1/32 Hasegawa N1K2-J Shiden Kai 343-45

[Alex]

On 8/24/2020 at 4:32 PM, Thunnus said:

Thanks for the input guys!

 

 

 

Hi Lutz... I didn't document the process for this particular part of the build but I can use an example from other builds to illustrate how I do the salt fade.  First, you spread a thin layer of water over the surface that you want to apply the effect upon.  To avoid beading of the water, a flat surface works much better than a glossy one.

 

 

While the surface is still wet, sprinkle salt crystals on the area.  The water will hold the majority of the salt crystals in place and when the water dries, the remaining salt crystals will form a random pattern mask on the surface.

 

 

 

 

Over this, you spray a VERY light coat of a lighter color, usually a tan or grey.  I use a very diluted mix for this... very watery to avoid over-doing the effect.  This is the trickiest part of the operation since there is a fine line between getting no discernable effect and totally over-doing it.  I usually apply this coat in random broad streaks to avoid uniformity.  After this paint is dry, you can remove the salt.  I usually brush off the crystals using a stiff paintbrush and then spraying the entire surface with water and then wiping it off with a clean cloth.

 

 

 

Here is an example where I took the effect too far...

 

 

 

A result like this can be dialed back somewhat by rubbing the surface with fine micromesh but there is always the potential of damaging decals or rubbing all the way to the plastic if you are not careful.  You can also reduce the effect after the fact by spraying with diluted mixes of the original camo colors.  I used a combination of these techniques to get a more reasonable result...

 

 

 

This technique can be used as a chipping technique but I use it primarily to create random wear patterns on upper external surfaces.  

 

Great tutorial!  Thanks for sharing this method!

[scvrobeson]

When it comes to the salt fading, how do you remove the "frosting" from the salt?  I tried it, and it took forever to get the last of the salt and frosting effect off.  Micro-mesh eventually handled it, but it felt like it lost a lot of the weathering though.

 

 

 

Matt 

[Thunnus]

On 8/28/2020 at 6:21 PM, scvrobeson said:

When it comes to the salt fading, how do you remove the "frosting" from the salt?  I tried it, and it took forever to get the last of the salt and frosting effect off.  Micro-mesh eventually handled it, but it felt like it lost a lot of the weathering though.

 

 

 

Matt 

 

Sorry for the late reply!  I've been AWOL for a few months doing my seasonal fishing thing.  To answer your question, I use water to remove all traces of the salt from the model.  I usually take the model outside and use a spray bottle to liberally apply water to the salted surfaces.  Most of the salt is washed away and a clean cloth wipes off any remaining salt mixture and helps dry the model.

 

Like I mentioned, It's been a few months since I've sat at the modeling bench with an actual model in front of me.  The loss of momentum in my building activity makes re-starting that much harder.  I've lost track of where I was at on my builds and my desktop needs to be transitioned from fishing reel repair back to model building.  But I finally reached the end of the procrastination rope last night and made some progress into building again. First step was to clear off the desktop.  Servicing fishing reels involves lots of different lubricants... different oils for ball bearings and thicker greases for the gears.  These are bad for model building... as you know even the sweat from fingertips can mar a paint finish.  So I put all of my fishing tools away and put a fresh paper cover on my desktop.

 

Looking over the Shiden Kai in its present state, I've noticed that there are some unsanded applications of Mr Surfacer putty on the wing bottom/fuseage joints.  These have to be sanded down and it looks like I have to wrap up the scribing and riveting in this area. So not quite ready for painting just yet.

 

On the upper side, there is an clear window that has been glued into place.  I've placed the mask, supplied by the Eduard mask set, into place.

 

This made me think about the other clear parts and I remembered that the Brengun photoetch set included a small piece to be added on to the front base of the windshield.

 

The Small Shop Bug is my tool of choice for most of my photoetch bending needs.

 

The folded brass part fits completely over the solid tab.

 

So instead of completely removing the tab, I snip off only half of it and can use the remaining stub as an attachment mount.

 

The photoetch upgrade replaces the solid tab with a more representative hollow shroud.  I'm planning on attaching this after the windshield is glued into place but before painting.

 

It looks like we are getting closer to the painting stage.  The undersides are going to be natural metal but I have some thoughts on how this will be accomplished.  I want a little more depth/variation than my normal black base/Alclad on top metal finish but I have quite worked out how.  The next immediate steps will be to finish the scribing and riveting along the bottom and attachment of the clear parts to the fuselage.

[AlbertD]

I'm always late to the party. Looks great.

[Beaconroot]

Glad to see your return. I've missed seeing your updates.

Jim Root

[turbo]

Good to see you back John, hope the fishing was good!

[scvrobeson]

Good to see you back John. I had been wondering what you were up to.  Thanks for the hint on cleaning the salt frost away.

 

 

 

Matt 

[Thunnus]

Thanks for the welcome back!  It feels good to be back building again.  The mojo is not full-bore yet though but I can feel my interest coming back more each day.

