ruzlkampf Posted May 5, 2008 Author Share Posted May 5, 2008 Last pic of the night, in all it's splotched glory, just to show it's on it's gear. Looks even more leprous now, cause I've been sanding on it more! Getting real close to paint now, and I've been practicing with my new Iwata double-action airbrush. Yet another new learning curve, but I think it'll prove to be a hoot to play with. Sorry no major changes to show, just a bunch of piddling little details that I've been hacking away at. Later, Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 It's really looking the business now Russ! Can't wait to see some paint on this one. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Hey Russ, your spit does look amazing my friend! The side view really shows the beauty of the plane and also how big the engine is compared to the fuselage. There is an obvious difference especially with the early Merlin engined (Mk I to VI) in the overall balance of the plane and what was initially beautyfull is now.... sexy! Keep it up, you are doing a great job. Hope you will forgive me but I am about to press once again onto this "push you on button" you talked about in some earlier post so if you think it is better for you somehow: try not to read what's bellow and go straight to "Cheers"... I understand you do have slight issue with your exaust as you would need some fishtail desing. Here is a method I did practice several time and that gives some quite good results in my eyes. Take a 2mm OD / 1mm ID aluminium tube (I do prefer to work with aluminium rather that brass for this exercise as I find it easier to bend but it is your call). with a dremel or similar tool, drill one end at about 1.7 or 1.8mm diameter on about 0.5 to 1mm deep so there is just a very thin layer of tubing letf on the outter diameter. Then, with a pair of flat end pliers, just flatten the end you just drilled in order to get the fishtail shape. Depending on what you are after, you can either work inline from the end (to have a rather flat fishtail section) or from both sides (to have a more "diamond" or oval fishtail section). Having drilled the tube first allows you to keep the illusion of an empty pipe even when the 1mm ID gets in contact the one with the other. working with aluminium also allow to apply further deformation more easily once you have reached this point. Then, with a round end plier, just bend the piece of tubing to the appropriate radius until it gets final shape and angle from the engine and cut at lenght. With a little bit of practice, this should give you some very nice exaust buddy! Cheers, loic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Hope you will forgive me but I am about to press once again onto this "push you on button" you talked about in some earlier post so if you think it is better for you somehow: try not to read what's bellow and go straight to "Cheers"... I understand you do have slight issue with your exaust as you would need some fishtail desing. Here is a method I did practice several time and that gives some quite good results in my eyes. Take a 2mm OD / 1mm ID aluminium tube (I do prefer to work with aluminium rather that brass for this exercise as I find it easier to bend but it is your call). with a dremel or similar tool, drill one end at about 1.7 or 1.8mm diameter on about 0.5 to 1mm deep so there is just a very thin layer of tubing letf on the outter diameter. Then, with a pair of flat end pliers, just flatten the end you just drilled in order to get the fishtail shape. Depending on what you are after, you can either work inline from the end (to have a rather flat fishtail section) or from both sides (to have a more "diamond" or oval fishtail section). Having drilled the tube first allows you to keep the illusion of an empty pipe even when the 1mm ID gets in contact the one with the other. working with aluminium also allow to apply further deformation more easily once you have reached this point. Then, with a round end plier, just bend the piece of tubing to the appropriate radius until it gets final shape and angle from the engine and cut at lenght. With a little bit of practice, this should give you some very nice exaust buddy! Cheers, loic That's a fantastic idea Loic! That's what I love about these forums - all the great ideas that people are always willing to share to help each other out. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 Hi everybody, thanks Kev but I think this really is an old trick. I forgot to tell to insert a piece of styren into the tubung before bending unless it will get too flat in the bend. I took a couple of shots to illustrate what it looks like: this is not the finest work but it really took me less than a minut to make that one pipe... I think this worth the time spent. Cheers, loic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 now as if it was seen from top: this show how the round tubig gently switches to flat shape Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruzlkampf Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 Well, it's been a little over a month since I started work on this project! (April-6th) Finally got all the fiddly bits I wanted to put on, drew the line in the sand, and said "good enough for me". Got the rivets on the cowling about where I want em, radiator actuators/gun bay heating tubes behind the radiators, tail light on the rudder, little flanges below the front windscreen, and a plethora of other little "what-nots" installed. Everything else will be put on after painting.(pitot tube, antennae, ect.) Decided to use this model as a guinea-pig for practice with my new double-action airbrush. Dove right in, and finally got my thinner/paint ratio down. I like it! Lightened up some of the primary colors I'll be using, and free-handed a camoflouge pattern. Will be using darker colors for a faded look over these. This model won't be severely weathered, but it will be pretty "used" looking. Colors didn't come out too well in the pics at all, but I wanted to show everybody where I'm at. Feels good to finally start "painting this damn thing".(eh, Kevin?!) Will have some better pics this weekend when I can get out into some "white light" that will show the true colors. Short update for now. Later, Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruzlkampf Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 Should have this camo pattern tightened up by the 3rd pass with progressively darker colors. Still not exactly how I want it. More details should pop out with a wash too. Ohhh, I can't wait to start weathering this thing! Been printing up some new decals and getting my markings down. Haven't seen any Mk.XIV's with kill markings or anything,...pity, I kinda like stacking them on. This will be a 2nd Tactical AF aircraft, so the wing roundels will have a yellow surround. Got my PCM Mk.9's in the mail yesterday, and I've gotta get this project done so I can start hacking into one of those to make a Mk.XVIe for my next build. Methinks I still might have enough time to complete that before this GB ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 Nice one Russ! So you're printing your own decals, eh? I'll be interested to see how they turn out. Looks like you've mastered your new airbrush pretty quickly too - that camo looks great! You're right about the light though - do you have a graphics program you can use to lighten them before posting? Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruzlkampf Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 No Kevin, don't have a graphics suite to play with. Still have to get some decent(white) lights for my model building area this weekend anyway, and I'm still playing with exposures and focal lengths with the camera. Close-ups look too distorted with a fisheye effect. Too lazy to take more pics tonight for posting. Going to need a small tripod for the longer focal lengths, and get away from the auto exposure settings for more control. I'm still from the old-school cameras and haven't learned how to play with all the features of this digital contraption. Still learning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbell Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 ...don't have a graphics suite to play with... Hi Russ, Might I suggest Irfanview? It's a freeware graphic viewer that also offers basic image manipulation features (such as colour correction). It's very simple to use; I took the liberty of tweaking one of your images to illustrate: Cheers, Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 Wow! Now she is coming alive and what an excellent paint job so far mate! I think we all want to see more Russ..... Loic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgbooyv8 Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 I agree Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridge Runner Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 Russ, she is looking great. Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruzlkampf Posted May 12, 2008 Author Share Posted May 12, 2008 Sorry it took so long to post the latest pics, but I've been playing with the new editing program (Thanks a ton, Mark! ) that "tbell" has so graciously turned me on to. Pics already look MUCH better. Here is where I was at Saturday night. Pretty much painted, waiting for clear coat so I can apply a wash, more weathering, markings, ect. Did that today, so while everything is drying, I'm going to show where I was at Sunday mornng before diddling with it some more.. Another walk-around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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