Revell Zero Rebuild

[LSP_Kevin]

Are you going to decals the markings or paint them on?

 

I'm going to paint the major markings, with some decals coming from the sheet that accompanies the Modelmania book (which doesn't include national markings anyway). The stencils will come from the Hobbydecal dry transfer sheet. I'm still uncertain about how much of the stencil sheet I'll use, but I'll be pulling it out tonight to have a closer look.

 

Kev

[spacewolf]

Here's the problem, taken from an angle that actually reveals it:

 

 

It's the same on the other side. I'll have to live with it at this stage, and hope it doesn't detract too much from the finished model.

 

Kev

 

Hey Kev

 

She looks good. Yes the cowl flaps are a bit of a pain but at this point I'd finish it and set it on the shelf. Each kit is a learning phase, you've done amazing work on this one, but as you found out, there is always more to learn/ do. I've learned the hard way that if you let yourself get too bogged down it stops being fun and you stop modeling. Burn out is NOT fun. My 109 is the first model I've built in years because I got too burnt out super detailing. Finish it up, set it on the shelf and move on to the next one.

 

Cheers

 

Vaughn

[LSP_Kevin]

Finish it up, set it on the shelf and move on to the next one.

 

Yep, that's exactly the plan at this stage. I'm dead keen on improving my scratch building skills, but not at the expense of enjoying a build. I'd rather build 10 models, getting a little better with each one, than take just as long trying to perfect only one model.

 

Kev

[LSP_Kevin]

Progress has slowed somewhat of late, but I still managed to get a little bit done. I've started masking and painting the hinomarus:

 

 

I tried a slightly different method this time. I normally just spray a great big area of white, then a great big area of red, and then slap a circle mask over it. While this is terribly easy and convenient to do, the large excess area of red is difficult to cover with the camo coat - especially if it's a light colour - and the over-painted area always looks noticeably darker to my eye. This time, I started with the large white area, but cut a negative mask of the correct size for the red, hoping to limit the over-spray damage. Once the red was painted in, I placed the positive cut-out inside the negative circle mask and then removed it. What you see in the photo is the painted hinomarus masked with circles of clear frisket film.

 

I'm not convinced by this approach for one important reason: I found it almost impossible to align the positive circle exactly with its negative cutout, and I suspect I'll get a little bit of light fringing around the red come de-mask time. This would be worse in my opinion than trying to cover the red...but we'll wait and see what happens, eh?

 

Oh, and if you're wondering why I don't just mask and paint the hinomarus after all the camo painting is done, it's because that method requires a lot more paint to get the job done convincingly, and it makes paint ridges almost inevitable. However, I'm still experimenting with the various ways to go about this, so I'm not dogmatic about it.

 

Moving on...here's a shot of the CMK resin tail wheel castor, painted up and adorned with a placard stencil from the Hobbydecal dry transfer set:

 

 

That placard is around 1mm wide by less that 1.5mm high! The whole thing just needs a light wash and the actual tail wheel to be complete.

 

More soon!

 

Kev

[blackbetty]

that salt techinique is worth another look, its really convincing

might try it myself, thanx for showing us!

[LSP_Kevin]

 

 

Did you mark a centre line across both the circle and negative mask? I find that it's helpful to have some kind of reference marks to aid aligning masks.

Um, no? I just tried to neatly fit the inner circle into its outer cutout, but of course, because the stuff is sticky, you don't get much wiggle room. If you get the alignment off, you have to lift it out and replace it. And because it's clear, it's hard to tell where one bit starts and the other ends.

Can you expand on the idea of reference marks for me Dan?

Kev

[spacewolf]

Hey Kev

 

You are one sick puppy ! ... that tail wheel assembly is beautiful ! (and you have a much better camera than I do ) Your method of painting the insignia is interesting, what type of paint are you using ? Depending on the thickness of the paint, under a clear coat will the paint ridge be noticeable ?

 

Cheers

 

Vaughn

[LSP_Kevin]

I hope that helps some. I not too sure I explained that very well.

 

It does indeed help mate; very clear. I'll try this on the upper wing and fuselage hinomarus, as they will have the darkened outer rings that the under-wing jobbies lack - and that will require even more careful alignment.

 

Your method of painting the insignia is interesting, what type of paint are you using ? Depending on the thickness of the paint, under a clear coat will the paint ridge be noticeable ?

 

I'm using Tamiya acrylics for both the red and the white (I suspect that the red is a tad on the bright side though). What I've found in the past when doing Japanese hinomarus over camo colours is that it becomes essential to use a white base coat, and with red being a slightly translucent pigment, plenty of that too. I haven't so far been able to avoid paint ridges from the masks. I think if you're painting dark markings over light colours, it would be better, whereas building the colour up over a dark base just seems to require more paint. As I said earlier though, I'm really just running a series of experiments on a per-model basis to determine an optimal approach - if there even is one!

 

Kev

[Azgaron]

Nice work Kev! The Hinomarus looks great!

Cheers,

Håkan

[LSP_Ron]

Nice touch on the tail well ply card

[LSP_Kevin]

Another quick update showing where the masking is at the moment:

 

 

The flash has really caught the closest meatball and pinked it up nicely; the one on the fuselage is nearer the actual colour. I've also masked the white fuselage band. Once I'm finished with the hinomarus, I need to decide whether to paint the yellow leading edges before or after camo. I normally do it after, but often have trouble with yellow over-spray, and masking close in to the wing roots properly. Oddly, I've never had any trouble getting the yellow I use (Gunze Orange actually) to cover properly without causing paint ridges.

 

More soon!

 

Kev

[spacewolf]

Looking good Kev. I see you too are 'in the pink' when it comes to red paint and lighting !

[bcauchi]

Amazing job Kev. I love it. Just a small variation on the salt method to give you more control. Instead of wetting the model and sprinkling salt, i wet the tip of a fine brush, dip it in salt lightly to capture just a few grains and place them where i want the chips to come. I found that it works really well and they are dry in no time. The secret is to wet the tip of the brush only and pick up just a few grains of salt at a time.

[LSP_Kevin]

Amazing job Kev. I love it. Just a small variation on the salt method to give you more control. Instead of wetting the model and sprinkling salt, i wet the tip of a fine brush, dip it in salt lightly to capture just a few grains and place them where i want the chips to come. I found that it works really well and they are dry in no time. The secret is to wet the tip of the brush only and pick up just a few grains of salt at a time.

 

Brilliant Brian! I was thinking that that approach to applying the salt might be worth a try, so thanks for confirming it for me. Once all the main markings are painted and masked, I'll be applying some more salt before painting the camo colours, so your method should give me much more control.

 

Kev

[big matt]

Geez Kevin, that looks awesome. I like the masking order for the insignia. I wish I had thought of that before making huge ridges on my Tony. Now I know, thanks.

 

Matt