**** DONE: 1/48 Hellcat Mk. II - Aircraft in Foreign Service WWII

[Crimea_River]

The ID marks have been masked (pic below) and the Dark Sea Blue has been painted on (no pic).

The Dark Sea Blue did not go as well as I would have liked. The Humbrol paint, although glossy, was not dark enough so I had to darken it with black, but the only black enamel I had was an old Model Master flat black. The first coat went on nicely but the finish was a semi-gloss and showed some of the white. The second coat did not go well as I had the paint dust up on me and the finish became quite rough so I'll need to sand it down. Given that the dark blue should be glossy, I think I'll forget about the mix I made and go out to get some proper gloss paint and redo it. Stay tuned.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Andy. I wonder if Hornby Hobbies realise just how many modellers are having extra work, or worse, spoiling hours of work, due to the cr@p that is now pushed out under the Humbrol name.

 

[Crimea_River]

Can't blame Humbrol on this one Terry. The first coat went down beautifully and the second was my fault. I think I over-thinned the paint and had it dry in the air on me. As I only had flat black to mix it with, I also did not get the finish I wanted.

I've now bought a bottle of Model Master Gloss Dark See Blue in acryl (the enamel does not seem to come in gloss) so after sanding down the finish, I'll throw on a coat of this stuff and see how it goes.

Here's a question: would the white ID marks have been done in matte paint or gloss?

 

[Gnomey]

Looks good so far Andy!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

I'm going to sit back and stay tuned!

 

[Wayne Little]

Think I will too....can't help on the white sheen either....

 

[dneid]

Hey, Andy, Sorry to hear about the paint issues. Now, PTO is not an area I am super familiar with, but, I do recall reading something a few years abck that the ID marking were a semi gloss to full gloss finish.

 

[Crimea_River]

Cheers Dale. I appreciate the input. At the moment, the white areas are flat and I'll be using a gloss Dark Sea Blue which will allow me to decal without a Future coat. So, I'll probably reverse mask the stripes after the blue goes on and shoot on a semi gloss. I haven't had the energy to tackle the sanding yet but, just to show you what happened, I post the below pics. First is the underside which received the first coat (nice), then the top side which dusted on me (not so nice).

 

[dneid]

Hey, Andy,
Any idea as to what caused the dusting? Cut the paint too thin and had the spray setup "in flight"? Just curious soon I can learn from you. Also, how is the Eduard Hellcat kit to construct? I just grabbed one off ebay today and I am curious as to how it builds up.
Dale

 

[Crimea_River]

Yep, too much thinner methinks.

The Eduard kit is "shake and bake". Falls together by itself but care is needed in aligning the fuselage seam so that you don't get a step that needs excessive sanding as you'll lose the realistic ship-lapped panel details. Soe very small gaps do occur at the wing/fuselage joint but these are so small that I was able to fill with paint.

 

[dneid]

Thanks for the feedback, Andy!

 

[Airframes]

I've had a look through my FAA references Andy, and from what I can see, the Gloss Blue was more of a semi-gloss, presumably due to exposure to the elements and salt water, and the white had a sheen to it too. Perhaps not as 'deep' as the blue, so maybe a satin-like finish, but hard to tell in the photos. Although the blue is described, the white is just referred to as white!

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys, and thanks also for checking Terry. I agree about the gloss maybe being too much and may tone it down with a Future/Tamiya Flat Base coat that covers the white as well, once the decals are all on. It's interesting, if you look at the flying pic on post #1, that there appears to be a distinct change in reflectivity of the finish between the cockpit and the nose. It almost looks like the engine cowl and a portion behind it is glossy and that, from that point back, the finish is matte. There's no shine at all evident behind the pit and I wold have expected some where the fuselage curves sharply at the top.

 

[Airframes]

Yes, that's the sort of thing I've seen on some other pics too. In a couple of pics on deck, a sheen can be seen on the rear fuselage, wings and tail, which is presumably 'worn' gloss, but the nose area seems to reflect more. Possibly a skein of oil, or perhaps polished, or maybe just more shine due to handling when servicing etc.?

 

[Crimea_River]

Yeah, replicate that and explain it to a contest judge!

 

[Airframes]

Yeah! I was once criticised, many years ago, for the amount of paint wear on the wing root of a 1/32nd scale Spitfire. When I showed the (close up) photos of the actual aircraft, the chap said it must be light reflection. Maybe he couldn't see that it was in shadow, and the river heads were visible on the bare metal .........

 

[Crimea_River]

The horror!

 

[Wayne Little]

I hope you dropped to your knees Terry and shouted I am not worthy....Then stuffed the photo where the sun don't shine....