AndyC Posted October 8, 2011 Author Posted October 8, 2011 (edited) Hi all Final pre-primer update...I got all the aerials on this evening (and haven't broken one off yet!) Quick piccie of the result and then she is off for primer and I am off for a bottle of wine TTFN Andy Edited October 8, 2011 by AndyC
AndyC Posted October 11, 2011 Author Posted October 11, 2011 Hi all Got the thing primed on Sunday and that went OK. Did some pre-shading but then had a think and realised that there would not be much effect under a 3-colour top coat, so I stopped. Last night I managed to get the first coat of Xtracrylix FS30219 Tan on with a lot of swearing because the thing is nearly too big for my spray cabin (a cardboard box!). I think that it is a tad too dark straight out of the bottle (to my eyes) and especially as I want to try and give a slightly 'bleached' look after hours in the SEA sun and monsoon rainfall. I am now trying to decide whether to lighten the colour (with added white) now, or do it after I have got all three colours on as part of a general 'fading'. The other thought was to only lighten the top areas (cabin roof and wings/tail) leaving the sides/fin slightly darker. Anyway till later... Andy
AndyC Posted October 12, 2011 Author Posted October 12, 2011 Hi all Another quick update as I'm away for the weekend from tomorrow Well, I lightened the tan with white and sprayed it thinly and I think it did the trick as it now (maybe not as pronounced on the photographs as to the eye) looks faded and more 'scale'. I managed to get the first two coats of FS 34102 Vietnam Green on too. Similar process - full colour first coat and then lightened second coat to give a faded, worn and scale appearance. I was going to go freehand with the camouflage, then chickened it and tried to roll some Blu-Tac sausages but gave that up as too complex and in the end went for tape and a hard edge to the camouflage. Its quite a complex scheme this SEA one. I still have the FS34079 Forest Green to go yet and of course Semi-Gloss Black underneath. I think you can see the lightened Tan and the lightened Green in this shot quite well Thanks for looking and comments welcome! Andy
hythe Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 Good decision to lighten the tan, I think. I've been using some Testors tan on an F-5 and it looks insanely dark for the job in hand. Going to try Humbrol and check the difference - after that, it'll be a case of adding white, as you've done. On the green, I've been perusing photos of the originals - their camo wasn't as "soft-edged" as yours is so far - maybe the blu-tack approach might give the right look?
AndyC Posted October 16, 2011 Author Posted October 16, 2011 Hi Hythe Yes mate I think the Tan definitely needs lightening. The 'furry' edges you can see are temporary and actually will be covered by the next green. The actual camouflage will be hard edged which I hope to disguise with some weathering. The edge between the underside black and the upper will have a feathered look as I believe it was field-applied. Andy
hythe Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 Hi HytheYes mate I think the Tan definitely needs lightening. The 'furry' edges you can see are temporary and actually will be covered by the next green. The actual camouflage will be hard edged which I hope to disguise with some weathering. The edge between the underside black and the upper will have a feathered look as I believe it was field-applied. Andy Fair enough. I'm going to do mine with the earlier white underside, since it has the earlier guns. Which reminds me, I should get on and do some of it!
AndyC Posted October 16, 2011 Author Posted October 16, 2011 Fair enough. I'm going to do mine with the earlier white underside, since it has the earlier guns. Which reminds me, I should get on and do some of it! Ha ha! look forward to it - can never have enough Spookies!
rowmk9 Posted October 17, 2011 Posted October 17, 2011 Lovely work Andy, and very brave to put all the antennae/aerials etc on before painting. I can see why you did it, but still a brave descision and some serious handling discipline will be needed from now on. Can't wait to see it with the camo fully done and the markings in place
dahut Posted October 17, 2011 Posted October 17, 2011 This is coming along alright, innit? Ive always fancied the Sppoky gunships. Even more notable is the fact that you are doing all your painting work with the fiddly bits in place. Gun barrels, aerials and so on - what a chore!
