Greif8

Looking good Gary.  The fits seems to be quite nice and you are certainly doing the kit justice!
 
Ernest

I usually go there just to look at pictures of models and classic cars.
Don't forget Yootoob. I've learned more there and picked up some cool
and useful tips on modeling.  I've fixed plumbing issues, fixed my garage
door opener, swapped out the driver side window regulator on my Jeep,
things that would have been a PITA without the help of people who've
already done what I need to do. Talk about seperating the wheat from
the chaff John,  that's been the case re the internet since day one.

Sprue G is ready
 

 
As is sprue H
 

 
and apparently "There will be a lot of good news next week, stay tuned"

The site is gone, a great loss of data, but it has been inspirational. I'm down to my last 57 WNW kits, so I may be ok for a minute.

Well I’ve been busy with my THUD for awhile now. Only had time to read our Turning Japanese thread aat that. Lots of great work going on!
today i had some time to get back on Umegumi. Beautiful day in Cincinnati so i did my painting outside. Even got a few shots in sunlight to share. This will be my primer coat for the colors and the finish coat for the white. Should keep the details popping!
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks for the suggestions on alternatives to masking, all.  In the end, as I am so apt to do, is stay the course and damn the torpedoes.  I used the Maketar masks directly, and the remainder of the masks Thunnus gave me (the #17 numerals).  I gotta tell you - I was as nervous about this step in this long build as any so far.  But here you are:
 

 

 
Can you find the paint lifting?  None on the first picture, and a couple of wee specks on the second picture.  I will let them be - part of the weathering.  What a relief!  Dodged a bullet.  Rolled sevens.  Now I can give a hearty thank-you to Chuck for suggesting X-22 clear gloss acrylic as a base coat.  Who'da thunk?  Man those stencils are huge!  Also, post-it notes!  What a great way to mask off large areas!  Low stick.  Awesome. 
 
Matching the split number 17 on the LH side was a bit less of a success, but no paint lifting:
 

 
I am going to try to improve on that edge match a bit, but I don't want to tempt fate with alot more masking; I may just tinker with the match with hand painting and invoke the messy 1944 Ondongo airfield paint repair excuse.  Gotta do something about that fairly large paint chip on the forward fuselage that you can see in that last pic aft of the wing trailing edge....it will be messy.
 
Gonna let the euphoria wear off as the paint cures some more, and then give it a little rub-down to tame those raw edges on the star insignias, then some semi-gloss for decals.  Then, weathering and we will see if those colors can blend in with the forward fuselage.  Stay tuned! 

Big moves in the last two days, my friends.
 
First of all...   let me show the canopy with all parts facing the correct way.

Unfortunately my Molotow chrome pen has gone to hell, so the mirror looks more like a Dali painting splashed with silver paint.
 
And the sliding canopy...   it actually has the release mechanism on it.

This reminds me...   is there any color to the small window on the Malcolm hood?  Colored fasteners, or something?
 
I've prepared both style of Prop and hub  for weathering.  I used dark gray paint so I can weather them into black.

I actually dropped one of them and lost 1mm off the length of one blade.  Can you tell which one?
 
I used oils on the LG legs, wheel hubs to give shape to the silvery masses.


They'll need a couple days to dry before I detail paint.
 
And after putting a metallic base on the resin exhausts, I tried to give them a burnt metal look with brown washes, and blue-black hot areas.  Some people paint them rusty.  But I'm pretty sure they are made of rust proof alloys.  They'll get another acrylic wash to blend the colors a little more once the oils are dry.

 
Who likes masking?

 
I've left the rudder off till last.  The aerial hook-up piece looks very fragile.

 
And finally this is what the rudder and elevator look like at factory settings.   You can cut off the tabs if you want.

 
The following pics show the model mostly complete.  Perhaps you will find info you want in the pictures...   perhaps not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I hope to decide on a scheme pretty soon.  A?  B?  Night/Day?  Rotol vs. DH? 
 
Anyway...   Happy modelling!
 

I enjoyed following your build of this aircraft Mike.  It is a real eye-catcher.
 
Ernest

Although it was defintely not that much good days for outdoor activities, progress on the Zero is slow.
There's another project (a new roadbike) which needs time for the assembly as well.
 
