klugi
Airman 1st Class
The spinner looks good to me. If you aren't happy with it you can mount the rivet tool and rotate the spinner instead but I don't know that the effect would be much better than what you already have.
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fubar57
General
Looks good John
Geo
Geo
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Nice work John, and the rivets on the spinner look good to me.
A couple of little tips, if you don't mind me offering.
When using the Tamiya masking tape, cut the ends off where the serrations from the dispenser 'teeth' have cut the tape. This allows the tape to be positioned without the 'ragged' edge causing a 'hump'. The reason being that, when spraying, as the paint dries, the thicker edge of the tape can become hard, and can easily be disturbed or lifted, allowing paint bleed beneath, or worse.
Also, for masking small items such as the guns, if at all possible, fit these after painting the model, which of course negates the need for masking. Or, wrap them in kitchen foil or 'cling film'. Both of these are much easier to apply, compared to tape, and a darned site easier to remove when covered in paint !
Small, delicate, 'sticky out' bits, such as the reflector sight and the glass screens are best fitted, where possible, after main construction or, if it's possible to do so, fitted so that they are protected by the windscreen, which, of course will be masked and the cockpit sealed with tape for spraying. likewise with items such as mass balance arms, antenna etc etc - any small items can almost always be fitted after painting and decalling etc.
A couple of little tips, if you don't mind me offering.
When using the Tamiya masking tape, cut the ends off where the serrations from the dispenser 'teeth' have cut the tape. This allows the tape to be positioned without the 'ragged' edge causing a 'hump'. The reason being that, when spraying, as the paint dries, the thicker edge of the tape can become hard, and can easily be disturbed or lifted, allowing paint bleed beneath, or worse.
Also, for masking small items such as the guns, if at all possible, fit these after painting the model, which of course negates the need for masking. Or, wrap them in kitchen foil or 'cling film'. Both of these are much easier to apply, compared to tape, and a darned site easier to remove when covered in paint !
Small, delicate, 'sticky out' bits, such as the reflector sight and the glass screens are best fitted, where possible, after main construction or, if it's possible to do so, fitted so that they are protected by the windscreen, which, of course will be masked and the cockpit sealed with tape for spraying. likewise with items such as mass balance arms, antenna etc etc - any small items can almost always be fitted after painting and decalling etc.
- Thread starter
- #84
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Great tips Terry! Thanks so much for sharing with me/us. I usually work by habit and my habits don't have a huge arsenal of tricks like these. But I'm learning! Ideally I like to add things like exhausts and guns at the end to avoid masking but this kit has a slot/pin arrangement that requires installation of the guns before the cowling is glued on. So I tacked on little pieces of Tamiya tape to the pre-painted barrels. The pieces are cut so that they only cover the top 1/2 of the barrels so that they will be easier to remove. Tinfoil or plastic wrap I have not considered but I can see how they could have great utility... will definitely remember for the future.
I really love Tamiya tape. It seems perfect for modeling... very secure but not as tacky as 3M masking tape. Flexible but doesn't distort or stretch like electrical tape. The canopy was masked using very small pieces of Tamiya tape. I used two pieces with ends cut to sharp 45 degree points for each straight corner. Rounded corners were covered by small circular pieces of tape cut from my punch/die set. The leftover bits (with the serrated edge) were used to fill in the gaps.
A masking tool that I need to learn how to use is Micro Mask (liquid mask). There are instances were liquid masking seemed to be the way to go but I'm afraid of using it. I used it once for masking a circular depression but had difficulty removing it since it was thinly applied and ended up scratching the paint underneath. Are there any special tips for using liquid masks such as Micro Mask? Do you need to put on a certain amount in order for it to be removable?
I really love Tamiya tape. It seems perfect for modeling... very secure but not as tacky as 3M masking tape. Flexible but doesn't distort or stretch like electrical tape. The canopy was masked using very small pieces of Tamiya tape. I used two pieces with ends cut to sharp 45 degree points for each straight corner. Rounded corners were covered by small circular pieces of tape cut from my punch/die set. The leftover bits (with the serrated edge) were used to fill in the gaps.
