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Bachem Ba 349V 'Natter'


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Evening modellers!

 

For a few months, I've been in a state of burn-out. Not a case of losing mojo, but simply that I've not been running true to form.

 

Earlier this evening I returned from Munich, and I spent an evening with Alex Glass (Uschi can der Rosten). Over a fantastic meal at a restaurant in Unterschleißheim, we discussed me doing a quick project to be finished in wood grain decal. Alex brought the drop tank to the restaurant with him that he showed on his FB page. I'm sure our wives were fascinated as we talked about veneers and the various timbers that aircraft were built from..... ;)

 

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My 'burnout' special project is Fly Models 1:32 Bachem Ba 349V 'Natter'.

 

The entire exterior will be finished in a combination of Uschi's different wood grain decal releases, including some that we'll be reviewing here on LSM very soon.

 

I'll be starting this project any day now, and of course, I'll be building this right here.

 

Here is the kit I'll be building:

 

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Natter_1.jpg

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Bloody he'll!! The kit had to delivered to you on a trailer??!! :)

 

This is excellent news .. I love the idea of seeing all the wood lacquer techniques etc. Good 'ol Alex, the mojo reviver.

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  James,

A good title for this gem of a project would be "And Now For Something Completely Different" I'm truly looking forward to seeing more and following this outstanding project.

Highest Regards,

Gregory Jouette

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A throw away interceptor, after a short flight the thing was supposed to descend by parachute and the pilot

Baling out. The rocket could then be reused. Strange things people invent when desperate.

Very interesting choice James.

Cees

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For a limited run kit, this is a pretty damn good one. To prepare the fuselage parts, I ran them over some medium wet 'n dry paper to even them out. After this, the parts fit superbly. I did add a shim of plasticard around the joints so the fuselage halves would pair together easily afterwards. The wing root locating holes were also drilled out so the wings would properly fit.

 

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I'm sure Alex will chime in soon here. I've painted the interior in Tamiya Flesh, and lightened the centre panels with Model Master Radome Tan. Edges and corners were then shaded with Tamiya Smoke before a thin coat of Flesh was sprayed to blend everything in.The overall effect is very nice, but for the exterior, I would like things to be a little lighter. If Alex can tell me the shades he used for the drop tank, then that would be better.

 

I've used WGSF-28 Pale for most work, with the battens across the lower head rest assembly in 'Rich' to break it up.

 

The decal is super easy to use, with everything being easily moulded to the various compound curves.

 

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That looks very good indeed. It will look even cooler once sealed with clear.

The printed grain will pop out very clear then. In case its too glossy for the artist´s taste,

it can be corrected with a mist of some flat clear.

 

About the colors:

Actually I do it the same way as you do using the same tones.

The only difference is that you have "balanced" the preshading with flesh, while I do that with Radome.

That modelmaster Radome looks quite on spot. Its quite bright compared to Gunze´s, which is a good thing

in our case.

 

Well, I go like this:

 

- basecoat flesh over all

- preshading black

- 1st balancing with flesh again

- 2nd balancing with radome (I start at the panel centers)

- 3rd balancing with radome plus white (again focus on the panel centers)

- final balancing with color number 3, misting, far distance, highly diluted

(all my colors are highly diluted all of the time)

 

Once the light settings are done, it should really be the final setting since

this setting will telegraph straight through the decals and will be reduced by 5% by the decals only.

 

Somtimes the fine contrast between flesh and radome+white is actually enough in terms of accentuating.

So, what one also could do is:

 

- basecoat flesh over all

- do no preshading and just brighten up the panel centers with radome+ white

 

On the latter approach the accentuating is just caused by the contrast between flesh and radome+white.

Its the fast path but a bit risky since it easily can be too less.

The first approach gives you a few more triggers to play with, since one has more

contrast and shades that can be altered as desired.

 

The interiour looks really good from here, Jim.

Luv it.

If you wanna have it brighter, just use radome+white as a finish before the decals come in.

Actually one can try off-white as well. Didnt test it though.

 

Rock on buddy!

I´ll follow this very closely! :-)

 

Cheers bro!

 

;)

 

 

 

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Thanks for the info Alex. I'll run a combination of those sequences and some smaller areas in similar colours over the exterior. Today I'll try and get the interior done, and if i pull my finger from my arse, the fuse sealed up.

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I thought I'd add a few bits and bobs into the cockpit and try to get some images which show the wood grain a little better, so here goes.

 

Placards by Airscale. Yes, even though this was a disposable aircraft, I thought I'd still add a few.

 

Got to say, Uschi was right....I'm really liking this build. I may even do another at some stage, with 50% timber, 50% in scheme.

 

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