AndyC Posted October 17, 2011 Author Posted October 17, 2011 Lovely work Andy, and very brave to put all the antennae/aerials etc on before painting. I can see why you did it, but still a brave descision and some serious handling discipline will be needed from now on. Can't wait to see it with the camo fully done and the markings in place Hi Rowan - yes brave...and I wish I hadn't done it, really although I regret the guns more than the aerials. The score so far is one horseshoe aerial off and on again and the pitot tubes off and are staying off until underside painted! This is coming along alright, innit? Ive always fancied the Sppoky gunships.Even more notable is the fact that you are doing all your painting work with the fiddly bits in place. Gun barrels, aerials and so on - what a chore! Thanks Dahut. See above! Anyway...here is where we are now. I got the 34079 Forest Green on tonight. Same as the other colours, sprayed from the bottle and then second coat lightened with white. It has come out quite well. There was some slight overspray on the starboard wing but got a reasonable patch repair and I hope that the evidence will disappear under the general weathering. Will leave her 24hrs at least before tackling the black underside. Thanks for looking and comments welcome Andy
hythe Posted October 22, 2011 Posted October 22, 2011 Looking good! I have mine primed now - going to try painting most of it before assembling the fuselage, then touching up thereafter - should be interesting.... Managed to obtain a reasonably-priced set of SAC's metal undercarriage assembly, too, to replace the mangled plastic ones!
AndyC Posted October 22, 2011 Author Posted October 22, 2011 Hi all Another wuick update with some trials... Got the underside on last week (Tamiya Flat Black) and masked with Blu-Tac suasages...that went OK. Have then since sprayed a blotched very thin light grey wash and rubbed that back with 1500 grade wet and dry. This was then followed with blotched Nato Black to weather the original I spent yesterday evening masking for the de-icer boots to wings, fin and tail plus the walkways on the inner wing. I sprayed them Nato Black last thing and pulled off the masks this morning to find some overspray onto the main colours. So, a repair job of mixing Tan paint and then airbrushing patch repair. Took a while (I was up early!) but I think I've got away with it. Just bloody careless really - I will never learn. I will have to touch paint the de-icer locally in places. The props are there for effect only and are detachable. Next stage is acrylic wash, then shading, then tone down, then chipping and detail weathering. Off to Yeovilton in about an hour for some retail therapy! Thanks for looking and comments welcome as ever - good or bad! Andy
AndyC Posted October 28, 2011 Author Posted October 28, 2011 (edited) Hi all Another update and the last prior to decals as I have now gone a far as I want to with my weathering. On the topside camouflage, I sprayed Tamiya Smoke to create panels on the wings (as they are raised panel lines) by using a long piece of tape and spraying the Smoke away from the tape edge...then move the tape to the next panel line and repeat...I think you can see the effect on the pics but it is actually quite effective in real life. Smoke was then sprayed in general lines along the length of the cabin roof and also liberally applied to the rear of the nacelles as exhaust. I then took chalk pastels (two grey, black, yellow and umber) and gently applied 'streaks' to all areas in the direction of the airflow. Again I hope the effect was subtle but to show a slight weathering. Silver pencil was applied round the re-fuelling caps and the engine gills/panels and to the doors. A dark acrylic wash (Paynes Grey and Burnt Umber was applied to the aileron/elevator hinge areas for contrast. All sealed in with Future. Underside already had a light spray of very thinned grey for highlights and grey chalk for 'lead' exhaust (which almsot disappeared under the Future. I ned to do some re-touches of the Interior Green to all the wheel wells due to slight overspray. And a couple in more natural light I have been trying to source aftermarket decals for this but to no avail. Both Zotz and Wolfpak issues have sold out and are unavailable, so I will have to stick with the slightly inaccurate Revell decals. I should get some quality decal time during X-factor - when the rest of the house will be glued to the box! That's all for now, thanks for looking and comments welcome Andy Edited October 28, 2011 by AndyC