A masking tool that I need to learn how to use is Micro Mask (liquid mask). There are instances were liquid masking seemed to be the way to go but I'm afraid of using it. I used it once for masking a circular depression but had difficulty removing it since it was thinly applied and ended up scratching the paint underneath. Are there any special tips for using liquid masks such as Micro Mask? Do you need to put on a certain amount in order for it to be removable?
Crimea_River
Marshal
It's coming along nicely John. No idea on liquid masks as I've never used them.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
The only forms of 'liquid mask' I've used are PVA adhesive, and Humbrol 'Maskol'. The latter is a sort of 'liquid rubber', heavier than PVA, and coloured a weird light purple shade, presumably for easy visibility when applied. It's more or less the same as all the other liquid masking products.
These tend to 'shrink back' slightly once set, so it's often better to apply a slightly heavy layer to fill an area. Once set, any 'overlap' into unwanted areas can be carefully trimmed off with a sharp scalpel blade.
Although fine for very small areas where tape can't be used, such as small windows or portholes, on larger areas such as canopies, it's best to use it as a 'fill in', where the frame edges are masked with tape, and the larger area of the canopy 'filled in' with the liquid mask.
Most of these products become increasingly difficult to remove the longer they are left in place, and the relevant product instructions should advise on this, but, in general, it's best to remove the dried mask within about three days.
I've found that, once applied, let it set, then if any thin or translucent areas appear, give these another 'dollop' of the liquid. Although I haven't done much in the way of 'precision' masking with it, I have seen some very complex masking achieved, where the liquid has been applied and cut precisely to create frames, curves etc etc.
Hope this helps.
EDIT:- I forgot to add, to remove the liquid mask, use a sharpened, wooden cocktail stick, to lift a corner, then just peel it away. If 'filling in' on, for example, a canopy, then apply the masking fluid so that at least one of the tape 'edges' has some of the liquid on it - when the tape is removed, it will lift and remove the mask also.
These tend to 'shrink back' slightly once set, so it's often better to apply a slightly heavy layer to fill an area. Once set, any 'overlap' into unwanted areas can be carefully trimmed off with a sharp scalpel blade.
Although fine for very small areas where tape can't be used, such as small windows or portholes, on larger areas such as canopies, it's best to use it as a 'fill in', where the frame edges are masked with tape, and the larger area of the canopy 'filled in' with the liquid mask.
Most of these products become increasingly difficult to remove the longer they are left in place, and the relevant product instructions should advise on this, but, in general, it's best to remove the dried mask within about three days.
I've found that, once applied, let it set, then if any thin or translucent areas appear, give these another 'dollop' of the liquid. Although I haven't done much in the way of 'precision' masking with it, I have seen some very complex masking achieved, where the liquid has been applied and cut precisely to create frames, curves etc etc.
Hope this helps.
EDIT:- I forgot to add, to remove the liquid mask, use a sharpened, wooden cocktail stick, to lift a corner, then just peel it away. If 'filling in' on, for example, a canopy, then apply the masking fluid so that at least one of the tape 'edges' has some of the liquid on it - when the tape is removed, it will lift and remove the mask also.
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Doing good work John.
- Thread starter
- #88
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Thanks for that detail explanation about liquid masking. I'll have to give the Micro Mask a good test one of these days so I can actually use the stuff.
Some more progress on the Erla to report. The bigger scale makes some things easier (more room, larger parts) but slows things down too (more parts, more joints, glue seams stand out more). Regret from not using some of the Alley Cat parts caused me to look at the prop assembly. The kit blades are nice and thin but the twist on them looks a little exaggerated to me.
So I decided to use the Alley Cat blades on the kit spinner. The Alley Cat mounting pin is thicker so I had to enlarge the mounting holes in the spinner using a drill. The Alley Cat blades are obviously thicker. They have been extensively thinned already but could perhaps use a little more shaving down.
Here are the blades temporarily inserted into the spinner.
Moving on the modular wing assembly. Oh, I hate that word... modular. Revell has decided to complicate this kit by abandoning the standard three-piece wing assembly. Not including the internal wheel well bits and control surfaces (which are all separate BTW), the wings are made up of eight pieces, four to a side. It's a bit maddening... not only is the bottom wing split into left and right pieces but the wings themselves are split further into inner and outer panels. Anyway... the modular construction of wings makes pre-planning and pre-fitting essential. Wiring was added to the wheel well in a couple of spots.
