1/32 Revell Bf109G-6/AS Hohenjager

[Thunnus]

On 3/30/2020 at 1:08 AM, matto21 said:

Looks brilliant! 

 

Apologies if it's already been asked, but I'm interested in your salt fading technique. Whenever I do it, I'm left with areas of discolouration after the salt is removed. How do you avoid this? 

 

Matt 

 

I don't do anything specific to avoid discoloration or staining... it just hasn't happened to me.  It sounds like the salt has reacted with the underlying paint?  I am using Tamiya, Mr Hobby or AK Real Colors acrylics for paints, Alclad Aqua Gloss for my clear gloss and Testors Model Master Flat Clear Acrylic for my clear flat.  My painting order for the prop blades is 1) Tamiya AS-12 Silver (decanted from a spray can), 2) hairspray, 3) Mr Hobby Aqueous RLM 70 Black Green,  4) MM Flat Clear Acrylic.  The salt was applied after the Flat Clear Acrylic.  The salt itself is rock salt or sea salt (not table salt) that I put in a small ceramic bowl and grind into a finer grain.  The pic below is from a different build but you can see the salt that has been applied to the prop blades.  This is allowed to completely dry and then I mist a lighter color over the salt encrusted blades.  After that dries, I remove the salt by spraying the blades off with water.

[matto21]

Thank you for taking the time to reply John. 

 

Hmmm, similar combination of paint to what I use (Tamiya and Mr Hobby Aqueous). The only difference is the type of salt - maybe that's it! 

 

Matt 

[Thunnus]

Slow going on the modeling front.  I would've thought that I'd have time to spend in the modeling room now that our state is under mandatory shelter-in-place orders.  But that has not been the case.  I've been busy working at home and also my mind continues to dwell on the friends I left in Central Asia.  One who is especially dear to me and is going through some unfortunate health issues right now.

 

But I have tomorrow off and with no likely fishing opportunities, I'll probably get to do some more modeling this weekend.

 

In the few hours that I have spent working on this G-6, I've cut some exhaust deflectors from brass sheeting.

 

The Barracuda resin wheels have been painted.  Still some weathering work to do on the landing gear but the base painting is done.

[Scale32]

Really like those legs!

 

Cheers Bevan 

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!

I'm going to constrain the hairspray chipping to the wing roots only.  Assuming that the wing root fairing is made of wood, I've painted the area appropriately.

 

The preshading will occur in two phases.  The first is preshading the panel lines in black.

 

Next a random mottle pattern is applied using a combination of different masks.

[turbo]

Nice one John, interesting pre-shade. What type of masking did you use and have you sprayed hairspray already under the pre-shade?

[Thunnus]

12 hours ago, turbo said:

Nice one John, interesting pre-shade. What type of masking did you use and have you sprayed hairspray already under the pre-shade?

 

Thanks Kirby!  The masks were bits of scrubbing pads and an artist's template for random spots. And yes, the hairspray has been applied under the preshading.

 

 

After the hairspray on the wing roots has dried, it is time to start painting the RLM 76!  I am using AK Real Colors RLM 76 Version 2 thinned with Tamiya Lacquer Thinner at a 2:1 thinner to paint ratio.  Since the paint mixture is so thin, the color needs to be built up slowly, leaving only a hint of the preshading underneath.

 

 

 

It took a number of refills of my airbrush cup to cover the entire aircraft but it eventually got done.

 

Using this technique, it is important to let the finish dry completely before deciding your finished.  While curing, the highly thinned RLM 76 may mix with the preshading below and reveal more of the preshading.

 

[Kagemusha]

That looks really natty. 

[Troy Molitor]

Herr Carganico would approve!  

[ChuckT]

Lookin good.

 

Can’t wait for another update,

Chuck.

[dodgem37]

I like your style.  Do you have a manufacturer's name for that random-shape artists' template?

 

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mark

[Thunnus]

Results of the hairspray chipping on the wing roots...

 

After a few touch-ups, the RLM 76 main camo is complete.

 

The yellow beneath the nose is masked off and painted.

 

The model in the lightbox to try and show the effects of the preshading.

[Thunnus]

44 minutes ago, dodgem37 said:

I like your style.  Do you have a manufacturer's name for that random-shape artists' template?

 

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mark

Artool Freehand Airbrush Templates, Texture Fx Mini Series

[Thunnus]

Time to apply the markings.  I scanned an Eagle Cal's Bf109G-6 decal sheet and used it as a template to make custom masks for the crosses and swastika.

With multi-color masks, there are always a few ways you can paint these.  I decided to do the white borders first.  So I applied the outline mask and sprayed the white.

 

Keeping the outline mask in place, I placed the little "L" masks for white borders and sprayed RLM 74 Gray over that.

 

Same deal with the wing bottom, except I ran into a little paint pull-up.

 

This was fixed using pieces of Post-Its as a corrective mask.

 

One thing that you have to watch out for with vinyl masking material (Oramask 810) is that it can stretch or distort.  That happened with the fuselage crosses.

 

The distortion was bad enough to redo the marking altogether.  So it's back to square one on the port side.

 

I managed to correct the starboard fuselage cross without having to re-do it.

[turbo]

Bummer about those pesky masks John. I have most success by transferring the masks in their entirety from the backing paper to the model using Cricut Transfer Tape and then weeding and replacing the mask components as required for the different colours. This avoids any stretching or distortion issues and everything stays in proper registration - comes out perfect every time!