ZM Bf109 G-14/U4 - Mojo Has Returned: Into the Home Stretch

[amurray]

An exceptional return to the hobby!  

[Cycling Guy]

9 hours ago, amurray said:

An exceptional return to the hobby!  

 

Thank you for the kind words and motivation! Lets hope my ability to paint doesn't disappoint!

[Gazzas]

Catching back up on this build.  Great work so far.  Love your weathering.  Some inspiring things to emulate.

[amurray]

On 8/16/2023 at 9:24 AM, Cycling Guy said:

 

Thank you for the kind words and motivation! Lets hope my ability to paint doesn't disappoint!

 

If it does disappoint us . . . we WILL find you!  

[Cycling Guy]

Hi Everyone,

 

I began painting yesterday beginning with a black primer consisting of Mr Surfacer 1500 and Mr Leveling Thinner mixed in a 50:50 ratio. I followed this up with white mottling using the same Mr Surfacer mix, but in white. Apologies for not photographing this step, but you probably get the idea.

 

I began by apply MRP RLM76 on the underside to get a feel for how the paint is flowing out the brush and making adjustments to the pressure as I go along. I typically apply a couple light layers over the entire surface then build up each panel, but I was getting a grainy texture in some area that necessitated 3000 and 4000 grit wet sanding between some layers.

 

It’s been very humid lately so to ensure I wasn’t taking on water, I needed all the water taps: the compressor water tap, in line water tap, and “lets me safe” water tap, were used, but gave rise to some higher than anticipated head pressure loss relative to the gage, making painting a bit more difficult until I figured out why I wasn’t spraying well. I haven’t painted a plane in decades so I’m just diving right in. 

 

After getting a solid base down with some of the variation showing through, I added about 10 drops of MRP White to what was about 1/3 the paint in my Iwata HP-C+ and highlighted the panels in either a cloudy or streaky fashion. 

 

After this I freehanded MRP RLM75 in the areas they would roughly be in. Luckily there is mottling in the camo along the fuselage so I wasn’t too concerned about overspray. I Felt that this was a good place to stop so that I can let the paint set before masking the edge of the wing root, applying RLM74, and then highlighting both 74 and 75. 

 

There are some other areas that’ll require some more grit removal, but I’ll wait until tomorrow to get at it. Lastly, I primed the figure that was included with the kit. I’ll paint it when I want to take a break from painting the aircraft or weathering.

 

As usual, thank you for tagging along.

 

[Thunnus]

I'm liking your paint technique very much!  Very smooth with just the right amount of tonal variations creeping through.  The demarcation between the 76 and 75 is perfect.  Lots to love here... looking forward to seeing the 74.

 

Is the HP C+ your primary tool?  I use mine for 99% of my work.

[Cycling Guy]

I couldn't wait to throw on the RLM74 so I added them to the wings and horizontal stabilizers, leaving the mottling and fuselage camo for next week. I masked around the wing root, nose, and tail with masking tape to guard against overspray. Some still managed to creep through, but I have to touch up some portions of RLM76 anyways.

 

To get the camo down on the wings, I used "floating masks". When I say, floating masks, I used card stock (heavy weight index cards) cut to shape, and held in place with tamiya tape with some of the tack removed. These give a semi hard edge and feels a bit less robotic than using plain masking tape to create an edge. There is some overspray in some locations, but this will be corrected when I spray highlights of 74 and 74. 

 

 

I do have a question

 

The ZM painting instructions are vague. The mottling looks to be a mix of RLM02 (small amount compared to the others), RLM74, and RLM75. Is this a correct interpretation? Any other information would be helpful!

[Cycling Guy]

6 hours ago, Thunnus said:

I'm liking your paint technique very much!  Very smooth with just the right amount of tonal variations creeping through.  The demarcation between the 76 and 75 is perfect.  Lots to love here... looking forward to seeing the 74.

 

Is the HP C+ your primary tool?  I use mine for 99% of my work.

 

Thank you! I think my technique can improve, but I'm struggling with lighting. I have enough, but at times its hard to see how the layers are being built up. I'm going to try some things out, mainly a diffuser, and see if it helps. 

 

I do use an HP-C+ for the mainstay of my work. Over the last two days its been working like a dream. I also have a HP-CS in 0.5 for the thicker stuff like VMS varnish, and a Micron that I'll likely use for the mottling.

