GB-61 1/48 FM-1 Wildcat - Carrier and Maritime Aircraft
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- #122
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks for the thumb Wayne.
Current state of play as I prepare for paint:
Despite the presence of the practice bomb dispenser in the video, I may elect to not install it since I'll need to scratch one up. Though not hard, I'm not in the mood for it at the moment but may come around to it later. As it is, I need to fill four holes on the wing undersides where the inner hard points go. I'd have preferred that Eduard make you drill these out instead of having to fill them in as I'll likely lose some of the nice surface detail.
Thelanding light gun camera lens that you see masked on the wing leading edge is supposed to have received a delicate PE frame around it but after fussing with it three times I dispensed with it as it looked like crap.
Edited landing light to gun camera lens.
Current state of play as I prepare for paint:
Despite the presence of the practice bomb dispenser in the video, I may elect to not install it since I'll need to scratch one up. Though not hard, I'm not in the mood for it at the moment but may come around to it later. As it is, I need to fill four holes on the wing undersides where the inner hard points go. I'd have preferred that Eduard make you drill these out instead of having to fill them in as I'll likely lose some of the nice surface detail.
The
Edited landing light to gun camera lens.
Last edited:
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Looks good Andy. I was looking at the formation lights on the upper wing, they are very small, maybe too small to mask, would that be right. 
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- #125
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks guys. Vic, those lights will be finished after painting and need no masking at this point. They consist of small, clear tear-drop lenses that I will glue on after hand painting the appropriate bulb colour on the inside of the part.
I made good progress today on painting the underside. As inspiration for a worn paint scheme, I used the picture of the up-turned plane that Vic posted on the previous page and started with a blotchy pre-shade of the bare plastic using thinned black:
Next came a very thin (approx. 70/30 thinner to paint ratio) of Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey that was gradually built up to blend in the underlying blotches. This pic was taken near the beginning of the process. At first, a light overall passes were applied to the wing from about 2 inches away and then I got in tighter and began modulating the grey over the blotches to achieve the effect I was after.
Once the whole underside was done this way, I flushed out the air brush and filled it with Tamiya XF-20 Medium Grey in the same ratio as the previous coat. This colour is still grey but has a slight tan hue to it so it warmed the tones a bit. Here is the finished paint work:
And a closer look:
There's a scratch in front of the downward viewing window that I'll need to fix but, other than that, I'm pretty happy with the result. There will be further weathering with panel washes and staining after a gloss coat is applied.
To close the loop on the small holes in front of the oil cooler which Eduard would have me fill, I saw that these are clearly seen on Vic's reference pic mentioned above so I decided to leave them there.
I'm generally not one to fuss over getting an exact FS or Munsell match for my paints, as long as they are fairly close to representing described tones. I mostly don't represent factory fresh machines and so rely on there being a fair amount of colour degradation and weathering, which is especially evident in the videos of my subject. The upper Blue-Grey colour has been argued about all over the place and I've not seen a definitive standard anywhere. However the colour was known to fade rapidly in the sunlight so I'll build it up with various tones to what I think looks right.
Thanks again for looking in.
I made good progress today on painting the underside. As inspiration for a worn paint scheme, I used the picture of the up-turned plane that Vic posted on the previous page and started with a blotchy pre-shade of the bare plastic using thinned black:
Next came a very thin (approx. 70/30 thinner to paint ratio) of Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey that was gradually built up to blend in the underlying blotches. This pic was taken near the beginning of the process. At first, a light overall passes were applied to the wing from about 2 inches away and then I got in tighter and began modulating the grey over the blotches to achieve the effect I was after.
Once the whole underside was done this way, I flushed out the air brush and filled it with Tamiya XF-20 Medium Grey in the same ratio as the previous coat. This colour is still grey but has a slight tan hue to it so it warmed the tones a bit. Here is the finished paint work:
And a closer look:
There's a scratch in front of the downward viewing window that I'll need to fix but, other than that, I'm pretty happy with the result. There will be further weathering with panel washes and staining after a gloss coat is applied.
To close the loop on the small holes in front of the oil cooler which Eduard would have me fill, I saw that these are clearly seen on Vic's reference pic mentioned above so I decided to leave them there.
I'm generally not one to fuss over getting an exact FS or Munsell match for my paints, as long as they are fairly close to representing described tones. I mostly don't represent factory fresh machines and so rely on there being a fair amount of colour degradation and weathering, which is especially evident in the videos of my subject. The upper Blue-Grey colour has been argued about all over the place and I've not seen a definitive standard anywhere. However the colour was known to fade rapidly in the sunlight so I'll build it up with various tones to what I think looks right.
