**** DONE: GB-39 1:48 CR. 42 Falco - Battle for France to Battle of Britain

Thanks guys. Bottom surfaces sprayed gloss black and working on some minor blemishes. Nothing worth posting at this point.

I'll just move on then.................

the sound of crickets in the background........

Chirp chirp....

Great work so far Andy!

The bottom was prepped and painted with Alclad Gloss Black followed by a coat of Airframe Aluminum.. I think the finish is too shiny based on the aminum dopes that I've seen so after I add the decals I'm going to shoot a flat clear on the bottom to tone it down.



Next up, I've been experimenting with colours, mix ratios, and airbrush settings for the upper camo and am not yet ready to shoot those paints. More on that later.

Nice and shiny but you are right

I agree.
To simulate 'silver' or 'aluminium' paint or dope finishes, I normally add a very small amount of white to the 'silver' paint.
Matt white will give a greyish-silver, matt finish, whilst gloss white nicely tones-down the 'silver', and provides a semi gloss finish.

Thanks guys. Terry I don't think I can add any colours to the Alclad lacquers but point taken. I have a Dull Aluminum Alclad but I don't like it much as it's very grainy though it does spray on flatter.

I'll make do in this case by spraying on a flat coat but lesson learned for next time.

I will watch with interest

Yes, I had a feeling that paint can't be added to the Alclad stuff.
Just for interest, here's a shot of a Mustang rudder (brush) painted using Revell silver and Humbrol matt white enamels.

I agree with Terry. Actually these Alclad metalic colours should be used for pretending of the bare metal only. For silver paint applied should be used an ordinary aluminium paint.

That does look good Terry.

Looks great so far Andy!

Thanks Hugh.

Shot a matte coat on but still too shiny.

Well it's as flat as it's gonna get unless I completely redo it but I'm not prepared to go that far. The finish is already showing signs of too many coats so I'm declaring it acceptable.



In preparation for the Giallo Mimetico 3 base coat, I painted the rudder and upper wing tips (not shown) white and the canopy frames in the cockpit colour. The white and subsequent masking is in anticipation of the white decal fields being a bit translucent so I want to be sure I nip that in the bud by providing a white background. The masks have been cut and applied to match the decal dimensions.



Here is one of my trial camos on my mule - the inside wing surfaces of my unfinished Fairey Battle. The base colour is straight Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow. The green is XF-27 Black Green, and the brown is XF-9 Hull Red. The colours are a very good match against the samples on the STORMO site so I'm happy with those and the fact that I don't have to mix anything. What I'm less happy about is the mottling which I struggled with. The mix ratios are 20% paint and I shot at about 8 psi though the accuracy of my gauge at such a low pressure is questionable. I still got some inconsistent results as you can see and I was really struggling with control. Results varied from spidering to some decent freehand smoke rings which I shot for kicks. I also need to make the mottles a bit more random in shape but that's another matter of more practice sessions.

I popped on my 5x magnifying visor and, lo and behold, found that my nozzle is damaged so that could explain my issues. I went out today and priced a new one at a local art supply store and it's not pretty. I also confirmed my suspicion that my Iwata HP-C+ does not have interchangeable nozzles as I was hoping to get a .2mm one vs the .3 that I currently have. Not doable unfortunately so I'm either going to get a new nozzle or a whole new airbrush.



Anyway, the damage isn't bad enough to affect the base coat painting so I began to shoot the yellow tonight.. The freehand transition of the yellow to the silver turned out satisfactorily but I ran out of paint (and willpower) to finish the base coat. I have to make the circular masks for the upper wings anyway so I stopped here.



Thanks again for watching and for your comments.

Just checked Maple Airbrush Supplies, I didn't realize the nozzles were that expensive

58 bucks at the local art store.

Good stuff Andy. The silver will possibly look less 'harsh' once the camouflage colours are on.

Doin' good there Andy.