DocRob

Hola Companeros, After masking the lower side of the plane I started to paint the upper side with AK 2063: D1 "Deep Green Black". I decieded against preshading in the very last minute and applied very thin layers of thinned color, pure, mixed with "Amber Grey" and "Anti Glare Blue Black" for Volume effect (I always try to mix colors of the same brand when possible to reduce the risk of bad awakenings while spraying). The AK colors again showed their quality in not beeing to opaque and beeing perfect for fine layering. Brushing them thickly is not what they are made for, which suited me perfect. Don't worry, the bumps are no failure of me or my airbrush, it's Liquid Mask, I applied before to achieve the first rough layer of chipping. So lets peel off that ugly stuff. That got me a nice worn look with a "stressed" surface on imaginary spars. I like the effect as a good starting point for further chipping. But next I will paint the markings to blend them in perfectly. Stay tuned if you like this build, next up is bright colors Cheers Rob

Buenos Dias Senhores, my painting schedule got a little out of hand, because of fiestas on the island and this "#+*#"- Photobucket issue. My Photobucket is history and the fiestas are over, so back to something completely different - the workbench. I started with my first multicolor preshading and I have to admit that the result looks a little weird. I don't like to be over subtle with preshading because the final paintjob includes many staight borders and clearly seperated colour fields like insignia or bands around the fuselage, so what is shining through gives the impression of irregular wear. It is hard to see on theese photos, but the multi color preshading created some volume for the following paintjob. I used AK-Interactive's AK 2062: J3 SP (Amber Grey) which sprayed prettty well, finely, smooth and not too opaque (good for controlled preshading effect), without clogging and nearly without thinner. The tone is greenish, but as I'm no expert on IJN colors it is fine to me, but the only Raiden I have seen in Cino CA was painted in a light grey tone. Cheers Rob

Thank you mikester, I will continue with or without pictures

Thanks Darren, I will try that, I always thought that there will be a direct connection to my harddisk that way, stupid me . Cheers Rob

Hi Darren, thanks for your answer and suggetion. For me there is one question left, how do you utilize LSM-picture-hosting if I may ask. The good thing in hosting "inside" LSM is, that it is obviously not third party anymore . Changing to another service might get you into the same trouble happeneing now with PB sooner or later. When they are smelling blood... Cheers Rob

Houston, I (We) have a problem, Since today instead of my Photobucket hosted pictures I only see this: To enable 3rd Party hosting I would have to upgrade PB to this: "Plus 500 Plan: 500 GB of Storage and unlimited bandwidth for $399.99 / Year. The Plus 500 Plan allows for unlimited image linking and unlimited 3rd party image hosting. Read more: http://photobucket.com/terms#ixzz4lU6SmARU" I will not do that, I use PB exclusively for that forum and as I have a small bandwith on my island net, switching to annother service and reloading the pictures is not an option. My thoughts about the behaviour and conduct of PB I will keep to myself in the moment, but maybe words like blackmail will escape my venom filled mouth later. So for the moment I'm frustrated and out. Any suggestions are welcome Cheers Rob

The Pale Riders, at least most of them have their shades or goggles down for the sun to come up on them . Great work shark and by that I mean your whole project which I enjoy more and more to follow. Cheers Rob

Yeah Ozzy, the Raiden does look mean. First there was the huge engine and it's cowling and then the rest of the bird was designed and attached . The result is a really hefty plane, but not without elegance in it's streamlined shape. I bet the pilots loved the spacious cockpits of theese radial engine fighters as they seem larger than some of their flats in Japan. Cheers Rob

Your Mossie is a true beauty and a nice color scheme for a change, congrats. Cheers Rob

Nice legs, a little bit skinny to my taste . There is another strange thing about your build. The picture of the wednesday post showed just one wing attached, there was still a little hope left. In the last picture there are two mounted wings, the series is broken, what happened to your wingless approach ? Cheers Rob

No comments on the best chipping method? Then I have to rely on my own method thinking . I will try to do the base chipping with liquid mask dabbed onto the silver primed fuselage and wings with a fine stiff brush. I try to empasis the spars and seamlines to do so, as to achieve a stressed surface effect. I deceided against the hairspray method, because I'm afraid of peeling to much paint of when masking with tape for later stages of painting. Raiden with goose skin: First paint for the pilot: Cheers Rob

Hola Drevelia, welcome to the LSM-Community. That is a real statement you posted there. Great attention to detail and perfect finish and execution on a setting, which is truly large scale. I can imagine the amount of work you put into this scene, and the result is very convincing. Who is producing these figures by the way, they don't look like Dragon ones? Keep on rolling Rob

Hi Michael, what is new considering the AM-Situation of the Mossie? All your WNW-birds have been older . I decieded for my build to stay with the provided wheels as they are looking great built right out of the box. I will use the HGW Wet transfers No. 232011 for the stenciling as I have not the best of expierience using Tamiya decals (Corsair) and some Aires 60lb Rockets No. 320064 For the Insignia, Codes and Cockpit I will use Maketar Masks No. 60326. There will be a heavy dose of Brassin (Gun Bay, Nose Guns and Exhausts). The kit engines are ok for me, so no Brassin there. Last but not least some Fabric belts and some Cockpit Placards (I'm not sure if I use them) from Eduard and that is it for my build. Hope that helps after so many WNW builds. Cheers Rob

Very beautiful Mossie. nice finish and detail work and fast as always. In the time you finalize a kit I could bring a 'Lego Duplo' set for a two-year-old together . Cheers Rob

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