**** DONE: 1/72 De Havilland Sea Venom FAW 53 – Carrier Aircraft GB

Thanks terry, i will take the advice i think. Will i lose much detail you think if i simply paint over what i have done?

I had a look at your halifax build terry. very nice build. i see your point. I estimate that colour woud be standard Tamiya "Dark grey" with perhaps 1/4 semi gloss or standard black to make it slightly darker. Its subtle, but worth doing i think.

This is new teerritory for me...colour matching to a degree i have never attempted before

If you thin the paint a touch, you shouldn't notice any appreciable loss of detail Michael. To make the dark grey, you are better to start off with basic colour, that is, black and white, rather than starting with a grey. This is because some grey paints have a blue cast, and others a green cast, which can become visible when mixed.
I used Humbrol enamels, adding just a few spots of matt white to matt black. As I did it 'by eye', I have absolutely no idea of the exact ratio, but it would be something in the region of 6 to 8 parts black, to 1 part white, probably less on the white.
You might have noticed, in the Halifax thread, that once the gloss clear coat was applied, the dark grey appeared black (the normal effect of applying a gloss clear coat to any mid to dark-toned colour. Once a matt clear coat is applied, the matting agent 'softens' the effect of the gloss, returning the colour to very near the original).
This can be a useful way, although not foolproof, of 'testing' your mix. Paint a piece of scrap plastic in the desired mix and, when dry, wet it - a wet finger tip, wiped over the painted area will suffice. If it looks black, then it's acceptable - if it still looks grey, then too much white has been added to the mix, and can easily be modified by the addition of more black.
Trial and error is the name of the game, only adding small quantities of white at a time, until the desired result is achieved. Once you've got it as you require it, this experience will aid you the next time you do it, and so on, until this experience in mixing will make things quick and easy to do, and adjust, as required.

Terry, you do know you should write a book or instruction manual on this. Its bloody good stuff


Ive made a start for you

He He! I like it!
I have actually considered writing a sort of 'Basic Guide and Dictionary of Aviation/Modelling Terms', for use by forum members. The problem is, trying to fit it in between modelling, painting, other writings and day to day life!
I might get around to doing it one day!

It would be very well recieved!

That it would! Keep up the good work Michael and Terry!

nice

I'd want a personal autographed copy and sound advice one again Terry.

okay herer are the test slides of the clour mixes The left side follw terry's advice at different proportions of black and white. ive used a semi-gloss black and a matt white.


The slides on the right are a mix of the same black and Tamiya Black/Green

The left slides arer percentages proportions white/black, the percentages for the right side slide are the other way around grn/black

Kind of tough to see but I think the middle one on the left looks pretty good for scale black. Floquil makes a color called Grimy Black that I've always liked using for lightened black.

Same here - the contrast isn't showing too good on my monitor, but I would also go for the middle left.

A quick update, but no photos yet.Ive resprayed the IP ejection seats and cockpit wells in the 70/30 modelling black concoctioon I made up. For reference it is acrylic 70% semigloss tamiya black mixed with 30% Tamiya White. It makes a significant difference in that it brings the model detailing out better.

Ive dry brushed the cockpit well and back plate and nearly completed the brush painting of the seat cushioning and harness. I am not good at that stuff, so im embarrassed to show it. In my book by my standards, the finish is okay, but I just cannot achieve the accuracy and precision that you guys are just so good at. Im improving and learning, but my quality still sucks to be honest. I decided not to fabricate harness straps, just going with the kit detail molded into the seats themselves. Results were okay, but not outstanding. On the other hand the area behind the ejection seats under the canopy turned out pretty good after i had applied some dry brushed aluminium colour to simulate the bare metal around the cornerss and edges that I see in the walk around photos.