On the plus side, the ignition distributor is finished, even though it took many more hours than anticipated.
Here it is wired up with all 28 lines in their small brass tubes. Of course I had to redrill most of the tubes because of the burrs from cutting.
Additionally some of them pinged off from the bench into oblivion, but I guess the effort is worth the result.
 

 
Afterwards I apllied a primer (the Tamiya one for metal) to hopefully increase paint adhesion.
This was followed by a gloss black base for all the engine parts and for some other parts, that are ready for paint, too.


 
I hope you're still on board and that this wasn't the most boring update so far
 

Good luck on the squiggles Tolga.  You did a wonderful job spraying the soft demarcation lines between the upper and lower paint colors.
 
Ernest

Kevin's advice is very good Denis.  Another technique using sprue is to heat stretch a section over a candle until you have a very thin length.  Cut that to size and place it onto/into the area you want to fill and run a small amount of Tamiya Extra Thin glue along its length to set it in place.  You can than use successive applications of the glue, always using very small amounts, to soften the sprue enough to cover the seam you want filled.  You can use a toothpick, tip of a Xacto blade or something simliar to shape the softened sprue and get the coverage you want by gently pushing it where needed.  Let that harden for a day and sand it smooth.
 
Ernest  

Hi Joachim, here in the Oberpfalz it has been lightly snowing, windy and overcast for several days now.  I do not ride if visibility is poor or there is a good chance of ice patches on the riding surface - I like to reduce the risk of being hit by a car or crashing to a minimum.  I hope the weather returns to how it was for a few days last week soon!  On the plus side, like you I am getting some time at the bench.
 
Grüße,
Ernest

Thank you for the photos Gary, this is a really well engineered kit.  As to the seam, I agree with Iain that a bit of work to smooth the joint line down (very little actually) and I think it would look fine.
 
Ernest

Thank you for the compliments guys!  The red took a few efforts to get the tone I wanted but it worked out in the end.
 
Ernest 

Kevin's advice is very good Denis.  Another technique using sprue is to heat stretch a section over a candle until you have a very thin length.  Cut that to size and place it onto/into the area you want to fill and run a small amount of Tamiya Extra Thin glue along its length to set it in place.  You can than use successive applications of the glue, always using very small amounts, to soften the sprue enough to cover the seam you want filled.  You can use a toothpick, tip of a Xacto blade or something simliar to shape the softened sprue and get the coverage you want by gently pushing it where needed.  Let that harden for a day and sand it smooth.
 
Ernest  

Hi all!
 
I got new wheels from Master Casters
 
 
 
 
Very nice parts and well detailed….
 
Even the exhaust stubs were included in this set!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lots of parts, primed with Alclad Black Microfiller….
 
 
 
 
The cockpit parts painted with WEM IJN Interior Grey-Green…
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
More to come soon!
 
  
Stefan   
 

Some progress
White ID band painted and some retouches have been applied. Thus main painting is terminated.
Next step is applying the RLM80 squiggles on top surfaces.
This is the most tricky process
Good luck to me.
If I don't update for a long time, understand that I messed up
 





 

Thanks Ernest! I've done some experimenting on an old model, and I had to add more contrast than I wanted, mainly because by the time I added some yellow-ish mix (wing folds) and a black nose, it really subdued the effect. And of course I can always go over it again to add or remove the effect.
 
Speaking of which... as I have stated before I am a fan of Revell Aqua, but the dwawback is that they don't really do FS colours, but mainly RAL. So in order to get something approximating light gull grey, after some evenings of experimenting I settled upon this mix:

(more professial and better modellers than I am would rotate the cubes so the labels are properly oriented, and post a daylight photo of the result -I'm neither, so sorry!) Probably clear enough, but:
Mittelgrau 43 - 2 parts
Steingrau 75 - 1 part
Weiß matt 5 - 2 parts (this is a bit of a cream-ish white -don't use pure gloss white as it messes up the look IMHO)
Note no colour charts or FS sample books were harmed in this experiment, That-looks-about-right only!
 
With that done, the fun begins:

I left the black intake parts and what will be Corogard unmasked.
 
White overspray was re-painted black and mottled with Revell 378 which looks a bit like a light Gunship Grey, then misted over with the above mixture:


 
Which was then mottled again with Revell 5 flat white, of which I forgot to take photos.
This was then slowly built up using my light gull grey mixture with clear gloss added to reduce opacitiy and ensure a smooth coat:


 
This thing is getting so big it's hard to take proper photo's!
 
