil, A lovely finish on this one - great effect you have achieved on this worn finish. Having built a couple of these I know it can be a tricky little kit, but the rewards are definitely justified in this case! Cheers, Roger 21 hours ago, Andrés S. said: Very good overall work, but the paint peeling off the wings is spectacularly good. Very well done sir !!! Andrés. 21 hours ago, Longhorn said: That looks really good Neil, a great idea to try and reproduce such an effect. 17 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said: Great job on this, and using black as a primer/undercoat is a great idea I should try myself for aircraft in camouflage, especially around areas representing clear perspex. 15 hours ago, Sky Keg said: This is by no mean’s an easy kit to put together especially at this degree of excellence. Outstanding craftsmanship and realism!!! Mike 11 hours ago, bigbadbadge said: Great looking Havoc Neil, wonderful paint effects and a superb looking model. Cracking work Chris 9 hours ago, Classic 315 said: What an excellent finish - many have tried, many have failed. Really well done! 7 hours ago, Mark said: That's incredible work, Neil! And in 1/72 too?! 😲 2 hours ago, Dave Slowbuild said: Another cracking build Neil, you are a magician sir! Dave 2 hours ago, gaputz said: Astoundingly fantastic! Greg 2 hours ago, JWM said: Very nice and convincing result! The Havoc looks really like the early Havoc should look like. Regards J-W Thanks all for your kind comments. Back to the shelf of doom to try and clear a few that stalled last year! Great way of boosting the 2025 output! 3
kapam Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Wow! Just fantastic, with superb replication of the wear and tear. 👏👏👏👏 Sets the benchmark very high for when I attempt a similar kit from my stash. 1
russ c Posted January 24 Posted January 24 Wow! superb job on the worn and peeling paint Neil, great build too 1
François Escudé Posted January 28 Posted January 28 love your work on this one ! very inspiring !! 👏 1
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