**** DONE: GB-55 1/48 Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 - MTO III

[Donivanp]

Ralph, while I have not personally tried this myself, I've seen it used several times on YouTube. Take a scotch bright pad and cut it so it very thin and use the thin scotch bright as your template. The last time I saw it being done he had a thick pad, slicing it to thin it out and just pulling it apart gave a lot of great template texture groupings. Think your paint and dial down the presser and the template I just described (cheaper that the PE templates and get more designs).

 

[Ralph Haus]

Ralph, while I have not personally tried this myself, I've seen it used several times on YouTube. Take a scotch bright pad and cut it so it very thin and use the thin scotch bright as your template. The last time I saw it being done he had a thick pad, slicing it to thin it out and just pulling it apart gave a lot of great template texture groupings. Think your paint and dial down the presser and the template I just described (cheaper that the PE templates and get more designs).

Don, thanks. Worth looking into. I am considering just roughly poking or tearing, roundish shapes in a paper bag?That or holding a cut hole, again in paper, a bit away from the surface. Should not take to much time creating some interesting 'holes' to give me some infinite patterns?

 

[Gnomey]

Nice work so far!

 

[Crimea_River]

1. Paint 30% thinner 70%
2. Pressure 10psi or less.
3. Spray very close to the surface. If you think you are too close, GET CLOSER!
4. Don't spray 90 degrees to the surface but tilt the nozzle so that you are spraying toward the edge you are painting. That minimizes overspray and gives you a nice feathered edge.

 

[Wayne Little]

Doing good Ralph....what Andy said with paint and brush.....and practice on something else first

 

[Ralph Haus]

1. Paint 30% thinner 70%
2. Pressure 10psi or less.
3. Spray very close to the surface. If you think you are too close, GET CLOSER!
4. Don't spray 90 degrees to the surface but tilt the nozzle so that you are spraying toward the edge you are painting. That minimizes overspray and gives you a nice feathered edge.

Andy, Great advice. Although probably given many times before and I've forgotten. So, out comes the paint mule this afternoon. Morning filled with 'don't-want-to-do's.

I'll probably have to set up a better system for holding the model (and pieces) as well as coming up with some kind of hand guide to try and keep my lines reasonably straight when painting long edges. Should be a fun learning experience.

 

[fubar57]

Agree with the guys. Any left over paint I have in the cup is dedicated to practising mottles and free handing camo

 

[Ralph Haus]

Agree with the guys. Any left over paint I have in the cup is dedicated to practising mottles and free handing camo

Excellent Idea. I'm always regretting dumping leftovers, what a waste. Now when I squirt some thinner in the cup to clean, instead of dumping I'll put the mule to work. What else can one do while waiting for the finished painting to dry? Brilliant!

 

[Ralph Haus]

Lesson - This is what one gets when: A - In a hurry. B - did not practice enough. C - May have used the wrong brand of paint. Or most likely D - lack of talent.

Arrrgh! I used multiple combos of thinness, none to 50%. Multiple pressure settings, 5 to 12. Combo-ed the two previous. ALWAYS having to clear the nozzle clogs; constantly. I did try and get the nozzle as close as possible to the surface, but unfortunately (lack of talent again) the AB would not fit closely due to those darn wings and stuff in the way.

My choices:
1). Wipe the complete fuselage down with remover and start over again with the base RLM76 and possiblyswitch brands for the splotches, to say Tamiya, which has no really close RLM colors and would not match the (I believe) successful wing camo application.
2). Try and patch the really bad places, knowing I'm never going to be close to the camo pattern for this one.
3). Keep going and hope the decals will trick the eye.
4). Submit as 'beginner' level under a new user name.
5). Perhaps take a soft tipped brush and try and dab some reasonable lines to the edges and fix the bad spray areas.
6). ....open to suggestions....

 

[Wurger]

Looking good.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Don't be to hard on yourself Ralph, it's a good effort on something that is not east to master, even the best cuss and shake when doing this type of cammo. Its a good effort and your on the right track.

 

[CATCH 22]

Arrrgh! I used multiple combos of thinness, none to 50%. Multiple pressure settings, 5 to 12. Combo-ed the two previous. ALWAYS having to clear the nozzle clogs; constantly.
6). ....open to suggestions....

Ralph, check this video with some practical ideas.
I believe you are still using too much pressure. IMHO the spills are the result of a very thin paint + high air pressure.
You mentioned you have an Iwata HP-M2 - that's a single action airbrush, isn't it? If so you should manually minimize the paint flow as well (tightening the needle as far out as possible). Less paint, less air. Then the airbrushing can be controlled easier.
Cheers!

 

[Crimea_River]

Yep, with Vic and, yes, the wings are a big impediment when doing this. The other thing I did not mention in my tips is to keep the brush moving - you don't want to be hovering over a small area for too long. That floods the area with a lot of paint and makes for the different densities that you see.

If you already know that you may have rushed this then that's something you can easily fix, isn't it?. Take your time! I don't have experience with paints other than Tamiya over the last decade+ so can't comment on your mixture but 50% to me still sounds like a lot of paint for mottling. It should not be a matter of "wrong paint" as you suggest, but rather wrong mix ratios and/or wrong thinner. Unless you are using kid's water colours then most brands of model paint available these days should be OK in an airbrush, provided that you use the right thinners to match the paint. One size does NOT fit all in this case so make sure you use the right thinner! The nozzle clogging is a common hazard with acrylics and I myself end up cleaning the tip every 30 seconds or so. The other thing you can do is to add a drop or two of paint retarder which keeps the paint wet longer. Your local hobby shop should have some if it's a decent one.

