Greyhead

How much “weathering” is appropriate, if any at all, is a matter of personal preference; I like my models to look as if they’ve seen a fair amount of action, others like a pristine, ex-works finish. Also you can see that the lettering looks obviously hand painted, as it should do for a WW1 aircraft; accurate, computer generated transfers just wouldn’t look right.



Some of my comments during this thread such as “ I don’t worry about the odd scratch or dent” may have given the impression that a “weathered” finish is an easy option, I can assure you that it isn’t! To get the correct amount of wear and /or damage in the correct places so as to make the model look “real” is a work of art in itself. Some scratches and dents can be left; others can’t and have to be repaired.

Marius

That is very very true, espeacially at AFV models. Some people say that when you build a tank as an example, you can get it really wrong, and you can still make it look acurrate. The heavy weathering might mask many mistakes, but that isn't a reason to make it look more "dirty".

I also agree with this. At a World War I plane there is a lot of friction. For an acurrate plane you surely have to work a lot at weathering. Some people like their models to be "clean"... it's ok, but they have nothing special, unique, and that's the part where you show your skill.
Great job! I admire your work.

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wonwinglo

That serial looks spot on,that is exactly as they painted them in the field during WW.1

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Greyhead

Although WW1 aircraft were not spray-painted, one substance certainly was liberally sprayed about and that was oil! This is where things can go horribly wrong; having spent a fair amount of time painting the model it needs to be “dirtied up”, paying special attention to any white areas. An error now and it’s a re-painting job.

Ideally I’d have finished all the painting before I started on this stage but as I’m still waiting for the PC10 I’ve made a start where I can. Here’s the rudder after this second stage of weathering.



I apply the paint, which is very watered down, with a rag and wipe it in the direction of the airflow slowly building up the “dirt” to what I consider to be an appropriate amount.

The under surfaces of the tail plane really get the treatment, as will the under surfaces of the fuselage and the lower wings.



It is impossible, because of the lack of quality of photographs from the time, to be sure just how weathered / dirty these aircraft became in service but it is clear that the fields got quite muddy so I think it’s a fair bet that the aircraft themselves got equally dirty.

rjwood_uk

i have to say grahame that looks unbelievable! it looks perfect and exactly to scale (the weathering i mean) if i didnt know better and ignored the unpainted part, i would think i was looking at a photo of the real plane in colour!!

lovely job i cant wait to see the other finished sections!

Greyhead

The pitot head is fitted to the R.H. interplane strut; the 2 copper “pipes”, which disappear through a hole in the covering into the wing, are made from twin and earth house wiring, the “hoses” are short lengths of the neutral sleeving. A few years ago I did some wiring work in the house and had the forethought to keep some of the old wire, which used red and black sleeving, the cable available now uses blue and brown.



I didn’t want the pitot head attached to the interplane strut too solidly so that a knock might damage the strut, therefore, I used1.5mm diameter plastic rod. I drilled shallow holes in the strut, pushed the rod through the mounting lug into the hole and applied a drop of thin cyano before trimming the rod over length. A touch with a sanding disc “mushroomed” the end producing a realistic attachment and twists of wire for hose clips finished the job.



Obviously it still needs to be weathered, talking of which, it may sound bizarre but the “dirt” on the underside of the tail plane in the post above is at the moment too clean, it will all be blended in at a later stage by gently rubbing over with a pan scourer.

LSDean

Well Grahame,

I've just finished reading your thread up to this point and I must say you've done a magnificent job. I've learned alot from this build and I look forward to seeing you complete it.

Scott

Greyhead

I’ve just looked back through the last few pages to find out how long it’s been since I ordered the PC10 and it turns out to be just over 2 months. The reason for this is that the “new” PC10 (dark) arrived over the weekend but according to Phil at Fighteraces he’d been sent the old PC10. On further checking with the manufacturers in America it was discovered that this was indeed the PC10 (dark) but it’s nothing like the colour shown on the website and is in fact very similar to the old PC10.

This is the colour as shown on the website when I ordered the paint.



This is the colour that arrived!



The website has been updated in the last few days to show this colour but it’s definitely not what I want for my SE5a so that’s a couple of months wasted. I emailed Chuck Graves of Warbird Colors about this and he pointed me in the direction of some German WW2 colours that are a very close match to the colour I want,

As I’ve said before the colour of PC10 is at best an educated guess and as I’m not a competition man I’ve decided that Schwarzgrun RML70 is near enough for me.



The paint has had some talcum powder added to produce a nice matt finish and obviously still needs to be weathered but I think it looks a lot better than the lighter shades.

dynamite25

Hi Grahame the plane is looking brillant looking forward to seeing it finished and flying.

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Greyhead

The templates for the white lettering are what I call “positive”; that is they are the actual shapes, which I draw around, not holes cut out. Here a card “Z” is held in position on the fuselage side with low tack masking tape.



I don’t know about you, but I find painting rather boring, not weathering, which I enjoy, as it really brings the model to life and makes it an individual “miniature aircraft” as opposed to a model. It’s the slapping on of the overall basic colour that really drags, especially with the prospect of having to apply 3 or 4 coats around a fairly complex shape as below.



There are a couple of things I do to relieve the boredom and a couple of things I don’t do. The photo above shows one of each! I do, if practical, split the painting into smaller sections. The section behind the rear white stripe has had 2 coats and the rear edge of the “Z” made a convenient place to stop the next section, the first coat will be continued forward before applying the second coat and so on. I don’t use a thick coat of paint to reduce the number of coats required, it may indeed reduce the number of coats of paint but the chances are that you’ll end up spending a lot of time and effort trying to remove sags and runs from the paint and the finish will never be as good as a build up of thin coats. You can tell from the area with only one coat that the paint is quite thin, it hasn’t covered very well but the second coat is a great improvement. Another thing I don’t do is rush the job; I always allow ample time for one coat to dry completely, not just “touch dry”, before applying the next.

Another thing I try to do to alleviate the boredom is to take breaks from painting and do a bit of detailing. Unfortunately I have done most of the small detailing work whilst waiting the 2 months for the paint to arrive, but there have been a couple of things to make.

The control for the radiator slats. It doesn’t show up very well, I’ll take another photo after the front has been painted.



The tubes from the pitot head exit the wing at the root and are encased in the rear of the cabane strut.



The other hole in the covering is for access to the aileron control cable adjustment and will be patched once they are set up correctly.