Alex

Great - thanks for the details! That will be really helpful for the experiments I have planned.

What's your preferred base layer for the other ones then? Conventional primer? Or even bare plastic? I routinely use Mr Color lacquers straight on bare plastic but I thought I'd read that Alclad would not work well in that mode... Thanks for the advice!

So this one got "wrapped up" in a hurry - headed not for the Shelf of Doom but maybe the Shelf of Learning Experiences.... It looks OK from 6 feet away... Several things got short-cut as I was just focused on "finishing" it to move on to the next project, for example the blue is too primary - you see a lot of paintings of pre-war birds with lighter shades than conventional Insignia Blue, but I'm not sure that isn't just artistic license. If I had taken more time I could have tinted this with a bit of black. There are bits of the thing that look OK. Although those photos really failed to focus down into the cockpit. Trust me that it actually turned out looking halfway decent. I ended up finishing the build because I wanted the masking/painting practice - and it worked pretty well. I'm also happy with the "aluminum dope" look on the elevators. The real, fatal flaw is in the NMF for the airframe as a whole. It's much worse on the underside, where the Alclad layer crazed *significantly* over the course of several days after spraying: Plus, it had very poor adhesion. Not only did it pull off when I masked the undersides of the wings to paint insignia... But it also "bridged" over the panel lines rather than settling down into them, and then pulled off or just flaked away. You don't see as much of this on the upper side, I think because I sanded and polished the black base coat much more thoroughly (which I would not have had to do if it had gone down well), and THEN sanded and polished the first coat of Alclad before spraying a second one (on the upper surface). Regardless, it looks OK from 6 feet away and from above, on the shelf, for now, but I definitely need to do another P-36A at some point. As far as root cause analysis goes, I'm pretty sure that all of this trouble started with the gloss black base coat (like building a house on a weak foundation, nothing good is going to happen once the first step goes awry). I used Alclad Gloss Black lacquer, which actually worked well on some small parts like the main gear legs, but went down very unevenly with bad rough patches when I tried to do the whole model with it. Although it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools, I think part of this is due to my having a very small spray booth, so that it's hard to move a 1/32 model around inside it and get good spray angles - a 1/48 warbird is about the largest thing that's easy to work on inside of it (it's one of these "portable" jobs from Micro Mark; I'm building a bigger one as we speak to make bigger models easier). I also build models so slowly that I have time to forget techniques that I learn on one project before the next one comes around. More significantly, the Alclad gloss black never felt fully dry - even days later it had this subtle sensation of "tack" to it when handled. I think I then compounded the problem by applying WAY too much Alclad metalizer hoping it would level and help gloss the overall look. Instead what it did, I think, was re-wet the Alclad gloss black and lead to the mess illustrated above. SO, the bottom line is that I need to get this NMF thing sorted and nailed down to a single, repeatable protocol before I try to paint my next warbird (Tamiya P-51, which is going to get a bunch of engine and other mechanical detail and for which I can't afford to screw up the exterior look *at all*). First order of business is a better base black. No more fooling with this Alclad black. I'm going to experiment with two options - 1. Mr. Color Gloss Black (I feel like I understand how to work with Mr Color lacquers better than any other paint brand, albeit still incompletely) and 2. Chuck's recommended Tamiya TS-14 decanted from a rattle can. I need to practice how to get a large area covered without losing the "wet edge" that allows the finish to level and gloss uniformly. I now *remember* and will *strive not to forget* that Alclad metalizers only work if you do very light but wet (close) coats over an already super-glossy base. I'm also going to order and experiment with some MRP Aluminum. The Mr. Metal Color Aluminum is WAY too chrome-shiny for my taste - does not look "real" at all. I have a couple of 1:144 prop liner kits laying around that are amenable to NMF-heavy schemes (I think at least a DC-4 and a DC-7, and maybe another). After doing some experiments on sheet styrene with these different paints I'll build both of those and see if I can do good NMF on them before venturing the Mustang. Obviously any tips that anyone has are welcome. This (NMF) has a reputation for being the hardest thing to do well, and clearly that's deserved (and it's possible to *backslide* - I've definitely gotten better results than this in the past!). I'm sure there are multiple viable approaches; I just need one method that I can learn well enough to make it repeatable...

