Revell 1/32 Bf109G-10 Erla

[Thunnus]

Thanks for checking in and commenting!  Much appreciated!

 

 

Late, I know, but not too, I hope.  It looks as tho you riveted the horizontal stabilizers.  I think they are wood also.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

 

Thanks for the comment Mark!  At this point...yeah, I think I'm going to leave the rivets on the horizontal stabs.  I think I've expended enough time filling/sanding on this build but I'll file that for the future!

 

The re-riveting effort is now complete.  I pretty much did the whole model to keep the rivets consistent.

 

 

With the re-riveting done, I can finally move on to painting.  I'm going to do some hairspray chipping at the wing roots so I'll put some silver down first.  I've had trouble getting the hairspray to stick evenly to a glossy surface so I'm going to put the silver (Tamiya AS-12) on a flat black base.

 

 

 

Two coats of hairspray on the silver with a couple of hours drying time between each coat and I'm moving on to preshading.  My first preshading step is to do the panel lines.

 

 

 

After the panel line work, I fill in all of the spaces in between with a fine black mottle.  This is something I started doing after I saw the results of black-basing.  I guess it is the inverse of black basing but serves the same purpose: to give the camo layer a bit of depth and variance.

 

 

 

It looks a bit odd now but as you'll see later, it yields a nice, subtle effect, which is very easy to control using highly-thinned paints.  Since it takes a bit of time, I often take breaks.  I got pretty far in one session on the G-10, managing to finish the bottom, tail and fuselage.

 

 

Although it looks ragged, the mottle finish should be smooth as I am using very thin paint (about 5:1 thinner to paint ratio).  Long spray sessions will lead to some spitting of the airbrush but I just smear down any errant blobs of paint.  Prior to painting, I'll inspect the mottle and remove any missed paint blobs with Micromesh.

 

 

I've stopped here for the night.  Tomorrow I'll finish the preshading on the top of the wings and its on to the next step in the painting process.

 

 

Edited April 17, 2018 by Thunnus

[alain11]

I learn every day .. I didn't know this "mottling " method , can't wait for the next step

Alain

[Wackyracer]

so good. basing technique is very cool. I use it but with darker or lighter shades of the colours.

[matto21]

I'm loving both the progress with this and also the completed FW190.

 

In fact, I started building a Revell 1:32 109 about 2 years ago (maybe longer) and it's languished untouched since then. This is inspiring me to do something with it!

 

Matt

Edited December 23, 2017 by matto21

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!

 

I finished up the pre-shading on the wings.

 

 

 

Ok... so the preshading is finished and I can start painting.  The bottom first, RLM 76, which is a mix of Tamiya paints. The key to this preshading technique is to use highly thinned colors for the camo.  My current thinner to paint ratio is about 4:1.  For Tamiya and Gunze acrylics, I think with 91% iso alcohol.  The paint has to be built up using successive layers so the airbrush must be kept moving constantly to avoid pooling.  Starting at the starboard wing tip, I work inwards small sections at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

I like a subtle effect but keep in mind that contrasting colors and black and white crosses will tend to crush the effect.

 

 

The thinned paint goes on very smoothly and is quite transparent which makes it easier to dial the pre-shading effect to your preference.

 

 

 

Uniformity is not necessary and sometimes avoided.  Around the engine area, I like less paint and more black preshading to show through.

 

 

Panel by panel, I work my way backward toward the tail.

 

 

 

 

The RLM 76 is finished and it is time for the next color.  It's either going to be the wing root colors or the tail.

 

 

Edited April 17, 2018 by Thunnus

[sandokan]

Eow! Really impressive! Great job!

[Out2gtcha]

Brilliant paint Work! It really looks wonderful

[monthebiff]

Looking really nice John, all of your careful prep work on the replacement nose has really paid off.

 

Regards. Andy

[Gazzas]

Very nice pre-mottling.

 

Gaz

[Thunnus]

Merry Christmas to all!  I hope everyone is warm and happy this Christmas Day.

 

After painting the light blue, I decided to do the upper wings and masked off the appropriate areas, including the wavy demarcation on the wing leading edge.

 

 

I've deviated from my normal Tamiya acrylics to try some of the Mr. Hobbby Aqueous paints.  I'm treating them the same as Tamiya, using isopropyl alcohol to thin.  First is the Dark Grey RLM 75.  I'm using the instructions from an EagleCal G-10 Erla decal set as a guide for the camo pattern on the wings.

 

 

 

 

After the Grey, the Dark Green RLM 83 is sprayed on.

 

 

The wing camo painting is complete and I can take off the masking.

 

 

 

I'm going to attack the camo, not by color but by area.  That's why I didn't spray the fuselage and horizontal stabs with the RLM 75 and 83.  I'm not sure why I'm doing it this way but it feels right.

 

 

 

The tail is next... I'm going to do hard-edged RLM 83 spots on a RLM 75 background so the green goes on first for this step.  Notice that I've lost the tab that I made for the aerial... I have no idea when it got knocked off.  I'll worry about it when painting is finished.

 

Edited April 17, 2018 by Thunnus

[Thunnus]

The tail spots are masked using bits of Blu-Tack pushed into shape with a cocktail stick.

 

 

 

This is a good opportunity to paint the upper surfaces of the horizontal stabilizers.

 

 

Now it is time to paint the camo on the fuselage minus the mottling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still a bit of painting work to do including the trademark black tulip on the nose and the mottling on the fuselage sides.  Neither the Revell kit nor the Montex masks have the tail swastika and having no appropriate spares, I am waiting on a decal set to provide the swastika.

 

Edited April 17, 2018 by Thunnus

[LSP_Kevin]

Terrific paint work, John!

 

Kev

[Kahunaminor]

Classic work!

 

Great control and execution. Watching your work unfold is like a game of pass the parcel. The excitement builds at every stop!

 

Regards,

[sandokan]

What amazing painting work!

Brilliant!!!

[Shawn M]

the paint work is just lovely, really pops