Greif8

The checkerboard pattern looks fantastic John; masking off the cowl was surely difficult to get right given its shape and you crushed it. Ernest

That is one nice looked engine Andy, you are doing a bang up job on this kit. Ernest

Thank you both for the kind words. I wish you and your loved ones a very merry christmas! Ernest

I echo Damian Tim, the mottling looks great. Well done man! Ernest

Sorry for the late reply man, I missed your question when you first posted it. With Aviattic decals I always start with the center section and work outwards from there. I also always decal the bottom of the wing first and let that dry overnight to ensure it is bonded well before decalling the top of the wing. Europapete is spot on about having a really smooth surface to decal on. I always buff the gloos coat with a 4000 grit buffing pad to get it glassy smooth. I saw that you asked a question about cutting the decal at the rib tape to avoid overlap. You are correct. I do this with a new (or nearly new) scapel blade and stragiht edge to ensure a nice straight and fresh cut. Ernest

I think your work is top quality Jay, and looks very very accurate to me. Ernest

Very sweet looking build Miloslav. I echo Panzerwomble that your paint work is exceptional. Ernest

Quang is exactly tight about finger control and his advice to practice dots and lines on paper is excellent. I do this for about 5-10 minutes prior to a mottling job to get my hand - or better said, my finger - limbered up. I think the mottling on your build looks fine; there are a lot of late war German fighters that look just like your build. Given the paint shortages the Germans suffered from, especially from the fall of 44 onwards, it was common for aircraft to have fairly light mottling. Quang's build is also an excellent representation of a late war 109; so there are no hard fast or definitive rules when it comes to mottling a German aircraft - good for us modellers! Damian also has some good advice about starting close while spraying and pulling back to get a smooth transition from small to large mottles that are also irregular. Takes a little practice, but the end result is very satisfying. The fellow that thins MRP to mottle must like his paint REALLY thin! But if it works for him so much the better. You are a very highly skilled modeller who produces master quality work Tim. I am positive with your skill sets you will very soon be spraying mottling that is jaw droppingly good. Ernest

Really masterful work as usual John. Ernest

Thank you both for the kind words and holiday wishes which I return to each of you! Gary, thank you for the advice on oxidizing the paint. I will surely try that on the next build that had a NMF. As this is the first time I have tried to do one, and have had some issues; and also because I rather like the neat shiny look, ahistorical as that might be, I plan to leave well enough alone on this build. Thank you again though! Ernest

Thank you and I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas! Ernest

I have that "not enough" problem with my weathering sometimes Tim, so I hear you man! Returning to mottling, I use the following technique to spray mine. If using Tamiya I thin the paint to a ratio of 1:3 or 1:4 paint to thinner; I use Mr. Color Leveling Thinner for this. I spray with my air pressure set to 5 psi. The combination of very thin paint and very low spraying pressure allows me to get very close and spray really thin subtle effects. When I started I used the travel limit on my air brush all the time, and still do use it fairly frequently - I find it very helpful during those times when my fine control on the trigger is not fine enough. I also use top feed airbrushes exclusively and I think they are very helpful when spraying mottling, because even with the air pressure dialed way down, you can still spray very well. Having said that though, I have seen guys spray really great mottling with bottom or side feed airbrushes. MRP is already very thin as you know and it can also be used quite effectively for spraying mottling. I think the spitting issues I had a few months ago may have been caused by a slightly enlarged opening of my nozzle. Ernest

I admit that I am guilty of sometimes adding a bunch of extra detail that will never be seen - my Lanc Nose Art build that I did about a year ago comes to mind! And nearly every time I do that I ask myself, "Why did I do that?!" <grin> Ernest

Did some weathering and very minor scratch building the past couple of days. I have decided that I will only lightly weather the aircraft, an oxymoron with Japanese planes I know! I made two brake lines out of .40mm copper wire and formed it to shape. I drilled two .45mm holes in each landing gear leg to insert the ends of the copper wire into. The below two photos show the "brake lines" test fit in place prior to painting. The wheel is only test fit as well. After a bit more shaping I brushed the brake lines with some Tamiya metal primer and painted them semi-gloss black. After drying the lines were glued into place and I painted the area where the ends entered their holes stainless steel. I also made a couple of retaining straps by cutting some wine bottle foil to size and super gluing it in place. I did a very subtle pin wash of the panel lines, began weathering the non-metal areas and did a bit of exhaust staining. I'll very likely do some more exhaust staining as what I've done so far looks pretty light. As you can see I also took the masking off the canopy. The macro makes the brown wash look pretty vivid, but at a distance of a foot or so it is much more subtle. Still some weathering work to do, and fitting the landing gear and bits and bobs, but I am coming to the final stretch with this build. Ernest

I used to be fairly "anal" when it came to color fidelity on my builds. That changed when I was the First Sergeant of a Combined Arms Company. While deployed I got a lot of opportunity to see the AFV's assigned to my company in a variety of settings and light conditions. From a modelling standpoint the paint on each of the AFV's tended to look slightly - and sometimes more than slightly - different from the others, though they were all painted a sand tone in the same paint shed at the same time. The differencies became more pronounced as our year long deployment progressed. This occured with modern paint that is more resistant to environmental factors, in theory at least, than WWI or WWII paints; and that modern paint had been applied in a "somewhat" controlled environment - most of the time. Admittedly my observations were only of ground vehicles and helicoptors as we only saw fast movers as specks dropping ordnance that we had requested, if we saw them at all. But I think the above observations apply equally to aircraft. Since then I have been in the "ballpark is good" camp when it comes to shade and tone of colors that I spray onto my models. Ernest

Jeroen's advice is spot on, and it is easier than it sounds. Make sure to use plenty of water or Micro set if you use that, to ensure the you can move the decal around better and avoid possible stetching. If the wing tips end up with a small wrinkle or two I would not sweat it as the actual aircraft had wrinkles in that location quite frequently. Ernest

Very nice looking F-16. Well done in showing the perserverence in getting it down from the SOD to finish it! Ernest

Beautifully built Spad! The engine detailing and overall paint scheme is execellent. Ernest

Really well done Jug Tolga. You did an excellent job painting and weathering the aircraft, it replicates the actual one quite well. Ernest

Excellent work Tim. I think your build looks great! I like your photography as well. Ernest

Very nice homemade decals Jim. Kev gives some great advice as well! Ernest

Hi Tim, Damian's advice for airbrushing luftwaffe mottling is very good. I am sure that your skill level will have whichever technique you decide to use perfected in a short period of time. I like and use MRP quite a bit and its thinness makes it a good choice for mottling; having said that though the paint can unexpectedly spit from time to time. I also use Tamiya acrylics frequently and when thinned to a 1:3 (paint:thinner) ratio with Mr. Color Leveling thinner I find that it also does a fine job when it comes to mottling. Ernest

I hope you get some quiet and quality time at the bench over Christmas Gary. Ernest

Have fun building the radial engine man! It looks like it could be really nice when finished. Ernest

Those are some really nice decals Pete. If I were not trying to keep my Ki-61 build oob I would have gotten some AM decals. The Hasegawa decals that came with the kit are, like most of the Tamiya decals, not very good. Ernest