Bruce Hunt Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Please forgive the puns. I'm a Luftwaffe guy and we seldom get such opportunities. So this subject is unusual for me. I intended it for a group build with my local IPMS chapter but that deadline came and went six months ago. Yes I am a speedy builder...not. Haven't built a Japanese subject in 30 years but I am used to disagreements about color (RLM what?) so I'm feeling reasonably comfortable. Here goes.​My subject: Thierry Dekker's profile w/ some additions that I think are warranted: Mr. Dekker's profile is very nice but shows some license. I'm going to try to be a little more faithful to the photograph. So I'll be attempting a heavily weathered bare metal with a tighter but less proficiently sprayed mottle. I'm being a little lazy on this one; not going to do much in the way of scratch improvements. Rather I'm just throwing the available Photo Etch (Eduard Big Sin) and resin (Aires and Quickboost) at it. I always start with the front office. My research suggest that internal colors vary depending upon production period; early = aotaki, mid = dark blue grey, late = bare metal. I've gone with mid production but got a little too much green IMHO...oh well who can argue. The Aires cockpit set did not blow my skirt up. Usually they are large enough that you have to do a lot of carving to get them to fit, but not so here. The set is too small IMHO. I ended up cutting off many of the details and grafting them onto the kit parts. In most cases the resin detail wasn't any better than the styrene. I kept the resin sidewalls however as they were significantly better. The Eduard photo etch seat is a jewel and I can't say enough about Radu Brinzan's micro fiber belts. Paint is Tamiya with Vallejo for details. All the levers and knobs have been removed and replaced with my own. Since the radio can't really be seen, I just bent up the Eduard photo etch. It was easier to set in place than the Aires but since you can't see it the better representation of the resin was wasted. I used the Eduard pre-painted panel which I was reasonably pleased with. The weathered surfaces on the side walls were 'scuffed up' with a 'cool grey' Prismacolor pencil. Then the entire structure was pinwashed with Vallejo black wash and dry brushed with neutral grey. The fuselage can get closed up now and I can move on to some riveting and subtle surface distressing. While I was waiting for Radu to send my belts, I got some other sub assemblies done. The Big Sin set had a lot of photo etch to doll these up but the only parts I found useful were for the doors. The brake lines are lead free fly tying wire with True Detail fittings. Then on to the power egg. Again the Big Sin photo etch was IMHO useless. I did my own wiring harness and some additional minor details, the ones that can be seen anyway. As with the rest of the airplane, the structural rivets have been added and I've used Alclad as the base for the heavily oxidized aluminum. So there's my progress to date. The riveting and distressing will take a while so I won't have much more to post until that's well on it's way. Hope you enjoy and please don't hesitate to point this old Luftwaffe modeler in the right direction when needed. Alles Bestens. b CATCplSlade, Shaka HI, F`s are my favs and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Fantastic work, Bruce! That cockpit is seriously impressive, but I'm absolutely blown away by how authentic the seat looks. You are clearly a highly skilled modeller. Kev mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flightline Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Your weathering and distressing work its just outstanding You don't miss a thing do you ? - the subtle riveting topped by your heavily oxidized ali finish is the best I have ever seen - Utterly convincing How on earth did you get that subtle, really fine granular effect into the "oxidized" aluminium/ aluminum on the cowling ?? Would genuinely appreciate a lesson if you have the he time to tell us how you captured that "look" Looking forward to more David Vandy 1 VX 4 and mpk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 WOW !! Good stuff !!.........Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Killer execution. Sincerely, Mark mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Molitor Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 Well done Bruce. Loving this so far. I'm interested in your interpretation to the photograph rather than what is depicted in the profile. I think this is almost as fun making the kit itself sometimes. The engine looks awesome. Keep them coming. Troy Uncarina and mpk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 Looks great Bruce. I think Thierry's interpretation is pretty good considering the muckyness of the photo. For the cammo, I'd go with RLM70. ...no wait mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaka HI Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 Ya Wow, Wow! Some of the most convincing weathering I've ever seen! I can't believe how blue the interior look in the first few shots and thought to myself, this is the first build that I've ever seen with that Aotake blue/green interior! mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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