ICM 1/32 AH-1G Cobra (early production)

[wotan]

Nicely done Barry. Incidentally another possible way to treat problems with clear parts is to use UV activated resin. This is a crystal clear liquid that sets to a hard finish with exposure to UV light. It also acts as a very solid glue for surrounding parts.

John

 

[BarryW]

Painting finished by further modulating the camo using MRP102 SEA Camouflage Green FS34102 sprayed in areas that catch the sun and inside the panels. I then blended it with a couple of mist coats of FS34079 and then, finally two mist coats of MLT. The result is a nicely modulated camo of an aircraft operating under a hot sun. Also it has a nice semigloss finish ideal for decals with no need for a gloss varnish. There will be more weathering work to do of course. I also painted the final details and is now ready for decals.

 

[adt70hk]

Coming on very nicely indeed Barry. That's turned out very well indeed.

Very well done.

Andrew

 

[BarryW]

I have done the decals. In some respects they are very good, thin, conform easily and don’t splinter.

but….

They have a tendency to curl and will not ‘uncurl’ no matter what you do.

The first casualty was the long United States Army decal, that you can see in the picture. I only got that one on by cutting it up into three separate words. The other one did not survive, so no such markings on the other side of the copter.

Then on the nose this copter was meant to be named ‘Executioner’ neither of those decals survived….

So I am left without three large and significant markings on this thing…. I am somewhat peed off by this but there was just no rescuing these two decal and I tried everything I could including letting them soak in warm water.

 

[BarryW]

Just to update...

I have found some paint masks that were not available when I started the build so I have spent £8 on them and they should enable me to finish this properly.

I will only have to use them for three of the markings so it seems a waste but I console myself that I would have bought them anyway if they were available earlier....

I have said it before that painted on markings using masks is much easier than decals.....

The only real pain is that I have to wait a few days before being able to get on and finish the model..

 

[adt70hk]

Pleased to hear the news Barry, although it's a shame about the decals in the first place.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[minitnkr]

Looks very good.

 

[BarryW]

I decided to get on with the pin wash and not wait for the masks. I can do a localised pin wash when the remaining markings are painted on.

The wash really helps bring out that used look that makes all the difference when combined with the colour modulation.

 

[adt70hk]

Coming on very nicely Barry!

 

[BarryW]

The masks arrived and, oddly, they don’t include a mask for the name Executioner! They have the Stars and Bars mask which is a complex one involving three colours and different layers but not the simple white Executioner lettering. Very strange. So the only mask I can and need to use is the United States Army one on the starboard side. I will have to do without the prominent white Executioner name. Annoying but I have no options for that.

The mask worked OK but it’s not the best I have used. Provided by Dead Design Models, if I have a choice I won’t use this brand again.




I will do some matt varnish next having already done the panel lines.

 

[Jim R]

Looks good to me Barry.
Jim

 

[adt70hk]

Looks ok Barry but shame about the name missing.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[stillp]

I'm a bit surprised you haven't treated yourself to a Cricut and started cutting your own masks Barrie.
Pete

 

[Jakko]

a Cricut and started cutting your own masks

These are knife-based cutting machines, right? I looked into those (of a number of different brands) a few years ago, partly with an eye to using one to make spray masks and partly for cutting plastic parts for scratchbuilding. I came to the conclusion that they’re unsuitable for many modelling tasks because of the way the machine works: it has a swivelling blade that it pulls along the material. This means that to make a cut, it always positions the blade slightly before where it needs to start, and ends slightly beyond where the cut is to end. Not a problem if you’re cutting out something like a full-size stencil, but if it starts and ends a millimetre before and after the line on things with a line thickness of a millimetre too, it likely ends up cutting all though bits you actually want to keep.

Last year, I also looked into laser cutters, which are affordably priced now and can make fine enough cuts for modelling, but I concluded that I wouldn’t get enough use out of one to justify the expense and the room it needs to be set up.

 

[stillp]

Jakko, I believe the Cricut software makes an off set to allow for that. Someone on another forum has used one to cut some quite small lettering.
Pete

 

[Jakko]

That would be interesting, I may have to do a little more research in that case

 

[BarryW]

I have applied the final mist coats of matt varnish. There is still some pigment and metal powder weathering to do plus a couple of places where I need to touch up all before final fittings.

As a result of my clumsiness and using a building frame designed for conventional aircraft the model slipped of and I now have a rattle in the cockpit. I suspect that it’s one of the side armour plates come loose and I cannot really repair it because it was tricky enough to fit the canopy in the first place and to remove, correct the problem then replace the canopy won’t be easy and may cause more damage. I will not know the scale of the problem until I remove the masking later so fingers crossed.

Anyway I am really pleased with the paint finish. The combination of black basing, the use of two green shades with the lighter used in post shading, the black
panel line wash and finally the matt coat (which always changes the appearance beyond just matting it down) really worked particularly well.

 

[BarryW]

Well I didn’t hang around and removed the masking. Pleasingly there are no issues showing up from the work getting it into place, a satisfactory result as good as I hoped for.
However…. The rattle…..

to my surprise it is the rear seat back cushion that came away with seatbelts attached.



well with a little shaking around I managed to get it roughly into position. Not perfect but not a complete disaster. Consequently it is not worth taking the risk of removing the canopy to correct it. I am not happy about this of course and I will categorise this as a ‘flawed build’ which mean that it will be one of the first that I will cull from display. Buiding large scale models you cannot keep them all on the shelves and you need a criteria for thinning them to accommodate more builds. This is the case even with all the extra display space I now have.

It could have been worse….

next to my pigment work.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Bit of a bugger about the seat back Barry. Build looks good, especially the paint finish. Quite satin for a matt coat, though personally i prefer a semi matt finish on aircraft, it shows the lines better.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Barry
That seat back is one of those silly things which you will notice every time you look at the model but no one else will see it.
I agree - great paint job.
Jim