allthumbs Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Outstanding Guy! Those rivets look great - precisely laid out patterns and a very scale-like appearance. Keep up the great work. Rich geedubelyer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted July 12, 2015 Author Share Posted July 12, 2015 (edited) Thanks guys Looks awesome, geedubelyer! Adding the rivets in tiny batches like that is really tedious, but I also find it oddly relaxing - it's a kind of zen thing, I can get totally in the zone doing something that's completely mundane. An hour or two can completely evaporate on a job like that, and (maybe I'm just a weirdo) I find it oddly blissful.Anyway, the effect is terrific. Can't wait to see it under some paint!CheersJimPS I'm sure you've noticed, some of the original recessed rivets seem to have survived, particularly up the top of the spine. I'm no Spitfire expert (in fact I shudder to think where the bar is set for that on this forum), is that deliberate? Hi Jim, I wish I found this kind of repetition relaxing too. In the end it was a case of just getting stuck in because without finishing this I could n't move on. Sometimes I sit and wonder whether a certain path is the right one..... You're quite correct, I did leave some of the rivets visible. It was an intentional act you'll be pleased to know. Studying reference photos showed that some of the recessed rivets on the full sized birds remain more visible than others. I'm hoping that under the cammo they will be less noticable yet still visible from some angles. Time will tell. Word of warning though, be very careful as even under a coat of primer I did have a couple of small areas lift when removing a blu tak snake when I finshed the painting process and I was very careful but it still happened. Regards. Andy Hi Andy, thanks for the kind words. Thanks too for the heads-up. I must admit to being more than a little concerned about lift. Not just on the initial colour coats but also the roundel and serial masking. This has had a solid coat of spray can white primer but I'm still not counting my chickens. I'll keep you posted (good or bad) on progress. Much better than the recessed rivet detail that came on the kit.Cheers,Wolf Hi Wolf, thanks. I have to give some credit to Revell for their recessed rivets as they appeared to be pretty accurate in placement and were great to follow but I do agree, raised rivets on the aft fuselage would have been better. It's peculiar to think that some much older kits do indeed include this detail. I wonder why it is n't done more often now? You show some degree of familiarity with old fashioned modelling skillsRegards, Hi Kahunaminor, thanks for the generous comments. I suspect that some of this is due to being old fashioned myself. precisely laid out patterns and a very scale-like appearance.Rich Thanks Rich. As I mentioned to Wolf, I think Revell must take much of the credit for the layout of the rivets and the remainder of the credit probably goes to Archer who produce a superb product. I just happen to be the bloke who managed to join the dots. Unfortunately work is busy at the moment so I can't get any time at the bench but it does mean the primer will be fully hardened off by the time I get to the proper paint job. My intention is to tackle the undersides first. The actual airframe is a very light colour which I think I may have to mix. Also, I'm planning on using Maketar masks for the roundels and I treated myself to some HGW transfers for the stencil data so I'm hoping I can get them to work this time. If so, I'm optimistic that they'll give great results. Once again I'll keep everyone up to speed on progress in case anyone is thinkign of doing anything similar. Bye for now. Cheers. Edited July 12, 2015 by geedubelyer ClumsyDude and Girlscanplay2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 (edited) Painting has begun. It's not going well.... It all started ok but went rapidly down hill. I applied the tail band first as this is lighter than the undersides and I wanted to mask it off before the top cammo. Photographed against a white back drop, the band looks darker than it is. I used Humbrol's sky acrylic and added some Valejo white-grey to it to lighten the colour. Next I used the unlightened sky for the undersides. Again, the white back drop makes it appear darker. Finally I began the cammo. Using Humbrol's Dark earth I applied the first coat. This is where things took a turn for the worse. The paint finish is like sandpaper. Extremely gritty to the touch and quite thick even though the paint was thinned enough. To cap it all, it's not even the right colour I'm not a happy bunny. To be truthful I'm losing any and all enthusiasm for this model. I guess I'm not a true modeller because I just want things to fall together. I do this as a (supposedly) relaxing pastime, not to do battle. I suspect that I'll cover over the Dark Earth with a colour that more closely resembles the