Thanks again for looking in.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
That looks very good Andy and your certainly on the right track with the wear and tear colouring.
Really nice Andy
le_steph40
Senior Master Sergeant
Andy 
A4K
Brigadier General
Looking good Andy
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Very effective Andy.
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- #132
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks friends.
Not much done today except some prep for the top coat. Canopy is masked and the frames painted interior green. Also sprayed areas of aluminum on the wings and cowls where I will chip the upper camo.
Study of the video reveals significant paint chipping around the walkways and gun access panels so that will be replicated.
Hopefully the upper colour will be laid down tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by.
Not much done today except some prep for the top coat. Canopy is masked and the frames painted interior green. Also sprayed areas of aluminum on the wings and cowls where I will chip the upper camo.
Study of the video reveals significant paint chipping around the walkways and gun access panels so that will be replicated.
Hopefully the upper colour will be laid down tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Doing good Andy.
A4K
Brigadier General
Yep, what Vic said.
looking the part Andy...!
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- #137
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks all.
Uppers painted today. The base coat for the navy Blue-Grey colour was a bit of an experimentation which ended up being a mix of Tamiya - 3parts XF-18 Medium Blue + 3 parts XF-54 Dark Sea Grey + 1 part XF-2 White. The resulting colour on the monitor differs a fair amount under the shop lighting as in real life it's a tad more blue.
The demarcation line was free-handed.
I then masked the circular painted-over patch on the starboard wing and sprayed a varying patchwork of the same mix as above, this time with a bit more XF-2 White added. The process was then repeated, this time with the mix in the cup being darkened with more XF-18. Again, the shop-lights washed out the colours a bit so the effect of the various shades is not that apparent in the photo below.
I did spray a coat of hairspray over the silver areas before starting all of this and so set about chipping the areas around the walkways and gun access ports as soon as the above coats had dried. This didn't go so well as it was the first time (and last) that I used Tamiya acrylic aluminum for the base NMF. I've had good success with Alclad II Lacquers but the Tamiya paint didn't hold up to the chipping very well and came off in some areas with the toothpick and stiff brush that I used.
The upper surfaces of the model have now been gloss-coated and will dry for some time before I get back to this project, likely on Monday. At that time, I'll need to freshen up the undersides a bit with more paint as the thinned Tamiyas scratch very easily. Once touched up, I'll then apply gloss to the underside as well so there won't be much to show over the next few days.
Happy Easter to all and we'll talk soon.
Uppers painted today. The base coat for the navy Blue-Grey colour was a bit of an experimentation which ended up being a mix of Tamiya - 3parts XF-18 Medium Blue + 3 parts XF-54 Dark Sea Grey + 1 part XF-2 White. The resulting colour on the monitor differs a fair amount under the shop lighting as in real life it's a tad more blue.
The demarcation line was free-handed.
I then masked the circular painted-over patch on the starboard wing and sprayed a varying patchwork of the same mix as above, this time with a bit more XF-2 White added. The process was then repeated, this time with the mix in the cup being darkened with more XF-18. Again, the shop-lights washed out the colours a bit so the effect of the various shades is not that apparent in the photo below.
I did spray a coat of hairspray over the silver areas before starting all of this and so set about chipping the areas around the walkways and gun access ports as soon as the above coats had dried. This didn't go so well as it was the first time (and last) that I used Tamiya acrylic aluminum for the base NMF. I've had good success with Alclad II Lacquers but the Tamiya paint didn't hold up to the chipping very well and came off in some areas with the toothpick and stiff brush that I used.
The upper surfaces of the model have now been gloss-coated and will dry for some time before I get back to this project, likely on Monday. At that time, I'll need to freshen up the undersides a bit with more paint as the thinned Tamiyas scratch very easily. Once touched up, I'll then apply gloss to the underside as well so there won't be much to show over the next few days.
Happy Easter to all and we'll talk soon.
Grant Barr
Senior Airman
Excellent work as usual Andy. Interesting to note the chipping issues with Tamiya v's Alclad aluminium. Still an area that I have yet to experiment with, but I think yours came up pretty well despite the issues with Tamiya paint.
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- #139
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks Grant. The lacquers adhere to the base plastic much better than acrylics so offer a much more durable surface. In addition, the Tamiya aluminum paint is much grainier than the Alclads. I'll go back to the lacquers next time but wanted to avoid the fumes this time around.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Amazing stuff Andy and that chipping away the base coat, never thought of that. I've usually applied both base coat ans top cover before chipping and the chipping has been with mixed success so maybe I will try your way.
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