Looks great, Ernest. Is that main color made by Tamiya?

Thank you Gary. I used Tamiya's XF76 as a base color and mixed a slightly lighter shade, more lightning for "metal" surfaces, less for the "fabric" surface, for my base coat. I think this will give me a good starting point for the fading effect I plan to give the aircraft. We'll soon see if I am right as I am very near that point in the build.

Ernest

Decaling is complete. The Hinomarus were a real bear to get to lay down properly, I used several applications of MicroSol and the hot compress technique to get them to lay down fairly well. I am also finished touching up a few areas with a bit of post shading. Again, the photos do not show the effects very well, but I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. I'll touch up the underside this evening and than airbrush a matt coat. Next up will be the fading.

Overall shot from above


Thick decals before hot compress. Very tough to get them down!

Making some progress with Hinomaro and White bands.


Undercarriage and prop. The left one is before cleanup and the prop and the prop awaits polishing.


Post shading touch up complete. The effect is very subtle and hard to make out in the photo. I used AK Interactive's Afrika Korps Wash for the post shading.


Close up of port wing, you can see the pre/post shading effect slightly better and I still need to do some cleanup.

Looking fantastic, Ernest!

Ernest, have you tried Revell Decal Soft already? After trying out several softeners I came across that one I I'm really satisfied with the results. So I use no other softener now. It's not too strong to destroy the decal but stronger than a "soft" softener. But try it under the decal and not just on it.

I had some Tamiya Hinomarus recently that were very hard to get down. After repeatedly coating them with Mr. Mark Softer and even had to prick them with the tip of a knife to get them down.

It's honestly made me a little nervous about newer Tamiya planes.

Gary

Torsten, thank you for the tip. I will see if I can find some, maybe the Sockelshop carries it.

Gary, thank you the kind words. Tamiya decals can be on the thick side, at least the ones for kits older than 5 years.

I finished the fading effects yesterday. It took around 2.5 hours to complete the job. I used my H&S Infinity setup exactly as I do when spraying Luftwaffe camo i.e. 5-10 psi and very light on the trigger; this is the only time I use the trigger travel limiter built into the handle, to ghost on the product. It is an acrylic glaze made by True Earth and once you get the hang of spraying, or brushing it works pretty well. I sprayed mostly in the center of panels and other areas varying the coverage to simulate uneven fading by the sun. I also "feathered" the effect on the fuselage, reducing coverage to zero as I worked my way towards the bottom. Other than the cowling, which I think I faded a but too much, I am satisfied with how it turned out. I took the photos while the plane was in my airbrush cabin, which has great lighting for airbrushing, but not so much for taking pictures, being a bit to direct and bright. Some of the subtleness is lost in the photos as a result.

Upper surfaces finished.


Close up of the port wing.


The cowling


Starboard side of the fuselage.


Port wing Hinomaru.

Ernest,
Simply outstanding progress, and your results speak for themselves. The topside color variation from aluminum skin to fabric control surfaces shows up well, yet is not over done. Your weathering really has the look of a very well maintained operational aircraft.

I've also had my issues with thick kit decals. Unfortunately, the Micro system just isn't strong enough to get them to both conform to irregular surfaces, and to settle into all the recesses, and nooks and crannies. On this side of the pond, I've found that Walthers Solvaset works wonders, and is now part of my decaling process.
Joel

Nice fading, Ernest! Your decals came out very nice!

Thank you very much for the kind words Joel. I am pretty satisfied with how the fading turned out, and the overall paint job in general for that matter. I have added some chipping and other wear to the surface and will get some photos posted today or tomorrow. I also weathered the underside of the aircraft to replicate salt staining/streaking, exhaust stains and few other assorted stains in dribs and drabs. I am calling the weathering complete.

I will see if I can get my hands on some Solvaset here in Germany. I have some Mr. Mark Softener, but I am dissatisfied with it. I have Tamiya's F4U-1A Corsair, in the stash and I plan to take a close look at the decals; if they are as thick as the one's in this kit I will be going AM.

Thank you Gary. The fading did turn out very well. Unfortunately the decals are a bit on a mixed bucket in how they turned out. I ended up stripping off the white marking on the tailfin and paining them on, which is what I should have done in the first place. One of these days I am going to have to take the plunge and try out some masks for painting markings.

Hi Ernest have you ever tried to do the fading proces with oil paints?

gr TC

PS needles to say this post is very inspiring....

Ernest,

Wonderful progress! You inspire me. That Reisen keeps me awaiting a new post.

Wow, you're building this at quite the pace.


You'll need to figure out if the plane your building is a Mitsubishi or Nakajima so you know if the cowl should be black, or blue black.

Hi Lars, thank you for the nice words. I have used oil paints in the past, but never to simulate fading. I mostly use oils to paint figures and to lay in and blend highlight and shadow effects on uniforms and faces. I have never tried the "dot" technique to create different hues simulating weathering. I do plan to someday though.

Now that you mention it, it would be possible to mix a required shade that would work for fading over a base coat of paint. One could get some very nice subtle effects using oils. The only downside is the long drying time for oils, but there are ways to speed that up. Thank you for the tip!

