Painting a Lancaster Bomber - With a Brush!

spanner570

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Hi Ron
On a serious note - Do you ever add a drop of washing up liquid to the paint as a flow improver?
Jim

Thanks Jim.
Re- your question, the quick answer is no. Knowing my luck I would loose the model in a pile bubbles.

I suspect because I thin my paints right down, flow improver perhaps wouldn't make that much difference. If any.....

Ron
 
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Tim Marlow

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Actually it does Ron, it reduces the surface tension of the water allowing the paint to flow better and not try to bead up. Best way to use it though is to add a drop of washing up liquid to water in a container and use that solution to dilute the paint.....If you add washing up liquid directly to the paint it would probably wreck the paint carrier and make the paint behave oddly.....
 

spanner570

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Thanks Tim, but I'll stick with the simple tap water method I'm used to and has served me well, but thanks for the info. none the less.


Moving on to the other bits.......PETER LOW, WAKE UP AT THE BACK!

Again the parts are left on the sprues for easier handling and painting.

As before with the fuselage, mix enough colour for your needs.

Here's some wing components brushed with a first coat of colour. you can just see the patchy coverage, particularly on the engine thingies
P1250585.JPG



In detail, the starboard lower main wing. Note the state of the wing tip. I'll clean that up after the part is painted and removed from the sprue.

I don't paint the panel lines first. It's not necessary. Sometimes I see this done way too heavily anyway. The brush does enough for my liking as I go along.

'Colour modulation' In my book that is just a posh way of writing 'shade difference' I've seen some long winded ways of doing this. I just alter the consistency of the paint on certain panels to give a lighter or darker tone/ shade. It's near enough for me and works just fine. Add you own rude words here please...............


Right, using the large flat headed brush, quickly paint the whole surface. Try and do this in one go rather than waste time re-charging the brush. Pay particular attention the all around the edges. If you are painting a completed aircraft's wing, brush on the light underside colour first. Don't worry, if a bit of the colour is transferred to the upper surface. The darker upper colour will easily cover it. Dark over light - Remember?

The trick with brush painting a wing, no matter what scale, is work from the centre, outwards to the wing edges. If you paint from the edges inwards, your brush is guaranteed to get huge drips and lumps of paint on the under side of the wing. Once you are happy, gently lay off the paint in the direction of the airflow. Finally check the wing undersides. This whole exercise should be done very quickly. Faff about and the paint won't have chance to level out and you will be left with ridges of paint on the surface. Be warned!

Here's the half wing after it's second coat of Vallejo Black, directly onto the white plastic. The panel lines are showing more than enough. The state of the sprues give an indication of how I just quickly I applied the paint at the start, and how much easier it is whilst still on the sprues to keep your 'Comics' clean.... :thumb2:

P1250586.JPG

The upper starboard main wing after the same treatment as the lower. I had some left over black, so I gave some of the outer engine thingies a second coating too!
P1250587.JPG


Right, off into the playground and collect your milk and biscuits!

Cheers.
Ron
 

Gern

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Do you know anyone who sells those mythical straight lines you talk about? I don't have any and I can see there are definitely times when they'd be useful.
 

adt70hk

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Ron

Sorry for being late to the party!!

And thank you very much for starting this thread. My brush technique sucks and so I'm finding this very useful.

I've seen other builds elsewhere done purely in brush and one in particular springs to mind that was amongst the best I ever seen using either paint application method.

This is also useful because I have a Lanc in three stash and there is no way it will fit in my small spray booth!!

Keep up the good work.

Andrew
 

Ian M

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Great thread Ron. One day I to hope to be able to paint sumit with a brush and not have it look like it was painted by a three year old with a twitch.

Funny, not seen the Tamy lanc on here for ages and suddenly everyone's doing one....
 

prichrd1

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Keep going Ron, good little tutorial :thumb2: :thumb2: , and i see we have "glorious technicolor" photo's with today's episode !! ;):smiling::smiling::smiling:

Paul.
:smiling:
 

spanner570

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As I've been over the salient points for brush painting this model, I'm in danger of repeating myself. So I'll wrap it up in the next few posts.

P1250588.JPG

Closed bomb bay doors.
P1250589.JPG


Final coated inner engine and undercarriage things.
P1250590.JPG

At this stage I glued the aircraft together. After gluing the various bits, and after cleaning up the edges, I touched up the colours with neat paint straight from the bottle. This avoids a shade difference due to revealing a bit of the naked nude virgin plastic. A final last job coat will blend everything in.

