Thanks Fred!

Yes the Ki-61 is the old Arii kit, of course this old kit can't come close to the newer Hasegawa kits but I sure do like the surface on the Arii kit.
When I can afford to do so I want to build another Ki-61, if possible the 1/32 scale Hasegawa kit.

No pictures today but I added paint chipping on the wing roots of these models and gave all three a thin coat of Future. When the Future is 100% dry I can start with the other weathering effects which will be done with oil paints.


Matrixone

Very nice looking markings, Les! Seems like every time I crack open this thread I learn another technique.

Gary

Good idea using tinted thinner to blend the decals Les. I will have to try that on a future build.

Ernest

Thank you Gary and Ernest, in a day or two I will post more pictures of the models. They are getting some weathering done on them with oil paints and are starting to look war weary.


Matrixone

The work with oil paint is finished and I switched back to enamel paints and started adding some weathering to the wing roots.





Matrixone

Les,
I'm more then impressed with the number of builds you're completing at one time. I'm even more impressed that each one is such a high quality.

As for the over coat of decals, I've been doing basically the same thing in my weathering process so that the decals look to be weathered to the same degree or close to it as the rest of the paint on the aircraft. For top side decals that can be directly effected by the sun, wind, rain, etc, I've been using a very thin air brushed wash of light gray for a faded and bleached effect.

Joel

Excellent jobs using oils and enamels to simulate the Chipping Les. Are you using a small brush, sponge or some other method to do the chipping?

Thanks Joel and Ernest!

Ernest,
The paint chipping was done in stages, on the wing roots I sprayed small tight mottles with a lighter version of the base color on the places where the paint chipping was to take place, after the paint dried I mixed up a light gray color and used a paint brush to add wear marks and paint chipping, then some metall was mixed to add more paint chipping being careful to keep most of the metall inside the light gray areas.

After the flat clear coat is sprayed on the model I will use a silver colored artists pencil to add some fresher looking paint chipping and wear marks...the goal is to give the illusion that the wear marks and paint chips were done over a period of time.

The few photographs of operational Ki-46 III aircraft that I have found show them to not have the heavy paint chipped look like the Japanese single engine fighters did so the paint chipping on the other parts of my Ki-46 models airframe will get very limited paint chipping.


Matrixone

The Ki-61, Bf 109K-4, and Ki-46 Dinah III are finished and I am focused on getting the Bf 110G-4 finished soon as well.

Here is what the 110 looks like right now and this may or may not be the final in-progress picture of the 110.



Matrixone

Beautiful! You really know your way around 74/75/76!

Gary

Thanks Gary, much appreciated!

Another in-progress picture of the 110.


Another model just started is this 1/32 scale Hasegawa Bf 109K-4.
In these two images you can barely see the forced shadow effect I did when painting the cockpit parts. This was done by first painting these parts gloss black before spraying on the RLM 66 black gray, when the RLM 66 was sprayed on I held the airbrush at a steep angle from above so that the spray cone mostly touched the raised areas and the places on the parts that would normally be in shadow were left in black. This effect can be seen best on the IP and on the right side of the fuselage but the left side also was given this treatment whilst painting.



A model that was also recently started was this really old Tamiya Panther...but in-progress pictures of it won't be posted here.


Matrixone

Les,

That Panther sure looks like it's been stored in the attic far too long .

Your nachtjager is just awesome, and the chipping on the wing roots weights heavily on this opinion.

Cheers
Pedro

Les,

Always happy to see your updates.

Your color manipulations are remarkable. How are you doing it?

Thanks Pedro and Fred!

Pedro,
The 110 I am modeling survived the war and was extremely worn looking when it was photographed so I added plenty of weathering on the model to give it a war weary look.
I watched a German propaganda film that showed a Bf 110G-4 crew exiting the aircraft and they slid off the wing to the ground so I added more paint wear marks on the wing root to my model than I would normally do to replicate people sliding off the wing...after a while the paint would have started to show signs of wear.

Fred,
Not sure what you meant by the color manipulations, could you explain what you meant so I could answer?

Matrixone

Love the efforts on your 110, Les. Looks great!

Gaz

Les,
The weathering on the 110 sure shows a well used but cared for aircraft.

Looking forward to following your 1/32 BF109K-4 build.
Joel

Thanks Gary and joel!

Besides the models mentioned above I am still working on this 1/72 scale Arii Dinah trainer.


Matrixone

Detail painting of the K-4 cockpit has started...

Here the cockpit has been dry fitted in the fuselage.












Matrixone

Nice! I'd love to have space for some big scale 109's.

Gaz

Gary,
I just finished a couple 1/48 scale twin engine aircraft and each one does not take up any more shelf space than a large scale 109...the 109 was a tiny aircraft compared to most WWII prop fighters.
When I can afford to do so I need to get more shelves put up because I am running out of room, as it is now I am using a section of my photobase as storage for some of my built models.


Matrixone

Hi Les,
My scheme is pretty simple. Single engined I do 1/48. Twins, 1/72. I'm doing this B-29 in 1/48, but once it's done it'll be in a deep frame, hung on a wall.

Been teasing the wife that it will be right over the TV. She looks mortified when I say it, but hasn't really offered any strong objection. Should I take this lack of objection as assent?

Gaz

Gary,
Up until recently I was a 100% 1/48 scale guy, but I've changed somewhat with an occasional 1/32 WW11 prop of a aircraft I just need as a center display piece. the Kingfisher is most likely my next large scale build. I've also down sized most jets to 1/72 scale with some exceptions for 1st generation offerings.

As for display space, it's the final frontier for us modelers. I have a large baker's rack with individual clear plastic display cases. I also use frosted larger storage boxes to hold models in storage as I prefer to have the newest models on display. A few new shelves are planned for my model/computer room and more clear plastic storage boxes to house models displayed on those shelves. Eventually, basement storage will be needed.

Like you, I'm trying to plan out a wall mounted display and clear custom cover for my 1/48 scale PBY-5A when the times comes. And speaking of time, full retirement, and most likely moving out of state and to a small 2 bedroom condo will really put a major crunch on display space and even modeling in my not so golden years.

Joel

A lot has been done on the 1/32 scale Bf 109K-4 since my last update...the airframe is assembled and some RLM 66 dark gray was sprayed on a few of the panel lines to check for any problems before the camouflage colors start going on it.
White paint was sprayed inside of random panels and leaving the panel lines unpainted just to be different and I guess you could call it reverse pre-shading but I call it just using up some extra paint in my airbrush instead of dumping it out.



And here is the model after RLM 76 was sprayed over the white highlights.



Another model that had the white highlights added before the base camo color was sprayed on.




Matrixone

Les,
I like how you Panther is turning out!

Thanks Gary!

Another image of the Panther in its overall coat of dark yellow.


And here it is after the ultra rare 'discbush' camouflage scheme has been painted on.




Matrixone