**** DONE: 1/48 P-47M - Aircraft Nose Art GB.

[Crimea_River]

Thanks. Iwata HP-C fine which has a fine tip. Pressure was 20.

 

[Wayne Little]

Well done Andy!

 

[N4521U]

Looks nice....

My cheep-@ss compressor will only do 15lbs.
In the States I had a 5hp compressor. Wish I had it now.

 

[dneid]

Hey, Andy.
That looks very nice. I am so wanting to try Alclads. I am just very nervous about them and my skills. I need to grab a cheap kit and give it a try around the end of the year.
Dale

 

[Airframes]

Very nice indeed Andy. I know what you mean about picking up tonal differences in photos too, and a pola filter doesn't work with metal surfaces either.
One of these days, I might try Alclad, but I'm put off by the relatively high price for the size of the bottle.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys.

I've actually found the stuff to be fairly simple to use and it goes onto bare plastic quite nicely (as you can see by the fin extension). I agree it's a bit pricey but, as long as I'm not doing a 1/48 B-29, I find the cost per model to be acceptable.

 

[dneid]

Damn! There goes the idea of an affordable NMF B-29. Many, many years ago I did a '51 in bare foil (kitchen, not the new fangled hobby stuff - old fart rant off). A ton of work, a ton of patience, a ton of white glue, several artist eraser blocks, and ton of Reynolds (at least for a 1/48 kit). Learned to burnish foil, learned to really use a Dremel, learned that foil has a grain. Will I ever do that again? Hmmmmm, lemme see, pound my testicles flat with a mallet or old school NMF? Hand me the mallet someone.
Dale

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Wow. That was sure worth the wait Andy, it came out good.

 

[Crimea_River]

Cheers Vic.

 

[Totalize]

Damn! There goes the idea of an affordable NMF B-29. Many, many years ago I did a '51 in bare foil (kitchen, not the new fangled hobby stuff - old fart rant off). A ton of work, a ton of patience, a ton of white glue, several artist eraser blocks, and ton of Reynolds (at least for a 1/48 kit). Learned to burnish foil, learned to really use a Dremel, learned that foil has a grain. Will I ever do that again? Hmmmmm, lemme see, pound my testicles flat with a mallet or old school NMF? Hand me the mallet someone.
Dale

Thank God we have Alclad II. Just the vision of pounding one's testicles with a hammer is enough to make me upchuck...

And by the way your Alclad finish looks very nice Andy.

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

I appreciate the comments guys. For a first try I'm happy with it but there are a couple of learnings tucked away in the memory banks for next time. One can't underestimate the importance of a blemish-free base.

 

[Crimea_River]

Masking around the canopy was necessary to preserve the unpainted aluminum finish underneath the closed canopy. To do this, I traced the canopy line onto tap and cut the pieces along the lines.

The rest of the hard-edged NMF areas were also masked to prepare for the camouflage topcoat.

And so tonight, I mixed up a batch of the light blue, or at least what I felt the blue might have looked like as the actual colour is somewhat speculative, even by those in the know, and sprayed it onto the model.

I'll go with this for now but part of me is thinking that it's a bit too light. The moment of truth will come when the darker blue goes on and that could be tomorrow so we'll see how it goes.

 

[dneid]

Hey, Andy,
I was going to say to wait until the dark blue is down. Have you done any test passes with the lgt/drk blue combination on any scrap yet? My 1st impression was it maybe is a tad too light. But, I just could not make a judgment call given the variations in camera sensors and monitor "temperatures". That plane is sure looking very nice.
Dale

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Dale. No, I didn't test it. If it's not right, I'll darken it right over the existing coat and use the opportunity to make it a little patchy as I rarely like a clean look anyway.

 

[prem895]

Why did you paint the whole thing nmf,just to cover it up with the blue? I must be missing something

 

[Angels one-five]

Looking great Andy. I think the nice thing about these 56th FG blue schemes, is that there seems to be no definitive answer on shades of blue, so there is a fair degree of 'modeller's leeway'. One of those rare occasions where they can be almost painted to individual taste!

 

[ozhawk40]

Looking very good there CR!

Cheers

Peter

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks everyone.

Why did you paint the whole thing nmf,just to cover it up with the blue? I must be missing something

You are. I only painted the underside and leading edges NMF. The rest was bare plastic.

Looking great Andy. I think the nice thing about these 56th FG blue schemes, is that there seems to be no definitive answer on shades of blue, so there is a fair degree of 'modeller's leeway'. One of those rare occasions where they can be almost painted to individual taste!

You're right there. There are a few faded colour pics an I had a link to a video once that had a very short clip of the scheme but I lost it.

 

[prem895]

Well that explains that then. I am looking forward to the next steps