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Pre-Flight Check
Constructive critique of your finished or in-progress photos.
Hosted by Jim Starkweather
Spitfire Mk I in progress
Holdfast
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#056
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Posted: Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 09:22 AM UTC
This my Tamiya Spitfire Mk I. The undersurface has been masked off with Tamiya masking tape. The pics are to hopefully demonstrate how pre-shading can be utilised even under dark colours. Bare in mind that I am struggling with my air brush because my compressor blew up. I am having to use an "air pump" rigged up to my holding tank (it's very traumatic but will have to surfice until I can get another compressor).
This first pic was taken after the first 3/4 hour session, (the air pump is not supposed to run for more than 20 mins), the Dark Earth is incomplete


This second pictire is of the same area after completion. The second sitting was about an hour. You can see the difference. For those that have not read my article on pre-shading, the idea is to use well thinned paint, where the black pre-shading is will require more paint to cover, the centre of panels will require less. These areas are left slightly lighter by utilising the light grey of the primer


Another first sitting picture


The rest of the pictures are of the completed Dark Earth colour






It is difficult to get the lighting right to show the full affect, but it is supposed to be subtle. I will be trying out something on my next model that might improve the affect. If you want to find out more take a look at my article on pre-shading :-) To pre-shade or not to pre-shade
Mal
bison44
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Posted: Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 10:30 AM UTC
Very nice Mal. That is a very subtle effect and it must be hard to know when to stop, so that the preshading still shows through. Will it show at all through the green areas of the camo? And i know you have talked about it many times but the masking of the canopy, is that a masking agent, it doesn't look like tape.
TankCarl
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Posted: Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 10:39 AM UTC
Mal ,I can see the effect.How many color coats will you apply? I think it can look good with as few,light coats as possible.
Oh did you notice a gap on top where the wings meet the fuselage.Tonight when I marry the 2 I may make a spreader for inside the fuselage,or something,so I wont have to fill on the top.I will use micro mask as my masking agent on the clear parts.It worked perfectly on the Big C-130 i did a few weeks ago.
Thats right folks,Its Spitfire Sunday!!
Tin_Can
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Posted: Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 04:29 PM UTC
Mal, lookin' good. Even though your operating with a hodge-podge of equipment your stuff still looks great.
TOMCAT14
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Posted: Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 06:33 PM UTC

Mal , good shots - I will be treat it like a little training before My Spit Mk I will start this stage of progress( If You don't mind ) and I will be waiting for final build.
Good job.
Best Regards
Absolute Tomcat , 299 % Proof !!!
COMCARAIRWING
PIG#35
stugiiif
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Posted: Monday, May 12, 2003 - 12:12 AM UTC
wow I hope mine comes out as good for the BoB campaign, Looks good Mal stug
Holdfast
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Posted: Monday, May 12, 2003 - 08:18 AM UTC
:-) Ryan

Quoted Text

Will it show at all through the green areas of the camo? And i know you have talked about it many times but the masking of the canopy, is that a masking agent, it doesn't look like tape.

Yes, if I manage to do it right it should show through the Dark Green. It's the reason for not covering the whole of the upper surface with Dark Earth. The next model I start will be primed with white, I am convinced more than ever that this will give me the effect I am striving for fingers crossed. :-) The masking on the canopy is Parafilm-M, it probably looks odd because of the coat of Grey primer :-)

:-) TankCarl

Quoted Text

Mal ,I can see the effect.How many color coats will you apply? I think it can look good with as few,light coats as possible.
Oh did you notice a gap on top where the wings meet the fuselage.

Mmmm, not sure what you mean by how many colour coats? The Dark Earth is complete, it will be masked off and the Dark Green applied. I use well diluted paint and it takes many passes to build up the colour density. The idea is not to have a uniform colour, the pre-shading helps the affect. As stated above and in my article I believe that by priming with white the affect should be better.
I see what you mean about the "gap", I think, but it isn't noticeable on the actual model. You are right to think about getting a good wing to fuselage joint, you would loose to much detail if you had to fill and sand. However I don't think a spreader is the answer. It is possible that you will need one, but it's making sure that the wings sit at the right hight. This is discussed in the the Spitfire group build:-)

:-) Bryan

Quoted Text

Mal, lookin' good. Even though your operating with a hodge-podge of equipment your stuff still looks great.

