Bobs_Buckles Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 Here is a little practice sheet I knocked up in 5 mins. Print it off and practice. free to all britmodellers. Copyright BOb Van Gogh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiwiSteve Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 Great looking build so far Dave What sort of paint stand are you using?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_in_Fremont Posted August 19, 2007 Author Share Posted August 19, 2007 Great looking build so far Dave What sort of paint stand are you using?? Thanks all for the support and encouragement! The paint stand is from Tamiya. It's part of a two piece set (part #74522) and comes with a flat turntable and the stand pictured plus some clips for holding the small bits. I picked it up at the local hobby shop for $20.00 US and it's well worth it in my book. The wire bits that the model is on can be positioned in steps and are spring-loaded. It is intended to hold something like a car body from the inside via spring tension, but the wings of the aircraft balance on them quite nicely. The honeycombed 'wall' it's in front of is the Gunze Mr Super Booth paint booth, another brilliant gadget I recently aquired which is saving what few brain cells I have left from the fumes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_in_Fremont Posted August 29, 2007 Author Share Posted August 29, 2007 Hello all! I've recently returned from the US IPMS Nationals and I'm pretty fired up by all the amazing work I saw there. It also let me see in person just how far I have to go.... Most of the small assemblies have been installed on this bird now, and the first gloss coat has been applied with Future (Kleer). She'll get one more coat after I clean up some drips. For me there is a fine line between 'mist coat' and 'douse with a bucket' that I often cross. With luck I'll be starting decals by the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_in_Fremont Posted August 31, 2007 Author Share Posted August 31, 2007 I made a start on the camo decals last night. Boy are those Mike Grant decals sweet!! They almost pour onto the model and snuggle right down into the panel lines all by themselves. A little shot of MicroSol and they are good to go. They're almost invisible as decals now and I'm sure that once they've been clear coated agin I could probably fool people into thinking I was an airbrush master if I were so inclined (which I'd never do..) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perry Posted August 31, 2007 Share Posted August 31, 2007 Thats looking sweet Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nev Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 They do look good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Man alive, those decals look the bee's whiskers! Full on praise to Mr Grant (Strangeways on BM), and that has now convinced me that it's ok to add Italian kittery to my stash. I really wasn't looking forward to trying to freehand those smokerings The kit's coming on a treat, but it's very brave of you to add all those snappy-off bits at this stage of the game If that were me, I'd break just about all of them off handling the model during the decaling Keep up the good work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_in_Fremont Posted September 1, 2007 Author Share Posted September 1, 2007 Man alive, those decals look the bee's whiskers! Full on praise to Mr Grant (Strangeways on BM), and that has now convinced me that it's ok to add Italian kittery to my stash. I really wasn't looking forward to trying to freehand those smokerings The kit's coming on a treat, but it's very brave of you to add all those snappy-off bits at this stage of the game If that were me, I'd break just about all of them off handling the model during the decaling Keep up the good work Thanks Mike! I've never used any aftermarket decals of any sort, but after wrestling some pretty thick kit decals to get them to settle, these are like miracles on paper. My only cautionary note is that they're very prone to rubbing-off. One must take care to not rub against them on the sheet or on the model or the ink may start to come off. Easy enough to work around, and there are enough rings on the sheet to probably do two kits. To be safe I'm going to apply another coat of future over the camo prior to adding the insignia and other kit decals over the rings. That will prevent any mishaps while positioning the insignia and might add some depth as well. I would never have even tried this kit without these decals being available! ( A free endorsement for Mike Grant...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 A clever gentleman is our Mike. Will probably get a bunch of his decals (instrument dials & such too), when I've decided on my first Italian aircraft, although this monkey you're currently whipping into chape looks pretty tasty Definitely give the decals a coat of Klear or summit before laying more decals over all your hard work... on way to be sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanrgb Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 Great looking build and those decals look amazing Keep up the great work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in Aotearoa Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 G'day David If you hadn't said they were decals, I'd have thought they were airbrushed on! I'm not generally a fan of Italian fighters (although I do like their multi-engined a/c - go figure!) but that looks sweet-as bro. Like Mike W said, spray a clear coat over top of the decals, that will help protect against any wearing off of the pigment. Cheers from NZ Mike p.s just looking at our avatar-thingy - you a guitar player? