Never finished this thread! Been busy building, and chatting on other forums, (I have no loyalty!!) So here's the rest of the build.
So, I cannot avoid it any longer, I have to bite the bullet and try and put down some paint where it matters, on the outside.
So far, so good. I managed to prime it all without too many dramas.
The colour is lighter on the underneath because I mixed up a batch of primer to practise with, but it was too pale to show against the plasti-card I was practising on, so I made it 50/50 primer and black.
Once I was reasonably happy I could do it I attacked the upper surface and used that batch up, before mixing another cupful with just the primer for the underside, which would be paler anyway. Other than mixing it too thin to begin with, so it coated like water with the pigment settling in the panel lines, and then leaving a thumbprint on the wingtip, I think that stage turned out sort of okay. Both paint and primer are Vallejo.
Oh dear. Pre-shading didn’t turn out at all well. This is something I will need to practise, a heck of a lot.
It doesn’t help that I could never draw a straight line even with a ruler. I know the experts on the videos say to keep it random? Well, that’s pretty damn random. Half the time I missed the panel lines completely.
I used a blue for the underside, as I have seen others that used black, but that seemed too much, to me at least.
Maybe I should just re-prime it and start again, but I don’t think my next effort would be any better. Looks like a herd of Zebra had an argument with a bunch of spiders.
Okay, so my pre-shading isn’t the best. No matter, time to press on.
Next I masked off the area for the invasion stripes. I did this because the white may have trouble covering over the camo, and I wanted the pre-shading, rough as it is, to show through the white.
It was getting late in the evening by the time I had finished, probably a little too late for the compressor. Got to think of the neighbours. So I decided to try out one of my new tools, an Archimedes drill. Worked really well.
Next morning I was up bright and early and tackled the first proper airbrushing, the underneath.
Look! Can you see the sky?!
I have to admit, after all the despondency of the pre-shading, that doesn’t look all that bad.
Next the light slate grey upper surface, which is really more of a green if you ask me. Went down okay, no real dramas except for a fingerprint. (Again!)
Then came masking up for the next colour, the extra dark sea grey.
Panzer putty. Man, this stuff is weird. It’s like it has a life of its own. Put a piece down somewhere and it’s moved off on it’s own!
Hmm, doesn’t seem to be a big contrast between the two colours. I think the pre-shading has made the first colour almost as dark as the second. Oh well…
Now to mask up for the invasion stripes. Basically it’s a mirror of all the previous masking. Since watching another video build of the Airfix 1/24 Typhoon, I realise I would have done better not to have bothered masking off the stripes area, as in reality the camo would have shown through the roughly painted stripes. Lesson learned.
The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb!
Paint was Vallejo insignia white with a few drops of light slate grey to take out some of the brilliance.
Gave a nice, grubby, faded look. For the black I started with black, then added a few drops of dark blue and grey till it sort of looked about right. Then came the moment of truth, the big reveal.
At first glance it looked pretty decent.
Closer inspection, however, showed the paint had very slightly crept under the tape, despite me pressing down firmly and rubbing the panel lines with a cocktail stick. Hopefully the wash will cover most of it.
Of more concern was that the tape had pulled off a few patches of paint. This I could do without.
On the underneath there’s a patch between the exhaust ducts and just to the rear of the last white stripe. I’ll have to figure out how to patch these areas up without making a total hash of it.
Now for the red nose portion of the engine cowling.
Don’t know why I didn’t use this method of masking before, saves loads of tape!
Had to improvise here, as I didn’t have any Vallejo red. I used Citadel Mephiston red heavily thinned with Tamiya X-20A, which worked a treat.
Tomorrow I’ll repair those patches and then give it an overall coat of Klear.
After very carefully masking off the damaged areas, and gingerly touching in the patches with the airbrush, things didn’t look so bad, so on with the build.
For the propeller I used an old trick I learned during my first tour with the hobby. I started by laying down several heavy coats of aluminium paint, then a couple of thin coats of black. Once it had all dried I carefully stroked it a few times with a medium sanding stick, taking off a little of the black to reveal the metal paint underneath.
Oh, the hub was masked off by using a pair of compasses to gently scratch out a tiny circle of masking tape, then placed over the hub.
I always did enjoy decaling. This, to me, is where the kit starts to come alive, when it gets its face on!
My first use of Micro-set and Micro-sol. Damn, I wish this stuff had been around thirty years ago, it’s bloody amazing stuff!
Not so keen on all these stencils though. Never really built many large scale kits before, though I do remember those I did also made my eyes go squiffy with the tiny writing, trying to make sure I got it the right way up!
Just a little something I knocked up ready for when I open my display cabinet to the public!
Laying on the weathering. Panel line wash by Mig Ammo, dark green grey for the top and blue dirt underneath. Must admit the effect is very pleasing.
Chipping is Citadel Leadbelcher and Runefang Steel, applied using a mix of torn up sponge and dry brush. Not too pleased with it, it doesn’t look very natural to me. I’ll have to investigate other methods of application.
Airbrushing the exhaust stains terrified me! My airbrushing skills are still embryonic, and I was keenly aware of just how big a disaster it could turn into at this late stage. I did the very minimum, for fear of ruining it.
Some smoke oil-brushing for the cordite stains on the wings and some further streaking from hinge points, and that’s it, all covered in a final coat of W&N matt UV varnish.
Just the final bits and bobs left to do!
And...