AndyC Posted November 1, 2011 Author Posted November 1, 2011 Hi all On the final straight with this one now. This will be the last but one set of photos before RFI... Decals have gone on. I was a bit frustrated with these as I think the Spooky emblems on the front are wrong for the aircraft I am modelling (when compared to actual photographs). As I mentioned elsewhere Zotz, Wolfpak and Superscale did Spooky decals in 1/48 but there are none anywhere. Anyway, decals went down a treat, whole model then Futured and then my first time using Alclad Flat Coat - very impressed with that! Went on a treat. Aerials fixed, the long one is 3lb fishing line, the small on at the side is a piece of thin round rod (still to be painted) and the cats whisker aerials are stretched sprue painted silver. I am going to do the ground crew I think and have a basic dio base in mind just for mounting the finished thing. That is what will appear in the RFI. Thanks for looking and all comments welcome as usual Andy 3
rowmk9 Posted November 2, 2011 Posted November 2, 2011 Hi Andy, my apologies for missing some of the updates, you've really put in some hard work on this one and it definitely shows! I love the subtle tonal variation on the panels and the other staining, really very nice indeed. Decaling seems to have gone very well and it has to be said, the AC-47 is quite a looker isn't she? The three tone camo really looks good on the gooney bird. Great work mate, it's been a pleasure to see your work in the GB.
AndyC Posted November 5, 2011 Author Posted November 5, 2011 Thanks Rowan for your kind words - I've really enjoyed building her under the auspices of a GB. I am painting the figures currently and ordered a dio card base thingy from Hannants which I will pick up at Telford next week - so hopefully another week and a half and she will be done. I am also going to build my Moto tractor that came with my Tamiya F4U-1D as part of the dio - probably not strictly correct but will add something to it See you soon Andy
AndyC Posted November 5, 2011 Author Posted November 5, 2011 Well the Moto took no more than 2 hrs! The figures about the same (I hate painting figures) Ciao till next week Andy
rowmk9 Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 Great looking figures, I am very much looking forward to seeing this one in the finished builds gallery...in ten days time!
AndyC Posted November 17, 2011 Author Posted November 17, 2011 It will be there this weekend! One of my purchases from SMW was a card dio base and I just need to get all that fixed and a few last minute bits done and she will be there! Thanks for looking Rowan! Andy
Graham77 Posted November 17, 2011 Posted November 17, 2011 This does look great and along with the other big C47's etc in this GB I have been tempted to jump up to 1/72 and do a bigger one in the new year to go with some WWII stuff I have. Looking forward to seeing it finished Cheers Graham
AndyC Posted November 19, 2011 Author Posted November 19, 2011 Hi all I'm calling her finished! Here are all the snaps I took this morning and I will choose 4 to go in the STGB RFI. Quick summary of the build... 1/48 Revell/Monogram AC-47D built as 43-49010 of 432nd TRW, 432nd Spooky Detachment, Udorn, Thailand, early 1970 Some scratch built interior bits and Quickboost ammo boxes for the miniguns. Scratchbuilt aerial sets and engine bits. Figures are from the kit and the Moto tug is Tamiya's. The card base is Noy's Miniatures and is sat on a cheap picture frame and mounting card. Mostly finished with Xtracrylix paints, plus Tamiya Smoke and pastels. Decals (incorrect, I think) from the kit. A brilliant kit to build and a great subject that fits in well with my collection. Well done for the hosting and encouragement Rowan and James - it was very satisfying to get it finished and put on the Board. Thanks for looking. See y'all Andy 2
rowmk9 Posted November 19, 2011 Posted November 19, 2011 Well done Andy, She looks stunning. It's been a pleasure to see this one being built.
AndyC Posted November 19, 2011 Author Posted November 19, 2011 That looks good. Gary Thanks Gary Well done Andy, She looks stunning. It's been a pleasure to see this one being built. Thanks Rowan, much appreciated
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