Yellow bits done too. There are nice panel lines where the two colours meet, so I was able to use these as a guide for my brushwork. I obviously did these light over dark. Straight from the bottle, two coats over the green with a flat headed brush. Same rules as the main wing painting.
P1250604.JPG

I'll mention the turrets later.
P1250601.JPG

Cheers.
Ron
 

spanner570

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The turrets.
I haven't the patience nor skill to mask canopies or turrets, so, using a very fine pointed brush, I paint them freehand. Then when dry, any wobbles I clean off with a sharp pointed cocktail stick.
Here are the three turrets prior to 'scraping'

I've also added me a pilot from my spares box.

More dust specks! Luckily not stuck to the paintwork. I didn't spot them until I looked at the pictures.
P1250596.JPG


P1250598.JPG


P1250599.JPG

Cheers.
Ron
 

spanner570

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This is the time to check over the various edges - Just in case! And generally fettle your paintwork ready for the final coat (if required) and then the camouflage. Obviously, a final coat depends on the previous coverage. If you are happy with the coverage, then leave it.

P1250595.JPG

P1250600.JPG

I left the cockpit canopy off and unpainted until after this stage as it made the main painting much easier and safer.

Happy so far?
Finish the turret bits, then paint and fit the Cockpit frame. Then we can set about marking out and painting the camouflage.

Cheers.
Ron
 

JR

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570 please refrain from shouting at Pete, I woke up in a panic during the ensuing debarkle and dropped my biscuit only to have Mike's gobblehound eat it.
Yours .
453

Come clean , you've sprayed that !
 

adt70hk

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Ron

Risk you yet again for doing this it has been must helpful so far.

Andrew
 

Jim R

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Hi Ron
You really have got this hairy stick work down to a fine art. A real masterclass. The results are so impressive.
As you painted the parts on the sprue you clearly can't do much dry fitting. After fitting parts together do you find that there is a lot of touch ups to do once the joins have been fettled?
Those yellow areas are brilliant - I hate yellow :angry:
Jim
 

spanner570

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Hi Ron
As you painted the parts on the sprue you clearly can't do much dry fitting. After fitting parts together do you find that there is a lot of touch ups to do once the joins have been fettled?
Those yellow areas are brilliant - I hate yellow :angry:
Jim

Hi Jim, there was no filling as such. It's a very nice kit to put together. When the wing sections were fitted, I ran a faint line of glue along the wing edges, then quickly swiped them with my finger. Then when the glue is sort of tacky, I lightly file the edges. The resulting 'Dust' fills what small gaps there are. And to all none believers and eyebrow raisers - It does work! A coat of un-diluted paint is then carefully run along the offending edges.

As for the yellow (and red too) it goes on and covers like any other colour of brushed on paint. Contrarily to my usual rule dark over light, sometimes it's necessary to disobey!
First coat is brushed on diluted, but the next one is straight from the bottle, and if needs be the next too. This model took just two coats, even over the black wing tip.

Right, The cockpit frame. The plastic has raised frame detail, so it was a fairly easy job to paint. Using a very fine pointed brush, loaded with slightly diluted paint, paint each length of frame in one go. Don't fiddle and go over the area dragging the paint along. If you do mess about, you will get the wobbles and the line will be all over the place. - One swipe! This will give you a guide line for the next coat which is straight out of the bottle. Again, one pass over the frame section. that will do it. You can paint the interior frame work, but you should have covered it well enough from the outside. When perfectly dry any wobbles to the paintwork can be removed with the sharpened point of a cocktail stick. The cockpit is two tone to try and match the yet to be applied camo. pattern.

A quick mention of seams and panel lines. These can be seen in the photo below. This is the stage when I address these slight problems - before the final coat is applied. I re- cut the panel lines and the paint fills the wayward seams.

Also, see the slight streaking? This is done on purpose with the second and, if applied, the third coating too. Weathering as you go, I call it!

P1250614.JPG


When all is good, a final diluted coat is applied and layed off in the wind flow direction. This give you more weathering.
It was at this stage I realized, I'd forgotten to glue in place the faring behind the front and rear turrets!..... :upside:
P1250615.JPG

P1250608.JPG

A closer look at the final coat and discreet weathering. Just enough. Also, some folks worry that brush painting can obliterate panel line detail. Take a look at these wing sections. Three coats later and no loss of detail - Providing the paint is kept thinned for the initial coatings. As I wrote earlier, I just don't see the need to paint panel lines as a separate exercise.
P1250609.JPG

P1250610.JPG

Next the camouflage.

Thank to those still hanging on. Much appreciated.

Stay safe.
Ron
 

spanner570

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Thanks Jim.
Good to read you're still tagging along.

O.k., the camouflage.
Firstly, I didn't go into getting the pattern absolutely spot on. As long as it's near enough, that does me.

Ready and waiting......
P1250615.JPG


Camouflage marked out.
I use a pencil, any other writing medium will show through the paint. Use as hard a pencil as you can that still leaves a line! I use a 2H, go into the softer 'B's and they leave too much 'lead' on the lines and can smudge when painted over. If you are not happy with where you have marked and want to move the line, simply wet your finger and rub out the original pencil line and start again - But not too often, eh!

