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World War II
Discuss WWII and the era directly before and after the war from 1935-1949.
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1/48 Academy B-25B Mitchell
Joel_W
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Posted: Tuesday, March 01, 2016 - 03:49 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Neat patch and repair work Joel, it's looking good and it will be great to see it hit the paint shop!

Cheers, D


Damian,
That's for sure. But at the rate this build is going, I'm not so sure when that will be.

Joel
Kilo_Uniform
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Gauteng, South Africa
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Posted: Tuesday, March 01, 2016 - 10:16 AM UTC
Hi Joel

Excellent work on an "easy OOB build". The issues you have had to deal with has made me reconsider buying this kit from my LHS. The skills required to "... build it like Joel did" are way above my pay [skill] grade. Maybe in a few years time when I've had some practice

Keep up the good work - looking forward to the next instalment.

Regards,
Kobus
GazzaS
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Posted: Tuesday, March 01, 2016 - 10:51 AM UTC
Glad to see another update, Joel. I too cringe when I think of what the primer or in my current case, foil will reveal. But progress is progress.

Gary
Joel_W
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Posted: Tuesday, March 01, 2016 - 11:17 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Joel

Excellent work on an "easy OOB build". The issues you have had to deal with has made me reconsider buying this kit from my LHS. The skills required to "... build it like Joel did" are way above my pay [skill] grade. Maybe in a few years time when I've had some practice

Keep up the good work - looking forward to the next instalment.

Regards,
Kobus


Kobus,
Thanks, but don't sell yourself short. I've really haven't done anything much more then a heavy dose of the basics. We need to remember that this isn't a new kit, as it was originally molded in 2000.
Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Tuesday, March 01, 2016 - 11:19 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Glad to see another update, Joel. I too cringe when I think of what the primer or in my current case, foil will reveal. But progress is progress.

Gary


Gary,
At one point I wasn't sure when the next update would be. Between work and family health issues, my modeling time has taken a drastic hit. Still, like you said, progress is progress. I'll be thrilled to get the base color coats on in a week or so.

Joel
chris1
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Auckland, New Zealand
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Posted: Wednesday, March 02, 2016 - 04:57 AM UTC
Hi Joel,
Hope the new year is treating you well.
I hadn't fallen off the planet,I've been working all the hours I can get,so the corsair has been been sitting on the self looking very forlorn.

Anyway things have normalized now.
Your Ventura looks sweet,you must be proud.Its on my to do list, RNZAF ofcourse.
The Mitchell is coming along in leaps and bounds looking forward to your update.

Keep up the good work

Chris
greif8
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Bayern, Germany
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Posted: Wednesday, March 02, 2016 - 06:01 PM UTC
Coming along nicely Joel! The puttying reminds me of some bondo work that I did on a 1969 Mustang that I used to own when I restored it!

Ernest
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2016 - 01:48 AM UTC
Ernest,
Thanks

A restored '69 Stang. Nice car. I owned a 1970 302 Stang that was my pride and joy for many a year.

Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2016 - 02:01 AM UTC
Hard to believe, but it's time for a another update.

I primed the fuselage and both wings as separate sub assembles. I expected to see several areas that needed additional work especially around the engine Nacelles, and I sure wasn't disappointed.

I reworked those areas and primed again, but those nacelles were giving me quite a bit of grief. The 3rd time through the process finally got me over the hump.

Then I glued on the wings. From the earlier test fitting, I already knew that a little filler would be needed in a few places. I had decided to use Vallejo's White acrylic putty for that, which only requires a damp Q-tip and no sanding. Worked perfectly.

Top side:




Bottom side:



Engine Nacelles:





Cockpit and nose glass masking:



Looking at the pictures of the nose glass, I see I missed one area that needs a little more filler. Another job for Vallejo's White Acrylic putty.

Joel




Redhand
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2016 - 02:47 AM UTC
Looks good to me, especially the window mods aft of the wings. And you "put it out there" with the close up photos.

I'll have to try that putty you mention: new to me.

Carry on!!
AussieReg
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2016 - 03:27 AM UTC
Looking good Joel, all of that body work has definitely paid off in this result.

Cheers, D
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2016 - 06:24 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Looks good to me, especially the window mods aft of the wings. And you "put it out there" with the close up photos.

I'll have to try that putty you mention: new to me.

Carry on!!


Brian,

Might as well put it out for show, as it's the best I can do.

I've been using the Vallejo White Acrylic putty for a few years. It's great for small cracks but not shallow dimples, and it does shrink a lot. It's greatest asset is that you just run a damp Q-tip over it to clean off the excess, and it dries pretty fast.

Joel

Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2016 - 06:25 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Looking good Joel, all of that body work has definitely paid off in this result.

Cheers, D


Damian,
Thanks. Still need to do a follow post in the campaign.

I'm getting to the point with Bondo, that maybe when I retire, I can get a job in a body shop.

Joel
GazzaS
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Queensland, Australia
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2016 - 11:07 AM UTC
Hey Joel,
Looking good! After doing my Dornier Do-215' I can tell you that one of your best moments will be when you lift that last piece of masking tape from the perspex.

Gary
greif8
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Bayern, Germany
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2016 - 12:12 PM UTC
Nice progress so far Joel and excellent work at filling gaps and such. As I build a lot of Luftwaffe aircraft masking greenhouse type canopies is something I am used to, yours looks well done.

Ernest
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2016 - 10:06 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hey Joel,
Looking good! After doing my Dornier Do-215' I can tell you that one of your best moments will be when you lift that last piece of masking tape from the perspex.

Gary


Gary,
That's exactly how I felt with the P-61, and to some extent the PV-1 which had a lot less glass.

Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Monday, March 07, 2016 - 10:09 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Joel,
Hope the new year is treating you well.
I hadn't fallen off the planet,I've been working all the hours I can get,so the corsair has been been sitting on the self looking very forlorn.

Anyway things have normalized now.
Your Ventura looks sweet,you must be proud.Its on my to do list, RNZAF ofcourse.
The Mitchell is coming along in leaps and bounds looking forward to your update.

Keep up the good work

Chris


Chris,
Glad to see that you're able to get back to the bench. A little progress is a lot better then no progress.

The Mitchell is moving along at my usual snail's pace, but it's making progress.

Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Friday, March 11, 2016 - 07:25 AM UTC
This week I finally started the painting process. The bottom of the B-25B was painted with Lifecolor Neutral Gray #43 fs36173. I thinned the paint with LifeColor's own paint thinner rather then with my usual Tamiya X-20A.

After quite a bit of experimentation with LifeColor paints, I settled on a basic thinning ratio of 4 parts paint to 1 part thinner, air brushed @ a flow rate of 16 psi.

The Olive Drab top coat is a going to be a 3 part process. The basic color is LifeColor Olive Drab #41 fs34088, thinned and air brushed with the above specs.

Using Silly Putty for worms to aid in painting a somewhat soft edge demarcation line, and then filling in the rest of the space with detacked Tamiya tape. The paint was applied in 3 light coats for the bottom, and 6 very light coats for the top.

I didn't have any clogging issues with the Gray coat, but the O.D. coat constantly clogged my Iwata M2 AB with a .35 needle and cone. Go figure.

These pictures show the two base coats. In a day or so the next top color will be LifeColor's O.D. #41 weathered for a slightly faded blotchy effect, then a final sporatic blotchy coat of #43 with a few drops of Flat Black.









The Silly putty for the `1st time left a oily film when I removed it. I tested a damp Qtip with tape water, and it comes right off. I still have some areas to do, which is the darker areas you'll see in some spots by the demarcation line.

I'm really quite happy with the base O.D. color for a change, and didn't have to tint it as I always have to do with the Tamiya Acrylic O.D. paint.

Joel


SaxonTheShiba
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Posted: Friday, March 11, 2016 - 08:41 AM UTC
Joel-----Your -25 is shaping up nicely. Good application of the O.D. and the Neutral Grey.

Best wishes,

Ian
GazzaS
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Posted: Friday, March 11, 2016 - 09:06 AM UTC
Joel,
Certainly is good to see some paint on her! On my screen, the OD is very light, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the next two layers of paint will bring. This bird always makes me think of the movie Catch-22. Probably the first war movie I saw in color.

Gaz
Joel_W
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Posted: Friday, March 11, 2016 - 07:19 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Joel-----Your -25 is shaping up nicely. Good application of the O.D. and the Neutral Grey.

Best wishes,

Ian


Ian,
Thanks for stopping by. It sure felt good to finally get some paint on her.
Joel
Joel_W
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Posted: Friday, March 11, 2016 - 07:20 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Joel,
Certainly is good to see some paint on her! On my screen, the OD is very light, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the next two layers of paint will bring. This bird always makes me think of the movie Catch-22. Probably the first war movie I saw in color.

Gaz


Gary,
I thought I'd never get to the point of putting some paint on her.

The LifeColor paint has more of a Brownish tint then the Overly Dark Green that Tamiya depicts. Overall, the color looks lighter, and already faded somewhat. So I'm real happy with the base colors. The O.D. paint used back then tended to fade to a brownish/green, which is why so many pictures and line drawings looks like a brownish color.

the overall brightness of the B-25B pictures is because they're slightly over exposed. I upgraded from my Nikon D90 to a D7100 2 weeks ago. There is a difference in how the sensor handles the lighting I use for model photography, and the old fill flash settings aren't correct either. I also just switched from Nikon's Capture NX-2 PP editing program to Adobe's Lightroom 6. Finally there is my pure laziness in setting up and processing grab/work in pictures.

There is one other issue that I'm trying to keep in mind, and that's once a gloss coat is applied, the colors get much darker. Even after a flat/matt coat the colors are still a tad darker. Now throw in some light weathering as I'm planning on doing, and the overall coloring will be darker.

Joel
GazzaS
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Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2016 - 03:50 AM UTC
Hi Joel,
I'm glad that you understand photography. It's something that never drew my attention enough to study. My wife has a couple nice cameras wheras I just use my phone.
I have noticed, over the years, how many OD aircraft have that brownish look, but I haven't put an OD scheme on an aircraft since 1979. So I'm gonna pay a lot of attention to what you do here.

Heck, your painting techniques have helped me immensely over the past year. So I always get a lot from your blogs.

Gary
Redhand
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Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2016 - 06:12 AM UTC
Joel:

I also will have many questions to ask when I get to painting the B-17.
greif8
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Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2016 - 02:32 PM UTC
The B25 is looking great Joel. I use much the same ratio as you do when I spray LifeColor paints, going with 3:1 thinner to paint; and I always use their thinner. I spray it at between 10-15 psi to both ensure it goes down wet and to reduce drying on the tip, though I still get that and keep a Q-tip handy for clean ups. I don't use silly type stuff much for the reason you stated, but I did not know clean up was as easy as washing it off with water and will have to give that technique another look.

Do you use foam board as a background for your photos? They look so much better than my "in progress" shots. Of course you also use a much better camera than mine; I have a Sony Cybershot DSC-H7 and can get good pictures when I carefully setup my lighting and use a light tent. As you can see by the photos in my Zero build though, shots taken at the bench or airbrush cabin are not nearly as good.

 _GOTOTOP