CANicoll

"Have Machine Gun, will travel"...

SOMEwhere I have pictures of the masking but who knows where they went off to. So here is the first coat of the 'light' green. I added a few drops of Insignia White (a bit of a faded white) to lessen the color a bit. Tomorrow is the masking for the dark green. Used the Grex with the Vallejo paints as it seems to give me a bit more control. I'm getting to like the Grex more and more. Also spent a bit more time with those blasted seatbelts... They do look pretty good (I opted for the green rather than the usual beige color) to my eye, but not likely to be easily seen once in the cockpit... Oh well, the things we do huh? The buckles are not black, must be the lighting. Lap belts will be started tomorrow along with the next bit of camo painting.

Slow going, and I'm not a fan of doing these in 1/48 scale!

Gary, It only really works when you have a really nice fit of the elevators (in this case) to the fuselage. For these elevators I use tube cement on the tabs that go inside the tail. Then I'll flow some Tamiya Extra Thin from the underside which seems to help blend the two pieces together. It only works if the fit is pretty tight, like on many of the Tamiya kits. Saves some masking tape!

Does this qualify for the upcoming Group Build? She builds pretty big... I picked this up a while ago, and upon opening the box remembered a few goodies were added in: This one I will see about doing as I seem to remember the kit cockpit is not very detailed. Not sure if I will do the surgery needed to add in a resin tail but may give the PBY-5 Corrected Tail a shot. I don't know enough about the aircraft to know if the kit tail is correct or not. I build one before and it LOOKS like a Catalina to me! Anyone interested in the PBY-6A conversion set? I have never heard of Belcher Bits before this, to be honest. Does this qualify for the GB? Thanks, Chris

Yeah, you have to watch getting it when you are out. Some Kimchi is incredibly spicy, some wonderfully sweet. Enjoy!

When does this GB start/end?

Four! 🍕

Damnn!!!!! 🕺

Put away the belts for a little while. Sprayed the primer, and as usual when I'm using Vallejo paints, I can put an overcoat on them fairly soon afterwards, with no problems handling the aircraft. Masking is in place. I've had success leaving the elevators off since on the German aircraft they have their own camo pattern that does not extend onto the tail. Since I'm leaving the gun bay doors open, I am using the closed option as a mask: Some initial panel line shading, but after all is said and done, not sure how much will still be visible. The wings and the top of the fuselage get their own camo so didn't need to cover with the light blue from the undersides. Doing Initial coat of the light blue. It usually takes me two to three paint sessions to get the effect to the point where I am happy with it. I was amazing erratic with the airbrush this time so will probably have to be a bit heavier with the overcoats. Ini Don't think I mentioned I am using the CMK resin tyre set. VERY hard to see, but they even have the sidewall lettering readable! Color is actually the Gloss Black Vallejo primer - I'll hit the tyres with the Vallejo Black-Grey which is my usual go-to for rubber coloring. Maybe I'll do some work on the belts tomorrow. Maybe...

Well, am TRYING to put the HGW seatbelts together. In 2 hours, I have one shoulder belt about 80% together (among doing other things, too). Next time I try and put 1/48 seatbelts together - forget that, I'm NOT going to do this again. Ugh. Partly my own fault - I need to flatten out the belt to make threading easier (especially the end buckles) as the ends are very curled. But did get the engines put together and attached to the wings, attached the windscreen and masked the canopy and engine openings. Got another primer coat of the new bits and pre-shaded the panel lines. Pics later!

That Revell kit came out beautifully with your work. Such an interesting subject, and you really did a nice job with it. How did you find the Big Ed kit and how much of it did you use? Did you find it worth it in the end? Great photographs! Chris

Can't wait to see how your paint turns out. The cockpit is really super, and the IP is terrific. I have two Eduard 109s in the closet so watching carefully.

Whoa, and WOW... I'm not a big armor fan, but this is really impressive!

Mr. Mayhew, I don't disagree with you. The fuselage looks better to me than the effect on the wings. I need to work with it more. The main difference I think are the underlying colors - the fuselage is mostly light, while the wings are dark - the effect shows up more on the darker panels. But I do like the effect on the fuselage. Thanks for your thoughts! Chris

Excellent! Thanks for the pics and the commentary - I had exactly the same problem with the Barracuda set fouling the canopy on my Mustang builds (the Tamiya ones anyway). I always thought I had mucked something up a bit. I did not have the problem of the canopy sitting proud, however. For the exhausts, I like a bit of chalk on them to flatten out the finish - kind of like burnt metal. Yours looks terrific however. Nice job polishing the canopy. I've tried both - dipping in Future (I have two bottles of the original stuff!) just seems to be easier - if I'm careful. And agreed - a wooden cocktail stick is the way to go to remove the masks, although I admit to using a very sharp #3 blade many times. Can't wait to see how the oils do.

Gary, Eons ago on a business trip to Australia (Melbourne) I got a very bad case of food poisoning (some bad duck). I was, literally, dying for some Pepto Bismol ( I ended up losing nearly 14kg/30lbs). It is like eating chalk, but it does work. I keep a good supply in my travel bag now. Doc - I've assembled the HGW belts several times and it took me a while to land on the magical advice you provided - definitely easier to thread through the belts while the buckles are on the fret. Embarassed at how long it took me to figure that out! Benedictine and I have an interesting history - a story for another time! But there is a hotel in London, in the Docklands area, where I ordered Benedictine. Took them a while to find it, and the bottle was DUSTY, but it was there. A year later I was back, same bartender who remembered me. She said in that year, I was the only one who had ordered it. I think Hubert is on to something here. Must investigate further!

I keep thinking of getting one of those silhouette cutters. Have not pulled that trigger yet tho.

Look what showed up in the mail this week! These actually are for my next Bf-109 build, but these are for the Me-262: And I stumbled onto the ultimate HGW Seatbelt Assembly Kit. Comes in many different configurations to match your requirements: The pink tablets are Pepto Bismol for our international friends. Sooths upset stomachs...

The Iwata rep told me to pull it out from the front, but to insert the (clean) needle from the back to avoid damaging the teflon washer that is keeps the paint from getting into the body. The thinking is the square end of the needle could damage the washer. Why they don't taper it, is beyond me... Honestly, anymore I load the needle from the front after I clean it. Carefully and slowly, but have not seen any adverse effects so far.

Have you done Miss America yet? 🙂 Talk about a pretty aircraft! The white looks terrific, and you laser-printed those markings? On a Laser Printer? Wow, have not heard that one before. I've done markings on an inkjet. More to think about!

I'm really liking the look of those rivets and the work you've done with them. At this scale, some will be seen, some not, but the effect is there and it is very effective (ha ha ha!). Thanks for the closeups. Really great to see all of the work you've done - esp with the paint.

I think I saw the same YouTube video a while ago. I sent my HP-CS back to Iwata for a rebuild (after about a dozen years of use!). That's when I found out about pushing the needle, not pulling it out of the back. No problems since then! I also have the trigger-Grex which I love for camo work. and an H&S that is supposed to be able to paint a line as thin as a hair. I just never seem to NEED a paint line as thin as a hair. So 90% of the time I use the Iwata, the rest the Grex. I've heard the ultrasonic cleaners really get the airbrushes clean. Maybe one day...

Looks great!! Congrats on the lack of lifted paint. Whew!!

I'll see what additional colouring/fading I'll do with them. I'm thinking of some lightening, but need to check some references. They do catch the light nicely, when its bright! More to come...