**** DONE: 1/48 Kittyhawk IV "Cleopatra III" - Aircraft in Foreign Service WWII (1 Viewer)

[Crimea_River]

Very much appreciated gents, and I'm happy to say that the bombectomy was a success. Credit goes to abstinance from T-Stoff and this extremely thin razor saw:

The result was this much more accessible area for painting. As you can see, masking the white to do the grey undersides will be hard enough, even without the bombs being present.

So, obviously, I have begun the spritzing with the white surfaces being done this afternoon. For this I used some Tamiya gloss white that I had left over from my Avenger build.

Close-up of the all-white tail:

That's it for today guys. Should get the grey undersides done tomorrow and maybe even the OD topsides. Thanks for the interest and comments everyone.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Andy. Oh, and the wheels have been ordered - I'll e-mail you when I've sent them on.

 

[Wurger]

Nicely done.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Most excellent sir!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Terry, thanks also for the order.

 

[Wayne Little]

Well done on the bomb removal mate!

 

[Catch22]

Fantastic work Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Wayne, Cory. Cory, I was about to e-mail you the other day til I saw you posting again. Been a while.

 

[Catch22]

Yeah, one of my inexplicable absences. I get busy doing other things than modelling, but I have no idea why I tend to disappear from the forum when that happens.

 

[Airframes]

Darned women !

 

[ccheese]

Looking good, Mate...

Charles

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Well, not sure that what I did today will suffice but, after researching what modelers tend to use for Neutral Gray, the unanimous choice seems to be XF-54 which surprised me for its darkness. After I sprayed about half of one wing I shook my head and lightened it with white but I think it's still too dark. What do you guys think?

 

[fubar57]

Compared to my remaining ¼" of Gunze Sangyo, yours does look darker on my screen. Tamiya does make a Neutral Grey(XF-53) but it is way darker.

Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

Yeah, I'm thinking the same Geo.

 

[Airframes]

Hard to tell without the upper surface colour as contrast, but it looks close. I think I'd maybe lighten it just a tad. It's surprising how dark Neutral Gray was, when 'fresh', but it did weather quickly, and often looked a lot lighter, maybe a shade or two darker than Medium Sea Grey.
I've only once used 'proper' Neutral Gray, from Xtracolor, who are normally 'spot on' for accurate colours, but even in 1/32nd scale, on a P-47, I thought it looked too dark for a 'used' aircraft. Ever since, I've just mixed my own, until it looked right!
My current P-47 is an example, and this is possibly darker than I usually mix it.

 

[Wayne Little]

Hard to tell on my screen Andy got a bluish tinge to it, I normally just add some white to the XF53....and with my mottling pattern application, get a good look...although a white or light grey primer base would create a good effect too.

 

[dneid]

Hey, Andy,
Hard to say with the variations of computer screens. But, on my mac book pro, it does seem a tad dark.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks very much for the excellent input guys. It just didn't look right to me, though the FS36118 often assigned to this colour is quite dark as can be seen by the swatch below. Nonetheless, I will lighten it today.

 

[Wurger]

Sounds good.

 

[Wayne Little]