P-51D 47th FS / 15th FG, Iwo Jima 1945 [TAM 1:32] - DONE

[dodgem37]

Smooth as silk.  Wonderful updates.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Panzerwomble]

Really beautiful work on this paint , the finish and precision is quite exquisite .  

[Alex]

5 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

Most excellent! 

 

3 hours ago, dodgem37 said:

 

Smooth as silk.  Wonderful updates.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

56 minutes ago, Panzerwomble said:

Really beautiful work on this paint , the finish and precision is quite exquisite .  

 

Thank you, gentlemen.  I'm happy with how things are proceeding, but also nervous!  I really don't want to screw something up now that I'm into the endgame...

[Alex]

The cowling cover pieces fit perfectly (Tamiya) of course...

 

This is the rest of the lettering painted.

 

 

 

 

I did a test run with one of the HGW stars & bars on the underside of the wing.  I figured that's the least visible spot if it goes badly and I have to figure out how to get it off and paint instead.  I'm waiting until tomorrow morning to peel the transfer film (little strips of foil are holding edges of it up so it's easy to grab).

 

If those transfers work well, then the only painting left is the flat black cockpit sill area and the olive drab anti-glare panel on top of the cowl.  Then all of the HGW stencils, and weathering with pastels.  But it's not inconceivable that it's done by the end of the month, which is kind of what I was aiming at.

 

 

[misha71]

what a neat job

amazing painting

[Alex]

1 hour ago, misha71 said:

what a neat job

amazing painting

Thanks!  The secret is the Silhouette Cameo.  Being able to custom make adhesive vinyl painting masks is a complete game changer.  Largely frees you from the need to find a decal sheet for the specific aircraft that you want to model.

[LSP_Kevin]

This is looking incredible, Alex!

 

Kev

[dmthamade]

The paint work is so clean and sharp, Great work!! Have to ask, what paint are you using for the black and yellow?

 

Don

[Alex]

7 hours ago, dmthamade said:

The paint work is so clean and sharp, Great work!! Have to ask, what paint are you using for the black and yellow?

 

Don

The black and yellow were done as follows:

 

1. Undercoat with Mr. Color Gloss White

2. Paint the yellow with MRP 142 - US Dark Orange Yellow WW2

3. mask over the yellow after giving it one day to cure and paint the black with a mix of 95% Mr Color Flat Black (C-33) and 5% Mr Color Gloss White 

[Alex]

So predictably, when things seem to be going well, I’ve hit a snag.  As I feared, the large HGW wet transfer did not work well.  The blue pretty much transferred ok, but the white areas stuck hard to the transfer film - either peeled up with it or held chunks of it to the surface.

 

So the first problem is how to get it off without wrecking the paint too much.  Maybe MicroSol is a good place to start.  Then paint the insignia, which should be ok.  I need to do some tests to see if I can get white to be acceptably opaque over dark blue or if I need to paint the white first.

 

But more significantly, I wonder if there’s anything wrong with this sheet of HGW transfers.  The one I used for my zero worked great, and I’m using this one the same way.  I really don’t want to consider using the kit decals for stencils - way too much decal film messing up that NMF surface.

 

Suggestions are welcome at this point...

[Alex]

And thinking back to my Zero build, which was the first time I used the HGW wet transfers, when I first got the A6M Zero sheet I went to peel off the protective layer of translucent wax paper type stuff from the top, and inadvertently peeled off the clear transfer film along with it.  This is easy to do if you are not used to these things and don’t know what to expect (I think Chuck actually just had the same experience over on his Starfighter build).  So after briefly freaking out, I carefully laid the clear film back down over the decals, buffed it down a bit, and hoped it would still work.  And it did.

 

In light of what happened with the stars & bars transfer attempt, and a bit of similar trouble I had with one of the drop tank transfers not completely releasing, I wonder if that slip with the transfer film was a feature rather than a bug.  Maybe I should intentionally peel off the clear film and reapply it before doing anything else with this HGW sheet...

[Alex]

I was able, using MicroSol and a Q-tip, to get the failed transfer off.  The paint definitely shows some impact from this misadventure, but it's the bottom of the wing, and I'm going to paint a new insignia over it, so I think I'm going to leave well enough alone for now.

 

 

This is the flat black on the cockpit sill.  I now need to do the olive drab anti-glare panel.  Unfortunately I removed the kit-supplied masks from the outside of the windscreen before I remembered that the olive runs right up to the bottom of the glass, so it needed to remain masked.  Off to the interwebs to find a pattern I can trace to make new masks on the Silhouette machine.  Still a heck of a lot easier than trying to cut new ones accurately by hand...

