chris brown
Senior Airman
Great work, as always. She is looking sweet.
**** DONE: 1/48 Republic P-47D - Mediterranean Theater of Operations
- Thread starter JKim
- Start date
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dneid
Staff Sergeant
Absolutely lovely work on the chipping, on everything! I need to break down and try the hairspray idea.
Crimea_River
Marshal
Stunning work there John. I really like how that's coming out.
- Thread starter
- #104
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Thanks for all of the positive vibes and comments guys! This build is approaching completion and I'm curious to see how the big bird looks when all of the sub-assemblies are attached.
I've applied a coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss to serve as a base for the decals. It's funny how much a gloss coat can change the appearance (much darker and the pre-shading really stands out). Tamiya has a full complement of stencils for the P-47D and I spent a full evening on those alone. Unfortunately, Tamiya decals are THICK and no amount of solution will make them thinner. Hopefully, subsequent clear coats will knock down the edges. The big wing insignias were next and thankfully the Rising Decal set is much thinner. Still, some portions of the decals did not want to settle into the panel lines and I may have to use a sharp xacto to get satisfactory results.
The bottom wing insignias went right over the lights so I had to cut out little pieces of decals to reveal the lights and touch the area up with white and blue paint.
Before moving onto the rest of the decals, I decided to address the canopy frames. Pictures from the 57th FG website seem to indicate that many of the P-47D's had their canopy frames painted yellow. It looks like most of the yellow got worn off on the Wog so I decided to use the hairspray technique once again to depict the remnants of yellow paint. Clear coat has already been applied to preserve the olive drab so the next step is mask off the canopy using Tamiya tape and small Post-Its.
Hairspray is decanted into a small container and sprayed through an airbrush. Once that dries, yellow paint is applied. It doesn't look like much, if any, yellow paint remained on the front windscreen so I elected to concentrate on the rear of the canopy.
Using a small brush dampened with water, the yellow parts of the canopy is brushed over and over until the yellow starts lifting away. Again, I got inconsistent results and I'm not sure why. I don't quite understand the relationship between the amount of hairspray applied, how long is supposed to dry and how long the chipped layer is supposed to dry. Unlike the fuselage where I allowed the OD to dry for a complete day before chipping, I did all of the canopy chipping in one session. I assumed the less time I gave the yellow paint, the easier it would be to get it off. But it seemed the opposite was happening. The barely dry yellow took lots of effort to get off, often resorting to a sharp toothpick to get it going. Hence, the pattern of the chipping is much "coarser" than I intended. Ah well... still lots to figure out when it comes to this method.
After the canopy work was finished, I resumed applying decals for The Wog. Does anyone know what a "wog" is? At any rate, this is one heavily decorated warbird.
The port side still needs to be decaled.
Another view of the undersides with the decaling finished.
After I complete the decaling, I still have some detail painting that I want to do. I'll take a fresh look and fix any discernable painting glitches, add some light chipping with silver paint, do some detail painting on the undersides at the exhaust port areas and then give it another gloss coat so seal prior to weathering.
I've applied a coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss to serve as a base for the decals. It's funny how much a gloss coat can change the appearance (much darker and the pre-shading really stands out). Tamiya has a full complement of stencils for the P-47D and I spent a full evening on those alone. Unfortunately, Tamiya decals are THICK and no amount of solution will make them thinner. Hopefully, subsequent clear coats will knock down the edges. The big wing insignias were next and thankfully the Rising Decal set is much thinner. Still, some portions of the decals did not want to settle into the panel lines and I may have to use a sharp xacto to get satisfactory results.
The bottom wing insignias went right over the lights so I had to cut out little pieces of decals to reveal the lights and touch the area up with white and blue paint.
Before moving onto the rest of the decals, I decided to address the canopy frames. Pictures from the 57th FG website seem to indicate that many of the P-47D's had their canopy frames painted yellow. It looks like most of the yellow got worn off on the Wog so I decided to use the hairspray technique once again to depict the remnants of yellow paint. Clear coat has already been applied to preserve the olive drab so the next step is mask off the canopy using Tamiya tape and small Post-Its.
Hairspray is decanted into a small container and sprayed through an airbrush. Once that dries, yellow paint is applied. It doesn't look like much, if any, yellow paint remained on the front windscreen so I elected to concentrate on the rear of the canopy.
Using a small brush dampened with water, the yellow parts of the canopy is brushed over and over until the yellow starts lifting away. Again, I got inconsistent results and I'm not sure why. I don't quite understand the relationship between the amount of hairspray applied, how long is supposed to dry and how long the chipped layer is supposed to dry. Unlike the fuselage where I allowed the OD to dry for a complete day before chipping, I did all of the canopy chipping in one session. I assumed the less time I gave the yellow paint, the easier it would be to get it off. But it seemed the opposite was happening. The barely dry yellow took lots of effort to get off, often resorting to a sharp toothpick to get it going. Hence, the pattern of the chipping is much "coarser" than I intended. Ah well... still lots to figure out when it comes to this method.
After the canopy work was finished, I resumed applying decals for The Wog. Does anyone know what a "wog" is? At any rate, this is one heavily decorated warbird.
The port side still needs to be decaled.
Another view of the undersides with the decaling finished.
