JeroenPeters

Really cool Frankenstein stuff going on here!

She's all done. Attitude Aviation Resin conversion for the Hasegawa Bf-106G6 kit, but I used the Revell Bf-109G-6 kit. The scheme is in the old Black and white movie colours 'Der Stern von Afrika' about Joachim Marseille. This role was played by Joachim Hansen. A signed photo of him is sandwiched between a printen perspex plate and wood.

I only strayed when i built the 48 Wellington. Simply because a 32nd scale version isn’t available.

Whoo... never realized the butt was so different from the American version. You’ll get it right. I know you will.

Done! i’ll take some proper pics tomorrow.

For the second time i apllied the yellow data plate in the wrong place. It shouldn’t be on the canopy but above the throttle. Fixed now...

Hehehe... it’s elementary dr Watson! aaaaalmost done.

Very cool! I’ll have a look at those cans.

On her legs!

Homestretch. Chipping, small oil washes, exhaust stains. Added a metal rod for the propeller.

Better than Gunze and probably the same as most Tamiya colors

AK Interactive AK Real Colors Acrylic Lacquer Paints Price: € 2,40 Introduction AK Interactive recently launched their new Acrylic Lacquer paint line for armour and air subjects. I have to admit that for years and years I have been a solid Tamiya and Gunze fan, thinned with Mr. Color Leveling thinner . I have tried several other brands that offer a full range of RLM colors, but always came back to Gunze. Even though Gunze has several colours that I find a little bit off. Like their RLM65 and RLM02. When looking for a bottle of Gunze RLM63 and was unable to find it, I turned to AK Real colors for the first time. I have been disappointed so very often by well marketed trendy named bottles in the past, that I was skeptical to say the least. I ordered the RLM63, RLM02, RLM66 and a large bottle of Real Colors High Compatibility Thinner for my current Ha-1112 Tripala build. I did several test runs on spare parts through three airbrushes. My Iwata TR-1, my trusty Tamiya trigger airbrush and my Colani. I thinned the paint in a 50%/50% ratio and set the compressor to 1.5bar. The result? I’m in love and converted to a new religion: AK Real Colors will slowly replace my Gunze stock. No kidding. Here's my current 1/32 Tripala build. The Revell Bf109G-6 kit with the Attitude Aviation resin conversion: Link. I used a mix of RLM02 and RLM75. The satin finish makes it great to work with the AK Interactive pencils. All markings are masked with Miracle Masks: Color accuracy Before I bought my bottles, I had not done my research and knew nothing about the research AK Interactive had done into their colors. In my opinion a paint has to flow smoothly, dry quick, settle in a nice satin finish, cover well, withstand heavy weathering and be… correct. Let’s start with the latter. For this AK Interactive cooperated with several experts. On their website they give the bio’s of four of these experts that helped with getting the colors right: • Jürgen Kiroff, who you might know from the famous Luftwaffe reference books: Luftwaffe Camouflage and Markings Volume I and II. • Przemyslaw Skulski, a famous Polish author and publisher who has written over 50 books on a wide range of subjects. From the Fokker DVII to the T-34 tank. • Mike Starmer, an English expert on camouflage, colors and markings of both airplanes and armour, with a preference for British subjects. • Steven Zaloga, who I think needs little introduction. Historian, defense consultant and author on military subjects. Amongst modellers he will be most known for his exotic armour models that are always very well researched, surprising and inspiring. If you are interested in how exactly this team went to work, I can recommend the Real Colors books: Real colors of WW2 and Real Colors of WW2 Aircraft. It shows the relics, documents and vehicles they used to take samples of. Here's a shot from the book's content. As you can see a lot of love went into these paint. And not just the marketing side of things: My personal background is in advertising as a Creative Director. In this sense I have extensive knowledge on colors and know how difficult and important it is to get Pantone colors to match CMYK printing methods. That’s why I was delighted to read that AK used a Spectrophotometer on WW2 relics while taking into account the aging , sun and weather effects. There are sooo many elements to take into account when trying to create the right color. And I will not even go into the scale effect. First of all a color like for example RLM02 did not come in one single shade. As the war progressed, the RLM02 color changed slightly. This had to do with pigments and materials getting scarce. Another factor that made colors differ from batch to batch was caused by different production facilities. I found in AK Real Colors Air chart they offer two different shades of RLM02: the 1938 and 1941 version. Lovely. The same goes for the RLM65, RLM78 and RLM79. The RLM79 and RLM81 even come in three variations. In total Real Colors come in 113 colors for standard, WW2 and modern subjects (like for instance RAL colors) and 133 colors for Air subjects. These include the whole RLM and RAF range. Since this range of colors are quite new and not mentioned in your kit instructions, you might find it handy to have a complete color conversion chart. You can find that here and download is as PDF. The paint So much for the research that went into these colors. AK claims that this paint flows smoothly through your airbrush and settles in a smooth matt finish. I always use small plastic cups with a lid (used in restaurants) to prepare my paint. In this cup I pour my paint and I use a pipette to add my thinner. Giving me full control. As said: I add 50% thinner and set my compressor to 1.5bar. All to give me maximum control and I can spray the paint in very thin layers. I found that the Real Colors paint and thinner give great coverage and indeed flows smoothly and dries up quick and perfectly even with a satin shine. AK also claims that when you accidently overshoot and end up with a wet area on your model, the paint still dries up in an even finish. I found this to be correct. When I set my premixed cup aside, I see the paint flows to the bottom of the cup and the thinner stays on top. This is no problem, as a few turns with a spatula fix this. I used the Real Colors thinner, but you can also mix the paint with Mr Color Leveling Thinner and even Gunze paints. I would however not advise the latter, since it could mess with your typical satin finish. These sets were sent to the LSM HQ for review purposes. You can't buy these sets from the dedicated Real Colors website, but you can get them from the AK Interactive webshop. If you flip through the pages, you'l find the sets that contain 3 or 4 bottles. And if you're a real tough guy you might want to go balls out and go for the wooden crate that holds all the 133 AIR subject bottles, costing €319. Ofcourse there's also a green land subject variant with 114 jars which will set you back € 275: Another test I did after painting some spare parts was sticking adhesive tape on them and tearing them off in a rough manner. No problems here. Neither was adding washes and scoffing the surface. This paint really is everything it says it is and I’m sold. I can really recommend to give this paint a spin if you’re a fan of acrylic paints, like Tamiya and Gunze and don’t have the guts to try a different formula for a change. Like me. As a comparison here's a Gunze bottle next to the Real Colors bottle. Both hold 10ml and both have the same style screw cap: And yes, I tried the yellow opener for the Gunze bottles on the Real color jar and it fits: The design and marketing that went into these paints is commendable. AK loves their logo and so it's even printed on the bottom of the box: As you may have guessed by now I am pretty stoked with these paints and applaud the research, marketing and care that went into the development. Our sincere thanks to AK Interactive for sending us some samples to play with! Regards, Jeroen Peters

