DocRob

Very cool, indeed. Cheers Rob

Beautiful result. I keep that in mind for the future start of my Mossie-Project. Thanx for making them available. Cheers Rob

Some updates on the Raiden. Sprayed the whole bird in Tamiya XF 16 Flat Aluminum as a base for chipping. I noticed, that in my case Flat Aluminum is pigmented finer than Tamiya Chrome Silver. Until now I'm not decided about the chipping method. With hairspray I'm a little afraid about pulling the paint off in later masking stages, so maybe it will be the salt, scratch and/or liquid mask method. Any comments or opinions about the best way to achieve a nice chipping are welcome. The prop is sprayed Tamiya XF-10 Flat Brown, to the tips I lightened the color with a drop of sand color and to the root and backside I misted a little darker shade. After drying I removed the masks for the yellow stripes. Chipping was next. I scratched the brown color away with a scalpel, added some pencil dots and stripes and some light gray crayon marks. That is how the single blade looks before applying a gloss coat for the decals. My prop had a hard life, sticks and stone.... Cheers Rob

Nice finish, you nailed it. Your G-10 represents both, the worn look of a well used plane and the end of an evolution of the BF 109 in general. Cheers Rob

Some WIP-shots of the last progress. The cockpit is sealed and I brushed the anti glare panels on the fuselage and the cowling using AK-Interactive Q1 Anti-Glare-Blue-Black. The Japanese AK-Colors sprayed well and finely, but were not that opaque then e.g. Tamiya acrylics. From their behavior I would recommend to use a primer, which is not always necessary with other brands if the underground is clean and fat free. The prop is primed, airbruhed in silver for later to apply dents and scratches, then sprayed yellow on the tips. The stripes wwhere masked of and next is the ominous Japanese late war Propeller brown. I will use Tamiya XF-10 Flat Brown. The flattened tires where stuck on the landing gear struts. The lighting is not the best, there are some pigments on the wheels to give them the used look. As always I used Tyre Black from the Lifecolor range, which is all but entire black. I'm still not deceided about braking lines. Cheers Rob

Hola Senhoras? e Senhores, some little progress is made on my little Raiden project. The hull is closed and the wings are attached. I decieded against filling, because the fit was really good. The pit. Yeah I know the steering coloumn is broken. I will refit that with the pilot figure. Wheelstruts still need a little touchup. I used Bare Metal Foil for the first time. I'm not decieded about adding braking lines (OOB-build) I wasted no time with the engine just some silver and a wash, because you need a fibre optic to see anything of that. No modern art, theese are the exhausts. Sprayed in Alclad II 'Exhaust Manifold', dabbed in pigment fixer and then finished with rust, sand and smoke Pigments. Cheers Rob

Thank you coolbox and Tom, @ Tom: Is there a special question you have about my technique, a certain step in the painting process you want more detail about? The dials of the Raiden cockpit are depicted very clear and risen enough for detail painting, that makes it easier. I used the decals as a coloring guide. The most difficult part is to pick out the white dials. I did that before painting the light grey blendings, so a small dot of white in the wrong place can be corrected easily. I used a very fine brush 5/0 which was a little stiff on the tip. I painted half dry with a flat angle to not reach the black background of the dials. The last step is to dab a little bit of gloss varnish on the dials which enhances the contrast and gives a glasslike look. Cheers Rob

A real beauty, and looking new and fresh without the stains . Can't wait to start mine in double size after such a nice reference. Cheers Rob

I can't really remember, why I use a workbench anymore, some utility pants do the job, lots of cargo space for glue, tools and brushes and for difficult assemblies a piece of cardboard for the thighs. All illuminated with a headlamp and of course gloves for wintertime. A new trend is born OUTDOOR MODELLING. Have fun, Rob

Nice paintjob, a well used, worn late war appeareance. Cheers Rob

The difference in cockpit size of one seated planes is just amazing. A BF 109 is cramped an narrow, the "skinny jeans" of cockpits, while the Raiden I am building now has a cockpit the size of a small living room (baggy trousers to stay in these terms). The spiteful is somwhere in between (regular fit), but to reach the rudder pedals you have to really bend and the knees seem to be in direct sight of the pilot. Cheers Rob

