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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Here's how things look so far.
Once the Neutral Gray had fully dried, the area for the AEAF stripes on the underside of the rear fuselage was masked, as were the underside wing roots, underside of the wings either side of the engine nacelles, and the areas where fins and fuselage meets the underside of the tail planes.
The camouflage demarcation was then lightly drawn in pencil, on the fuselage and engine nacelles, to provide a guide for spraying free hand.
Humbrol No.163 Dark Green (satin) and No.29 Dark Earth (matt) were mixed to give a slightly faded Olive Drab, although still dark enough to provide a base colour close to the original 'fresh' shade, and the model was then sprayed in stages, starting with the slightly wavy demarcation lines on engine nacelles and fuselage, before spraying the fins, tail planes and fuselage, with the wings being last.
I should really have either used my other, fine-line airbrush, or changed the needle and nozzle on the new 'brush, as the demarcation lines are rather coarse at the moment, although thinning the paint more would have helped too.
This is not a major problem though, as the next stage involves creating a slightly worn and patchy look, using a lighter shade for the upper surfaces (Humbrol No. 159 Light Olive), misted on in varying density from top to bottom on the fuselage, and in a graded misting on the top of the wings. The demarcation can be 'fine tuned' at this stage, before work begins on weathering and general staining and wear, and adding the darker areas covering the old 'Stars and Bars' and serial numbers.
Some similar work will be done on the undersides, although very lightly - although the paint would have weathered, and would certainly exhibit some staining and dirt, this would not be as prominent as the upper surfaces, due to these areas being shaded from the sun and the worst of the European weather.
I know from past experience that the Humbrol Dark Green satin paint takes a long time to dry fully, and can remain slightly 'tacky' for a day or more, depending on the thinning ratio, and ambient temperature, so I'm not expecting to be able to do further spraying until later this afternoon (Sunday) at the earliest, but I'll post another up-date as soon as I have something worth showing.
Thanks once again for the continued interest in this build - it obviously won't be finished by the deadline, especially the diorama, but I'll continue with the build, and post progress reports, as I need to get this finished and get back to the commission diorama for the museum as soon a possible.
PIC 1. Overall view of how the model looks to date. There are a couple of blemishes on the port wing, where I accidentally dripped paint from the paint cup, but these will blend in with the other stains and faded paint, in the next painting stage.
PIC 2. This closer view gives a better impression of the actual shade and tone used - faded overall, but not excessively so, and ready to receive a toning down, or more correctly, a toning up, with the lighter shade and misted patches, stains and dirt. The masked area for the AEAF stripes can just be discerned on the lower, rear fuselage.
Once the Neutral Gray had fully dried, the area for the AEAF stripes on the underside of the rear fuselage was masked, as were the underside wing roots, underside of the wings either side of the engine nacelles, and the areas where fins and fuselage meets the underside of the tail planes.
The camouflage demarcation was then lightly drawn in pencil, on the fuselage and engine nacelles, to provide a guide for spraying free hand.
Humbrol No.163 Dark Green (satin) and No.29 Dark Earth (matt) were mixed to give a slightly faded Olive Drab, although still dark enough to provide a base colour close to the original 'fresh' shade, and the model was then sprayed in stages, starting with the slightly wavy demarcation lines on engine nacelles and fuselage, before spraying the fins, tail planes and fuselage, with the wings being last.
I should really have either used my other, fine-line airbrush, or changed the needle and nozzle on the new 'brush, as the demarcation lines are rather coarse at the moment, although thinning the paint more would have helped too.
This is not a major problem though, as the next stage involves creating a slightly worn and patchy look, using a lighter shade for the upper surfaces (Humbrol No. 159 Light Olive), misted on in varying density from top to bottom on the fuselage, and in a graded misting on the top of the wings. The demarcation can be 'fine tuned' at this stage, before work begins on weathering and general staining and wear, and adding the darker areas covering the old 'Stars and Bars' and serial numbers.
Some similar work will be done on the undersides, although very lightly - although the paint would have weathered, and would certainly exhibit some staining and dirt, this would not be as prominent as the upper surfaces, due to these areas being shaded from the sun and the worst of the European weather.
I know from past experience that the Humbrol Dark Green satin paint takes a long time to dry fully, and can remain slightly 'tacky' for a day or more, depending on the thinning ratio, and ambient temperature, so I'm not expecting to be able to do further spraying until later this afternoon (Sunday) at the earliest, but I'll post another up-date as soon as I have something worth showing.
Thanks once again for the continued interest in this build - it obviously won't be finished by the deadline, especially the diorama, but I'll continue with the build, and post progress reports, as I need to get this finished and get back to the commission diorama for the museum as soon a possible.
PIC 1. Overall view of how the model looks to date. There are a couple of blemishes on the port wing, where I accidentally dripped paint from the paint cup, but these will blend in with the other stains and faded paint, in the next painting stage.
PIC 2. This closer view gives a better impression of the actual shade and tone used - faded overall, but not excessively so, and ready to receive a toning down, or more correctly, a toning up, with the lighter shade and misted patches, stains and dirt. The masked area for the AEAF stripes can just be discerned on the lower, rear fuselage.