actual colour of the original restored bird and carry on from there even if this results in obliterating and surface detail. Life's too short to worry about this stuff...... Edited July 20, 2015 by geedubelyer andromeda673 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monthebiff Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Feeling for you on this one Geedulbyer, Leave it alone for a few days and come back to it. When I built this kit earlier year I got very near the finsh line and had loads of issues with Future/milky marks, managed to overcome this and then found my undercarriage melt and collapse with a MIG wash........bit of a low point until I managed to dig out the plastic stubs, got some metal replacements and then switched them without realizing and went on to carefully paint them the wrong colour of black and white.......nearly gave up but perciveired and ended up with a really nice looking Spit......dont give in as it will be worth it in the end. Regards. Andy Whitey and geedubelyer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Geedubelyer, this kind of thing is really disheartening. I feel for you - paint woes are like a kick in the guts after all the effort that goes into getting past the primer stage. I, too, tend to want painting to be like a parade - I can handle stuff being messy in construction because that's all about files and putty and scribers. But painting was meant to be easy. Keep at it, you'll rescue this one. And when you do, it'll be doubly satisfying. Cheers Jim geedubelyer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wunwinglow Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Wow. Definitely reasonable to revert to Anglo-Saxon when you find your paint acts up like that.... Count to ten, chin up, crack on. Tim geedubelyer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggTim Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Definitely don't give up on this one permanently, I think it's looking great! geedubelyer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Girlscanplay2 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 (edited) Wow! How disheartening! You have done so much work but please don't give up! I think you are not alone in your feelings and lots of folks have things happen. Don't let this beat you!! It will look fantastic in the end! I admire your patients with all the riveting. Looking forward to seeing this finished Hang in there! Teresa Edited July 20, 2015 by Girlscanplay2 geedubelyer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomv87 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Yes, these types of things can be very discouraging! But hang in there and think of how you can fix it. That's what I do when I hit a trouble spot, and usually, what I figure out works. Can you wet sand that finish with some super fine micro mesh? Maybe that will knock it back enough to put on your next coat. I used to use enamels exclusively, but I found the same problem; getting inconsistent finishes. They just didn't work for me. Now i only use Mr. Color lacquers or Tamiya paints. They just dry so much faster and the finishes can't be beat. Anyway, hope you get back on the horse. Those rivets look outstanding, btw. It's funny I didn't realize that model Spit still had raised rivets on the outside, while the Japanese A6M had flush rivets on all exposed surfaces. Maybe it was just faster to get them out and into combat, with the Battle of Britain waging; but that's just a guess. Best wishes! Tom Girlscanplay2 and geedubelyer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 (edited) A big thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement on this. Very much appreciated. When I built this kit earlier year I got very near the finsh line and had loads of issues with Future/milky marks, managed to overcome this and then found my undercarriage melt and collapse with a MIG wash........bit of a low point until I managed to dig out the plastic stubs, got some metal replacements and then switched them without realizing and went on to carefully paint them the wrong colour of black and white.......nearly gave up but perciveired and ended up with a really nice looking Spit......dont give in as it will be worth it in the end. Regards. Andy Hi Andy, yep, I remember the issues you had. I agree, you turned out a cracking Spit. Guys like you who overcome these kinds of hurdles are a big inspiration for not chucking in the towel. Thanks for the upbeat comments. Geedubelyer, this kind of thing is really disheartening. I feel for you - paint woes are like a kick in the guts after all the effort that goes into getting past the primer stage. I, too, tend to want painting to be like a parade - I can handle stuff being messy in construction because that's all about files and putty and scribers. But painting was meant to be easy.Keep at it, you'll rescue this one. And when you do, it'll be doubly satisfying.CheersJim Hi Jim, many thanks