Jump to content

Mirage Hobby 1/48 PZL-23 "Karas" *DONE*


mywifehatesmodels

Recommended Posts

Worked on getting the engine and cowl together and painted, this morning. I decided to go with a well weathered copper for the cowl ring, as that seems to be the most popular choice. But, I didn't have any copper paint, yet. So, I asked my daughter, yesterday, if she had any (she's into arts and crafts and has a paint collection even bigger than mine!). She went outside, to her playhouse (an old chicken coop that we converted to a playhouse for the girls) and returned with a tiny bottle of Testors copper enamel. There's no telling how many years the stuff had been sitting out there, was frozen, thawed, then refrozen. There was even paint oozing from the cap and running down the side of the bottle. I had to heat the cap with a lighter and use a pliers to get it off! :blink: But, once I got the cap off, I found that the paint had not solidified. Well, not totally, anyway and it was VERY thick (but no chunks!). So, I put several drops of mineral spirits in it and shook it for a few minutes, then opened it back up. Voila! Good as new! So, I brushed the cowl ring with that and let it dry overnight. This morning, I shot it with a thinned, mist coat of raw umber, just to attempt to get a weathered copper look. My goal was to get it to look like an old penny......

 

 

20151112_120930_zpsrq6kmkjc.jpg

 

 

I think it looks great, actually. The photo doesn't show it very well, but there's a slight metallic sheen peeking through, which is exactly what I was looking for! :thumbsup:

 

As for the rest of the engine, I really didn't add anything, other than a blast tube for the starboard nose gun (Romanians only used one nose gun, apparently?). I had to add the rear of the spinner, in order to get the prop shaft in place, so I painted that, too (still wet in the photo). Before adding the prop and spinner front, I'll assemble the rest of the cowl and complete the painting of it.

 

John

Edited by mywifehatesmodels
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, guys!

 

I managed to get the main cowl panels on, then masked off the front ring and painted them. When I pulled the masking off, I removed a bit of the finish, revealing some of the copper, which is okay, because I planned on making a few dings here and there to reveal it, anyway. Also, I will probably weather them a bit so that they're not such a stark contrast.

 

20151112_193809_zpsqrlgmuxm.jpg

 

Getting closer to the finish line, now. I'm hoping to be able to get the decals on and start some weathering, tomorrow.

 

Thanks again!

 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This morning, I applied a little bit of an oil filter. This gave a little more color depth to the finish, as well as cutting back some of the paint in spots, while I rubbed it in. After a bit of that, I decided to apply the decals. Once they're settled down I can apply a clear coat, do some more oils and pastels, then finish with the final flat coat. The yellow of the cross decals is certainly too bright. I'm going to try to tone them down a bit, as well. The decals were all very easy to work with and look good, so far. The only exception being the stripe decals for the rudder. Unfortunately, the first one I tried pretty much shattered upon trying to form it to the rudder. I decided to just go ahead and paint the stripes on, instead. It will probably be no less work and look better in the long run.

 

20151113_092915_zpsjyxahyys.jpg

 

20151113_101100_zpssktwt1ni.jpg

 

Happy Modeling!

 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Peterpools

John

Amazing progress and enjoyed following each step of the way. The Karas looks wonderful painted, decaled and weathered. Awesome work

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, guys!

 

Here's a shot of the underside. I used a flash which made this look a little colorless. The weathering and shading are actually more pronounced than what the photo would indicate.

 

20151114_205515_zpsdqmnft0c.jpg

 

I also started working on the guns. I started with the dorsal/rear gun. These little things are extremely fragile and, even though I was able to get it off the sprue without breaking it, the muzzle end went flying when I was trying to clean it up. So, I cut off the majority of the barrel and replaced it with hypodermic tube. After that, I attached the magazine, PE sights and made a new muzzle from stretched sprue. The bead sight on this (actually, the entire gun assembly) reminded me of why I'm not a fan of 1/48 scale! We'll see how many times I end up breaking this before I'm finished and I also still have to do the lower gun, which is more of the same. :rolleyes:

 

20151114_205320_zpsmtygssmg.jpg

 

 

I also painted the rudder stripes today. MUCH better looking and less hassle than the decals would have been.

 

20151114_211346_zps9ecb1asv.jpg

 

Taking a break for the night. We'll see what I can get done tomorrow.

 

Thanks for riding along!

 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...