1/32 Revell Spitfire MKIIa

[JKim]

If you don't like the SAC gear, I was going to suggest G-Factor metal legs as I have just picked up a set for my Dora build. But I don't think G-Factor makes a set for the Revell Spitfire Mk.II, as far as I can tell. And they are just as pricey, if not more, than SAC.

 

[Totalize]

Yes, I checked out G-Factor as well and they do not make a set for the MKII. I believe they tend to focus on the Tamiya kits WRT Spitfires.

 

[Robert Porter]

SAC legs are something I wont buy again, I got a set for my 1:48th B-17G and they looked like they used the kit parts for the mold. No more detail and they even replicated the ejector marks and the center seam on their copies. No extra detail over the kit parts and the surface is not as smooth. Anything smaller than 1:48 from them would probably look worse than the kit parts and they are really no stronger than the plastic as they are soft white metal. Stick with another manufacturer.

 

[Totalize]

Robert,

Yea, the detail looks soft on their MKII offering but aside from my crappy kit parts I think they are the only other game in town. I hope I am wrong but haven't seen any others.

 

[Robert Porter]

I will have a look myself as I have the same kit, maybe one of us will luck onto something that will work better! If not I will be drilling and pinning the kit ones and adding a lot of missing detail!

 

[Totalize]

I will have a look myself as I have the same kit, maybe one of us will luck onto something that will work better! If not I will be drilling and pinning the kit ones and adding a lot of missing detail!

Ah yeah that's not going to happen. One of the landing gear kind of looks like a lump of plastic after me mucking with it to get it to the way I wanted. I.e. I added lead foil to the legs for some extra banding and didn't like how they turned out. Well I put this stuff on with CA glue and tried to take them off with CA debonder which as you know if pretty corrosive stuff. It kind of melted the plastic in some minor spots. Not a biggie but then trying to sand the affected areas away deformed the legs. Looks like Shyte. So I am moving on from this part of the build with the SAC legs.

 

[Totalize]

Painting update.

I decided that I want to try the marble method for this build. I believe the technique has been around since the 90's (you veterans would know best) and its been rejuvenated by a modeler by the Name of Matt McDougall. He calls it black basing. For those of you who are not familiar its an alternative to pre-shading the panel lines on the aircraft. Instead you lay a black base coat down and use varying colours that are more or less within the spectrum of the main coat to marble the surface. Then you add very thin coats of the main colour to the surface. The idea here is 3-fold. I. You already have your panel lines painted black. 2. You achieve a higher degree of tonality to the base coat. 3.Most importantly, It's meant to replicate the uneven wearing of the paint on an aircraft and provide less contrast between the panel lines and the aircraft. The weathering is also suppose to bring this out more.

Here are some pictures of my work.
Pic 1. Base coat of Stynlrez Black primer and initial coat. I Used Tamiya Sky for this part. See below why I chose this colour.
Pic 2. Continuing with the Tamiya Sky I continued to merge the 2 colours but not completely. As you can see my spray mottling is kind of large compared to some of the other marbling I have seen. Looks more like a pattern of a Whale Shark than a marble pattern but not too worried. You can see the right side has more mottling and is the final coat. The left side still needs to be done.
Pic 3. Blend coat. Here's where I tie everything together with a diluted coat of Mr. Color Duck Egg Green. The Tamiya Sky is a bit darker and greener than the Mr. Color Version of Sky which I think provides some degree of colour shift between the two. Hard to see with the camera but more evident with the human eye.

 

[fubar57]

Very nice

 

[turbo]

Nice one David, I'm a big fan of the black basing technique and used different versions of it on my 1/32 Corsair over on the Group Builds forum with pleasing results. It is, however, just stage 1 of the weathering process so keep in mind what you plan to put over it which means that sometimes you can leave it looking a bit stark as further weathering layers will tone it down.

 

[Crimea_River]

Like the look of that.

 

[SANCER]

With all, I like how it looks!
Saludos

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Nicely done.
I agree re the SAC legs - those I've seen appear to be direct copies of kit parts, and soft white metal. I might possibly use some for a Wessex conversion, as they're the only ones available, but at the prices being charged, I doubt very much I'd consider them for any other model.
The Revell parts service will supply the kit part replacements free of charge, so you will be able to get a set within three weeks approximately.

 

[Robert Porter]

Matt's site has some great videos on that technique, what I love about it is the subtle tonality shifts which are almost impossible to get with preshading. My gripe with pre-shading is it is usually overdone and unrealistic looking when complete. Black basing while taking more work up front seems to yield a much more realistic result.

 

[JKim]

Great work on the paint and very instructive too. I'm sure there are subtle details that are hard to depict with photos. I've been using a form of the mottling technique on my builds, which is essentially the reverse of black basing since the mottling is done in black instead of a lighter color.

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far!

 

[Robert Porter]

Great work on the paint and very instructive too. I'm sure there are subtle details that are hard to depict with photos. I've been using a form of the mottling technique on my builds, which is essentially the reverse of black basing since the mottling is done in black instead of a lighter color.

So do you prime first? Or mottle directly onto the plastic? And if you prime what is the base primer color? Just curious about how you do it. For instance how do you handle the blend stage? Or do you even do a blend stage?

 

[JKim]

So do you prime first? Or mottle directly onto the plastic? And if you prime what is the base primer color? Just curious about how you do it. For instance how do you handle the blend stage? Or do you even do a blend stage?

I prime (Mr Surfacer 1000 cut, which is neutral grey) if I do lots of puttying/sanding but mottle directly onto the plastic usually. Most of my builds show my mottle technique in stages. For a good representation, you can check out page 12 of my Dora build...
**** DONE: 1/32 Fw 190D-9 - Allied Advance and Defense of the Reich WWII. | Page 12 | WW2Aircraft.net Forums

Sorry for the thread jack!

 

[Totalize]

The Marble work on the upper surfaces. I broke out my Mr. Hobby .19mm AB and used Mr. Color Paints for the base colors. Colours used: RLM79 Sand Yellow, Cockpit Green (kind of looks like SEAC Green) and Propeller Brown.

 

[Wurger]