sir. I often look forward to the painting stage as it can be when things come alive but,......there can also be storm clouds on the horizon. I'm mostly to blame as I used a new and, to me at least, untried product. This what's bitten me in the bum. Oh well, live and learn. Wow. Definitely reasonable to revert to Anglo-Saxon when you find your paint acts up like that.... Count to ten, chin up, crack on.Tim Does "oh bum" count as Anglo-Saxon Tim? It took a bit more than ten but I'm back on it. Scroll down to see the results and thanks for the pep talk my friend. Definitely don't give up on this one permanently, I think it's looking great! Hi BiggTim, thanks for the kind words, I appreciate the encouragement. I'll take your advice and crack on with it. Even if it goes pear shaped I've come too far to back out now I think. Wow! How disheartening!You have done so much work but please don't give up!I think you are not alone in your feelings and lots of folks have things happen. Don't let this beat you!!It will look fantastic in the end!I admire your patients with all the riveting.Looking forward to seeing this finishedHang in there!Teresa Hi Teresa, thanks for stopping by and adding your words of support, much appreciated. I'm not sure whether the rivet detail will be that apparent now but I live in hope. Can you wet sand that finish with some super fine micro mesh? Maybe that will knock it back enough to put on your next coat. I used to use enamels exclusively, but I found the same problem; getting inconsistent finishes. They just didn't work for me. Now i only use Mr. Color lacquers or Tamiya paints. They just dry so much faster and the finishes can't be beat. Anyway, hope you get back on the horse. Those rivets look outstanding, btw. It's funny I didn't realize that model Spit still had raised rivets on the outside, while the Japanese A6M had flush rivets on all exposed surfaces. Maybe it was just faster to get them out and into combat, with the Battle of Britain waging; but that's just a guess. Best wishes! Tom Hi Tom, thanks for the ideas. I did try to smooth the surface somewhat but what I found was the raised surface detail was a hindrance. At this point I've simply oversprayed the Dark Earth with the Dark Green and retained the horrible, sandpaper like surface texture. I'm considering attempting to level out the surface with a gloss coat to see how that reacts. I'll be sure to let you guys know the results. Until then, take a peek at these shots showing the cammo completed. My larger sheet of blue backdrop paper was elsewhere so I was forced to improvise for these shots, sorry The blue is to try to show the actual colour of the paint. Now that the green is on the upper surfaces the dark earth looks closer to what I wanted. I'm going to live with it. I used sausages of blu-tac for the soft demarcation lines (you might see a greasy residue on the closest loop of dark earth) whick worked ok. The masking between the cammo and sky is hard edged along the cowlings. Unusually, it is a feathered edge along the demarcation line of the rear fuselage. I can just see the difference in shade between the tail band and undersides on my monitor, Hopefully, you guys can see that too? There are a couple of touch ups required but nothing too severe. I feel a bit better than I did a few days ago but I'm approaching the gloss clear coat with some trepidation. Unfortunately it'll be a wee while before I can get back to this so I have plenty of time to think about it. Thanks for stopping by and thanks again for the much needed boost. Edited July 21, 2015 by geedubelyer Girlscanplay2, andromeda673, BiggTim and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloorwestSiR Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Looks fine to me Geedubelyer. Glad to see you overcome the problem. I would be very happy with a result like that. I think you're right in trying a clear coat and then maybe sanding it slightly. How fine do you make the blu-tack sausages in oder to get the soft demarcation lines? Carl geedubelyer and Girlscanplay2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Looks killer buddy ! Glad you hung in there and kicked butt !....Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Looks great to me geedubelyer. I can't see the texture issues you've got with the paint but I'll keep fingers crossed for the gloss coat. Jim geedubelyer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monthebiff Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Looking mighty fine geedubelyer, lovely demarcation between the upper surface colours. looking foward to seeing her in a glosss coat with decals on. Regards. Andy geedubelyer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomv87 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Geedubelyer- Nice comeback! That paint job looks sweet! Tom geedubelyer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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