Wheel wells are executed well with detail imprinted on the inside of the upper wings and everything boxed in with little bulkheads. The wing radiators have inserts for the grills. Every thing was painted and weathered before assembly.
The upper wings were attached to the fuselage. Fit is nice and solid. Not Tamiya-perfect but very good with no noticeable gaps. You can see the mounting panel for the individual exhaust pipes that I've superglued into the fuselage. You have to make sure this piece is solidly attached as you do not want it to come undone when pushing in the exhaust pipes.
Cowling is attached. Again fit is good. No gaps but all of these glue seams will be very visible and need to be cleaned up. The cowling joint is not on a panel line so it needs to be puttied. But the panel line runs a couple of millimeters above the joint... I see no possible way of preserving the panel lines so close to the joint so some puttying and rescribing will be necessary.
The outer wings are attached to the inner wings. Again, fit is very good with no gaps. The joint corresponds to a panel line but due to the sloppiness of a glued connection, I am going to putty things smooth and re-scribe.
This modular approach extends even to the tail. I can see this being of use in the G-6 kit where the option of the tall tail vs short tail exists but I don't think any Erla G-10's had a short tail. The rudder is designed to be movable but I am going to clip those vertical pins and just glue the rudder in a fixed position.
Beginning the putty work on the wing joints. This is the initial application of Mr. Surfacer 500. Note that there is no putty on the cowling yet. I like to work in sections instead of puttying up the entire plane in one go. That allows me to focus more and avoid missing spots.
First application of Mr. Surfacer 500 is sanded, inspected and touched up with dabs of Mr. Surfacer 1000. First coat of Mr. Surfacer 500 is applied to the port cowling joint. I've purposefully left off from the starboard cowling joint because of some particular issues that I want to look at.
The starboard cowling joint had a little step near the windscreen opening. The joint also runs right through a round access hatch. Is there a way to preserve that detail? I can't see any so I'm going to sand everything down and try to rescribe the hatch later.
Clean up work will continue slowly. I will probably shift over to my MiG-3 over in the Allied Aircraft GB when it arrives so I'll have two projects running simultaneously.
Some more progress on the Erla to report. The bigger scale makes some things easier (more room, larger parts) but slows things down too (more parts, more joints, glue seams stand out more). Regret from not using some of the Alley Cat parts caused me to look at the prop assembly. The kit blades are nice and thin but the twist on them looks a little exaggerated to me.
So I decided to use the Alley Cat blades on the kit spinner. The Alley Cat mounting pin is thicker so I had to enlarge the mounting holes in the spinner using a drill. The Alley Cat blades are obviously thicker. They have been extensively thinned already but could perhaps use a little more shaving down.
Here are the blades temporarily inserted into the spinner.
Moving on the modular wing assembly. Oh, I hate that word... modular. Revell has decided to complicate this kit by abandoning the standard three-piece wing assembly. Not including the internal wheel well bits and control surfaces (which are all separate BTW), the wings are made up of eight pieces, four to a side. It's a bit maddening... not only is the bottom wing split into left and right pieces but the wings themselves are split further into inner and outer panels. Anyway... the modular construction of wings makes pre-planning and pre-fitting essential. Wiring was added to the wheel well in a couple of spots.
Wheel wells are executed well with detail imprinted on the inside of the upper wings and everything boxed in with little bulkheads. The wing radiators have inserts for the grills. Every thing was painted and weathered before assembly.
The upper wings were attached to the fuselage. Fit is nice and solid. Not Tamiya-perfect but very good with no noticeable gaps. You can see the mounting panel for the individual exhaust pipes that I've superglued into the fuselage. You have to make sure this piece is solidly attached as you do not want it to come undone when pushing in the exhaust pipes.
Cowling is attached. Again fit is good. No gaps but all of these glue seams will be very visible and need to be cleaned up. The cowling joint is not on a panel line so it needs to be puttied. But the panel line runs a couple of millimeters above the joint... I see no possible way of preserving the panel lines so close to the joint so some puttying and rescribing will be necessary.
