Hi all
Applied Halfords grey primer before painting the main colours. The under surfaces were sprayed with Halford matt black and when dry I then airbrushed a thin mix of Xtracrylic dk sea grey mixed with xtracrylic night black. The mix kills the strong black colour of the Halfords paint. The upper and lower demarcation line was masked with Tamiya tape and a little maskol was applied to create a ragged edge.
The rear part of the canopy was masked using the masks from the kit.
Upper surfaces were painted with life colour RLM 74. It’s the first time I have used Life colour paints and I was very impressed.

Got the base coat done on my zero. I used the old tamiya IJN gray and green colors. Ive found the world of japanese aircraft colors to be very treacherous, so in the spirit of simplicity and in view of the fact that their is currently 1 known photo of my subject in very rough shape on saipan and surrounded by color controversy, Im sticking to a basic green over gray scheme. I think it would have been original to a later production nakajima built model 21 zero, which this supposedly is, but again more controversy. Im going for how this aircraft may have looked before it found itself in lousy shape just in time for its picture day. Not sure yet what route im going to take for weathering.

Another two nights work, and not much to show for it.



Realised that as I am using a different fuselage I should have fitted the engine exhaust before fitting the engine, it proved possible to fit it at this stage. The gun barrels proved fiddly but satisfying. Just about ready for the top wing now, the ailerons and axle are covered, another fiddly job.

Glad to see your D.VII has made a nice recovery. The lozenge looks good

I have some short update just to show how I did my preshading.
First two pics show the preshading on top of the airplane... it is the same on its belly...





Next is the belly painted in blueish grey



It is not very visible in the pic bur in real life this kind of preshading gives nice and subtle differences between panels.

Bye for now

I began work on the post shading on the F-4S. I also got most of the panel lines drawn. Hopefully I will have the rest of the panel line work done this week and then I will shade them with Tamiya Smoke.

Andrew----Great work and the Fokker and glad you saved the airplane. It looks great.

Metodi----Look forward to seeing the P-39.


Best wishes, Ian

Hi all
A wee update on the EE Lightnig,the decaling mayhem starts



there are shed loads of them and the kit instructions having mistakes don't help moving the job along much
two sesions later we are done


Now I've to wait for a new o ring at £7.96 for my AB so I can give her a coat of Klear.
My pics next week as I'm off to the seaside with Mrs Torch on Monday for a few days
Hope you like so far
Andy

Nice Lightning, and good looking Alclad, looking forward to your return from the seaside to see it finished

First step in the weathering, inspired by builds here on aeroscale. I dont really have a plan, so im going to let it develop as I go. I mixed the base color, Tamiya IJN green (old version) about 50/50 with khaki and shaded some panels and parts of panels, mostly at random. I might use another shade lighter a bit more sparingly then add a thin coat of the base color to tie it together

and further high lights

Mike, great looking post-shading!!!!! Very realistic.



Regards, Ian

An update on my Tomahawk, have just done the underside and then found out I had run out of middle stone paint!

Update on the Fokker, getting closer

Hi All,

Having completed the 'Gekko' for thiss campaign earlier, I have been commissioned to build the Hobby Boss 48 scale P40m Kittyhawk kit, as this campaign still has a bit to run I wonder if I can add the P40 as a very late starter.


The box and the artwork options.

I am currently placing decals on the Bf 109. Late war underside a/c were painted sparingly. R.B.a.f. had the centres painted grey. Thus when I masked the decals they pulled up with the tape. What my question is when using a metal paint under decals does one need to use a special method to adhere them? Running out of spare decals at this rate. Thanks

Try applying dullcote to the metal before the decals. Then seal them on with future.

I have never managed to mask on decals as they always pull off with the tape. If you do find a successful method I would be interested.

Some fantastic progress everyone Im still struggling to be around as much as before as work has gone ballistic at the moment I have not touched a model kit or been near the bench in weeks. Hopefully will settle down again soon and will be able to devote more time to modelling.

Only another 4.5 weeks left of the campaign to go Don't forget once you finish to post your completed pic in the campaign gallery

Some more progress in the paint booth on my A6M2. I decided the kit provided decal stripes color looked lame and more of a sky tone and not white. Measurements were approximated to or even just hinted at when I masked the wings stripes with tamiya tape and burnished the edges. The fuselage stripe provided a challenge. I overcame on first attempt. I laid out several overlapping strips of tape and use the closely cut decal from the sheet to trace the shape onto the strips. This was cut out, trial fitted to the model and adjusted several times. When I was happy, the outline, with some relief cuts, was placed back around it, burnished down with a toothpick, then the center lifted back out. I didnt think to take a pic until after I had used it, but you get the idea.



I mixed a drop of neutral gray into my white, I felt like it made the stripes pop out, which for some reason is what I feel like Im looking for. Only got two tiny runs on the wings in some panel line, 1 small spot of overspray where my additional masking lifted (cursed cheap post-it-notes!) However If you look in the pic the tamiya tape left some sort of reside on the surface of the paint. Im leaving it to sit and maybe it will evaporate. Im guessing it wont and ill have to break the IJN green out and blend it in. Im kicking myself for not sealing the finished base colors. I skipped it trying not to have too many clear coats. With the results so far, I am so glad I went through the effort. Now how to lay my hands on the stuff to do the Hinomarus in the next few weeks...

Mike the stripes came up nice. I love the mottled look you've achived with the green.

Mike, good job on your masking those stripes and thanks for posting the photos they have given me much needed help for my Bf 109 on another campaign. Did you layer the strips together on glass before you cut out for the fuselage, and if so how difficult was it to place on the fuselage?

Again, great job.

Bob

Andy, love that English Electric Lightning! She is a real looker, quite a performer too from what I've read. Keep up the good work. Russell

I found some middle stone paint and added the camo to the P-40, now for decals and some weathering.

Bob,
I didnt use a piece of glass, just a clear part of my modeling desk. I will be finding a suitable piece of glass to use in the future, probably steal it from the several unused picture frames laying about. If you cant tell from the pic, in the absence of wider tape I did overlap the pieces of tape and was sure each time I lifted the masks that I started with the bottom most piece so that the mask stayed together. As for lining up the mask on the fuselage, I curved up both sides and let the center touch down first and then slowly steered it from there. It did take a few attempts till I was happy with its positioning. It wasnt too difficult but did take some thought and patience.

Wish I had the stuff handy to do the Hinomarus but I guess decals will have to do for now.

Some great looking builds there!
I managed to finish off my entry by adding a few extra pieces and taking some half decent photos.









Cheers,
Nick.