 

[Alex]

I did a test sample on the stars & bars both ways - painting blue then white and painting white then blue.  The result was ok both ways - my biggest concern was that the white would be difficult to get opaque over the blue, but with patience it was doable.  For the blue over white approach I initially painted a slightly smaller area white and the put down the larger mask to bound the blue area.  This worked to prevent any reveal of white under blue at the edges of the insignia, but it left a subtle step in the surface of the blue paint where the edge of the white was.  So I think I am going with the white over blue approach for the real thing.

[Alex]

Olive drab anti-glare panel.

 

[Alex]

Since there's been some interest in the painting going on here, I thought I'd try to document the process for painting the Stars & Bars insignia in a bit of detail.

 

I started by making a cutter file in the software that comes with the Silhouette Cameo machine.  I did this by scanning the decal sheet and tracing over it, although for something as common as the US fighter plane insignia you could find a vector art file or pre-existing cutter file many places on line.

 

I made my own because I wanted to tweak them a touch for my planned painting process.  I made the outside shape (only, not the stars and bars themselves) for the inner mask (top left, the mask that covers the blue when I spray the white) very slightly smaller than the shape in the mask below it (middle left, the mask that defines the overall blue shape) so that it will be easy to lay down inside the outer mask without the edges overlapping and making it hard to stick the vinyl down.  By slightly smaller I mean 0.3 mm per side.   I will tape over the junctions between inner and outer masks before spraying the white paint so that none can get through the small gap between them.

 

I then cut a piece of Oramask 813 about 9x5 inches in size and stuck it down on the tacky support mat that allows it to feed into the cutter.

 

The cutter can take 12x12 (or even bigger with a roll attachment) but that's overkill for my uses.  This is about as big a piece as I ever use.

 

It's quick - less than 60 seconds to cut this pattern.

 

It makes very crisp clean cuts.

 

This is a very simple pattern because all the shapes are large.  For sheets with very small details (like the federal serial number on the vertical stabilizer of this plane) I run the cutter at its minimum speed to reduce the tendency of the blade to pick tiny pieces of masking film up off of the backing.

 

To get ready to spray the blue area I simply remove the inside part of the mask while it's still on the backing paper...

 

Then lay a small piece of frisket paper (a standard airbrush artist's supply you can get anywhere that sells airbrushes) over the top to hold it in place as I lift it off the backing.

 

This is important to do even for a very simple shape like this because the vinyl is flexible and the frisket is not (at least it does not stretch in length/width).  If you just peel the vinyl off and try to stick it down to the model, it's easy to stretch it subtly and distort the shape.  This is doubly true if you stick it down and then decide (as I did twice) that you want to move it a bit.  The frisket allows you to do this without damaging the mask itself.

 

Here it is stuck in its final spot with frisket still on it.

 

Remove the frisket and mask around the vinyl to control overspray.

 

I've gotten into the habit of doing this with scrap paper from the printer and very narrow pieces of tape.  It takes a little extra time, but minimizes the amount of tape you are putting on already-finished painted surfaces.  Risk management and all that.

 

Same thing on the wings.  And just like the squadron colors, I'll need to paint a little corner of the insignia on the disassembled gun bay covers as well).

 

And we're ready to paint.  Right before starting to paint I try to always remember to double check the edges of the vinyl and burnish them down with a fingernail if they are lifting anywhere.  It's important to check that between coats of paint too.

 

I will be painting with my GSI Creos 0.2mm double-action airbrush.  This is my go-to airbrush and the one I use 95% of the time.  I have a 0.5 mm version of the same brush that I use when I need to cover large areas quickly (for example I used it to paint the gloss black undercoat on this model).  My old 0.5 mm Iwata is reserved for those rare occasions that I want to shoot something water-based.  The GSI airbrushes I use for lacquer only.

 

 

This is the blue I'm using

 

 

And after it this white.

 

 

This model is the first time I've used MRP paints, and I have to say I like them a lot.  The convenience of not having to dilute them is very attractive, and they are very easy to get a good result with.  I still have a place in my heart for Mr Color, though, and will probably continue to use both brands.

 

 

I started with a light "tack coat" - painting slowly and building up a very thin layer, just enough to initiate a strong bond with the layer underneath (it was thinner than this picture suggests).  Painting with masks like this you want to avoid ever getting a "wet" surface - if you do it will form a meniscus against the edge of the mask and that will dry to an obnoxious ridge at the edge of the painted shape.  I'm spraying here at 10 psi (2/3 bar), which is what I almost always use.  I did all four insignia with the tack coat, and by the time that was done the first one was dry to the touch and ready for coat two (this is the #1 thing I love about Mr Color lacquers - superfast drying).

 

The second coat got the blue all the way to opacity.

 

I could probably get away with a couple hours' curing time and move on to the second mask and the white layer, but I'm feeling extra paranoid so I'm going to leave this until tomorrow before doing the white.  Why take chances when it's *this close* to done?

 

After I do the white I'll pull the inner mask and hit the whole insignia with a light pass of clear matte to kill and shine and unify the surface appearance.