Trumpeter E.E Lightning F Mk 1. Finished.

[ericg]

So it came time to paint this beast.

 

As I want a highly polished aluminium finish, I wanted to get the best gloss black surface that I was able to before laying down the alclad. I have been using a Iwata HP-BH hi line airbrush for painting so far but felt that I needed to look for an airbrush that handled large areas better, as the current brush is great for very fine work and this model needed large areas of pretty well the same colour. After a bit of research I thought I would try an Iwata Neo TRN1. Now these airbrushes are `made for' Iwata by a different company, and are pitched towards the lower end of the market. As it was intended to cover large areas quickly, as long as it put out a decent job I would be happy. Once in the shop, as soon as I felt how solidly built the product was and how nice the action felt I was sold. As soon as I got it home, I loaded it up with Alclad black case and sprayed away. I highly recommend the airbrush as it does a great job and far exceeded my expectations and I couldn't have been happier with my purchase. The trigger action takes about 5 seconds to get used to and it is a much better way of spraying such large areas.

 

 

The Alclad black base, as it came out of the airbrush. It has an excellent high gloss finish. I left it out in the sun for a few hours to bake the paint.

 

 

 

I painted the model with Alclad Airframe Aluminium to give it a highly reflective sheen. I then heavily mottled Duraluminum over the entire surface to break up the sheen, with a squiggle pattern. This is the base upon which I will now break up each panel as per references. Under different angles, the surface of the model really takes on a very realistic sheen.

 

 

 

 

[Youngtiger1]

Wow, shiiinnnnyyyy!

[Guest Peterpools]

Eric

Fantastic Alcald work for sure and your new Iwata really did the trick.

I have been going in the opposite direction lately and using my newly acquired Iwata M1 Single Action air brush more and more rather then dual action Eclipse and H&S Infinity CR Plus. A smoother and more consistent finish, as paint flow is adjusted with a small knob rather then trigger pressure. My M1 has a 3 tip and I'm ordering a M2 with a 4 tip for wider area application.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[Loic]

Brilliant !

[ericg]

Some more progress....

 

I used the Tamiya Tape with the plastic sheet attached to assist with masking off the spine. I wanted to check how it was going to contrast with the NMF. It will be interesting to see how all this interacts under a clear coat.

 

 

 

4 Avons

 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2015 by ericg

[Whitey]

Lovely mate.

[Guest Peterpools]

Eric

AB work on the spine looks smooth as silk as well as right on the money

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[Piprm]

Hey Eric,

It looks like you're  Avon  a good time!.. or 2.. or 4

Phil

Edited April 24, 2015 by Piprm

[Out2gtcha]

Great paint work..........................I too have been REALLY thinking about a larger pattern airbrush. My Iwata HPC  has some tip issues atm, and even when perfect does not do a great job of spraying large areas.

 

My only issue would be the trigger. I tried the GREX gun a long while back and found the trigger action hard to use. My LHS has this AB, and on your thread, I tried the action at the store, and although it will most definitely be different with air-pressure applied, I seemed to like the action of this Iwata quite a bit better than the trigger action on the GREX model for some reason.

[Loic]

Niiiiccccceeee !!!

[Kagemusha]

I can't imagine what you're going to do next..? 

[ericg]

Hi guys, 

 

Thanks for the comments. This model is really taking shape now and looks really good in its natural metal scheme.

 

Brian,

 

Good to see that you had a try of the Iwata. The trigger does take a little bit to get used to, as well as the fact that it isn't a dual action. The best use for this airbrush is by far the fact that it applies paint to large areas of plastic such as what we do in an exceptional manner. If alot of painting has to be done (such as this lightning) the trigger I have found is a much more natural way to use an airbrush to apply the paint as it is far less fatiguing to your hand, and far less thought has to be put into the process than a dual action. Roughly the first 1cm of `pull' of the trigger is simply air, with the remainder of the travel dedicated simply to how much paint is applied. You can feel the detent when paint starts to flow. Once the correct air pressure is set at your regulator, it is a simple matter of spraying the paint.

 

If you can't tell, I am very much SOLD on this airbrush!! 

 

Eric.

 

Kagemusha, 

 

Yeah,have a few things in the pipeline.

 

Eric.

[Simmo.b]

Came up trumps!!

[Vitali]

Thanks! I just may have to invest in one of these airbrushes myself. Superb finish and i really like the effect.

[ericg]

I have finished the major painting task, and am in the touch up stage. I have post shaded some of the panel lines and also have painted inspection panels Light Aircraft grey and then oversprayed those with alclad to match references. I am spending alot of time trying to get the look of the Natural metal finish right, without using too much shading. These aircraft looked to be very clean in service and were only a few years old at the time I am depicting. It is certainly a very interesting and unique shape to try and capture with the camera, that's for sure.