All of the main components assembled and primed. That took a lot of Mr. Base White 1000 to do with the airbrush. The corrugated surface seems to just drink up paint. Probably would have been one time where a rattle can of white primer would have been justified (but it's awfully cold for painting outside right now). I may try and put a bit more primer on the wings tomorrow, or I may just leave it a little bit variegated, as I'm planning on making this an exercise in weathering anyways.

This is my first Mikro-Mir kit, and as far as Eastern European kits go it's probably better than average. The fits aren't perfect, and it's not a good candidate for much detailing (super-thick plastic, as noted), but it is an ambitious kit (lots of parts, complex subject) with PE and canopy masks included, and it was not expensive. Overall I give it a B for sure. In my limited (and aircraft-only) experience ICM is probably the best of the Eastern European injection-molded kit makers (given that Eduard is really an AM shop that repackages other companies' plastic). I have a Lukgraph resin kit on my shelf waiting for when I feel ambitious. It will be interesting to compare that.

Nice choice! I've done a couple of ICM kits recently and been reasonably impressed with them. Will be interested to see how this one comes together.

Great! Really looking forward to seeing this kit built again. I haven't bought it yet, but certainly will at some point. I hope you do build both cockpits - it would be nice to see them side by side.

One of the realities of these short-run kits is that there's little or no provision engineered in to make parts interlock - if they fit each other in the abstract that's a win. So working through a multi-step tape lash-up to glue these engine cowling pieces, one seam at a time, to the wing and to each other. Hopefully this works out ~square with not too many gaps to fill... This bird has a real chance to be a tail-sitter too (appropriate for the wheeled option, but...). Figured that weighting the nose was going to be hard with those dual canopies, and would be pushing it with the delicate struts that connect fuselage to floats. So weighted the fronts of the floats instead. Floats cleaned up At a minimum I'm going to have to reinforce the strut connections to floats and fuselage with thin brass rod. Hopefully it doesn't come to remaking them completely out of metal to have them be strong enough... Some PE detail on the elevators My kit contained the wrong PE fret (I got the one for the Tupolev TB-1 bomber version), so I'm a bit guessing which parts are the best equivalent for what the G-1 fret would have.

Another look at the cockpit as the fuselage comes together. Resisted doing more than basic paint to the (fairly nice for a 1:72 kit) BMW V-12s (actually a license-built version thereof) since they will be essentially invisible when the engine nacelles are buttoned up. Engine on bearer located in the wing. All of this stuff is taking the expected degree of fit-fiddle-refit given the short-run nature of the beast.

In good uber-practical Soviet style, the G-1 was constructed almost entirely of corrugated duralumin sheet (Comrade, it works so well for the shed roof. It will work for the airplane too!). Mikro-Mir has faithfully reproduced this fine texture. This means that I'm pretty much limited to fixing gaps with whatever can be achieved with water-based putty - can't sand anywhere where this texture exists as it will be too hard to recreate. And, all kidding about Soviet engineering aside, this was quite an advanced design - an all-metal monoplane of this size in 1925 was ambitious in anyone's book. The kit provides a pretty basic interior. Given how little of it will be visible through the (small, not-crystal-clear) windows, I just painted it aluminum, picked out a few details in black, and applied a wash for good measure. Pieces: Assembled in part Obviously everything is 2000% scale thickness, but again, barely visible in the finished model.

Contrary to my better judgment, I started a new project in the midst of struggling with painting the latest 1:32 warbird. I pulled this one off the shelf - I bought it immediately on seeing it (I think on the HLJ website) because it pushed two buttons simultaneously - it's an oddball subject AND it's an airplane that can land on water. The kit is quite busy for a short-run 1:72; almost 200 injection-molded parts plus photoetch and masks for the windows (much appreciated!). Part of the complexity is that parts are provided to have your G-1 land on floats, wheels, OR skis (although the scheme they lay out for the latter is a Soviet military one, making the plane technically a TB1 in that case). This is definitely not going to be a "super-detailing" exercise for me (for lack of references, amongst other reasons!). I do however plan to experiment with some fairly pronounced salt weathering of the paint scheme at the end.