Just seeing Yves' comment as I write, I'm not sure that I agree that 5-12 psi is too much pressure. Most compressors won't get much below that range anyway. But, if it's a single action brush you are using then, yes, that presents challenges as you have no way of controlling how much paint you lay down other than by keeping the pressure really low and moving the brush quickly.

The neat thing about German camo is that it came in a lot of variations and your result doesn't look that much out of place. However, if you want to tone down some of what you did, you could try going over some areas with thinned RLM 76. I think it looks fine though and is very good for a first effort. Once the decals are on, It should pull the finish together more.

 

[Ralph Haus]

Ralph, check this video with some practical ideas.
I believe you are still using too much pressure. IMHO the spills are the result of a very thin paint + high air pressure.
You mentioned you have an Iwata HP-M2 - that's a single action airbrush, isn't it? If so you should manually minimize the paint flow as well (tightening the needle as far out as possible). Less paint, less air. Then the airbrushing can be controlled easier.
Cheers!

Yes, the HP-M2 is a single action (actually have 2). I do have an Iwata NEO dual as well as a Paasche Talon. Preferring the single action over the others mainly due to the 'dial-in' feature to control the amount of paint flow. Ok, wait for it. Probably my 'senior-non-experience' screw up that added to the problem.

I have had problems with 'scaring' of the bottom paint coat, being the initial one, when finishing; adding taping (covering) to the lower painted areas to protect from over spray during the upper camo applications. In my (I thought) wisdom I have been spraying a light coat of clear, usually gloss, to provide a level of hardness. I believe this 'coat' may have caused most of the spraying issues that were the 'runny', too thin, type? Certainly had no influence on the spray particles outside the target area; that is a talent problem. Is there a 'smacking the head' emoji? In the case of this build I did extend the coat to the sides of the fuselage and some towards the upper end. Never had issues with doing this in the past, but usually masking a shape and then spraying as normal.

No, I have not 'yet' started using a primer coat. Perhaps it is time? But that would not prevent 'scuffing'. Small scratches maybe, but rub marks. no.

 

[Ralph Haus]

Yep, with Vic and, yes, the wings are a big impediment when doing this. The other thing I did not mention in my tips is to keep the brush moving - you don't want to be hovering over a small area for too long. That floods the area with a lot of paint and makes for the different densities that you see.

If you already know that you may have rushed this then that's something you can easily fix, isn't it?. Take your time! I don't have experience with paints other than Tamiya over the last decade+ so can't comment on your mixture but 50% to me still sounds like a lot of paint for mottling. It should not be a matter of "wrong paint" as you suggest, but rather wrong mix ratios and/or wrong thinner. Unless you are using kid's water colours then most brands of model paint available these days should be OK in an airbrush, provided that you use the right thinners to match the paint. One size does NOT fit all in this case so make sure you use the right thinner! The nozzle clogging is a common hazard with acrylics and I myself end up cleaning the tip every 30 seconds or so. The other thing you can do is to add a drop or two of paint retarder which keeps the paint wet longer. Your local hobby shop should have some if it's a decent one.

Just seeing Yves' comment as I write, I'm not sure that I agree that 5-12 psi is too much pressure. Most compressors won't get much below that range anyway. But, if it's a single action brush you are using then, yes, that presents challenges as you have no way of controlling how much paint you lay down other than by keeping the pressure really low and moving the brush quickly.

The neat thing about German camo is that it came in a lot of variations and your result doesn't look that much out of place. However, if you want to tone down some of what you did, you could try going over some areas with thinned RLM 76. I think it looks fine though and is very good for a first effort. Once the decals are on, It should pull the finish together more.

One of the reasons I started building again was to 're-set' my patience level. Not there yet. I tried to recover, using manual painting (fuzzy brush) to fix. As it turns out it was not a good decision. I'm better than this. So, a dose of patience while taking of the existing finish while not destroying the underside and the wing finishes. Just have to maintain a fairly dry applicator to keep any remover from seeping under the protective taped ares. A fresh base coat, sans gloss finish, and a re-try on the camo. May not get the pattern quite right, but hopefully I'll have a cleaner finish.

The rework before, and hopefully an after before the GB ends?

 

[Ralph Haus]

OK. Reset. Even the paint mule got a work over; plenty of 'same surface' to work with before moving to real.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Good recovery spray Ralph, so from now on slow and easy and if it's getting to you, down tools step back and take a breather with a nice cup of coffee or whatever is to your liking (in my case being an ex pommie it would be tea).

 

[Ralph Haus]

Good recovery spray Ralph, so from now on slow and easy and if it's getting to you, down tools step back and take a breather with a nice cup of coffee or whatever is to your liking (in my case being an ex pommie it would be tea).

Apreciated. But for me its, well, beer. Which pretty much shuts down any progress for the day. I do have a good deal of confidence in my AB abilities; just these new techniques that are frustrating! I kind of feel sorry for the paint mule now. It will be worked hard before this is over!