AZUR Battle of France MS 406C1

[dennismcc]

Thanks guys, the screen nearly stopped me in my tracks but on wards and upwards,

The seat backrest and anti roll bars where then fitted in the aft cockpit parcel shelf, all of the clear parts were then masked and the clear aft section test fitted. The test fit revealed that it did not fit at all, the fuselage was too wide for it to even sit on the edges. So two pieces of plastic card were cut out and glued to the fuselage side walls to give the clear part somewhere to sit. However while fiddling around the complete parcel shelf became dislodged and fell into the fuselage. Luckily I managed to retrieve it and with some liberal dosing with CA it was stuck back in place, the area was then repainted with H77 to cover all the shiny CA marks. This was a success and the rear clear part of the canopy was glued in place and the resultant gaps filled with CA and Mr Surfacer.

A trial fit of the screen showed a not perfect fit, so it was tacked in place using CA, once this was set the resultant gaps were filled with more layers of CA. The resultant (mess) was then sanded down and received a coat of Mr Surfacer,

 

Cheers

 

Den

Edited October 13, 2019 by dennismcc
Replaced blurred Photobucket photos

[Azgaron]

Nice work Den! Good that you managed to retrieve the part and get it in place!

 

HÃ¥kan

[scvrobeson]

Looks like great progress.  These French planes do look good, and seem to be pretty under-represented in the kit world.  I'm sure this build will turn out great, even with your problems with the windscreen. Nice save on that. How did you measure a new center panel for the clear part?

 

 

 

 

Matt 

[dennismcc]

Looks like great progress.  These French planes do look good, and seem to be pretty under-represented in the kit world.  I'm sure this build will turn out great, even with your problems with the windscreen. Nice save on that. How did you measure a new center panel for the clear part?

 

 

 

 

Matt 

Thanks Matt, the French did build some attractive (and ugly !) aircraft and I am strangely drawn to the 3 colour scheme that they wore it is a pity that the early war aircraft are so neglected, but at least AZUR have given us the main French types from this period, I can't really see Tamiya producing a 1/32 scale Fokker DXXI.

I think I measured the original canopy before it split in two and made a paper template to cut out the new section from clear sheet.

 

Cheers

 

Den

[dennismcc]

The kit decals give options for two subjects and I have the MMP Camouflage and decals booklet which includes another option however I went for a subject in the Topcoats 17 Fighters over France1940 , No 806 Black 1 L835, 6. Escaderille GC III/7, Vitry-le Francois, 1^st April 1940.

 

Looking back on the research that I did for the Bloch and the H75 I went with Xtracolor X127 FS15414 for the undersides Gris Bleu Clair, for the topside colours I went with Xtracolor X125 Intermediate Blue for Gris Bleu Fonze, the WEM Colourcoats ACF09 is just as good but I like the gloss of Xtracolor paints, for Kaki I used WEM Colourcoats ACF07 Kaki, and for the Brown I used WEM ACF04 Chocolat.

 

I nearly forgot the wing tip lights, so these were removed from their sprue cleaned up and test fitted to the wings. The fit was very good so they were painted in the appropriate colours (on the inside) and attached to the wings with CA. Once this was dry they were sanded and polished, a tad of CA was used to fill a seam that appeared and the sanding and polishing was repeated.

The whole airframe was then cleaned and polished with a nail buffer and a lens cloth before the undersides were airbrushed with Xtracolor X127. For this I used a 50:50 mix of paint and Xtracolor thinners, 2 ml of each was enough for a good coat. The elevators, wheel well covers and the radiator cover were airbrushed while this colour was loaded. But a look at the paint finish in daylight revealed a still visible seam on the underside on the nose so a 0.5 ml paint and 0.5ml thinner mix was used to touch up the paintwork. The undersides were then faded using a 50:50 (0.5 ml of each) mix of X127 and X141 (white) mixed with 1 ml of thinners, this was airbrushed as streaks from front to rear of the wings and on the leading edge of the wings.

More soon

 

Cheers

 

Den

Edited October 13, 2019 by dennismcc
Replaced blurred Photobucket photos

[dennismcc]

The rudder will be painted to match the roundels, the first stage of this was airbrushing the rudder white (Xtracolor X141) again with a 50:50 mix of paint and thinners

The white centre was then masked off, the two small pieces of tape are only there to give the correct gap.

Then the blue was airbrushed for this I used Humbrol H89.

And finally the red was airbrushed using Xtracolor X14 (RAF Red Arrows Red) and this was the result.

As I usually paint all the national markings I had a good dig around and found some left over masks from my previous French builds (from Miracle Paint Masks)  they are all within 1mm of the kit decals so will be used.

 

Cheers

 

Den

Edited October 13, 2019 by dennismcc
Replaced blurred Photobucket photos

[LSP_Kevin]

Awesome paint work Den! You always get such smooth finishes. Can't wait for more!

 

Kev

[Azgaron]

Nice paint job!

 

HÃ¥kan

[skiner]

Really, You make a really good job..... I love it!

[ROM]

hello!

 

interesting subject!  ^^

 

and very nice work ;^)

 

Bye!

Romain

[dennismcc]

Thank you all for the kind words, I just hope that I don't make a mess of it now !

 

Cheers

 

Den

[dennismcc]

Now for the fun part, unfortunately I was a bit lazy and forgot to take some pictures during this stage but you will still get the general idea, the undersides were masked off, a tight demarcation on the wing leading edges but soft demarcation on the fuselage using paper and Blu Tac sausages. The upper surfaces were then airbrushed Gris Bleu Fonce using Xtracolor X125 (Intermediate blue), this went on very well again using a 50:50 mix of paint and thinners (2 ml each). I nearly forgot to paint the sliding section of canopy but remembered just in time, using Tamiya tape on the inside and a blob of Blu Tac and a cocktail stick it was readied and airbrushed.

Time for the masking making sure that I mask off the right sections.

Lots of patient cutting up and thin Blu Tac sausages later we have this;

Then I airbrushed the green parts of the pattern using WEM ACF07 Kaki. This was left to dry for a day then a lightened Kaki was airbrushed in a random pattern, after one week the Kaki was masked off, again using paper masks and Blu Tac sausages, and the brown was airbrushed, initially I was going to use ACF06 Ombre Calcinee (Dark Earth) but I changed my mind and used ACF04 Chocolat. This was airbrushed on using my normal 50:50 paint to thinners mix, it was left to dry for a day then the lightened coat was airbrushed using 0.5 ml Chocolat and 0.25ml white with 1.0 ml thinner. All the masking was removed straight after airbrushing the lightened mix and in a few places paint creep under the masks was evident, this was removed using a cotton bud dipped lightly with turps.

This was the end result

Next the markings

 

Cheers

 

Den

Edited October 13, 2019 by dennismcc
Replaced blurred Photobucket photos

[Azgaron]

Very nice paint job Den! Looks great! Looking forward to the decals.

 

HÃ¥kan

[SinuheH]

Lovely work, Dennis - very impressive!

 

I've shied away from this kit - but may be inspired by your build.

 

[dennismcc]

Very nice paint job Den! Looks great! Looking forward to the decals.

 

HÃ¥kan

Thank you Hakan, it is my favourite bit, as long as it comes out right

 

Lovely work, Dennis - very impressive!

 

I've shied away from this kit - but may be inspired by your build.

 

Thank you for that, It's the only MS406 kit in town so it may as well be built as sit in the stash, it's not a bad build at all, some modelling skills required and some patience.

 

Cheers

 

Den.