Quickie: 1:72 Dewoitine D-520

[Charlie Delta Foxtrot]

Love this! Can’t wait to see the paint!

 

[Jakko]

Let me grant you your wish, then

First, a coat of primer, Games Workshop Corax White (actually light grey) from an aerosol can:



After that had dried for an hour or so, I airbrushed Tamiya XF-3 flat yellow on the nose, spinner and tail:



I think I’ll leave this to dry for longer, as I don’t want to be pulling it up with masking tape later on

 

[Tim Marlow]

Yay! Stripes coming up……

 

[Charlie Delta Foxtrot]

Crisp!!

 

[Jakko]

Yay! Stripes coming up……

I can still just spray camouflage over the yellow nose and go for the simpler option

Crisp!!

I don’t think I want to eat English crisps if they look like this

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
Looking good. Masking will be fun and wise to leave the yellow fully cure. Nothing more upsetting than to pull off paint knowing you were a bit impatient.
Jim

 

[Jakko]

It wouldn’t be that much of a deal if it was camouflage colours lifting, but I really don’t want to risk it with a difficult colour like yellow.

 

[Jakko]

The tail is now masked:



What I did was cut strips of tape into 3 mm widths for the vertical tail and 4 mm for the horizontal, then apply one as a starting point and use it as a baseline for the others. The simplest way to get the spacing right is to use another piece: apply one bit of tape where a yellow stripe is to go, then one right next to it (where a red stripe will go) and then another next to that for the second yellow stripe. Remove the middle bit of tape and repeat.

 

[Tim Marlow]

I knew you wouldn’t shrink from the challenge Jakko

 

[Jakko]

It’s not so much the challenge as whether I can be bothered to put in the effort BTW, you may notice I also taped off the rudder except for the red stripe at the end. I realised too late that I should have started with white on the rudder before applying the blue and then masking off both before spraying the yellow, so now I’ll have to do it the other way around.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Jakko
When the spraying is done and the masking is off it will all be worth it.
Jim

 

[Jakko]

As long as the stripes are relatively even, I’ll be happy. Problem is that it’s often harder to see that from just the tape than after the tape has been removed …

 

[Jakko]

The nose is now masked too, though I had to guess at the exact way the stripes curve in towards the spinner. I took a stab at it that I’m happy enough with:



Now to thin some red paint for airbrushing …

Edit: that’s going to be fun. One of the two pots of red paint I have, is like this:



I think I’ll see if the other is any better, but because it’s an old bottle of Tamiya flat red acrylic, I’m not convinced it will be — that particular paint doesn’t age well, is my experience

 

[Tim Marlow]

Tamiya paint is quite easy to reconstitute with MLT Jakko, a bit like the old humbrols used to be. Water based acrylic is like trying to redissolve a boiled egg though!

 

[Jakko]

It’s not that it goes thick — well, not more than other acrylic paint — but that the colour becomes paler. Old Tamiya flat red, in my experience is often more a dark pink than actual red.

I tried thinning the Revell paint first, and attempt No. 2 worked I tried isopropanol first, but that just created slightly red alcohol with slivers of paint in it. After rinsing the cup I tried tap water instead, and that went fine. It was then mostly a matter of finding the right proportions, spraying on some kitchen towel and (eventually) the underside of the wing. Then I went over the yellow areas:



I think I’ll leave it to harden for an hour or so before removing the tape.

 

[Jakko]

Moment of truth …



That seems to have gone pretty well. The only place where paint really bled under the tape is on the right horizontal tailplane, which is because I ran out of paint when I only had that left to do. I mixed up some more, but it turned out slightly too thin, I noticed as I sprayed it onto the model.

I’ll now need to mask the curving lines to these areas on the fuselage sides before spraying the camouflage.

 

[adt70hk]

Jakko

That has turned out beautifully!! A great job.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Jim R]

Well done. That's a success in anyone's book. Yellow and red are difficult colours to use anyway.
Jim

 

[Tim Marlow]

There now, aren’t you glad you made the effort Jakko
Seriously, looks good to me.

 

[Jakko]

That has turned out beautifully!! A great job.

Thanks

Well done. That's a success in anyone's book. Yellow and red are difficult colours to use anyway.

Thanks. I’m most pleased about getting the lines to match fairly well, instead of one side being noticeably closer together than the other or something To be honest, I don’t find yellow or red difficult colours to use, as long as you 1) spray them and 2) do so over a light base coat. Brush-painting them over a dark colour is asking for trouble, in my experience.

There now, aren’t you glad you made the effort Jakko
Seriously, looks good to me.

Thanks Like I said, it was mainly a question of “do I want to go to this trouble?” To which the answer very often is, “not particularly, but I’ll do it anyway because it looks cool”

When looking at the pictures I posted above, by the way, I’m put in mind of a circus tent …