@ Jeoen and Padubon, thanx Gentleman. Hola Padubon, there is no special technic for painting the dials. I decieded to follow Daniel Zamarbides "FAQ"-Book. After priming and base color I painted the background of the dials in a near black shade. I use thinned acrylics fom Lifecolor (Cockpit black, I never use real black on kits). The scales where painted with a very fine brush and white acrylics and a lot of hit and miss and a strong magnifiying glass. The front blendings of the scales were painted in a light gray tone by brush. Silver seemed to bright and shiny for my liking. Finally some tiny Details where highlighted with a light Grey Crayon. Next a coat of Future Overall and after washes and oil Colors and Pigments for the other parts everything gets varnished in almos matte (Future 80%, Tamiya Flat base 20%) The last step is a dab of Future on the dials to get a glass like shine The Cockpit in the book looks much better than mine, but for me mine is ok enough, but I may not use my very good macro lens for future photos . Cheers Rob

Very nice result on that bluebird. Building a plane with a monochrome scheme requires always a little courage, because of the threat of a boring result. That is obviusly not the case with your beautiful Mossie, congratulations. Cheers Rob

It took me some time to get on the productive side again. Two Projects are stalling at the Moment due to lack of Motivation or shortage of additional goods (not too easy to overcome on a remote Island ). To get in gear again I deceided to pick a Hasegawa Raiden out of the shelf, because I always wanted to do a heavily worn Japanese Fighther straight out of the box. The only Addition are the Maketar-Masks, as I do not trust the decals to much. The Kit is superb, the Level of Detail is pretty good, so it was an easy decision not to dive into the oblivion of Aftermarket-Sets. Test Fitting: Detail and fit are on the money I decieded to go for an old School Approach for the Pilots workplace. Everything got primed, airbrushed with AK-Mitsubishi-interior-green. Details where painted by Hand, sealed with Future and then were following washes and a Little oil-color-Treatment. Some Pigments for the Floor and after a matte varnish, the Dials got a drop of Future for the shine. No belts were included in the kit, so I decieded to use the kit-pilot-figure with scratched straps. Another first for me, Drilling out the Position lights and use transparent Colors for the bulbs. To be continued..... Until now it was a pleasure-project and I hope you enjoyed the beginning Cheers Rob

That is what I meant, your trousers (workbench) caused the initial thought. But I think it is not too easy to realize, specially in the field. Cheers Rob

Looks good so far. As for the 'what if' scheme, I may suggest painting the first Tiger in US-Woodland-camo-pattern . Cheers Rob

Nice execution on the Schlepper parts, Jeroen. You sure now how well spent the money was you put on a good PE-bending-tool . It is almost a shame to cover everything up in paint. Cheers Rob

That is a truly nice looking Spit with a very nice and convincing overall appearance, achieved on a (in my opinion) very medicore kit. Among other things the wheels do not look right and the bombs and racks and intakes and flaps are relatively crude. I understand that it is an comission build straight OOB, but sometimes I think there goes to much effort into building, correcting, painting and weathering into a kit that has so many limitations, but this is just my thinking. Nonetheless, you squeezed the shaky frame and nailed it . Cheers Rob

A King Tiger in the grass, that is fitting . Just a courageus effort or the birthplace of a new discipline in extreme modelling, like Show me the worst place to build a Kit in. Can't wait to see someone Building a 'Mörser Karl' underwater or a 'Spit' under Zero-G-Conditions .

That is a nice Tiffy you build there Dave. I like the camo and the finish. As I have this one in my stash, it would be interesting to hear some details about the Problems you got with the gun bay. I own the Brassin cannons and was thinking about purchasing the Gunbay-PE-Set. It seems to me that you also used the Eduard Interior for the Cockpit (the slight difference in Color, seen with a magnifiying glass ). Do you think it is a good (necessary) Addition. Cheers Rob

Perfect Finish and great choice of Subject. Cheers Rob

Great Tutorial Danny, this will help a lot and the results are really convincing. For me the replication of Wood was always a Little mystery, since my own Tests didn't result in a realistic Wood effect. So knock on Wood mate and you are the "Honour Woody" of the day . Thanks Rob

Thank you Danny. I will Keep your very convincing technique in mind and will do a Little shootout between the oils and the HGW-Decals when I start my build. Cheers Rob

That interior is high up on the "WOW-Meter". Rarely did plastic so much look like Wood. I like the appearance of the different Panels, whichmakes it even more realistic. The Dashboard is a stunner. On my build I will remove the fuel lines and use copper wire as a Substitute ,because I never liked the way brushed copper Color Looks like. Especially brass and copper seem to have larger pigments in the Colors and will not look right to scale. Maybe I will give the True Metal Wax from AK Interactive a try, if I'm to lazy to rebuild the fuel lines. Cheers Rob

Nice woodwork Danny, very convincing. I thought about the HGW-Wood-Decals on mine, but as I see your work, I am not that sure anymore. Cheers Rob