Moooooving right along. The basecoat of Light Ghost Grey is on and drying. I went back with another coat but added a couple drops of flat white to the mix and dusted a few places here and there. It's hard to see in the pic but it really made a big difference as far as giving the VIking a bit more weathered appearence. As you can probably see, the Sharpie ink is totally "hideable" with enamel paints. It's all in how much you do or do not want it to be seen.




I'll give her a day or so to dry then I'll mask off the areas around the canopy and the tail fin and lay on the gloss black paint.


Hermon

Wow that's pretty slick! I try to stay away from those paints, but I think I'm going to give it a shot once I get a chance to tackle one of the gray jets in my stash.

Mike your little Judy looks great, nice job.

The Campaign Gallery is HERE for your finished builds. Mike and Graham are leading the charge at the moment, but Guido won't be far behind with his superb Wyvern.

Hermon, thanks for the great mini-tutorial on the Sharpie Panel Line technique, your paint job is looking really good mate !!

Warren, excellent progress on the Dauntless office, it's good to see a nice clean cockpit on a pre-war bird.

Jeremy, don't be shy mate, dig in and mangle some plastic !

Also remember guys, I will keep the very first post in this thread updated as a Roll Call and Build Status board now that the editing function has been returned.

Cheers all, keep up the great work, and HAPPY NEW YEAR !! from Down Under if I don't make it back to this thread tonight.

Beats me, I was 14 at the time, probably wouldn't have recognized a hangover anyway.

Story gets better, ~10 years later I was working with a contractor in Texas who was part of the crew that replaced my dad for the 18 months we were in California.

Considered going Naval Flight Officer program after college, riding around in the back seat of an S3 was one of the options.

Gentlemen-
With just a few hours left in this old year, I want to wish all of you All The Best for a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Thank you for all the encouragement along the way of his campaign.

Hermon- The Viking is looking really really good and I think that the highlighting effects show very nicely. I bet they are even better in real life.

Warren- Very nice wear on the cockpit! I like the “used, but not abused” look.

Against my best intentions I wasn’t able get the build finished today, but hey there are new resolutions to be made. How ‘about this one: “Get the Wyvern-build finished sometime soon!”
That should be a resolution I can fulfil within a week. Now that I write this, there are only the antennae of the plane and the hinges of the landing gear doors to be added.

As promised I like to share a bit of the washing method I tried.

I used a range of artist’s acrylic paints, alcohol, a fine paintbrush, Q-tips and make-up removal pads. A bit of water helps, as well.



I mix various shades of grey and green (with added alcohol as thinner) and apply them to the panel line with the paintbrush. I keep the paint thick and covering. I don’t like runny washes so much.





Then I take the moistened Q-tip and rub off the excess paint. The Q-tip should be moved in a 90° angle to the panel line to allow remnants of paint to stay in the recesses.



As soon as “the thick” of the paint is removed I switch to the make-up pad and clean the area.



The paint that accumulates on the q-tip and the pad may be used to apply some weathering streak along the wings and fuselage.



I tried not to over-emphasise and I think it came out quite well for a first try: Before and after




A few more in progress pics: Please note that I used dark to light greys, a bit of black or green:






And a few more:





I did not apply washing to all the panel lines as the pre-washing did stay visible nicely enough in most places and I didn’t want the plane to look too used.

I guess there a re many way to do it. This one did good for me. Onb my next plane I’ll ry something different.

Now go party! I have to go to work!
Happy new year!


Guido

At Hermon and Guido, thanks for posting those pics of your efforts to shade the ac they have helped me much.

Bob

Guido, that's the same technique I use, except I use ProModeler wash instead of artists acrylics.
One additional step I take on occasion is this:
I apply the decals, then before they are completely dry, I use my knife with a new blade to score the decals where the panel lines are. I then use a bit more micro-sol to snug down the decals. By cutting the decals at the panel lines I am able to apply the wash on the entire project. On a very heavely weatherd aircraft it just looks funny to have grease and grime everywhere but then have perfectly clean decals.


Hermon

Another update. All the painting is done now. I may go back and highlight a few areas after she's dry. I think the dark grey areas could use a little lightening.




Hermon

Nice paint job Hermon, what do you use to mask and is there a trick to when and how to remove it?

Bob

Very nice work Hermon, looking goooooooooooood !!

Guido: Thanks for the mini tutorial!

Hermon: Thanks for the tip, and that Viking is looking good!

