Peterpools

Gaz Looking fantastic and I'm following all the way, front and center.

Even better when the boxes show up, we're the only one home.😉

Thanks Dennis Sure hope there is no connection between you taking a vacation and my backtracking. Finally finished the removing a few nasty spots that seemed to resist and the gunport inserts. One last wipe down with a dampened alcohol gauze cloth and then it was paint booth time again. MRP Primer is on and drying now with the color coats to start hopefully later today. Just a shame neither Xtracolor and Sovereign Colourcoats are imported into the US and finding good enamels nearly impossible. My go to paints now is mostly lacquer based now but we all grew up shooting enamels and miss them.

Thanks Gaz I'll checkout both Home Depot and Lowes - just never occurred to me to look for 100% alcohol there, as I was concentrating on the large pharmacy chains in my area.

Thanks Kent for the lead on finding the higher strength alcohol Gaz recommended. I definitely want to have a few bottles on hand for future use if needed. I've read some very good reviews on SMS paints and as a 'paint fanatic' I'll take a good look at them.

Carl I'm pretty sure you're 100% correct and I'm all in.

Phil It's coming but I was planning on building a Tamiya F-16C -23 Viper first and then the Sufa or maybe visa versa.

Hi Gaz Thank you for pointing me in a better direction when it comes to military paint colors. Yup, you hit the nail right on the head. For the most part, I try to find the colors I need straight from the bottle and will mix every once in a while, if what I need isn't made or not available. I'm not that good at mixing colors but need to work at it, as it would have saved me a lot of time and aggravation. I'm sure 100% isopropanol would have worked wonders but where do you find it? Best I have found in the past is 70% & 90% at times.

Just love those Vipers and I've been collecting quite a few in 48th scale.

Thanks Carl I know what you mean and I'm right with you. While I'm n ot a rivet counter, I try to get the colors correct as best as I can, as that's what everyone and myself sees.

Thanks Rob Since posting the update, I finished all the prep work, cleaned up the last remaining paint and shot on the new MRP Light Gray Primer, which is drying and looking pretty good. Found two small spots that the paint removing process removed some of the Mr Surfacer filler but that's it. Once the primer is dry, I'll clean up the missing Mr Surfacer and it's cammo time again. I'm with you and hoping there are no issues with the windscreen, but I'll cross that bridge when I up to it. originally, I thought about leaving the original paint, but the color drove me crazy, and I needed to correct.

Rob Some very nice kits and looking forward to following the builds in the near future. Of course, I have a pit pass for the Heller Renault Re-20 as well - I've yet to get back to my Tamiya F1 Ferrari 312T but planning on doing so sometime late this fall. Surely looks like you're more then serious about improving your figure skills with Diana. Only Heller kit I have in the stash is the 1/72 Lockheed L749 Connie and without question, the most beautiful commercial airliner of all time. I also have a set of AM Eastern Air Line decals for the kit - just need to find the mojo, which starts with a full re-scribe, which for me is a brick wall that has to be climbed and overcome.

Thanks John Finally, just finished the polish sanding, wipe down and getting ready to give the primer a go in a few hours. Fingers crossed.

BACKTRACKING STRIPPING THE SPIT BACK TO PLASTIC Mentally regrouping the troops and having made the decision to strip the upper color coats off, as the Ammo by Mig Ocean Gray and Dark Green just didn’t look right and didn’t match my Tamiya Mossie and Spit Mk IXc. I tried in vain to order the three Tamiya acrylic colors I had previously used: XF-81, XF-82 and XF-83 from my go to online vendors, none of which had all three colors in stock. My not so local hobby shop only had the Medium Sea Gray, which I bought. I ordered the needed three colors from AK Real Colors Lacquer Line and when they arrived, the Dark Green looked good, the Ocean Gray looked too dark and now I had the Tamiya Medium Sea Gray for the undersides. I found in my paint stash a bottle of Mr Color 362 Ocean Gray and will test to see which Ocean Gray I’ll use. I normally strip paint off with Mr Color Self Leveling Thinners but because almost all the filler I used was Mr Surfacer and I stood a good chance of removing it as well. My plan now was to wet sand the Spit with Tamiya 1000 & 3000 sanding sponges and then followed up with 70% Isopropanol Alcohol to clean up what I missed or couldn't remove. At first, I was just going to remove the two upper colors and leave the primer as is, on the bottom of the Spit. A bit of thinking and this made no sense, as blending new and old would be a nightmare, so I stripped all the paint and primer off including the three of the four engine cowl panels. What I thought would take a few hours took two and a half full days of work to do. I managed to snap off one of the wing tip trailing edges for a second time and this time had to scratch out a new tip. I’m just waiting for the Mr Surfacer dry and then I can clean up the repair, finish removing the paint from around canons inserts and its priming time again. I also managed to get a bit too close to the wind screen stripping paint and I’ll see how that goes when the masks are removed. Oh, what fun. Just one image of the Spit, as she sits waiting for the repaint to start.

Absolutely

Phil Glad Mother Nature is letting it cool off and making it possible for modelers to do some painting. Very convincing weathering - nice light and gentle touch.

John Your progress is amazing and looking mighty good

Rob I completely understand your feelings on why you do not display your plastic modeling and why you feel ships are different. I love airplanes, have been a licensed pilot over fifty years and the majority of my modeling reflects that passion. My photography is throughout the house as we look at it as art, while my display case is close to the bedrooms. Awards are kept and displayed only in my studio as they are a personal.

Rob I never put two and two together and literally lost sight of the fact howe small they are. Forget what I said about the eyes, I know I could even place a dot in the correct spot. Now going back and looking at the figures, taking into account the very small size, your painting is quite remarkable.

Rob Awesome painting on the figures. Highlights and shadows look very good, eyes need a bit more work. Of course, that's from a guy who has only painted one figure years ago, that doesn't come close to your efforts. From what I remember (right there and then I'm in deep water) I think the eye pupils should be a thin vertical line instead of a dot.

John Now that's what I like to hear.

John Looking so good and you're cruising along at your normal speed: always in high gear.

Rob Your background and evolving interests are the foundation and road course your hobby pursuits and explains so much. Your thoughts on the differences between plastic scale modeling and wooden ship modeling is close to my own feelings as well. A turning point came for me in my modeling is when I purchased a large glass display case, where they my models are presented of how someone would view small replicas in a museum, a store or even a school; it adds value and rarity. When I use to have my models just sitting on a shelf in my studio and collecting dust, almost no one ever saw them and rarely commented. What is on display in our home is my other passion; my photography and always draws compliments and created discussion. Now enter my glass display case which I feel is the best way to present and protect your work and as my collection grew, most who sees it, do stop, look and comment. Presentation is the missing key to displaying our work for others to see and appreciate. No question, wooden ship building is an art that goes back as far as ships themselves and how we feel about them. Most view wooden ships as an art form and built by skilled craftsman plastics are not. I find the manor of display and presentation is a game changer.

John Thanks for the correction.

John Absolutely is a nice touch for sure - I'm pretty sure in WWII it was called a plotting board.