Here's the lines drawn for the application of the brown paint. Note I have written the letter 'B' where the brown goes. This avoids any confusion :upside:, and therefore delay when applying the paint. Speed dear boy, speed!

...and I've finally glued on the bits behind the front and rear turrets... :thumb2:
P1250626.JPG

...a closer look at the port wing, clearly showing the 'B's.
P1250625.JPG

Next, the application of the paint.

Peter Low, kindly give back to John Race whatever it is you have in your sweaty hand! Never mind what hand, just......What do you mean you can't and it's running between your fingers!?
 

JR

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570.
That really is a finish you would have thought had been ab'd, very impressive indeed .
Those cockpit and the bomb aimers have polished up well .

453 .
 

spanner570

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453, I'm well happy you like the painting. Thank you.

To be honest, the cockpit etc, haven't been polished. Apart from obviously the painting that's how all the excellent clear stuff is. I wonder if it's the fact that it hasn't been subjected to having horrible, sticky maskings stuck all over the surface? - As if....... ;)

Onwards with the camouflage.

Make yourself familiar with the 'B' areas. Don't under estimate what appears to some 'Bl***y obvious writings. In the past, I have painted the right paint in the wrong place, particularly where the camo. lines all get a bit cramped.

Work as quickly as you can. First, follow the pencil lines as close as you can making sure they are covered, then fill in the middle. The lines are only a guide , so don't worry if you go over slightly. Don't fart about, or go over it a second time. Leave the stuff alone to level out! Use a flat headed brush and thinned paint. The object of the first coat, apart from getting the pattern down is to start removing the pencil lines.

P1250629.JPG


P1250630.JPG

Don't worry, it will be wishy washy. Don't thicken the paint! I bet you will think about it though. Just make sure the paint leaves a smooth with no gathering of paint on the underside of the wings. Try and obliterate all the pencil lines. You will notice I've missed a small part, lower left. Don't be tempted to 'touch up' this omission. leave such things until the next coat.
The main aim is to get your demarcation lines down and have something positive to guide you for the subsequent coats of brown.

You can also see the paint has hardly covered the green on the engine covers. Also, remember the two colour cockpit painting? You can see where the brown will now cross over the canopy, this method is easier than painting the thing all green and then having to go over parts of it again in brown. Once is enough with all that frame work to cope with!

A good tip is to keep the props off until the very last thing. They are nothing but a pest, fixed! I should really have mentioned it earlier..... :upside:
P1250633.JPG

Next up the final coating and fixing the props. Then, as they are not really part of the painting exercise, just a few words about decals and rigging.

Thanks to those still hanging on in with this. Nearly finished!

Ron
 

spanner570

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The final post....
Once you are happy with the first/second coating, and all the pencil lines are covered, move on to the final coat. Although you still have to work quickly, your target lines are now showing nicely. This coat has to be as neat as you can get to the previous paint edges. Work to the lines first and then fill in the middle bit.

Done!
P1250638.JPG

The wing and engine thingies are now a nice, even brown colour. There are very slight shade differences, that's what I wanted from the outset. No extra weathering required.
P1250637.JPG

Decals and props fitted.
The decals behaved themselves, with no silvering. The panel detail can still be seen under the roundel without the need for micro sol. A smooth paint under surface? You judge......
P1260032.JPG



Here's the starboard props and spinners fitted. To get the yellow tips the same, I used the small brush. One side of the brush bristles placed carefully at the tip of the prop., then woosh, a quick swipe across the blade tip. One coat is enough and all the tips will be the same width.

Observe the shiny spinner. First paint the props and spinners in matt black. Don't glue them together just yet. Allow these to dry. Then, one at a time, take the spinners in yer mitts and gently rub it all around with your fingers. This will produce a nice semi- matt black finish. See the picture. Neat or what!
P1260034.JPG

Here endeth the lesson.

I'll post some finished pictures of the bomber over in 'Aircraft Completed' asap.....

I hope you have enjoyed the presentation, and if just one reader found something that might be of some use, then I'm more than happy.

This has been a 'No frills' painting exercise, the way I always paint. Not an aircraft build. I'm sure some folks have turned their eyes to the heavens at some point whilst reading through this thread, that's fine. Everyone has their own methods. What has just gone before is mine.

A/B's or brush?
Both have their pros and cons and will be argued about (Not on this thread, thank you... :tongue-out3: ) until this planet of ours stops turning.

What I would write in closing is never, ever, regard the paint brush as inferior to spraying. I know some on here do, but that's their choice and nothing will change their minds either.

Here's a thought to end with....'After all, brushes have been around for a darn sight longer than air brushes!'

Cheers all, and thanks again for coming along on the ride. Much appreciated.

Stay safe.
Ron
 
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