DocRob

Well, I finished the cockpit flooring and start with the detail painting of the cockpit area now. The wood finished cockpit floor was covered with two layers of chipping fluid, which I used for the firs time. I cannot see, where it performs better than hairspray, which I used successful multiple times, beside the smell. After drying, I spray Nato black onto the floor, slightly mottled and as much, that the woodgrain was barely visible. Next was the abrasion of Nato black with different tools, a stiff pointed brush, a fiber eraser, a toothpick and tweezers after dampening the area. I emphasized the wear, where boots might have scratched the color off, around the seats and close to the sliding tunnel for the crew. That is where I am right now, but I guess, the apparently heavy used look will be a bit more restrained through adding lots of painted details and decals and seat belts. Cheers Rob

Would be a great tribute to Dale to finish that bird, Martin. He was a great guy and I can imagine some intense skyping with him. Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter, the following detail painting will tie everything together, hopefully, but I have an image in my head of what I want to achieve. Humidity is indeed an issue with the salt technique. This winter has one constant on my island, it´s too warm, 20 to 25 degrees Celsius since weeks. This is absolutely not normal and the other constant in this timeframe is the permanent change of humidity, one day 15%, the next 95% and that is no exaggeration. Cheers Rob

Me neither until now and I can´t really tell why, Carl. Now, after using it the first time, I can see many future cases with that. I really like the effect, it´s like tonal balanced chipping and the random salt patterns let it look natural. Mere apprenticeship is more like it Martin, but thanks to you I´m blushing . I like to learn new techniques with every build, it´s always good to have some arrows in the quiver. Cheers Rob

Nice, Martin, these look way better, than the kit ones and very visible, like PW stated. I was about to go AM for the bombs of my AEG too, but decided against it. WNW quality is good enough for me . Cheers Rob

The last step for today, was applying some wooden texture onto the cockpit floor. This is very crude and only made with a PE template, first spraying desert yellow, followed by red brown. I decided against the much more refined oil technique, because only a bit of this will be visible. Next, I apply some chipping fluid and then spray Nato black on top, which will then be scratched away with different tools. Cheers Rob

Thank you Mike, i start to like the salt technique, as it is very easy to control the depth of the effect and the grinded salt leaves a very random pattern. Cheers Rob

I also started with the interior painting. As Opposed to other planes of the time, most of the interior was painted and not left in wood. Again, I used the salt technique, which was a bit of a challenge with a humidity around 90%. The salted parts soaked humidity out of the air and stayed very wet. I had to repeat the salting, using less water and let dry for only some minutes and then use the airbrush for further drying, directly before airbrushing. I used Tamiya XF 76 (IJN light grey green). I sprayed a thin layer over the salt with the interior side parts loosely inserted into the fuselage, to have shadows, where the tubes are. The salt was removed then and again, the XF 76 was misted on in pronouncing patterns, until I was satisfied for now. The effect is a bit hard to capture on photos, but it´s more or less the same rendition and intensity all around. Cheers Rob

I continued with the bombs, removing the salt entirely, which left me with this: Later, I over sprayed everything with translucent layers of RLM 76 and got what I was looking for. Next will be a panel wash and the brass detonator caps. Cheers Rob

Interesting info PW, thanks for that. I was more speaking about the Americans, the British sector was far away to the north in the big city of my youth. I saw British tanks only on parade, but the American´s were part of my daily routine, as they were everywhere, near the barracks, on the boulevards and mostly in the woods, where we spent a lot of time off road cycling and adventure hunting. Cheers Rob

Fantastic project, love the Lightning, PW. It has such a brutish build and looks like it´s meant to be, mean. More than once, I considered buying and building one, but so far no cookies, but one of these days.... Yours could be a fire starter. Cheers Rob

I knew Martin, it hadn´t been there , but the camo existed. Cheers Rob

Wow Peter, your Jug looks absolutely fantastic. I like it even better than your Tamiya build. The paintjob has the ´right´ amount of panel lining and weathering. I always liked NMF Thunderbolts better, but yours changed my mind. Cheers Rob

