Tamiya 1/32 Nakajima A6M2 finished 6-13-17

[dennismcc]

That camouflage looks great, I usually fail doing splodges on Japanese aircraft.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[MustangManiac]

Hello everyone,

 

 

Thank you all for all the kind words. I hope to be able to paint the other side later tonight. I've already traced the whole wing pattern with a pencil, it's just waiting for paint. More to come soon.

 

Cheers,

Braady

[MustangManiac]

Hi everyone,

 

I got the camouflage painted on on the other side of my Zero tonight. Here's what it looks like on the other side now:

 

 

I've got to do some touch up work around the wing root area with the Amber Grey or buff some of the Green overspray off there. There's not a very good hard distinguished line between the two colors in that area. I've also got to do a bit more green along the side of the fuselage that butts up with the  leading edge of the left horizontal tail plane, because I got some overspray there too.

 

 

A shot from above with a comparison to the enlarged Hasegawa instructions' profile:

 

 

After looking at the two views  compared I realized I missed one patch of green on the inside of the left wing insignia and added some of my own on the aileron here. I'm debating adding a bit of green inside the insignia and leaving the aileron alone or just leave it all alone, seeing there's no known photos of the real plane that show the camouflage pattern here anyway.

 

That's all I've got for now.

 

Cheers,

Brady

[Shawn M]

nice job Brady!

[Uncarina]

Your build is spectacular! Very distinctive.

 

Cheers, Tom

[MustangManiac]

Thank you very much guys!

 

Cheers,

Brady

[MustangManiac]

Hello everybody,

 

I'm back and I think I'm done painting the camouflage on my Zero. I think I'm going to call it good there. Now I'm done with this I'm trying to decide if I want the wingtips folded or straight. I haven't removed the masks from the leading edges or the insignia yet in the photos, so don't freak about overspray. 

 

 

 

 

 

I still have a few small things to add and paint like the antenna is only dry fitted and the lights still need to be added to the wings and wingtips. I also have to paint the rear of the blades of the prop black and give the whole thing a coat of Future. Then on to the small decals and another coat of Future. 

 

I'd kind of like to try some oil washes on this build, but I'm not convinced I know what I'm doing there yet. Any advice on which ones (brands and colors) are better for using on aircraft models? Most models I've watched YouTube videos on have done a tank model or Armour of some sort. Any advice or tips are much appreciated before I spend money experimenting.

 

Cheers,

Brady

[dodgem37]

Great scheme.  Folded.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Guest Clunkmeister]

Brady, I have the best luck with water based washes over clear. they're much more forgiving. oil, use for dot filters and heavier streaking. But hey, I'm no expert, just an average builder.

[Guest]

Brady, I have the best luck with water based washes over clear. they're much more forgiving. oil, use for dot filters and heavier streaking. But hey, I'm no expert, just an average builder.

I might add that you may try adding a drop of dish soap to the water based wash. It will help brake the surfice tension and it won't "ball up" on the surfice. The build is great looking.....Harv

[Wolf Buddee]

Great scheme.  Folded.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

What Mark said! Great camo scheme and folded wing tips.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

[MustangManiac]

Hi Guys,

 

 

Thank you for your input guys, I'll go with my original plan of folded wingtips.

 

I had some Vallejo washes that I had bought some time ago, but I didn't like what I was seeing so I hadn't used them in a while. After watching some YouTube videos on this stuff I think what my problem before was is I was using an acrylic wash on an acrylic paint and causing a stain wherever it landed. Since these are enamels I used and I had a spare wing top because the original was damaged I had it replaced by Tamiya and used it as a paint guinea pig when picking my camouflage colors. Sooooo I used it for a wash guinea pig too. Here's what I came up with:

 

 

There's actually three colors of wash from Vallejo on this one part at the wing root closer to the leading edge is Dark Brown, at the wing root and the trailing edge up to the aileron is Dark Gray, and further outboard and in the circular fuel caps is Oiled Earth. What do you guys think? I'm leaning  bit more towards the Dark Gray myself. Do I want to give this thing a coat of Future first? The guinea pig wing only has paint and no Future on it.

 

Cheers,

Brady

[dodgem37]

No future.  Future is acrylic.  Again, acrylic wash on acrylic base.  Mix brown and grey together.  The micro texture of the matting agent in flat paint captures the wash particles.  Gloss doesn't allow this.  In my opinion, you'd be better off in this instance to put acrylic over matte, as you've done.

 

If you do want to apply a wash over future, in my opinion, I'd use an oil paint wash.

 

Others mileage may vary.

Sincerely,

Mark

[MustangManiac]

Hi Mark,

 

Really? Future is acrylic? I would have never guessed floor polish was acrylic, I thought it was supposed to repel water, thus I was thinking it wouldn't be acrylic. Or is that only after it solidifies? But I won't argue, I'll take your word for it that it's acrylic. There's a lot more than I thought there was to learn about this stuff when you're a newbie like me at it.

 

One more question though, can I use it as a sealer after everything is completed followed probably by a matte clear coat?

 

Thanks,

Brady

[The1971Show]

Another technique you might consider if you want to apply over a smooth enamel base (without applying Future, or basically, yet another layer of stuff which will dull your detail) is to polish the base coat with steel wool or very fine-grit sandpaper. There's a well-known armour builder who uses this technique and swears by it, although he insists on Humbrol enamels exclusively, as apparently they stand up best to this process. 

 

Darren