1/32 Special Hobby Hawker Tempest V - Fairbanks JJ+F

[quang]

It’s the reason why I found the Silhouette system not as user-friendly as it should be. The oromask film which I the modern plotters use is kind of opaque. Positioning the motif is not as easy as with the transparent original frisket film.

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys! Paint work continues on the Tempest. While looking at wartime Tempest photos, I noticed that almost all of the light colored spinners had a dark backplate.  It would've been much easier to add this BEFORE I glued the prop blades into place but with some careful masking, I painted the backplate a dark grey.

 

 

The walkways were next. After masking them off using white Tamiya tape, I brush on some water and sprinkled salt crystals.  Once this dries, it acts as a random pattern mask.

 

 

The walkways were painted black and the results were kind of meh. More work needed on the walkways.

 

 

The red on the upperwing roundels was redone as I had not established a good neutral background and the result was not uniform.

 

 

The latest masked markings were burnished with a clean t-shirt and any stubborn raised paint edges were taken down with Micromesh.

 

 

Placement of the markings was all based on the kit painting instructions.  I should have known better and looked at my reference photo.  The most obvious difference is the height of the black/white stripes.  Also the position of the JJ is slightly different.

 

 

Now I have a dilemma... do I just proceed or do I attempt a fix?  It's not impossible but it will be tricky to say the least.  As I think, here is a preview of the business end of the Tempest with the prop mounted...

 

[Uncarina]

7 hours ago, quang said:

It’s the reason why I found the Silhouette system not as user-friendly as it should be. The oromask film which I the modern plotters use is kind of opaque. Positioning the motif is not as easy as with the transparent original frisket film.

I know what you mean. I usually position the letters/numbers outlined in the mask first, carefully place the mask around them, then remove them.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Uncarina]

21 minutes ago, Thunnus said:

Thanks guys! Paint work continues on the Tempest. While looking at wartime Tempest photos, I noticed that almost all of the light colored spinners had a dark backplate.  It would've been much easier to add this BEFORE I glued the prop blades into place but with some careful masking, I painted the backplate a dark grey.
 

 

 

The walkways were next. After masking them off using white Tamiya tape, I brush on some water and sprinkled salt crystals.  Once this dries, it acts as a random pattern mask.
 

 

 

The walkways were painted black and the results were kind of meh. More work needed on the walkways.
 

 

 

 

The red on the upperwing roundels was redone as I had not established a good neutral background and the result was not uniform.

 

 

The latest masked markings were burnished with a clean t-shirt and any stubborn raised paint edges were taken down with Micromesh.
 

 

 

 

 

Placement of the markings was all based on the kit painting instructions.  I should have known better and looked at my reference photo.  The most obvious difference is the height of the black/white stripes.  Also the position of the JJ is slightly different.
 

 

 

Now I have a dilemma... do I just proceed or do I attempt a fix?  It's not impossible but it will be tricky to say the least.  As I think, here is a preview of the business end of the Tempest with the prop mounted...
 

 

Beautiful work John! If it were me (and I’ve been in your situation several times), I’d paint over the markings and reposition them, which is a huge advantage of masks verses decals. Otherwise you’ll always think about this.

 

Cheers,  Tom

Edited June 1, 2022 by Uncarina

[Citadelgrad]

56 minutes ago, Uncarina said:

Beautiful work John! If it were me (and I’ve been in your situation several times), I’d paint over the markings and reposition them, which is a huge advantage of masks verses decals. Otherwise you’ll always think about this.

 

Cheers,  Tom

I know it means more work, but I, too, think you should correct and repair.  With the attention to detail that you possess, you'll never enjoy the finished model if you don't.  

 

But even if you don't, it looks amazing, your paint skills are really something.  

[scvrobeson]

I don't think you'd ever be satisfied with yourself if you left it.

 

 

 

Matt 

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!  I think most LSP'ers and I are of like mind.  That picture of JJ+F is quite clear and impossible to dismiss.  And once that little voice in my head starts going, its impossible to shut off.  

 

So... I'm going to attempt a fix.  There are a couple of ways to approach this.  One is to wipe and start again but I'm going to leave that as a last option.  It's very difficult and messy to try and remove multiple layers of paint and I've got at least 5-6 layers on the roundels.  If the existing markings could be protected in place, the area of repair is actually quite small.  And since the markings are generated by CAD and exact masks can be reproduced, I'm going to simply paint around the markings.  If that doesn't work, I can regroup and perhaps do a paint removal.

 

I prepped the areas by Micromeshing the edges of the black and white band as much as possible.  The JJ on the port side is given a more strenuous rub as it will be eradicated completely.  The existing paint does not need to be completely removed but I want to get rid of all of the physical edges that I can.

 

I establish the new limits of the black and white stripe as well as protecting the sky fuselage band with tape.  Using the leftover masks and some new whole circles to place over the fuselage roundels, all of the existing markings are covered.  Very careful placement is needed and this step took the most time.

 

 

To help match the repair areas to existing paint, I lay down a base coat using Tamiya Neutral Grey.

 

 

A random mottle along the panel and rivet lines is used as a pre-shade. Since the repair area is small, I elected to forgo the full mottle pre-shade routine.

 

 

The Ocean Grey is applied next.  It's pretty close to the Neutral Grey so I have make sure I cover all of the base coat.

 

 

Small masks are placed using the same servo tape technique that I used previously.

 

 

The Dark Green is sprayed and the repair of the camo colors is done.

 

 

The moment of truth arrives when the masks are removed.  First the major borders along the bottom and rear.

 

 

The masks over the markings are then carefully removed.  There are some very minor touch-ups required but overall, I am quite pleased with the repair result.

 

[scvrobeson]

Looks much more like the photos.  Sorry for the extra work, but I know that it's worth it.  May want to look at the starboard side roundel though, I think there's some white showing between the blue and yellow rings.

 

 

Matt 

[LSP_Kevin]

Expert recovery, John!

 

Kev

[Kahunaminor]

Just awesome John. 
Other superlatives fail me. Bravo.

 

Regards,

[alaninaustria]

Nice!! I love your work bro!!

Cheers

Alan

[JayW]

Dang John - what a recovery!  You are a bold fellow.  

Edited June 2, 2022 by JayW

[John Stambaugh]

That is dedication! Can't say that I would have gone to the trouble. 

Bravo!

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!  Pretty pleased at not only the results of the paint repair but how straightforward it was to implement.  When first confronted with this issue, my mind started turning over options in my head and the idea of using masks to cover the existing markings came immediately to mind.  The Portrait craft cutter is such a handy tool and it makes things like this fairly simple to do.

 

After the re-painted Ocean Grey area on the port side had dried, I re-painted the JJ code.

 

 

I also put the walkways through another round of salt chipping.  The walkways look better but the masks lifted some paint, most notably on the starboard side so I'll have to retouch some areas.  Two steps forward and one step back means I'm moving ahead right?

 

 

Another view of the port side markings.  I've also performed some touch-up repairs to the fuselage roundels as well as re-spraying the red on the port fin flash.

 

[mc65]

now I understand where I'm wrong: actually I take one step forward and two steps back, according to Lenin's school! 

 

your works are really inspirational, difficult to start a model already made by you without referring to it.