Thanks, If you saw it you wouldn't believe it. It was given to me by a model shop owner friend of mine, Well I gave him a tenner. I am hoping to get a new compressor soon, until then the air pump is taking a battering :-)

:-) Artur

Quoted Text

Mal , good shots - I will be treat it like a little training before My Spit Mk I will start this stage of progress( If You don't mind ) and I will be waiting for final build.

No, Artur of course I don't mind, I'm flattered. Take a look at the Spitfire group build, on the aircraft board, theres lots of info there (apart from the fact that I have had to remove some of my pictures from the MSN hosting site, due to lack of space) I can re-submit them If you like.

:-) Stug

Quoted Text

wow I hope mine comes out as good for the BoB campaign, Looks good Mal stug

Thanks, I'm sure it will :-)

Mal
Spitfire group build
Stene
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Posted: Monday, May 12, 2003 - 09:55 AM UTC
Wow, it looks like its gonna be very nice, never tried preshading myself. Spitfire is always easy and fun to buid :-)
Bender
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Posted: Monday, May 12, 2003 - 10:10 AM UTC
as always very nice work, you-da-man

Bender
brandydoguk
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Posted: Monday, May 12, 2003 - 03:59 PM UTC
Hi' mal. I was wondering about the decals. The Tamiya decals provide white roundels to apply before the blue and red ones are applied. Is this because they are thin and allow the camouflage colours to show through? If so would this not help the preshading to show through by not using the white ones? Just a thought.
didiumus
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Posted: Monday, May 12, 2003 - 04:56 PM UTC
Mal, nice work. I personally prefer a different technique to get the same results with less work. Here it is:

1) Paint the area such as a wing, etc., with the base color.
2) When complete, darken some of the base color by 20 - 30%.
3) Spray all of the panel lines and accented areas with this mix. It will look AWFUL at this point. When finished, dump this mix.
4) Take some base color and lighten it by 15 - 20% and spray the center of any panels or control surfaces that are faded. (fabric or sun-exposed surfaces such as wing and fuselage tops.) When finished, dump this mix also. Your model should now look even worse.
5.) Take the base color, thin it, and now "blend the three different colored areas together until you are happy with the results.

Same results as pre-shading, but you don't have to fight the coverage as much.

Best regards,

Scott
Holdfast
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Posted: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 08:52 AM UTC
:-) Stene

Quoted Text

Wow, it looks like its gonna be very nice, never tried preshading myself. Spitfire is always easy and fun to buid

You can never have to many Spitfires :-)

:-) Bender
Thanks :-)

:-) bdUK

Quoted Text

Hi' mal. I was wondering about the decals. The Tamiya decals provide white roundels to apply before the blue and red ones are applied. Is this because they are thin and allow the camouflage colours to show through? If so would this not help the preshading to show through by not using the white ones? Just a thought.

I assume that the white discs are supplied to prevent the paint showing through the markings. If this is the case leaving off the white disc wouldn't allow the pre-shading to show, i'm affraid, you would just see the camo pattern as a shadow. I suppose to take the affect to it's ultimate conclusion then the markings should be painted in a similar fashion to the camo. I'm not going that far though :-)

:-) Scott

Quoted Text

Mal, nice work. I personally prefer a different technique to get the same results with less work. Here it is:

1) Paint the area such as a wing, etc., with the base color.
2) When complete, darken some of the base color by 20 - 30%.
3) Spray all of the panel lines and accented areas with this mix. It will look AWFUL at this point. When finished, dump this mix.
4) Take some base color and lighten it by 15 - 20% and spray the center of any panels or control surfaces that are faded. (fabric or sun-exposed surfaces such as wing and fuselage tops.) When finished, dump this mix also. Your model should now look even worse.
5.) Take the base color, thin it, and now "blend the three different colored areas together until you are happy with the results.

Same results as pre-shading, but you don't have to fight the coverage as much.


