++ **** DONE: 1/72 MiG-15bis - Military Conflicts of the 1950's

[Crimea_River]

Good work John.

 

[Wildcat]

Looking good!

 

[T Bolt]

I like the effect of that marble coat John

 

[JKim]

Thanks guys! That marble pre-shade (which you can consider as a form of black-basing) does yield a nice result but it is hard to implement on multi-color paint schemes unless they are hard-masked. This is where my build has stalled. I've got the tan base color on the upper surfaces but am grappling with how to proceed with the dark brown and dark green colors. I can hard-mask them and implement my preferred pre-shading but it would take some time and effort to cut and place the masks, especially around the wing strakes. I think I could free-hand the camo using an airbrush but I wouldn't be able to preshade. I could also go the blu-tack route for the camo edges but I've never used this method and am hesitant. I'll stew on this for a bit while I continue on the 109F build.

 

[JKim]

Following up on my previous post, here is what the MiG-15 looks like right now.

Not sure I like the color of the tan but there are no good references for North Korean camo that I can find.

 

[Wurger]

The "sandy" colour was approximately the FS 30257 or 30475 as a faded one. Also you may find it called a light brown or sand brown. The Dark Green colour - appr. the FS 34128 and the Light Blue - appr. FS 35488.. The colour of undersides could be the FS 25414 as well.

Maybe the set would be useful for the 417 kite.

Dark Earth Brown FS 30111 - Humbrol 186 - 98
Russian Dark Green FS 34128 - Humbrol 80 - 105 - 86
Sand FS 30257 - Humbrol 63 - 93
Light Blue FS 35488 - Humbrol 127

 

[JKim]

Thanks guys! Thanks Wojtek for the color recommendations. Finally had the chance to continue work on the MiG. The top tan color has had a chance to cure for a while so I finally decided to mask the camo using tape. I used a roll of wide yellow tape, approximated the camo patterns in pencil and cut them out using an x-acto knife on the cutting matt.

First goes the brown. I used Tamiya X-9 Brown. I didn't take a picture but I did some pre-shading prior to laying down the brown.

Leaving the brown masks on, the green areas are further masked using the same method and Tamiya XF-26 Deep Green is sprayed on.

All of the camo masking is pulled off, including the demarcation between the upper and lower fuselage that has been in place for a few weeks now. There are some undersprays and jagged edges that need to be cleaned up but the underlying paint didn't lift, which I was afraid of.

After the touch-ups, I'm going to give her a clear coat and put on the decals.

 

[fubar57]

Beauty

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Looking good so far John!

 

[JKim]

That hard edge camo is kinda funky don't ya think?

 

[Wurger]

Not too bad I would say. A such camo was applied in a field workshop rather than in a factory. Our maintenance crews used newspapers or just a big sheets of wrapping paper for masking. So these camo edges were quite sharp.

 

[JKim]

Ah that's good to know, Wojtek! Feel a little bit better about it now. I'm sure the weathering will help too.

 

[Wurger]

Here is my old one of 1/72 scale , painted with camo colours of my regiment.

 

[JKim]

I love those colors Wojtek! I'm inferring from your comments that you served in the Polish military and had first hand experience with MiGs?

 

[Wurger]

Yes I'm retired PAF member. Because of my job there I was working with many a/c types including MiGs.

 

[Airframes]

It's coming to life nicely John, good work.

 

[Crimea_River]

Agreed, Looking good as always.

 

[Wayne Little]

Great paint job John...

 

[JKim]

Comments appreciated as always. Rolling along with the MiG as we clean up the camo edges. After that we get a gloss coat on her to protect the camo and to prep for decals. I REALLY like Alclad Aqua Gloss as my gloss coat. It sprays on nice and dries quick and hard. Since it is an acrylic, I thin it with 90% iso alcohol and have been experimenting with adding a few drops of Mr. Color Leveling Thinner to make it lay down even nicer.

The NK insignias that come with the Eduard kit have a clear background so I'll have to mask the white circles prior to decal application. The circle cutter comes in very handy for this type of mask. A little bit of paint creep and overspray that I need to clean up.

I picked up a cheap sheet of Communist Block (Chinese) numerals for the MiG-15. Only one style so unfortunately, I won't have the exact style as depicted in the profile for Red 417 that I have. Also don't have any kill marks.

No stencils are provided so decaling is very minimal. I've kept the underwing insignias with the clear background.

The decals are sealed with another application of Aqua Gloss and we are ready for a panel wash. A dark brown color is applied liberally over the bottom of the aircraft.

This Eduard kit features very fine panel lines and even finer rivets. Some of the rivets near seams were re-punched using a sewing needle. Because of the fineness of the recessed details, it is a good idea to let the wash dry thoroughly prior to wiping off.

The top of the aircraft is given the same wash procedure.

I usually step away from the model after this step and hold off on applying the flat coat. You want to make sure that you remove any unnatural smudges that always seem to appear after a panel wash. So I put the model down and did some work adding painted parts to the sliding canopy. The frames on the semi-circular bulkhead (which was supplied as a clear piece) was handpainted since it was too small to mask.

After inspecting and re-inspecting the model a few times, I applied the flat coat. I'm still using Tamiya Flat Base added to Alclad Aqua Gloss. The finish is good but I'm still leery about getting the right mixture to avoid the white frosting that appears once you've added too much Flat Base.

A closer look at the cockpit opening. I'll leaving the canopy open on this one.

The ejection seat, which fell out somewhere along the way, is glued back into place. I've placed the gunsight to make sure it fits under the windscreen but it's not ready to be glued in yet.

A look underneath... I'm toying with the idea of putting some NMF around the gun bays. The profile of Red 417 hints at this but I'm not sure if I'll do this or not.

Now that the flat coat is on, I'm going to think about some additional weathering before I start gluing on the final bits and pieces.