This is my first take on the salt technique, I chose the bombs for testing, because I wanted to know, how they look in the end, and if I have to replace them with AM. Normally, I build my planes without ordonnance, but in this case, I chose them for contrast and for learning the salt technique. If I´m satisfied, I will use the method for the inside of the cockpit as well, which is primed and salted and waiting for some paint. First they were primed with Mr. Surfacer 1500 in black Then the bombs were brushed with water with an added drop of detergent for better distribution and then salted with irregular salt grains from a mill. After drying, I shot a layer of AK Real color RLM 76 overall and now let them dry until tomorrow, before removing the salt. The contrast will be too harsh by far, but that´s ok, because I want to overspray again with color in translucent layers until I reach the desired effect. First, I wanted to use Tamiya XF-23 but opted for the slightly more bluish tint of the AK color. Cheers Rob

Well, I was in Berlin, which is my excuse, I´ve missed your Berlin Badger build, Carl . Love your approach with the `Urban Camo`. Luckily these beasts were not part of the Brigade, the Western Allies had mostly slightly out dated material, maybe because they knew, it would only be captured or destroyed by the Russians, if the worst case happened. I´ve seen some of the Chieftains with this weird camo, when I was a kid, but lived in the American Sector, so Mutt´s and Patton´s along with Hueys were more often present. Uschi van der Rosten has some graffiti decals. I have some of these together with my Berlin Wall resin kit. SHOP Graffiti / Marble Decals - Uschi van der Rosten Carpet Decals (uschivdr.com) Cheers Rob

Thank you Peter and Phil, today, I will prime and maybe start painting the interior and bombs. I plan to use salt technique for the bombs for a first time. There is not much unpainted wood with that late war bomber, but the cockpit floor will be wood grained and than covered in black, with later to apply abrasion. @Bomber_County astonishingly there are some very thorough build logs on AEG builds, which will help me along the book by Karim Bibi. Cheers Rob

A very nice build with lots of attention to detail, which somehow skipped my attention until now. I would have imagined better detail on a kit in this scale, but on the other hand, it´s a pleasure to follow your modifications and detailing. Cheers Rob

This is definitely cooler than a Tomcat Peter. I never heard of the TV series, but really like your creative choice. Cheers Rob

I started it as a test bed for multi layered painting techniques then. As far as I know there is the typical CAT yellow under the IDF hemp color. I wanted to use the hairspray technique to show wear and tear through the different layers, metal, primer, yellow hemp for more depth in the weathering. I used the same technique later successful on a Corsair build. BTW, Cheers Rob

Looking fantastic, nice work on the weathering and the period photo relation makes it stand out. I started the kit some years ago, but have yet to finish it. Cheers Rob

Looking great Ernie, who produces the shell rack and the shells? I have a ProfiModeler set for mine, but I think this is not included. Cheers Rob

On with the RLM 02, Scott, your bird looks super bueno. Your solution with the casted on axle stubs into the brass gear struts is fantastic.. Like Carl said, AK Real colors are for real, spray exceptionable well, thinned with leveling thinner and are durable and seem to have the right shades. Cheers Rob

What makes a good modeler Peter? It´s when the result shows nothing about the troubles en route. The checkered cowl looks great and will even look better with some matte varnish on. The PLW gave a lot of contrast to the underside, bueno. Cheers Rob

I cleaned a zillion parts after cutting them from the sprue. With the tight tolerances, WNW kits usually have, this should be done with great attention. Before I start painting, I´ve done some test fitting, to see, how the innards of the AEG lay out and how the fit will be and which parts are visible and need painting and weathering. Test fitting was promising so far, but yeah these tolerances will call for scraping away paint and use the fiber pencil as my best friend for mating surfaces. Cheers Rob

I ordered the missing mechanic and Rexx exhausts for the AEG, my Albatros D.V and Fokker D.VII. The mechanic will be this fellow by Kellerkind: Cheers Rob