And you know that feeling you keep forgetting something? I painted the model itself, the outer wing parts, the canopy, and could not think of what I missed... well of course right after I cleaned everything up and the kids came home, I found the unpainted refuelling probe... doh!
 
I can't wait to remove the masking, but will need to be patient, and there is still that big black nose, anti-glare, and Corogard to apply on wings, tail and pylons, as well as the orange fin tip. Then it's on to the speed brake bays, walkways and some other things, but for that I really need the masking removed.
 
Hopefully the next update will be a bit faster and will show a completely painted model, but I'm not giving an guarantees!
 
Jeroen

I understand that some modelers would rather go blind that use decals, but I ran into an ugly problem on a recent build where the surface details created a problem where masks simply would not conform, so in desperation I made decals with the masks and not only did it solve my problem, it eliminated any chance of lifting paint, and I wouldn't think twice about using the method again. 
 


For what it's worth, here's how it works:
https://www.scalemodelpaintmasks.com/index.php?/topic/611-how-to-make-decals-with-masks/

OK...     some enquiring minds minds wanted to know how the Malcolm hood fit in the open position.
The answer is...   like a dream.  Just dry fitted here...


The windscreen seems to want pressing down to fit perfectly.  I got a little paint on the joint, so I'll remove that before I begin sanding.
 
and the engine covers and armored fuel tank cover...  all sweet.

 
And finally...   a solid clear reflector sight.  with no seam running down the middle.  More thoughtful workmanship by Kotare. 

I painted a thin layer of clear green around the outside of the glass reticle to give some depth.  But my crappy photography kind of nullified the effect.
 

Thanks guys for the help.  Greatly appreciated. 
Tom, not sure about scribing those lines.  None are scribed on the actual part.  Just the rivets.  That's pretty much how they treated the entire aft fuselage.  Questionable to me...  But I really, really hate scribing.  And that's mainly because I mess up so much and it takes me so long to fix all of my tiny mistakes where the tool has deviated from the desired path.

Tom,
     That is a very enlightening photo.  Thank you!  Now we know where they modeled the kit from.

I will dig out my copy of the Wingleader Mk.I issue today to see if I can find good reference photos to perhaps answer your question. EDIT: I am seeing seam lines with a row of rivets just above on the actual aircraft.
 

 
Cheers,  Tom

Well, what started as interesting surface detail coupled with an innovative way of dealing with the dorsal seam has put me into a bit of a conundrum.  
Here is a diagram to illustrate the way the parts are made and fit.  It is not to scale.

You can see that the fuselage halves are beveled down to a flat area on the interior of the fuselage. while E7, the Dorsal spine has flat mating surfaces.  I took some photos to illustrate the parts, but the bevel isn't very easy to see.  I have used white arrows to help make the bevel easier to find.

 
On the first attempt I followed some advice about using CA to tack an area down, then glue the rest with Tamiya Extra Thin Quick Setting.  I followed through, and used a bit of PPP to fill the seam.   ...I tested it with a little gray paint to see what it would look like painted.

 
I wasn't happy with the result.  Sure, it looks like a panel line.  But it's the only one there.  If the rest of the fuselage had panel lines, it would fit in.  But now it sticks out like a sore thumb.  
 
So, I ripped it off.
 
And after a day of thinking, I decided to deal with the beveled area and see if I can get a better fit.  I used some Evergreen strip to fill the bevel and give a completely flat surface in hopes of a better fit.

And then I reattached the dorsal spine E7.  And filled the seam with PPP and removed the excess.  And then painting it gray.

 

 
It doesn't look any different. 
 
So, now I have to decide whether to leave it as it is...   or come up with another way.  There is no other way to fill that seam that I can think of that won't involve ruining the rivets.  The only other solution coming to mind at this very moment is to strip the rivets off, fill the seam and then contemplate:  
 
a.  No rivets, no panel lines.
b.  replacing the rivets with HGW surface rivets which are much smaller.
c.  Inscribing panel lines and adding HGW rivets.
 
Any ideas?   How would you handle it?

Wow, very nice job, Ernest!  Excellent all round!