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_in_Fremont Posted September 4, 2007 Author Share Posted September 4, 2007 G'day DavidIf you hadn't said they were decals, I'd have thought they were airbrushed on! I'm not generally a fan of Italian fighters (although I do like their multi-engined a/c - go figure!) but that looks sweet-as bro. Like Mike W said, spray a clear coat over top of the decals, that will help protect against any wearing off of the pigment. Cheers from NZ Mike p.s just looking at our avatar-thingy - you a guitar player? I was never much of a fan either but they've grown on me. They have very nice lines, yes? They look more like racers than fighters. And yes, I've been a bass player for over 25 years. Jeez I'm gettin' old. Thanks for the kind remarks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_in_Fremont Posted September 4, 2007 Author Share Posted September 4, 2007 I've finally finished the camo portion of the decals. OK, i just found one space that needs another one. Now it gets another coat of Future so I can add the insignia and other markings and wrap this build up! Thanks for looking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perry Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Must admit that I have never been a fan of Italian planes either but, I love this build, beautiful!!! I used to play double bass in local bands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miroslav Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 :clap2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 One of my all-time fave aircraft in one of my all-time fave schemes..... Mmmmmm ! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_in_Fremont Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 Thanks for all the kind words Lads! I've finished the decals this evening. Or at least I thought I had until I saw this picture and realized I have to do one more thing on the radiator. It feels like the home stretch now. One more coat of Future and I can weather it. I'm going to try something different for me with some chipped paint along some of the panel lines. I've seen some other models done this way and want to give it a go. The only thing that is a slight drag is the cross on the tail. It is a bit translucent and I can see the camo behind it. I had originally planned to mask and paint this as well as the stripe around the fuse but the crest made me change my mind. If I had it to do over I would've cut the crest out of the decal and painted the crosses. Oh well.... I'm actually feeling pretty stoked about the results on this project. It's actually turning out better than I thought it would rather than the other way around. Thanks for looking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
periklis_sale Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is the first decal cammo i ever seen and it looks amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 First class job ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_in_Fremont Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 Thanks for all the kind feedback guys! Much appreciated! This weekend I finished most of the work on this Italian bird. You'll note in all the pics that follow there is no exhaust yet. That's because I found a source for Moskit hollow metal exhausts for it that I've oredered but am still waiting for. Those will be added once they arrive and only then will I attach the conopy, attempt to wire the antannae and declare it finished. The first weathering I did was add a little 'chipped paint' effect to the prop and around some panel lines. Hard to see in the pics but it's there. I then did a light panel wash with artist watercolors. I don't go crazy with this since some that I've seen look less like 'weathering' and more like a technical line drawing. Exhaust and gun smoke stains were added with the Tamiya weathering master set. The belly: And the rest: What you can't see in any of these is the strange reaction that happened between the Future and the flat coat on the decals. There is a blistered effect on all those decals that is pretty obvious up close. I didn't do anything different that any other build but it's there and not pretty. I'm just crossing my fingers that it settles down somehow since I don't see any way to fix it. If not it'll still look OK on a shelf or from any reasonable distance, but won't pass muster to any real scrutiny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nev Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 Damn, that's a pretty bird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David_in_Fremont Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 With the exception of wiring the ariels (I often stall at this point ) I can now declare this bird.... Finished!! I'm pretty happy with the end results overall. And I learned a few things along the way. Hope you like her!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddyboots Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 That is FANTASTIC. I really like the effect of the smoke rings. I dont use an airbrush so I've been waiting for these to be invented!!!! Brilliant job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rampage55 Posted September 16, 2007 Share Posted September 16, 2007 Exceptionally well done! A very sharp looking model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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