132 replies to this topic

[Immel_man]

a quick update for those of you following along. The camouflage is finished, and its ready to move on to decals. Decals need a glossy surface to adhere to. my preferred coat of gloss is future floor wax. that's right, that future floor wax. its an amazing product. it airbrushes beautifully, has amazing leveling properties, is tough as nails and is really glossy. oh yeah, im still on my original bottle I bought 10 years ago. 

 

 

[Immel_man]

Decals are finished! 

 

 

Lets talk about the next step, namely a wash. A wash is a very thin (paint to thinner) that I use to highlight shadow areas ie panel lines, rivets ect. my was is made by using Winsor & Newton artist oils. I mix a dollop of black and a dollop of burnt umber then mix thin it down with mineral spirits. the approximate ratio is 10:1, thinner to paint. Some guys use acrylic paints, or inks but I find oils the easiest to work with. the very nature of water based paints means the mixture is not going to flow through panel lines, especially over glossy surfaces, which is exactly what oils will do. With this thin mixture I sloppily paint each and every panel line and rivet, not worrying about how careful I am. With the glossy acrylic coat I used for decals, the oils do not penetrate the gloss coat making cleaning up excess very easy.

 

 

 

 

When the mineral spirits evaporate and leave behind the oil paint, the can be easily wiped away from the high spots but left behind in the low spots (panel lines and rivets). Tissue paper, cotton swabs can be used, I tend to just use my finger.

 

 

 

[Vantablack12]

How do you thin your paints and with what? I have a Vallejo airbrush thinner and a Testors enamel thinner that seem to work pretty well when used with thier espective paints.

[Immel_man]

I didn't forget about you guys! our busy season here in California arrived early(ish) and this happened day 3

 

 

 

that's not my doing. I fly the other airplane. and to boot, he decided he didn't want to fly the backup airplane and walked off the job leaving me to carry all the work. We finally got some help from down south where they're not busy yet and we got caught up. 

 I did manage to get the 109 flat coated and masks pulled before I went back to work, I just haven't had time to snap any pictures of the progress. speaking of progress, the final steps of the build will consist of making the 109 dirty and look used like a battle hardened piece of equipment should look. I will use oil paints in various dark oily shades to depict oil stains as well as fuel stains. We'll airbrush exhaust and gun smoke stains. chip the airframe with color pencils. add filters to various panels. I might post shade in some of the low spots as highlights. I will do my best to outline each of the steps so stay tuned!

[Immel_man]

Vantablack12, on 04 May 2020 - 02:43 PM, said:

How do you thin your paints and with what? I have a Vallejo airbrush thinner and a Testors enamel thinner that seem to work pretty well when used with thier espective paints.

It depends on the paint type and what I am doing with it. there are four paint types; lacquer paints, enamel paints, oil paints, and acrylic paints. the first three are all pretty straight forward and I tend to use thinners from the brands themselves, ie AK brand lacquer paints, ill use AK brand lacquer  to thin it. you can get away with using off brand stuff like hardware store lacquer thinner but as it tends to be "hot" you're just making a bigger deal of it than it should be. 

Acrylic paints are a bit different as you have latex based acrylics, glycol based acrylics and other formulations as well. the first two are the basis for most model brand acrylic paints. If latex based acrylics are what you're using, water is ideal for thinning. Mission models, Vallejo, usually stuff you see in the eye dropper bottles are latex based, and (in my opinion) are only good for brush painting, don't run these through your airbrush. Conversely glycol based acrylics can be cut with water, alcohol, or lacquer thinner. im no chemist so don't ask me, but I've done it and your tamiyas, gunze type jars can be cut with either of the three, with alcohol being the easiest to clean and spray through your airbrush. lacquer thinner will give you a strong bond and coat but smelly to spray and messy to clean. while water should only be used for quick touch up with a paint brush. hope that helps.