After I complete the decaling, I still have some detail painting that I want to do. I'll take a fresh look and fix any discernable painting glitches, add some light chipping with silver paint, do some detail painting on the undersides at the exhaust port areas and then give it another gloss coat so seal prior to weathering.
le_steph40
Senior Master Sergeant
Miam 
- Thread starter
- #108
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Yes Sergio... I believe the AK-Interactive chipping products are a form of hairspray. Perhaps I should look into these products since I am running into inconsistent results with the hairspray. But then I'd lose that nice hair salon smell in my work room!
You should definitely try the method... it's very easy to do.
fubar57
General
Looks great John. I've just started using a P.E. bender myself and I use a Stanley utility blade as a folding tool. The thing I find hardest about multiple mends is trying to decide the order of bending.
Geo
Geo
Damn fine work John.
- Thread starter
- #111
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Definitely a learning experience. I've had to "unbend" parts because I didn't take order into account. My tool is the Bug by Small Shop and it came with a razor blade. One more new toy that I'm still waiting to arrive...
dneid
Staff Sergeant
Hey, John, I will be very interested in hearing your thoughts on the Iwata brush at the end of the build. I love my Passches, but I am still interested in an Iwata HP-C. Cost holds me back from jumping on the band wagon and the fact I have 4 Paaches already.
As far as bending tools.... I use a clean ceramic tile and a could of single edged razor blades. So far, I am able to get all the nds I need with that.
As far as bending tools.... I use a clean ceramic tile and a could of single edged razor blades. So far, I am able to get all the nds I need with that.
- Thread starter
- #113
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Will do! I'm also a Paasche guy (currently using an old V and I have an H that I rarely use since I don't build anything bigger than 1/48 ). I'm satisfied with the results that my Paasche V is giving me but there are a couple of issues with it. The biggest is that it doesn't shoot straight. I've replaced needles and tips but that thing always shoots crooked. I've adapted to it for the most part but occasionally I'll put paint where it is not supposed to go... frustrating.
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Crimea_River
Marshal
I have the HP-C and it's now my regular brush except for large areas in which case I go back to my Paasche VL. Can't complain.
dneid
Staff Sergeant
yeah, I am so tempted to try an HP-C<fill in the blank>. I tried a Neo and it did not impress me. But, the Hi-Perf line sure looks nice. not cheap, but damned nice. I love my Paasche Talon and Millenium. I may grab an Iwata for Christmas now that I have met my initial savings goal.
- Thread starter
- #116
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
I wish the Iwata would hurry up and get here already. Ordered it in November. But I'm so used to the Paasche... I know exactly what it likes and what it doesn't... I wonder if I'll have a learning curve with the new airbrush.
Progressing fairly rapidly on the Thunderbolt. Decaling has been finished and it's time to seal the decals with another gloss goat.
I put a dark wash on the panel lines prior to a flat coat and I messed up a bit. The pressure from the airbrush blew out the liquid wash in places where it wasn't dry and I got some dirty streaks in the paint job. I touched it up using highly thinned mixtures of olive drab and neutral gray... decided that it actually enhanced the dirty/used appearance that I am trying to go for. Speaking of dirty... I made good on my observation elsewhere about neglecting the bottom. I weathered the underparts quite heavily. After the touchup, I gave the bottoms a dirty brown pastel wash and a darker wash on top. I added exhaust stains. I also dry applied some earthy/rusty pastels on random panels and ports. The landing gear are first subassemblies to be attached so that I can set the plane on its feet.
I use little plastic bags to hold various painted parts and its saved me more than a few times by keeping delicate wire work and PE parts safe from jiggling around elsewhere. Some of the PE stuff is so delicate that I would be impossible to salvage. Check out the little arms on the rear landing gear doors...
Ok... so here are some preliminary views of The Wog all painted up and almost ready for inspection.
I still have some things to do including the drop tank. By the way... thanks to the kindly Mr. Javlin, I have the correct 75 gallon drop tank to make my 57th FG Razorback as authentic as possible.
Still need to figure out connection points on fuselage for the drop tank but I probably have enough info to wing it.
Progressing fairly rapidly on the Thunderbolt. Decaling has been finished and it's time to seal the decals with another gloss goat.
I put a dark wash on the panel lines prior to a flat coat and I messed up a bit. The pressure from the airbrush blew out the liquid wash in places where it wasn't dry and I got some dirty streaks in the paint job. I touched it up using highly thinned mixtures of olive drab and neutral gray... decided that it actually enhanced the dirty/used appearance that I am trying to go for. Speaking of dirty... I made good on my observation elsewhere about neglecting the bottom. I weathered the underparts quite heavily. After the touchup, I gave the bottoms a dirty brown pastel wash and a darker wash on top. I added exhaust stains. I also dry applied some earthy/rusty pastels on random panels and ports. The landing gear are first subassemblies to be attached so that I can set the plane on its feet.
I use little plastic bags to hold various painted parts and its saved me more than a few times by keeping delicate wire work and PE parts safe from jiggling around elsewhere. Some of the PE stuff is so delicate that I would be impossible to salvage. Check out the little arms on the rear landing gear doors...
Ok... so here are some preliminary views of The Wog all painted up and almost ready for inspection.
I still have some things to do including the drop tank. By the way... thanks to the kindly Mr. Javlin, I have the correct 75 gallon drop tank to make my 57th FG Razorback as authentic as possible.
Still need to figure out connection points on fuselage for the drop tank but I probably have enough info to wing it.
- Thread starter
- #117
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
My daughter came in to the garage to hang out and was playing with my camera. I guess she took a picture of me working so I thought I'd share...
tigerdriver
Staff Sergeant
its looking really good
fubar57
General
Nice John, almost good enough for a member mugshot.
Geo
Geo
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