Yak-9T – René CHALLE – Régiment Normandie-Niemen – ICM 1/32

[Furie]

Thanks Max, that's a very nice compliment!     

 

Well, now it's time to complete the camouflage with the AMT12/MRP 20 Dark Grey.
Looking at the photos, I can see that the separation between the AMT 12 and AMT 11 is a little blurred...
...but not too much...
How to proceed?
I've decided once again to use masks, but this time they'll be much more complex to draw and fit on the fuselage.
They'll also need to be a little closer to the fuselage and wings to get the AMT 11/12 edge a little sharper and less blurred.
So the technique I used on my FW 190 isn't really the right one.

I managed to find a 1mm thick double-sided tape that should perfectly meet my expectations.
Using a printer, I enlarged the camouflage patterns for the wings and horizontal stab to the size of my Yak 9.
These are relatively flat parts, so I was able to cut them out of soft cardboard after running them through the printer.
For the fuselage, however, it's a different story!
As I'm a resourceful boy, I used transparent strips of rhodoid on the fuselage.

Using a black felt-tip pen, I traced the contours of the camouflage.
Then I cut out the strips of rhodoid and the cardboard for the wings.

I placed the double-sided tape, and put some low-adhesion frisket on the paint side so as not to damage it when I peel off all these masks.
I'll let you admire the result before painting - I know, it's scary to see!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, now it's time to go!
The MRP paint is still diluted to 30%, and we're taking it easy!
The wings and rear of the wooden fuselage are still horizontal, to respect the BB'ing direction.
I've also masked off the front of the fuselage, which can't be seen here.
The 2 delimitations/2 masks for the Dark Grey strip just behind the spinner (at the level of the engine exhaust pipes) took me about 2 hours to trace, cut and place...
These 2 masks were the transition between the wings and the fuselage, so they required extreme precision to make an invisible paint connection...
Here's the result.
Overall, I'm satisfied, even if there are a few minor paint touch-ups to be made here and there.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this camouflage.

 

I still have to do the vertical stab and a blotch on the fuselage (where the number "60" will be), because in these 4 places, the AMT 12 is slightly darker (probably a paint touch-up).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mozart]

I’d be delighted if I had produced a finish like that Denis! The tonal variation looks spot on, and masking wavy camouflage is often underestimated but never easy, it’s unrelentingly labour intensive so I’m not surprised at the length of time it’s taken. But, the end justifies the means, very well done. 

[LSP_Kevin]

Looks fantastic, Denis! Great paint work.

 

Kev

[Shoggz]

That looks great Denis.

[Biggles87]

Agreed!

[Troy Molitor]

Looking real sharpe Denis.  

[scvrobeson]

Really awesome camo scheme Denis. Keep it up!

 

 

Matt 

[MikeMaben]

Quite nice work on the cammo Denis, really like the demarcations.

[Furie]

On 4/10/2024 at 9:43 PM, mozart said:

I’d be delighted if I had produced a finish like that Denis! The tonal variation looks spot on, and masking wavy camouflage is often underestimated but never easy, it’s unrelentingly labour intensive so I’m not surprised at the length of time it’s taken. But, the end justifies the means, very well done. 

 

And yes, Max, you're absolutely right: this camouflage looks very easy to reproduce, but if you want the 2 shades to "fade" perfectly evenly over all parts of the plane, it immediately becomes much more complicated...
I had to rack my brains to get something precise and pretty.

 

On 4/11/2024 at 12:50 AM, LSP_Kevin said:

Looks fantastic, Denis! Great paint work.

 

Kev

 

Thanks for your message Kev.

 

On 4/11/2024 at 11:39 AM, Shoggz said:

That looks great Denis.

 

Thanks Richard, I hope my Yak 9 will be as beautiful as your P-47!

 

On 4/11/2024 at 12:57 PM, Biggles87 said:

Agreed!

 

Thanks Biggles !

 

On 4/11/2024 at 3:02 PM, Troy Molitor said:

Looking real sharpe Denis.  

 

Thanks Troy!
I'm also lucky enough to have 5 photos of this Yak 9 and I try to "stick" to reality as much as possible!

 

12 hours ago, scvrobeson said:

Really awesome camo scheme Denis. Keep it up!

 

 

Matt 

 

Thanks Mat, yes, this Yak is starting to look like something!

 

10 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Quite nice work on the cammo Denis, really like the demarcations.

 

Thanks Mike, I thought I had done the hard part with my FW190 but I underestimated the difficulty of such a camouflage...

 

Well, as I told you before, I've still got to paint the left and right spaces for the number "60", as well as the vertical stab.
The reason is that on the photos, these 4 locations are darker, probably due to "fresh" paint touch-ups.
I used Silhouette Studio to import a color profile that I felt was accurate.
I scaled it and followed the outline of the "dark spots" to draw and cut masks.

I put the fuselage star masks in place and traced their outline with a pencil to simulate their position on the fuselage, so I know where to place the "60" number masks correctly.

Without this mark the mask is very difficult to position.
Then I removed the fuselage star masks.

I put the "60" number masks in place and did the same as for the main masks: double-sided tape, 1mm thick.
I then took my AMT 12 paint and added 7.5% Tyre Rubber to make it slightly darker.

I could have done this with black, but I'm very careful with pure black, which is too "violent" a color for the eyes.

I diluted it with 30% thinner and here's the result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the last 4 photos, you can see the star branch drawn with a light gray pencil, which I used as a reference for the mask.

 

Edited April 12, 2024 by Furie

[Furie]

Red stars...
It's not Star Wars, but it's not far off!
First of all, the masks: too big, too small, the ICM decals weren't much help because they're too big.
Then draw pencil markers horizontally and vertically to ensure perfect positioning...
Take into account the position of the camouflage, the quantum density of my glass of Redbreast and the age of the captain...
In short, it took me over 2 hours to position these death masks!
A shot of white, a shot of red (I love Chablis and Cote du Rhône...), undiluted of course, we go for a 30-minute walk and remove all the masks:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stars are in their right position, they are not crooked, the colours are the right ones and do not drool, no overspray, the old paint underneath has not torn away…
A flawless, an Eagle at the golf or it’s as if Jack on the Titanic had survived with on the wooden board with Rose: a real little miracle!

[scvrobeson]

Awesome job on the stars! The masking came out great

 

 

 

Matt 

[MikeMaben]

Looks great to me Denis 

[Biggles87]

Amazing!

[Shoggz]

Very nice Denis!

 

And if you like it (your own biggest critic!), it MUST be good.

[mozart]

Masks + spraying need special attention and tlc on ribbed surfaces but you’ve cracked it Denis!