Ive also pretty much completed the IP. Results were okay, but not outstanding. As a novice, painting 1/72 IPs is a real challenge I find. Some of the gauge dials are less than 1/128 in across. At that size, they are smaller than the head of a pin. Most are around 1/32, which is still tiny. I dont know how Terry did in his Halifax but I simply could not put any gauge details on my IP. I managed to get very regular white highlights where the gauge faces go, which I managed by slightly polishing out the gauge depressions and then very carefully applying white paint with the smallest high quality Brush that I have in my kit. Really these dial faces should be black with white numbering. At a distance in real life I think the white numbers overpower the black backround of the dials, so the subconcious regist4eres them as white. When I tried to put black faces on the dials, and apply white lettering on the dials, all I got was an IP that looked completely black except under the high power glass. Plus the white paint I tried to apply just ended up as messy bits of flydirt on the IP facing. So I decided to ditch the whole idea of faithful reproduction of the IP dials, and simply went for a neater presentation of what the dials do when the cockpit is viewed from 5cm (for a 1/72 scale. For a 1:1 scale that equates to what you see at 350 cm....I think just white dials) . From the walk around photos of the real thing the dials appear as white dots on a black background, so with my skills (or lack thereof) I decided to do what I knew I could do better, and that was to apply white dots for the dials. These come up much better from a distance because they look very neat and have the same effect as the real thing....white faced dials on a black IP face.

I know that surrender will not win me any brownie points, and a few will be saying "whats the difficulty" I accept those criticisms, but in the end I have to work within my capabilities and go for an outcome that I can achieve. so its white dials on a modelling black background at the moment.

The only thing I have to do to finish my IP is to apply the "glass" faces for the IP dials. I was thinking of using either clear coat hardcoat (put out by Citadel...a thick hard varnish that dries clear) or PVA applied with either a very small brush or eyedropper. Do you guys have any advice or tips on this.

Addressing the last first, sharpen a tooth pick a bit and apply white glue to the dial faces.
As far as the rest goes, I will dig around my older stuff, take some picts and you can see the trouble I had with 1/48 scale IP's. It is a learning thing, yes, but it is a hobby first!
Don't feel bad about your efforts, I think my stuff compares badly to others also...But again, it is a hobby.

Everybody started somewhere, and the guys on this forum are some of the finest I have ever found for support and assistance.
Here is a very early attempt on a Monogram 1/48 P-40, huge by 1/72 standards. It's pretty sorry, do you feel better now?

I agree totally with Paul, and in doing things the way you are at the moment, is the best course. The 'fine detailing' skills come with practice and experience.
there was a time when I could accurately hand-paint 1/48th scale instruments, using tiny dots for the figures, and a stroke for the needles, but those days are now gone!
When you have time, have a little practice on some scrap plastic. Paint it gloss white (preferably white enamel, as it's harder), then, when dry, paint it matt black (scale or neat), and acrylic is good for this stage.
When this is dry, use a sharp pin, or maybe a compass point, in a pin-vice or similar if possible, and scratch small circles into the black, which will reveal the white below. Then try adding tiny dots around the inner circumference. If the latter is impossible, the white circles alone, to the naked eye, will look like instruments in 1/72nd scale, especially if you can manage a stroke across the radius, full or half the distance.

Once again Michael, don't be too hard on yourself, you work in a small scale which in itself is a challenge and I'm sure many of us prefer the 1/48 or larger because it's easier to work with. What you produce is good and I for one admire your determination to try and achieve in your miniscule scale what many of us are looking for in the larger scales. To my mind you have come on leaps and bounds since joining the GBs and its nice to see.

Sound and detailed advice from Terry, I've never thought of let alone tried that method so when I've got 5, which will probably be when I'm doing another model that fits this method of doing an IP, I'll give it a go. Thanks Mr T, once again you have come up trumps.

Like the dusty model Paul, looks like it's been out in the desert a while, certainly not your rain though.

Thanks so much guys, and I do feel a bit better. will try and post photos before the weekend, if not next week some time.

You just keep pushing along with what you are comfortable with Michael, there is plenty of help and encouragement here to make the journey easier and better with each build!

I figured that P-40 would be good for a laugh, whenever you need a boost you can always look at that and say, "well, it's not THAT bad!"