 

I've yet to finish the scribing and riveting on the bottom so I thought it would be a good time to test some ideas for the metal finish on the stabilizers.  These parts are large enough where I'll be able to lay down some pre-shading texture but small enough to be easily wiped if the paint test goes awry.  

 

First, I applied my customary black pre-shading onto the stabilizer bottoms using a mix of freehand and scrubbing pad masks.  I'm not aiming for high shine finish so I'm not too concerned with a perfect glossy finish for the preshading.

 

Using Alclad White Aluminum for the base metallic shade and found that, shot straight from the bottle, the color is translucent enough to allow the preshading to peek through.

 

Carefully modulating the application, I want to get rid of any hint of black color of the preshading underneath but leave behind some depth within the metal shade.  It's hard to capture with a photograph but this effect is very interesting and promising.

 

I'm going to let this cure and then see how stable this coat is.  I want to try and buff/Micromesh the surface and see how it reacts to a clear coat.

Edited October 29, 2020 by Thunnus

[Troy Molitor]

Great to hear your back John.  Love your updates.  

 

More importantly.  How was the fishing?   Lol.

 

Just setting up my trip for July 2021 to the Lake of the woods in Canada.   

 

Troy.  

[Thunnus]

2 hours ago, Troy Molitor said:

Great to hear your back John.  Love your updates.  

 

More importantly.  How was the fishing?   Lol.

 

Just setting up my trip for July 2021 to the Lake of the woods in Canada.   

 

Troy.  

 

Thanks Troy!  Good to be back!  Fishing was pretty good!  My biggest fishing trip of the year was a 3-day charter on the Pacific Voyager.  Not a wide open bite but we picked away at the bluefin tuna and ended up with about 80 for the boat.  No cows but it was a nice grade of fish... 40-50 pounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Troy Molitor]

Fish on!   Love it....

[scvrobeson]

Even all of your painting experiments turn out excellent.  Like how the tail fins look painted in metal.

 

 

 

Matt 

[MikeMaben]

On 10/28/2020 at 7:00 PM, Thunnus said:

               The mojo is not full-bore yet though but I can feel my interest coming back more each day.

 

It's like any other disease John, you're just in the early symptom stage.

Won't be long 'til you're entirely under it's grip again.

 

 

Welcome back to the infirmary  

 

 

[Thunnus]

Modeling mode is starting to slowly kick in with the small amounts of progress that I'm making on this build.  It's like rolling a snowball... starts off small and slow but eventually builds enough mass to initiate its own inertia.  That is what I'm hoping happens here.  Temporary distraction when I purchased a wild-looking, hand-made bait from Japan and tested it at a local lake yesterday.  

 

I didn't catch anything on it but I have high hopes of nailing a bass on this thing next season.  Ok... back to business.

 

As I mentioned, I'm working on finishing up the seam between the bottom of the wing and the fuselage.  The bulk of the seam was filled with black CA glue and the surface surrounding the joint was leveled out using Mr Surfacer 1000.  The other black line is an errant panel line that needed to be re-scribed.

 

Once the surface was sanded and polished, the panel lines were re-scribed and rivets were applied.  A thin coat of Mr Primer Surfacer 1000 was sprayed to check my work. The rough edges of the re-scribed panel line at the glue joint need to be smoothed out but overall, I am checking this area off as addressed.

 

Back to the stabilizers.  My work here will be a microcosm of the procedure that I'll be using to paint the overall aircraft.  Previously, I played with using a mottle pre-shade and Aclad to create some tonal variation in the natural metal finish of the bottom, which turned out fairly well. The topside will be treated differently.  The base will be metal to serve as a base for hairspray chipping.  I like to use Tamiya AS-12 Silver, decanted from the spray can, in these situations.  I simply squirt a small amount of the paint from the can into the airbrush cup, add a few drops of Tamiya Lacquer Thinner, stir away some of the bubbles and spray away.

 

A coat of hairspray is sprayed over the silver and allowed to dry.  A mottle pre-shade is applied over the hairspray/metal layer.

 

My version of the Green was established when I painted the spinner a few months ago.  It is a mixture of two AK Real Colors: IJN D2 Green Black (RC305) and Luftwaffe RLM 83 Blue (RC327) mixed at a 3:1 ratio.  Straight IJN D2 Green Black is used on the fabric portion of the stabilizer for a slight color variation.  The photo below shows one stabilizer after chipping.  The chipping at this stage looks rather spread out and unrealistically random but it will be enhanced later using other techniques.

 

I'm going to use a grey/green color for the undersides of the fabric-covered stabilizers and ailerons.  Tamiya JA Grey (XF-14), to be exact.  I scanned the stabilizers and made a custom mask using the Silhouette Portrait cutter.

 

The mask allows me to apply pre-shading and the grey/green color without impacting the Alclad.

 

The basic painting of the horizontal stabilizers, top and bottom are finished.

 

[zaxos345]

Awesome John!!! Really love the finish so far!!!

 

John