[Cycling Guy]

Returning to work on the 109 after a relaxing vacation overseas - I definitely needed the time off. For images I decided to pull out my high end point and shoot camera, but for future builds I'll use my Nikon D850 and macro lens...no hiding your mistakes from that.

 

This round of painting I wanted to complete the following tasks:

• Correcting any mistakes / overspray from the initial coats of paint
• Mottle the sides of the fuselage and the rudder
• Mask and paint the yellow band on the fuselage and underside wing tips
• Highlight control surfaces and add RLM02 to the exposed area on the flaps
• Paint prop

I began work on the highlights, but the MRP paint is still giving me headaches. I'm still encountering rough painted surfaces along the way and have yet to figure out what is causing it. Its very humid in my part of the world and I don't think that I've got the pressures down. I may switch to my pancake compressor with 3 gallon tank, but each time it kicks on it scares me shitless. In the mean time, there is a lot of fine grit sanding happening mid paint.

 

I'm using MRP RLM paints and to highlight the colors I add about 1/3 MRP White to the original amount of whatever RLM paint I'm working with. It's not much of a tonal difference, but gives me a chance to build up the layers slowly and add depth as best as I could. There were some spots where my Iwata Jet compressor decided to surge in pressure, so those areas were polished once they were dry and repainted. You can tell where I messed up, but I can fix that on the next kit.

 

 

Next I began the mottling. I'm not very happy with the end result, but not so unhappy to do it all over again. This was my first attempt at this kind of finish and I did it (albeit not the most elegant presentation) so thats enough for me at this point. I used a combination of RLM75 and RLM02 - no highlights. Next time I'll make my own Tamiya mix and thin this down to about 6:4 or 7:3 to get a more translucent effect. 

 

 

Next I tacked the small task of painting RLM02 on the exposed area of the lowered flaps. I like this small detail as it break up the wing camo. I placed the control surfaces on the wings without cement just to see how its all coming together.

 

 

Lastly, using flexible Tamiya tape, I masked off the area on the fuselage to receive the RLM04 band. To protect against overspray I used tons of Tamiya tape (with the adhesive toned down by sticking and removing it from my workbench) over the areas that would likely see spray. MRP RLM04 has poor coverage, which lead me to think I should have reprimed the area prior to painting. Noted for next time. I did not highlight this area because I wanted it some what cleaner than the rest of the airframe. I hope the vision I have for weathering comes to fruition.

 

 

 

 

Thats all for this update. I'm going to let the paint set up, before I move onto the next step.

 

Next time I'm going to do something I've never done before - create my own paint masks. I got a Silhouette Portrait cutter coming tomorrow that I'll use to create the numbers, crosses, spinner spiral, and if I'm ambitious, the nose tulip! I doubt I'll be able to pull that off so I'll likely use the ZM decals for the nose.

 

Thanks for following along! Also, I'm trying some new things for my next build and its been quite the learning experience with more cursing per minute than any other point in my life - see the image below and offer up some prayers for me.

 

 

[Gazzas]

Very nice painting!

[scvrobeson]

Awesome painting so far! Definitely looks like you haven't missed a beat in your break from the hobby.

 

Is that a Spitfire I spy with new rivet work added?

 

 

Matt 

[Cycling Guy]

11 hours ago, scvrobeson said:

Awesome painting so far! Definitely looks like you haven't missed a beat in your break from the hobby.

 

Is that a Spitfire I spy with new rivet work added?

 

 

Matt 

Much appreciated. It’s been a labor of love, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. 
 

it’s a Ki-84, but I see what you mean if you look where the IP would be located 

[LSP_Kevin]

11 hours ago, Cycling Guy said:

it’s a Ki-84, but I see what you mean if you look where the IP would be located 

 

Funny, I assumed it was a Spitfire too!

 

Kev

[Archimedes]

Cycling Guy,

 

I think you are doing yourself a great disservice: you mottling, to these eyes, looks very convincing. As someone who struggles mightily with paint finishes, I tip my cap at you braving such a challenging camp scheme straight out of the gate and pulling it off so well. Bravo!

 

Kind regards,

Paul

[Cycling Guy]

On 9/9/2023 at 8:08 PM, Archimedes said:

Cycling Guy,

 

I think you are doing yourself a great disservice: you mottling, to these eyes, looks very convincing. As someone who struggles mightily with paint finishes, I tip my cap at you braving such a challenging camp scheme straight out of the gate and pulling it off so well. Bravo!

 

Kind regards,

Paul

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Paul. Its these kind of comments that keep us going.