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Revell Zero Rebuild


LSP_Kevin

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Thanks fellas. Good to know someone's getting something out of my backasswardness. She's looking pretty crazy at the moment:

 

post-3071-1256298303.jpg

 

I cut the original masks for the hinomarus large enough to encompass the normal white border, and then cut a smaller circle large enough to cover just the area that's supposed to be red. Since this model will represent a machine that's had its white borders over-painted with a dark green colour, the rings have been sprayed Tamiya NATO Black and the outer masks removed. The theory is that when the green goes down, the black rings will darken the top coat enough to show through, but look like the darker green they're supposed to be. This is really just my way of not having to mix paints, and also to not have to do any more masking than necessary! Anyway, we'll see how it pans out...

 

Kev

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Hey Kev

 

Totally confused, but gonna sit down, shut up, watch and try to learn something !

 

Cheers

 

Vaughn

 

 

I hear ya mate...I suspected my attempt at explaining what I'm trying to do was as clear as mud. Being stubborn, I'll have another go: Rather than mask, paint and re-mask what should be dark green borders around the meatballs, I've decided to paint the borders black, and then paint the IJN green right over the top in the hope that they'll show through the IJN green as a dark ring. We'll know soon enough!

 

Kev

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Yet another update as I march towards getting the camouflage coats on. I've masked and attached the canopies:

 

post-3071-1256363469.jpg

 

I almost always attach canopies prior to the main painting, as it allows me to blend them in properly, and then paint the frames along with the rest of the airframe. The fit of the canopies on these old kits is never gonna allow you to simply paint 'em up and plonk 'em on at the end. I've attached them with CA and I'm using white glue to blend them in. I'll paint in the inside frame colour before doing any more of that though.

 

Here's the yellow wing leading edges, sprayed, chipped and ready for masking:

 

post-3071-1256363493.jpg

 

I used Brian's suggested refinements to the salt technique this time, and it certainly is easier to put the salt where you want it, and be a bit more targeted and precise. I did have trouble getting the salt to stick, however, without pre-wetting the model. The bulk of it blew away as soon as I pointed the airbrush at it! Still, probably a good thing, as it might well have been overdone otherwise. I can always add more chips later.

 

Kev

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Hey Kev

 

Looks good and the chipping is often overdone. Being that I'm going to be doing a Zero shortly I've been doing research and while most models you see make the aircraft look like there was more metal than paint, what I've found is a lot of pics of aircraft with paint in very good condition with minimal chipping or peeling....even into 43 and 44. I think what you've got there is a good level of wear.. just my 2 cents worth.

 

Cheers

 

Vaughn

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Hey Kev

 

Looks good and the chipping is often overdone. Being that I'm going to be doing a Zero shortly I've been doing research and while most models you see make the aircraft look like there was more metal than paint, what I've found is a lot of pics of aircraft with paint in very good condition with minimal chipping or peeling....even into 43 and 44. I think what you've got there is a good level of wear.. just my 2 cents worth.

 

Cheers

 

Vaughn

 

Thanks Vaughn. I'm not a fan of the over-weathered Japanese aircraft thing either, as I think it's largely a self-perpetuating myth. However, I'm going to deliberately go a bit overboard with this one, partly so I can experiment with some weathering techniques, partly to add visual interest, and partly to distract from all the things I haven't quite pulled off!

 

Kev

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Thanks Vaughn. I'm not a fan of the over-weathered Japanese aircraft thing either, as I think it's largely a self-perpetuating myth. However, I'm going to deliberately go a bit overboard with this one, partly so I can experiment with some weathering techniques, partly to add visual interest, and partly to distract from all the things I haven't quite pulled off!

 

Kev

 

Go crazy man ! I'll sit here and :huh: :)

 

Cheers

 

Vaughn

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Heeeeey, wait a minute! :beer4: I've been waiting for that canopy to show up, just to see how you were going to get the old paint off of it. Wow, that canopy looks like it just came outta the box! How'd ya do that Kevin? :beer4:

Really nice progress, love what ya did for the markings. You were able to get an after-market tail wheel and tail-cone? Amazing. I had no idea there was that much out there for the Zero. Way cool. Looking forward to the next update Buddy!

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Looking forward to the next update Buddy!

 

And here it is!

 

The canopy was painted with acrylics like the rest of the model, so a bit of a soak in Windex and a light scrub afterward took care of that. I gave it about 3 separate dips in floor polish to try to restore some clarity and shine to it, but it was never a great canopy to begin with. It's now breezing gently through "it'll do".

 

OK, so I've got all the major painting done now. The paint chipping turned out to be much less extreme than I was originally planning. This was partly timidity on my part, but I also found laying all the salt pieces down rather tedious, and just gave up once I had a few points of interest covered. I'll add a few more by a combination of scratching/scraping and silver pencil. Photos:

 

post-3071-1256464686.jpg

 

post-3071-1256464698.jpg

 

post-3071-1256464715.jpg

 

post-3071-1256464738.jpg

 

Here's a close-up of what I was trying to achieve with the whole hinomaru border thing:

 

post-3071-1256464656.jpg

 

Still a way to go though! Next up will be applying a few of the Hobbydecal stencils, then some more paint chipping. Then a gloss coat, decals and a lot more weathering!

 

Kev

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Thanks fellas, much appreciated!

 

Kevin- I am wicked impressed man! This is one helluva redo!!!!! If you compare the first before image if this this compared to now, I think I would be extremely proud of her!!! Great Job!!!!

 

You flatter me Thor, but I'm grateful! I spent last evening applying the Hobbydecal stencils, but managed to screw enough of them up to make the process less than enjoyable. They're temperamental beasties, that's for sure (in my hands at least). Still, once they're down they look amazing. Hopefully more photos soon.

 

Kev

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The surface isn't totally or uniformly matt, but it certainly hasn't had a gloss coat yet. In some spots I had to rub so hard I wore through the paint, but of course that just adds to the general weather-beaten look. Anyway, I managed to get most of the important ones on, even if one's on crooked and another's in the wrong spot! I screwed up the stripes for the landing gear doors though, so I may have to resort to painting them.

 

Kev

 

Don't ya just 'love' :huh: painting and decaling ?

 

Cheers

 

Vaughn

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