S
Scuff
Guest
This is my third kit following a long lay-off. I have learnt a great deal building my Me262 and Spitfire. Thanks to advice and feedback from you guys on the forums, I have tried out a few new techniques and listened to your previous feedback.
The out of box cockpit was used. I didn’t use the instrument panel decals as I thought that they were a bit naff (technical term), and hand painted the instruments. I made up seat belt from masking tape and fuse wire.
The kit was the usual good fit and I had no trouble fitting it together, and a small amount of filling and sanding got everything smooth. A base coat of Tamiya Neutral Grey was sprayed prior to pre-shading all of the panel lines with Tamiya Matt Black. The version I was constructing called out for a splinter camo’ of RLM74 greenish grey and RLM 75 grey/violet. I tried various recommendations for mixes, but they looked just wrong. It was then that I used the colour swatches in the iModelKit software to match a mix of Tamiya colours to the correct RLM colours. I am very happy with the result after two resprays!
Once the underneath Tamiya light blue was applied, I moved to the camouflage. I applied the dark green first with an overlap and let it dry. I then changed to the grey /violet and edged the camo’ pattern using normal masking tape with ¼ inch folded over and rested on the model. I lifted up the folded edge slightly to give a feathered effect to the edges of the camo’. I just peeled the tape and held it to the next edge and sprayed. Once done, I filled in the rest of the colour. I found this was a quick way of getting the camo’ done.
The decals were applied with the aid of Micro Set and Sol. They were very thick and didn’t settle down well, so after a couple of applications of Sol, I cut all of the panel lines through the decals and applied more Micro Sol. That sorted the blighters out.
Restrained chipping was done with flat metallic grey highlighted with flat aluminium; the wing walk also got a wash of ‘mud’. A general dark dirt panel wash was applied and then some of the panels in the dark areas of the camo’ were highlighted with a light panel line wash. Gun smoke and exhaust stains were sprayed with Tamiya smoke thinned to within an inch of its life. The whole lot was sprayed with Xtracrylix satin varnish.
The antennae was constructed with stretched sprue and fixed with superglue. Insulating ‘blobs’ were added using gator glue. They were painted black once the glue had dried. The slightly saggy wire was tensioned with the hot screwdriver trick.
I have really enjoyed trying out new techniques on this kit thanks to the tip and tricks from you guys. As always, I welcome any comments or observations from you all.
I hope you like the pics.
The out of box cockpit was used. I didn’t use the instrument panel decals as I thought that they were a bit naff (technical term), and hand painted the instruments. I made up seat belt from masking tape and fuse wire.
The kit was the usual good fit and I had no trouble fitting it together, and a small amount of filling and sanding got everything smooth. A base coat of Tamiya Neutral Grey was sprayed prior to pre-shading all of the panel lines with Tamiya Matt Black. The version I was constructing called out for a splinter camo’ of RLM74 greenish grey and RLM 75 grey/violet. I tried various recommendations for mixes, but they looked just wrong. It was then that I used the colour swatches in the iModelKit software to match a mix of Tamiya colours to the correct RLM colours. I am very happy with the result after two resprays!
Once the underneath Tamiya light blue was applied, I moved to the camouflage. I applied the dark green first with an overlap and let it dry. I then changed to the grey /violet and edged the camo’ pattern using normal masking tape with ¼ inch folded over and rested on the model. I lifted up the folded edge slightly to give a feathered effect to the edges of the camo’. I just peeled the tape and held it to the next edge and sprayed. Once done, I filled in the rest of the colour. I found this was a quick way of getting the camo’ done.
The decals were applied with the aid of Micro Set and Sol. They were very thick and didn’t settle down well, so after a couple of applications of Sol, I cut all of the panel lines through the decals and applied more Micro Sol. That sorted the blighters out.
Restrained chipping was done with flat metallic grey highlighted with flat aluminium; the wing walk also got a wash of ‘mud’. A general dark dirt panel wash was applied and then some of the panels in the dark areas of the camo’ were highlighted with a light panel line wash. Gun smoke and exhaust stains were sprayed with Tamiya smoke thinned to within an inch of its life. The whole lot was sprayed with Xtracrylix satin varnish.
The antennae was constructed with stretched sprue and fixed with superglue. Insulating ‘blobs’ were added using gator glue. They were painted black once the glue had dried. The slightly saggy wire was tensioned with the hot screwdriver trick.
I have really enjoyed trying out new techniques on this kit thanks to the tip and tricks from you guys. As always, I welcome any comments or observations from you all.
I hope you like the pics.
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