The outer wings are attached to the inner wings. Again, fit is very good with no gaps. The joint corresponds to a panel line but due to the sloppiness of a glued connection, I am going to putty things smooth and re-scribe.
This modular approach extends even to the tail. I can see this being of use in the G-6 kit where the option of the tall tail vs short tail exists but I don't think any Erla G-10's had a short tail. The rudder is designed to be movable but I am going to clip those vertical pins and just glue the rudder in a fixed position.
Beginning the putty work on the wing joints. This is the initial application of Mr. Surfacer 500. Note that there is no putty on the cowling yet. I like to work in sections instead of puttying up the entire plane in one go. That allows me to focus more and avoid missing spots.
First application of Mr. Surfacer 500 is sanded, inspected and touched up with dabs of Mr. Surfacer 1000. First coat of Mr. Surfacer 500 is applied to the port cowling joint. I've purposefully left off from the starboard cowling joint because of some particular issues that I want to look at.
The starboard cowling joint had a little step near the windscreen opening. The joint also runs right through a round access hatch. Is there a way to preserve that detail? I can't see any so I'm going to sand everything down and try to rescribe the hatch later.
Clean up work will continue slowly. I will probably shift over to my MiG-3 over in the Allied Aircraft GB when it arrives so I'll have two projects running simultaneously.
fubar57
General
Looks great John. Hold off on that seam for a bit. There is a way to do it without sanding. I'll see if I can find a link and post it. Andy(Crimea_River) highly recommends it and probably will find it quicker than I will. I've used it and it works very well
Geo
EDIT: I'm not sure if this is the link Andy uses(I couldn't find it on the site) but this is the same method...
filling without sanding
...I use Bondo Glazing Putty and when it hardens, it's almost impossible to remove using this method so I remove the putty almost as fast as I apply it.
Geo
EDIT: I'm not sure if this is the link Andy uses(I couldn't find it on the site) but this is the same method...
filling without sanding
...I use Bondo Glazing Putty and when it hardens, it's almost impossible to remove using this method so I remove the putty almost as fast as I apply it.
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Looks good so far!
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Nice work.
Progress is coming along real nice...
- Thread starter
- #94
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Thanks for the tip!
Another good tip! I need to play around with this technique a little more. My initial attempts with Vallejo Plastic Putty and Mr White Putty didn't work out that well so I've put this method at the end of the queue. But it's definitely worth mastering. I've gone ahead with my standard putty routine (successive layers of Mr Surfacer 500 and 1000) and will start re-scribing soon. I was able to save most of the circular hatch on that starboard side.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
John, another way to obtain delicate filling of such joints is to use a thin 'snake of 'Milliput', using it wet.
The best version to use for this is the Standard, Grey/Yellow two-part putty, as it works better wet compared to the Fine White, which tends to dissolve or crumble.
Once the two parts have been mixed and blended, roll out a thin 'snake' of the putty, wet the area where it's going to be applied, using either a small paint brush dipped in water, or a wet finger tip, press the putty in place, then flatten out with a wet finger tip, pressing the putty into the gap.
Using an old scalpel blade or similar, pressed against the plastic surface, shave off the excess putty flush with the surface, then smooth over with a wet finger. This should leave the joint almost in a finished state, but once set, very fine sanding will give a perfectly smooth finish.
The puttied area can be engraved easily, and can often have detail added before fully hardened.
Alternatively, for those awkward, very fine gaps, a mix of enamel or polyurethane clear gloss varnish with talcum powder will give a fluid, slurry-like filler (I nicknamed it 'Porridge' !) which can be run into gaps off the end of an old paintbrush and will set solid, but can be sanded easily, and is ideal for difficult areas where detail needs to be retained.
The best version to use for this is the Standard, Grey/Yellow two-part putty, as it works better wet compared to the Fine White, which tends to dissolve or crumble.
Once the two parts have been mixed and blended, roll out a thin 'snake' of the putty, wet the area where it's going to be applied, using either a small paint brush dipped in water, or a wet finger tip, press the putty in place, then flatten out with a wet finger tip, pressing the putty into the gap.