[Vantablack12]

Immel_man, on 11 May 2020 - 04:45 PM, said:

I didn't forget about you guys! our busy season here in California arrived early(ish) and this happened day 3

 

 

 

that's not my doing. I fly the other airplane. and to boot, he decided he didn't want to fly the backup airplane and walked off the job leaving me to carry all the work. We finally got some help from down south where they're not busy yet and we got caught up. 

 I did manage to get the 109 flat coated and masks pulled before I went back to work, I just haven't had time to snap any pictures of the progress. speaking of progress, the final steps of the build will consist of making the 109 dirty and look used like a battle hardened piece of equipment should look. I will use oil paints in various dark oily shades to depict oil stains as well as fuel stains. We'll airbrush exhaust and gun smoke stains. chip the airframe with color pencils. add filters to various panels. I might post shade in some of the low spots as highlights. I will do my best to outline each of the steps so stay tuned!

That must've hurt.

Immel_man, on 11 May 2020 - 04:55 PM, said:

It depends on the paint type and what I am doing with it. there are four paint types; lacquer paints, enamel paints, oil paints, and acrylic paints. the first three are all pretty straight forward and I tend to use thinners from the brands themselves, ie AK brand lacquer paints, ill use AK brand lacquer  to thin it. you can get away with using off brand stuff like hardware store lacquer thinner but as it tends to be "hot" you're just making a bigger deal of it than it should be. 

Acrylic paints are a bit different as you have latex based acrylics, glycol based acrylics and other formulations as well. the first two are the basis for most model brand acrylic paints. If latex based acrylics are what you're using, water is ideal for thinning. Mission models, Vallejo, usually stuff you see in the eye dropper bottles are latex based, and (in my opinion) are only good for brush painting, don't run these through your airbrush. Conversely glycol based acrylics can be cut with water, alcohol, or lacquer thinner. im no chemist so don't ask me, but I've done it and your tamiyas, gunze type jars can be cut with either of the three, with alcohol being the easiest to clean and spray through your airbrush. lacquer thinner will give you a strong bond and coat but smelly to spray and messy to clean. while water should only be used for quick touch up with a paint brush. hope that helps.

Thanks! I will use this as a reference will buying thinners.

[Immel_man]

Rice is planted! Next we'll top dress it, that'll be next week so I have a bit of a lull. I managed 200 hours flight time in 6 weeks planting close to 6000 acres of rice. there's still plenty of flying and we'll stay busy till the end of summer, not crazy like may, but busy, which means... more model time. 

 

A quick update. The 109 has been coated flat, and the canopy masks removed, which is always a big milestone. Theres still plenty of little stuff to be done as mentioned in the post above, so stay tuned.

 

 

 

[Vantablack12]

Very good work! Since you mentioned canopy masking, I have a question. What is the best method of masking of the canopy. Do you cut out tiny squares of masking tape? Do you lay a larger piece of tape over the canopy and then trace the lines that you want painted and then cut those lines out?

[Immel_man]

The easiest method is to find a precut set from Eduard or montex. Eduard sets are $5-10 and so worth it time wise for me, that is if your kit doesn’t already come with masks which is more typical with each new release.
If you don’t have a pre cut mask set, the method I use is to lay tamiya yellow masking tape down on the longest canopy frame, “trace” out the frame with a toothpick or something pointy. Then with a new #2 blade in the xacto knife, at a 45° angle run your blade along the score or traced canopy frame, being careful not to cut in to the plastic. It’s a pretty simple method with a new and sharp blade, but can be time consuming compared to peel and stick method of the precut mask variety.

 

precut mask that was included with the 109

 

Edited by Immel_man, 16 June 2020 - 07:16 PM.

