<> 1/48 Arado Ar196A - WW1 / WW2 over Water.

[Crimea_River]

Last minute details added before laying on some paint:

The step in the cowl has been smoothed out, rescribed, and primed.

Canopy masking. The pieces that bend down form the upper panes need to be reburnished and watched during painting as they keep lifting.

The pontoon rudders, which I had removed earlier due to risk of damage, have been replaced and have had actuators added.

Trim tab and elevator actuators scratched.

Trailing antenna and some rectangular doo-hickey added.

Mass balances and bomb release cables added.

This was all done several days ago and the model has not been touched since. Hope to lay on some paint soon. Thanks for checking in.

 

[Robert Porter]

Very nice! Looks great!

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Andy!

 

[Airframes]

Nice work Andy - looking forward to the colourful stuff.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Went to one of our LHSs today and almost picked up some MM Acryl RLM 72 and 73 which are premixed shades. I decided not to after I shook the jars. The 73 looked good but the 72 looked too grey. Didn't see any Vallejo's in those shades so I'm back to experimenting with some Tamiya mixes.

 

[fubar57]

Nice additions. Depending on the age of the Vallejo paint, their early mixes were pretty sketchy at best. I've noticed that the sets look a lot better. I know they are expensive but I sure would like a paint chip set. Awaiting the paint.

 

[Robert Porter]

Vallejo has come a long way. Their colors originally were not very accurate but recently I have seen their color accuracy receive high praise in places like ISM and Flory Models and other well thought of model communities. I doubt any particular line will ever receive universal acclaim. However they really do seem to be trying to stay very close to authentic. And their newest line adds some kind of perfume scent to the paint. My house smells a bit like the floral center of my local big box store when I spray their paints!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks all. Having looked through my decal files I'm now decided on doing 7R+HK with the splinter scheme. Also have found that there are many interpretations of 72 and 73 some of which recommend the same FS equivalents for each so I'm down to coming up with my own mixes that I think will look right. I'll be going with a greyer/bluer version of 70/71.

I have squirted on the yellows and whites for the wing tips, cowl, and fuselage band and have started making those off. Pics later.

 

[Wurger]

Sounds good Andy.

 

[turbo]

Nice Andy, looking forward to the paint...

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Yellow an white applied:

 

[Airframes]

Looking good.

 

[Wurger]

Agreed.

 

[Robert Porter]

Well on the way! I do love yellow!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks all. Here are some shots from last Wednesday and Thursday to catch you up.

The white band was carefully masked.

With the yellow wing tips masked off, I laid down a patchwork of Tamiya Field Grey.

To paint the RLM 65, I went to open my jar of XF-23 only to find that it was almost empty and completely dried out. Rather than waste an hour to go get some more, I decided to mix 1 part XF-18 Medium Blue to 3 parts XF-2 White and squirted that on in thin layers. I then lightened that mix with a few drops of white and went over some parts again to create a patchy effect.

Here's a close-up of the finished paint.

The more I look at this now in natural light, the more I think I may redo it as it looks a bit too grey. I also have not yet found that pesky hair that's marring my photos despite cleaning my lens and blowing off the sensor.

I also sampled a number of potential 72/73 combinations and have found the bracketed par to most closely match the paint chips in Merrick's Luftwaffe Colours tome. I will try these but will lighten both colours juts a tad as they seem quite dark.

Thanks for looking in guys.

 

[Wurger]

 

[rochie]

Like it Andy

 

[Airframes]

Me too. Nice work there Andy.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys.

 

[turbo]

Nice one Andy. Just fyi, I've seen the following Tamiya mixes for RLM 72 and 73:

RLM 72 -- XF26:1 + XF65:1
RLM 73 – XF24:2 + XF27:3 + XF2:1

Haven't tried them myself though so can't give an opinion.