First trial with AK anti-slip texture. I must say it looks great. The extremely fine sand is very good to create the right scale in 1/35. The real thing is just like low grid sandpaper, so needs to be very subtle in 1/35.
16 Likes
Thanks
1 Like
More progress on the 1/48 British armored car. Dry fitted it and will prime next. I used Chaos Black for the first time. I like it and will prime the majority of the vehicle with it. The tool boxes & flimsies are primed with Tamiya gray primer.
10 Likes
Applied the second color today. Next is to mask these areas and then bring on the natural metal finish.
14 Likes
Looks good. I always wished Tamiya would scale this up to 1/35. They could make a nice, simple one to build.
1 Like
Meanwhile there are a lot of their kits I wish they would scale down to 1/48.
3 Likes
Yes, Tamiya could scale down some of their kits and I would be happy. Offhand I think the T-55 variants would be welcomed.
1 Like
Let’s meet in the middle and ask Tamiya to make every kit in both scales.
1 Like
I’ve never seen one of the 1/48 armour kits in the wild, let alone built one. My LHS doesn’t stock them, must not get any call.
1 Like
For my P-47 Razorback I have painted the base for the natural metal finish. I am using AK’s extreme metal paints. I’ve only painted a few exhausts with this paint so we’ll see how it works for the majority of the plane.
5 Likes
Now we have power. The ever present Ford Cosworth DFV and Hewland gearbox, staples of the 1970s F1 cars except for manufacturer cars like Ferrari.
Final suspension parts up next and the final visit to the paint shop for body panels.
cheers Michael
15 Likes
Oh, that is looking good.
2 Likes
Base colour used is Tamiya XF 16 Aluminium.
Next layer is going to be hairspray in order to get some chipping.
I am bad figurine painter so this is the best from me.
8 Likes
Very sweet FWs. I don’t get how to apply that spinning decal on the prop spinner.
1 Like
Finis
1/48 Tamiya BF-109G-6
Primer: Duplicolor Hot Rod Black
Paints: Golden High Flow, Mission Models, LifeColor acrylics: assorted oils
The 109 is done, but it fought me throughout. The result is good news and bad news.
I should start this build log with the colors used. Whenever possible I use Golden High Flow Acrylics. They’re made for artists so the pigments are excellent, they are truly water based (very important at my house) and are excellent with both airbrush and hand brush. Most of the 109 is covered with RLM 65 - Light Blue. (If you check RLM charts, you’ll see the color varies greatly - this is true with all of the colors.) “Hellblau” has a lot of gray in it, but I think my brew came out pretty well. The surface is RLM 76 - gray. This took a little work - it was a goldilocks proposition - didn’t want it too light or too dark. My compromise is fine. The green, I think, is supposed to be RLM 70 - Black Green (Schwarzgraun). There’s definitely some gray in it - and I even used a little platho blue/green shade. I think mine works. I might add that I lucked out. The decals have orange markings and fortunately Golden’s Diarylide Yellow has some red in it, and it matched the orange on the decals perfectly. I also used LifeColor’s version of RLM 2 for the interior and the prop spinner. You’ll see all of the colors in the build pics - judge for yourself.
When I finished my last post I had just applied the Duplicolor Hot Rod Black primer. That was prelude to Black Basing. Once the primer is applied you put on a “marble coat” which are think streaks and splotches of colors that are near to, lighter than or darker than the intended base color. The idea is to provide a color variation in the surface which I think works well with an operational combat aircraft. Below you can see the marble coat on the bottom and side of the 109.
When the marble coat is applied you over spray it with the base coat. (I should note that I don’t use my photo lighting when modeling, so the colors won’t come out as accurately as they are - better versions are find in the completed model pics.) You can see the marble coat of the bottom surface - the tonal variation is more evident in a pic of a detail.
On both the sides and top I have three colors going on (light blue, gray, dark green) - that means masking. The separation between the colors is very soft, so I use Silly Putty. Some examples (both marble and base coat) of top and side are below.
Then the decals come on: both on top of the wings and the side. Note I’ve started the camo on the side.
The clear parts were a trial. For some reason Tamiya’s engineers attached the front of the canopy to the fuselage. They provided masks that you had to cut out yourself. The result was so-so. (I’ve done dozens of canopies and usually mask both inside and out. It was a mistake this time because there was residue from the tape inside that was hard to get out.) I might add that my brother is a pilot and I’m keen on warbirds so I’ve seen a lot of aircraft and I have never seen a bright and shinny canopy in the real world. Speaking of cockpits, I saw a 109 at the Smitsonian’s aviation exhibit near Dulles Airport - the plane must have been flown by midgets. (If you haven’t been there, it’s worth a trip. It’s much larger than the facility on the capital mall. The Enola Gay is there. And they have the original Boeing 707 sitting next to the last Concorde. Very neat.)
I did a bad job of keeping a record of the extensive weathering done. It was probably more complicated than needed. However, I’m sure that an operational combat aircraft is going to show wear and tear in many ways. The plane pictured served on Crete in December 1943. That’s a lot of sun and salt water. Add into the mix various fluids (gasoline, oil, grease) and stains from exhaust and gunfire I think a model must show color modulation and wear. To achieve this I used oils (and pencils) for panel lines; used salt fading to create a mottled surface, and employed oils for dot filters - especially for fading. You can see the results pretty well in this detail of the right wing:
That’s it for the build log. Below are pics of the finished kit. There are errors in multitudes if you check the details. But the bird looks good from 10 feet away - exactly where it is sitting as I write.
Best
Eric
21 Likes