Ernest

Thank you Frederick. My vacation time is over, so progress has slowed significantly on the build. I may have the aircraft finished by the end of this coming weekend. I am also working on one of the pilot figures, but I don't think I will do a SBS for it as this probably is not the right forum for it.

Ernest

Hi Matt, three weeks of leave let me put a lot of time into the build. Back at work for a bit over a week now, so the build pace has slowed. I might be able to complete the Zero, which is a Mitsubishi version, this coming weekend. I am working on a carrier deck base and one of the figures that came with the kit as well.

Ernest,
Your progress is nothing short of amazing. Of course having 3 weeks vacation really helps. I've got the same that I'll spread out, one each per spring/summer/fall. Of course my wife never considers extra modeling time when I'm on vacation, so I grab time here and there.

Joel

Ernest, I have tried the oil fading on AFV's. It worked out nice. I do want to try it on a plane but since my progess is slow atm and I want to finish my bird for the next model show I dont think I will go that way yet.

gr TC

Well guys, there has been a work stoppage on the Zero; following is a bit of a rant, so feel free to stop reading here - or, tell me to harden up as the situation is not that bad. Here's the story.

The model is mostly finished; however, when I built the wingtips, I did not pay close enough attention to the instructions and built to starboard side wingtips; not realizing my stupid mistake until it came time to insert the internal structure; very, very stupid of me.

Before I realized what I had done, a fellow modeler from the states asked if he could have the spare parts from the build. As my parts box is pretty full, and I don't mind helping folks out if I can, I agreed and sent him a small USPS priority box filled with everything I did not use in the build - including the two sets portside wingtips; two parts makeup the outer pieces of the wingtip. After realizing what I had done I contacted the fellow and asked if he could return the two parts; easily identified as I left the parts on the sprue and gave him the part numbers.

The fellow said he would get them mailed off immediately. That was nearly two weeks ago. As it took all of four days for the box I mailed to arrive at his address, I had hoped he would mail the parts I needed by via priority as well. That does not appear to have been the case. I fully realize that I am the one who made the mistake, and believe me, I am taking full responsibility for it; but that does not lessen my irritation - mostly with myself.
This is a good example of the old saying, "No good deed will go unpunished."

Now that I have gotten that off my chest with a bit of public whining I can say that I am working on both the base and the figure. I'm not sure if those two things are topics of interest to anyone on an aircraft build log, but if folks are interested I post the work I am doing on those two projects.

Thanks for your patience in hearing me snivel guys.

Ernest

Hello Ernest,
I have made the same mistake as you, so I can understand how you feel. I hope your parcel arrives soon.

Gary

Thanks Gary, I do feel quite stupid about the whole deal.

Ernest

Even though it is not the plane, I thought I would post the work I am doing on the Pilot and the base I am making. The pilot is one of the kit figures and the below photos show the painting in various steps. The figure is not finished as I still have to highlight and shade the uniform and than do final touch ups.

The base color for the flesh is acrylic (Vallejo)which I airbrushed then masked for the next step. The base color was airbrushed with Tamiya XF64 Red Brown. I than hand painted the details the colors that you see in the photos. Afterwards, I took the masks of the flesh and began painting with artist's oils. When painting figures it is important to have high quality brushes and paints. I use Winsor&Newton artist oils, expensive but the pigments are amongst the most finely ground and tubes will last nearly a lifetime. I also use their brush the Kolinski #7's from 1 through 000 in size. Again, they cost a bit, but the quality is unmatched and they will last a very long time if taken care of.

I mix up a base flesh color; this time I opted for a bit of a darker hue, and then make a deep shadow and shadow and high highlight and highlight from the base. I paint the figure(s) in one sitting. After applying the base I add the deep shadows and blend, followed by shadows blending again. The highlights are painted in reverse order with the lightest highlight going on last. I add a bit of pink to the lower lip and cheeks to add some warmth and finally paint the eyes and eyebrows. If anyone is interested I can post more detail how I paint figures, but the above is a good outline.

On to the photos!

Figure after priming


Acrylic flesh airbrushed


Base color airbrushed


Uniform Details painted


Base flesh with oil paint


Shadows laid in


Highlights laid in


Poor photo, but pink has been added and blending is done. At this stage the face looks garish as the oils are wet, after drying overnight the face will look much better.


The difference between an injection molded figure and high quality resin casting is evident in the two faces that I painted at the same time as I did the Zero pilot. I'll take a picture tomorrow when all three are dry so you can see the finished products.

Following is a photo of the base I am building fot the model. The deck is actual wood, made by Nautilus models, that I cut to size and glued down at a slight angle - always make and affix decks or runway/hardstands at an angle - it looks a lot better than squared up. The photo shows the deck after the first coat of varnish. I am considering drilling out the wooden tie down holders and replacing them with metal ones. If I do, I will cut some hollow metal rod that is the right diameter and glue a thin strip of either lead foil, plastic strip or something similar across it.

Ernest,
I've never painted a figure, so I'm totally in awe of yours. He looks fantastic. And that deck. OMG, does it look real.

Joel