Hesegawa 1/32 Bf109G-4

[Holdfast]

I finally got to the painting and particularly the painting on the markings stage. Vey basic markings but I don’t have any decals for this scheme and I wasn’t going to buy a set just for the kill markings on the tail and as I like a challenge when it comes to painted on markings I was determined to paint them.

Painting multicoloured roundels such as the RAF type are probably the hardest type of national insignia to paint because of the need to weed and replace elements accurately but the ones on these kill markings are minute!

So, if you are interested read on, the photos are captioned but ignore Millie!

[magnusf]

That was a long and interesting story for some very small dots Mal! You were my inspiration when I got myself a cutter a few years ago but I realise I have a lot to learn still, both when it comes to setting the cutter parameters and your attention to detail! I’m a bit more random both when designing my masks and using them

Magnus

[Holdfast]

It was a long, sometimes frustrating journey to find the solution, but I had to succeed having chosen to paint this! It would have maybe been a simple case of increasing the pressure on the new blade but there is then the real danger of cutting through the backing sheet which would damage the blade and the cutting strip which is really something to avoid. A new blade is really sharp but the point is fragile. Using an old blade made the increase in pressure much less likely to cut through the backing paper and that worked. I had never gone back to an old blade before so that flattened the learning curve, which was pleasing.
The design of a mask can really influence just how successful it is, at the start of my journey it took me around a year to work out how best to paint an RAF 4 colour roundel as easily as possible. Now the really difficult part, if there is one? Is the positioning of individual masks. The first one of a pair, say upper wing, is easy. Getting the second one in the same relative position takes much care and patience. So I developed ways to make life easier in that respect. But what I did I had to be able to explain in any instructions.
But, just cutting your own masks and using them is a giant leap forward in terms of realism, especially with the massively well detailed kits that are around these days?

[Russelle]

Mal, your masks are amazing!

[Holdfast]

It has been said!