Using an old scalpel blade or similar, pressed against the plastic surface, shave off the excess putty flush with the surface, then smooth over with a wet finger. This should leave the joint almost in a finished state, but once set, very fine sanding will give a perfectly smooth finish.
The puttied area can be engraved easily, and can often have detail added before fully hardened.
Alternatively, for those awkward, very fine gaps, a mix of enamel or polyurethane clear gloss varnish with talcum powder will give a fluid, slurry-like filler (I nicknamed it 'Porridge' !) which can be run into gaps off the end of an old paintbrush and will set solid, but can be sanded easily, and is ideal for difficult areas where detail needs to be retained.
Hartmann52
Airman 1st Class
Gut, sehr gut!
Crimea_River
Marshal
Looks great John. Geo did post the technique I've used before but for your case I probably would have gone the same route as you. Scribing Squadron putty does not go well so If you have seams to scribe, the other approach for large gaps is to lay in some stretched sprue with liquid cement and sand smooth.
- Thread starter
- #98
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Thanks for the great suggestions guys! I finally received my decals from Eagle Cal. I will be depicting Black 11 from IV/JG300.
The decal set includes two full sheets, markings and stencils.
In addition to full color profiles, Eagle Cal has provided detailed instructions on decal placement (including the stenciling) and some archive photos of the 109G-10's represented on the decals. Very impressed!
Seam filling and re-scribing continues slowly. Due to the lack of proper tools and technique, I've botched a few panel lines and have had to putty the errant scribes and start over but it is coming along.
The control surfaces are all separate pieces. The fabric detail on both the Revell and Alley Cat pieces are a bit heavy so I've elected to scrape and sand them to a more subtle representation.
The pilot armor, front and back, are provided as clear parts. They were masked using Scotch tape and painted.
The instructions show the front armor placed outside the front windshield but it should be installed on the INSIDE.
The optical glass for the Revi gunsights were re-attached and the windshield glued on. Note the seam on the canopy sill. If you are going to show your Erla with the canopy open, you'll have to fill this seam... tricky since the painted cockpit details might get in the way. I like my birds looking sleek and fast so I usually close up the canopy.
The rear armor plate is attached to the canopy...
and the canopy is attached to the fuselage.
The Alley Cat oil cooler intake is attached using CA glue and the joint filled in with a "snake" of Milliput which is sculpted into a near-finished state using a moistened paper towel. I've added a piece of stretched sprue to the opening. You can see some imperfections in the joint (a bubble and a bump) which will be smoothed out with some sanding and Mr Surfacer.
The decal set includes two full sheets, markings and stencils.
In addition to full color profiles, Eagle Cal has provided detailed instructions on decal placement (including the stenciling) and some archive photos of the 109G-10's represented on the decals. Very impressed!
Seam filling and re-scribing continues slowly. Due to the lack of proper tools and technique, I've botched a few panel lines and have had to putty the errant scribes and start over but it is coming along.
The control surfaces are all separate pieces. The fabric detail on both the Revell and Alley Cat pieces are a bit heavy so I've elected to scrape and sand them to a more subtle representation.
The pilot armor, front and back, are provided as clear parts. They were masked using Scotch tape and painted.
The instructions show the front armor placed outside the front windshield but it should be installed on the INSIDE.
The optical glass for the Revi gunsights were re-attached and the windshield glued on. Note the seam on the canopy sill. If you are going to show your Erla with the canopy open, you'll have to fill this seam... tricky since the painted cockpit details might get in the way. I like my birds looking sleek and fast so I usually close up the canopy.
The rear armor plate is attached to the canopy...
and the canopy is attached to the fuselage.
The Alley Cat oil cooler intake is attached using CA glue and the joint filled in with a "snake" of Milliput which is sculpted into a near-finished state using a moistened paper towel. I've added a piece of stretched sprue to the opening. You can see some imperfections in the joint (a bubble and a bump) which will be smoothed out with some sanding and Mr Surfacer.
SANCER
Senior Master Sergeant
Very interesting development John, I really like the detail and your clear explanations. 
It is becoming very "padre" (a term used here in México of liking and admiration for something)
Saludos
It is becoming very "padre" (a term used here in México of liking and admiration for something)
Saludos
