**** DONE: GB-54 1:48 Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien - Pacific Theatre

[Crimea_River]

Thanks again all. Still undecided on how to treat the gun ports. For interest, I've linked below a picture of 4424 posted at Britmodeller that shows the aircraft with the red/brown? patch at the stage before the aircraft received its final green mottles and when the wing guns had been removed.

The patch over the gun port seems to me to be a slightly darker colour than the red star points that protrude from under it.

Anyway, the decals are now finished and a generous gloss coat has been applied in preparation for the mottling. I'm hoping that the gloss coat will give me a bit more leeway to fix any mottles that I stuff up.

I hope to start on the mottles tomorrow. Thanks for looking.

 

[rochie]

really nice indeed

 

[fubar57]

Very nice Andy. In your photo, the patch looks bolted/screwed in place or maybe its my eyes

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Nice finish Andy.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Very nice Andy. In your photo, the patch looks bolted/screwed in place or maybe its my eyes

They look to me like panel screws George which raises the question of the patch. Is it an applied patch like a huge decal that molds into the screw hole or has it in this instance, been painted on. An interesting conundrum.

 

[Wayne Little]

Real Nice work Andy

 

[Gnomey]

Nice work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks again everyone. Made a start on the mottling today. Can only do so much before needing a break.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Looking great Andy and I agree, short sessions, rest the spraying arm and aching eyes,

 

[fubar57]

Super!!!

 

[rochie]

great job

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks again friends.

Port wing done - sorta. One of the mottles has had some of the green removed with a brush and IPA as it got a bit big. You can see where there are sharp edges to the mottle and this will be gone over again with the next load of green in my airbrush. I'm using Tamiya XF-13 J.A. Green per the instructions.

The full wing is about the limit for a load of paint in my H&S Ultra. Despite cleaning the tip every 3 or 4 mottles with an IPA soaked brush, things were getting a bit spluttery by the end so I'll need to manage the sessions and keep them short. Thanks again for following along.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Regardless of that little problem, it's still looking god Andy.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks chaps. Mottling is now finished and a matte coat has been sprayed on. First, a few small splatters where brushed off with a small brush loaded with IPA and a few touch-ups were done here and there to even out the bare metal gaps a bit. I tried to follow as best I could the patterns seen on all the available pics and am fairly happy with how this all turned out.

I ended up painting the gun patches a dark reddish brown as I think there is a distinction in the pics between the red star marks and what looks to be a slightly darker patch. I gave the benefit of the doubt to the colourized pic which shows a brownish patch so that's what I did. The gun muzzle still needs to be picked out in black.

The venturi was hollowed out at the flared end and glued in place:

I've now brushed on a patch of Future where the victory tally decal goes below the port side of the canopy and will wait a day before applying that decal. In the meantime, I've glued on the undercarriage and was disappointed to see that the flat marks on the tires don't end up where I'd like them to be so I'll need to do something about that. More on that later but that's all for today.

 

[Wurger]

 

[CATCH 22]

Thanks chaps. Mottling is now finished and a matte coat has been sprayed on. First, a few small splatters where brushed off with a small brush loaded with IPA and a few touch-ups were done here and there to even out the bare metal gaps a bit. I tried to follow as best I could the patterns seen on all the available pics and am fairly happy with how this all turned out.

View attachment 676750View attachment 676751

I ended up painting the gun patches a dark reddish brown as I think there is a distinction in the pics between the red star marks and what looks to be a slightly darker patch. I gave the benefit of the doubt to the colourized pic which shows a brownish patch so that's what I did. The gun muzzle still needs to be picked out in black.

View attachment 676752

The venturi was hollowed out at the flared end and glued in place:

View attachment 676749

I've now brushed on a patch of Future where the victory tally decal goes below the port side of the canopy and will wait a day before applying that decal. In the meantime, I've glued on the undercarriage and was disappointed to see that the flat marks on the tires don't end up where I'd like them to be so I'll need to do something about that. More on that later but that's all for today.

Great Job! Since I know the exact size of the model, yours looks like 1:24 or bigger on the photos. In fact the real mottling is much smaller.
How exactly do you do it: do you first make a "cloud" with the airbrush and then fill it with paint or do you start with a "scribble" and then make it bigger to its outside borders?
Cheers!

 

[SaparotRob]

That's looks really, really nice.