Mmmm, In my article on pre-shading Pre-shading I talk about how I have seen a technique that was pretty unique but didn't appeal to me. It was actually done in much the way you describe. ( I am now a little worried that you will take offence ). I would very much like to see the results of your technique, as I'm sure would everyone else, cos we like to see pictures. :-)
I'm afraid I can't see that your technique is less work than preshading. To achieve my aim I am only adding 1 more colour to the painting, Black . So with the camouflage scheme on a Spitfire I would only use 5 colours, including the primer. With the technique you describe you would use 13, then there is the drying time between each shade and the cleaning of the airbrush. My technique is designed to do away with all that, as I say in my article :-)
Scott I'm not trying to "slag off" what you do, just saying that it's not for me. I have had many PM's and emails about this subject, which shows what interest there is. I know the guys and Gals here would be interested in seeing the results of your technique and as I have said so would I :-)
Mal
didiumus
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Posted: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 01:49 PM UTC
Mal,

No offense taken, Let me see if I can get some pics to post. I haven't posted here yet so not up on the technique. I think we are both doing the same thing to our colors, just accomplishing it in different ways. The theory of my method is the mixing is imprecise and done "on the fly." Probably not near as onerous as it sounds. Either method look great....

BTW, the Tamiya Spitfire Mk 1 in 1/48 is to this day the best ootb model I have ever built. Next would probably be the Hasegawa 1/32 109G6.

Scott
Holdfast
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Posted: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 08:31 AM UTC
:-) Nice one Scott,
It's very easy to upset someone when the only form of communication is the written word. Your technique and the pics I have seen, of a model done with what I believe to be a similar technique, are part of what inspired me to go the route I have. To be honest I had been thinking about trying something similar but the way I see it done (with my paint of choice and other factors) would just take so long. I imagine if done in the right way it would be quite stunning, this is why I would like to see pics.
I might try and re-find the pics that I've seen and post a link, here. It would be interesting to compare different techniques.
I agree about the Tamiya Spitfire, I've not built the Hasegawa 1/32 109G6, yet, but from what I ahve heard you are probably right.
Have you thought about joining the Battle for Britain Campaign? It kicks off on the 19th, take a look. :-)
Mal
ladymodelbuilder
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Posted: Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 05:34 AM UTC
Looks absolutely beautiful so far.......
Holdfast
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Posted: Friday, May 16, 2003 - 04:27 AM UTC
:-) Thanks Penny,
As I'm now working :-) I have had to go back to planning my spraying sessions more carefully. I would, in the last few months anyway, have had my spit masked and the Dark Green added by now. I will only be able to do it over a weekend, as it's the FA cup final (real football, Arsenal v Southhampton), this weekend, the earliest I will be able to get it done is the weekend after. :-)
Mal
TwistedFate
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Posted: Friday, May 16, 2003 - 04:33 AM UTC

Quoted Text

:-) Thanks Penny,
as it's the FA cup final (real football, Arsenal v Southhampton), this weekend, the earliest I will be able to get it done is the weekend after. :-)


Well everybody has to have their priorities straight.
Holdfast
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Posted: Friday, May 16, 2003 - 05:26 AM UTC
:-) Ha Ha Ha, I don't actually support either of the teams, but it's the cup final :-) Just an excuse for a stag weekend. I'm going down to my youngest brothers place in Birmingham, just a few beers some food (not that important, when you have beer) but a couple of girlies to serve it are. A bit of a flutter on the game and a spot of gambling after. So even if I wanted I wouldn't be in any state to do any modelling :-)
These sessions at my bros are getting quite regular and I look forward to them :-)
Mal
TwistedFate
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Posted: Friday, May 16, 2003 - 06:40 AM UTC

Quoted Text

A bit of a flutter on the game


Speak English, Mal. Here I go asking for a translation again. A wager perhaps?

Gotta enjoy the family time. I don't do much modeling on the weekends myself, cause I'm usually humped up on the couch watching races with my dad. Doesn't really matter what race, it's all about the face time with my dad.
Holdfast
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Posted: Sunday, May 18, 2003 - 08:09 AM UTC
:-) Yes Tim, a wager
This weekend lark, at my brothers, is becoming a regular thing and I really do look forward to them :-) This weekend turned out to be more profitable than I could have imagined. My brother has been sitting on a compressor for about 2 years. My other brother had been involved in scrapping some arcade games, some of which contained several compressors. He saved one and gave it to my youngest brother for possible use in the robot he was designing for robot wars. The Robot aint happening so he gave it to me after listening to me wine about mine blowing up. This compressor would easily cost £700-£1000 :-) Saves me at least £250-£300. I just have to get a few fittings, so I can use my airbrush off it :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
Mal
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