Damian: I just went through the instructions and did a quick test fitting of most of the major parts, and I really like how the kit is engineered and how well it fits together. The size is pretty sweet too! I still have a lot going on at home and with work, so progress will probably be a little slow for now...

Looks OK from way back here.



But up close
These decals are so brittle they break off at the slightest mention of a curve. No more using Ebay decals printed in 2002.




The picture is too blurry to do the damage justice. I have 4 coats of Future on this plane and the silvering is horrible. Again, the decals break just coming off the sheet.

I hate building models. My new years resolution is to throw away my stash and curse plastic.

Hermon

ps: Not really. But I can't help being pi**ed right now.

Gentlemen,
Thank you very much for your kind comments.

Hermon- The Viking is looking better and better. Sorry to hear that the decals are causing trouble.
Indeed I used a lot of softener and setter to make to decals snug down and allow washed to settle in the panel lines and rivets beneath them. I have used the excess paint on the make-up pad to apply the colour in the decal area. After letteing the paint dry, I just wiped away the excess with a bit of spit. The result are very faintly weathered decals. I reckon a bit of dry brushing should enhance the effects.
I will however try out your tip to cut the decals following the panels once I feel more comfortable dealing with them. Decaling is 'bout the least favorite thing in modelling for me. I guess it is mainy due to lack of practise. In ships you usually don't have more than hull numbers and draft markings.

Cheers,
Guido

Hermon, the S3 is looking good and I know that you will be able to come to some solution. DO NOT THROW YOUR STASH AWAY. Send them to me I will be like a BANK that you can withdraw a kit when you need one the rest will be protected from the beast within you

Bob

Thanks Damien! The Judy is a nice little kit, just a shame there's no PE to go with it.

As I mentioned at the start of the campaign I have many anti-ship planes in my stash. I've just posted a couple more builds in the gallery, one of which has to be the worst kit I've ever built! Everything about it was bad and I recommend no one ever buy that kit! (I don't mean the Airfix Beaufighter either!)

These 2 kits will be sold as part of my new business venture.

I will be working on more anti-ship planes soon!

thanks
Mike

Hi folks,
Some great builds going on here!
Possibly because of a new year‘s flush and inspired by Warren‘s „New Campaign Builds“ thread I just enlisted to some campaigns for 2011.

For this campaign I picked a Skyhawk in an Argentine scheme:


Cheers
Matt

Hi Matt, welcome aboard and thanks for joining us.

Your name and build have been added to the Roll Call (first post of this thread).

Good luck with your build and please post progress pics for us.

Cheers, D

Hermon, sorry to hear about your problems with the decals. Does not look so bad from the pictures, but maybe it is worse in real life. Take a little break from the kit and get back to it later when the motivation is back.

Matt, excellent choice! Looking forward to follow your build.

I have now finished my Beaufighter. It is the old Matchbox kit. Considering its age it was actually a very enjoyable build. Although one should not expect too many details in the kit
Thanks for all the tips and help I received along the way.

Comments welcome

Very nice Beau Jesper, great finish on the old kit !!

Thanks for joining in and kicking the Campaign along a bit with both your build and the discussion that went with it.

Cheers, D

yeh that looks really good Jesper for an older kit like you say its not big on detail but shows what can be done.
cheers,
Graham

Thanks for the comments, guys. Appreciate it.

It was fun to participate in good and well run campaign. Looking forward to follow the other campaign builds.

Hi Everyone.

Here are some progress shots of my 1/32 Trumpeter Dauntless. Not far to go now!




Still now 100% sure which colour scheme I will do. Am a bit disappointed that the yellow-wings scheme is for an overall light grey aircraft rather than a silver one.. Still, those yellow wigs would definitely stick out!

Sweet Warren! Are you building her up box stock?

And that sounds weird to have yellow on light gray, who flew with that color scheme?

SBD lookin good mate , yeh i thought the yellow winged ones were silver too not grey thats strange.
cheers,
Graham

Jeremy and Graham, I too thought they were a nice silver finish, but from what I have read elsewhere the SBDs were painted light grey overall, probably to reduce corrosion, but I am very happy to proven wrong!!

The yellow wings were used by most US Navy aircraft in the 1920's and 30's with various coloured stripes etc to designate the units they were flying with.

The SBD is box stock and it is a joy to build as the fit is great. Even major assys like engines and cowlings go together with no need for filler. The only small amount I needed was a touch on the spine just behind the cockpit where I trimmed a little too much plastic away.

More progess reports late.