Mindboggling and inspirational. I tried laminating once and decided it was beyond my abilities. Please continue

Slowly...

Thnx Rob, works like a charm! Still lots to do..

The model recieved a Gunze matt coat and is now ready for pencil weathering. I love these AK pencils... Just started. This should keep me busy for a few days

Congrats! Hope you had a great day!

Kind words Grant! It’s been too long for us not to chat. Hope you are in good health!

Building some armour every now and then is good to keep the juices going. Looms like a typical great Takom kit!

Small progress with panel line washes

Cool piece of scratchbuilding!

Doing some research in what stencils were on this plane. So far i can only discern the yellow fuel type triangle, handhold stencils, fuselage footstep stencils and NO nicht anfassen markings on the rudder taps. The props are interesting. The rear should be anti glare black. The front aluminium. In some photos the rear shows yellow tips. In some they do not. The instructions tell you that the black dot on the spinner was painted on to create the idea of a cannon. If you look closely you see the tip of the spinner is a little black disc with a screw in the center. Indeed painted black.

Small steps. Pretty happy with numeral and swastika maskings. After some thought i will use a decal for the nose emblem. Pulling off paint again helped me with this decision.

I keep the mask under a thin stream if warm water. Dont want the water in the model itself.

I read that the vanes had to do with the underwing rockets. I’ll look it up again. i only read good reviews about the primer i used, but it’s shit. Probably quite literally too... i found a way to take the masks off safe. Keep them under warm water.