The scary thing is that this would probably work and look really realistic - after untold hours of work....

I'm agnostic - I have this kit stashed also, for some time after I do my Tamiya Mustang....

Love it that 5 of the first 6 entries are WWII warbirds...

Going to dig out my Tamiya Mustang kit for this one. I'm not going to use any of Tamiya's schemes, I don't think. I'll build a 21st FG plane based on this book I've already ordered the HGW wet transfers set for stencils and national insignia. Before starting I need to finish painting my P-36A FIRST though...

Yes. Turns out that the black is rough on the fuselage sides above the wings. Seems like I’ve learned and forgotten that lesson about spray direction before... Sigh. I think I can solve it through fine sanding and polishing, but I will need to give the paint a little bit more time to cure first. Maybe I do need to kick off some interim project. I certainly have enough kits laying around.

Been a while since I updated this thread. A combination of a quick (local) getaway with my wife preventing me from being at the bench and a lack of desire to closely photo-journalize the slog through dealing with aligning wing to fuselage and closing the plethora of resulting gaps. That said, the airframe is assembled and ready, finally, for some paint. Somewhere along the way I lost one of my home-made machine gun barrels and so will need to remake that. I've also made new exhaust stubs from brass tubing and will probably scratch a replacement for the poor kit pitot tube the same way. The underside: It's not perfect, but I'm focusing on getting this one finished before I get distracted by another project... It's hard to see in these photos, but the entire surface is covered in my maiden attempt at hand-made rivets. Obviously much less sophisticated than the decal-on raised rivets we've been treated to recently, just impressed with a toothed wheel. This closeup makes it easier to see part of the pattern. The lines are not perfectly straight everywhere, but given that I did it entirely freehand just by following lines I penciled on, I'm actually surprised how decent it looks. It will be interesting to see how much of it is still visible following paint - the dimples are very small and shallow, especially since I was working with already-assembled subunits (which I won't try again) and so could not press too hard. Despite the sloggy nature of this build, I seem to have purchased another Special Hobby kit. Why, you ask, would I do this, especially since this isn't even a PTO warbird? Because I'm a sucker for obscure subjects, and who else but SH is ever going to do this aircraft in 1:32? - that's right, no one. And because, based on a perusal of photos of the sprues, they did quite a complete 3-D engine on this kit, providing an opportunity for my favorite kind of detailing (although that also means I have to figure out how to open a cowling access panel or two). And this is a 2014 tool, so *hopefully* a bit more sophisticated than the Hawk, which debuted in 2005 and was one of (I believe) their earliest 1:32 aircraft attempts. So back to the P-36, I shot a coat of Alclad gloss black. Although I used Chuck's wet towel trick to try and minimize static buildup, this is FAR from being a Chuck-quality black undercoat. The good news is that the rivets still show up well. Once the paint has fully cured I will overspray it with Mr Leveling Thinner to try and gloss up the areas that didn't quite get there on the first try. I left the rudder and elevators off because I'm going to underpaint them with flat gray so that they have more of an aluminum-doped fabric look (I'll mask off the ailerons and do the same for them before topcoating with Alclad). I'm leaning towards shooting the whole thing with basic Alclad Aluminum (if nothing else I have a lot of it on hand so won't run out) and then picking some specific panels to overspray with Duralumin and Airframe Aluminum for a bit of variation. I hope to have that done before the end of the weekend - gotta keep the momentum up. I'm off now to scan the decal sheet and Silhouette some masks.

That’s top drawer work on those airbrakes, for sure.

Those are beautiful

The paint erosion on the invasion stripes is particularly nice. Restrained and realistic looking. Congrats on wrapping up a great build!

Landing gear look nice!

Very nice pre-shading. Excited to see how that works out under the decals...

Nice job! The combination of the better 3-D shape of the kit molding and your careful work with the decals beats the Eduard part hands-down. Are you going to use some Future or similar to make shiny "glass" faces for the instruments?

Yes - that's a high degree-of-difficulty stencil job for sure. Really interested to see how that comes out. What material will you cut the masks from?

Love the restrained salt weathering. It was especially effective in cutting down the "newness" contrast between camo and insignia.