[Vantablack12]

Immel_man, on 16 June 2020 - 02:07 PM, said:

The easiest method is to find a precut set from Eduard or montex. Eduard sets are $5-10 and so worth it time wise for me, that is if your kit doesn’t already come with masks which is more typical with each new release.
If you don’t have a pre cut mask set, the method I use is to lay tamiya yellow masking tape down on the longest canopy frame, “trace” out the frame with a toothpick or something pointy. Then with a new #2 blade in the xacto knife, at a 45° angle run your blade along the score or traced canopy frame, being careful not to cut in to the plastic. It’s a pretty simple method with a new and sharp blade, but can be time consuming compared to peel and stick method of the precut mask variety.

 

precut mask that was included with the 109

 

Thanks immel! None of the kits I have built have come with pre cut masks.

[Immel_man]

Almost certainly Eduard makes a mask for whatever it is

[Vantablack12]

Immel_man, on 16 June 2020 - 03:19 PM, said:

Almost certainly Eduard makes a mask for whatever it is

I found exactly what I needed! Thanks immel!

[Immel_man]

Vantablack12, on 17 June 2020 - 05:58 AM, said:

I found exactly what I needed! Thanks immel!

Glad to help. I love the questions. Feel free to share progress.

 

what kit are you building?

[Vantablack12]

Immel_man, on 17 June 2020 - 04:34 PM, said:

Glad to help. I love the questions. Feel free to share progress.

 

what kit are you building?

I am working on a 1/72 B17F by Academy. Its the first model I have attempted to paint so it's pretty bad so far. It is also the sixth model I have worked on. I still have a long way to go before I'm any sort of good at building and painting these models. I will try to post some pictures of my progress.

[Immel_man]

I’ve got countless models and hours built and invested to acquire the knowledge I have. Like the old saying goes, best time to plant an oak tree is 50 years ago. The next best time is right now.


I’ll say this for everyone, no critiques unless asked for. It helps with the sharing. The more sharing the more learning. Post your progress. Ask questions. It’s the only way we’ll all get better.

[Vantablack12]

Immel_man, on 18 June 2020 - 12:03 AM, said:

I’ve got countless models and hours built and invested to acquire the knowledge I have. Like the old saying goes, best time to plant an oak tree is 50 years ago. The next best time is right now.


I’ll say this for everyone, no critiques unless asked for. It helps with the sharing. The more sharing the more learning. Post your progress. Ask questions. It’s the only way we’ll all get better.

I have to try to keep myself in the midset that this kit of mine is a learning experience, but it's difficult because I went into building it thinking I was going to be careful and make it look REALLY good. I assumed to much. Also, I now know that modeling is not cheap.

[Immel_man]

Perceiver, every model built should be a learning experience. I’ve built sometimes dozens of the same kit and not one of them finishes without some “flaw” or something that I would have done differently. It’s both the joy and frustration. Also, that perceived flaw is often forgotten about with time. I can’t stress enough, finish the project, failure is how you learn.

To the cost of the hobby, expensive is a relative term. I’ve been fortunate enough to have funded my hobby by selling finished models on eBay. BUT I learned long ago that you can’t justify your hobbies cost. Everyone needs something to do to unwind or look forward to, and if you try and put a price on that nothing ever makes sense. See spending money on pixel tanks that you don’t actually own.

[Immel_man]

I finally got around to editing some more pictures. this one is from Tamiya, 48 scale (as always). What a marvel of engineering. for those of you not familiar with the kit, the open cowl is not fixed, instead held together by magnets, giving you the option to remove some parts and pieces to display the model cowled up. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Immel_man]

The mount is Erich Hartmans. For those of you who don't know, Hartman is the worlds leading ace with 352 confirmed victories. His book The Blond Knight of Germany is a great read. 

[Vantablack12]

Immel_man, on 21 June 2020 - 01:55 PM, said:

The mount is Erich Hartmans. For those of you who don't know, Hartman is the worlds leading ace with 352 confirmed victories. His book The Blond Knight of Germany is a great read. 

Just looked him up. What a madman. He flew 1404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 seperate occasions. What a badass.