belugawhaleman Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 14 minutes ago, Peterpools said: IT’S AIR BRUSH TIME While waiting for mask set to arrive, I tackled the cowl and cowl flaps which I thought would be a snap … oh, little did I know. Trying to fit the nose cowling assembly onto the fuselage was a bit of a struggle, just too tight. Appears to have been a case of too many parts needing to fit together precisely and that wasn’t in the cards for me. The upper fuselage radio mast I was so careful not to break off during most of the build, I managed to finally break it off and was not reusable. A new antenna was fabricated, test fitted but will not be added until the end of the build – I just know if I add it now, it’s a sure fired bet I’ll break it off again. Finally, with the Eduard mask set in hand, the canopy glass was masked and glued into place. The front windshield required a lot of tweaking to get close but for sure, no cigar. One last polishing, wipe down, initial masking and the Jug was ready for priming. I used the kit’s ‘In Flight” main gear doors to mask off the gear bays and they were a bit big, needing some slight trimming. The correct underside color has turned into a minefield, as to what color the 78FS undersides actually were. One thing for sure, it was not RAF Sky. My main source for online research kept referring to both Dana Bell and Roger Freedman’s research, who both initially referred to the underside color as Sky and later on calling referred to it as light gray. I decided the color was a medium gray and my final choice was MRP Light Ghost Gray – close enough for me, as Neutral Gray seemed a bit too dark. Does all this really matter – nope, not at all, just a bit of Sherlock Holmes fun. The freehand cammo went on without a hitch and after 24 hours to dry, it was time for a good two days of masking for the invasion stripes, which were then accomplished in two stages. What a pain and a test of nerves. The engine cowling was masked off as the Tamiya Lacquer Gloss White would serve as a nice base for the checkerboard nose decals, the white stripes on all the tail surfaces were also air brushed. In the end, way too much unforeseen masking; but it’s done. The painting guide showed the gear doors invasion stripes were not painted showing the stripes as straight lines across the undersides of the wings matching that of the wing's invasion stripes but rather the pattern is length wise across the doors. I’ve seen this a few times before in photos and always wondered why the ground crew painted them this way unless it was faster and easier – who knows. Still a good deal of detail painting to do but I'm making progress, slowly, oh so slowly. That's looking great, Peter! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted January 27 Author Share Posted January 27 Thanks Paul Finally, she is looking like a P-47 and hopefully in a week's time, I'll have the decaling done and making the turn for the home stretch. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 I like the modulation Peter has been a technique I have been using quite a bit of on camo A/C of late lends itself to a more natural faded effect. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted January 27 Author Share Posted January 27 Thanks Kev. Started playing around with it and I'm planning on doing a bit of very light weathering ... OMG, what did I say? See how it goes. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerWomble Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 On 1/27/2024 at 9:59 PM, Peterpools said: Thanks Kev. Started playing around with it and I'm planning on doing a bit of very light heavy weathering ... OMG, what did I say? See how it goes. Go on Peter give it the full monty ! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 Hi Guy Still having second thoughts on weathering up my Jug as I like to display them in my mini-Museum. See how it goes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Great initial paint job Peter. Love the looks of this one. The invasion stripes are a cool touch. Can't wait to see it dressed up with the decals. I love the checkered noses on these planes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 Thanks Mike, very much appreciated. When I built the Tamiya Bubble Jug, she had a NMF and a checkerboard nose. I'll post pics of it with this Jug when I finished. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted January 31 Share Posted January 31 Nice job on the paint. The invasion stripes are nice and tidy too. Not always the easiest thing to do. I'm looking forward to the decal job, especially how the nose checkers come out. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted January 31 Author Share Posted January 31 Thanks Carl, very much appreciated. I have my finger crossed about the decals for the checkboard nose. When I built the Tamiya, the decals went on perfectly - sure hope these will be the same. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 What's the scoop Peter?any movement of late ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 Hi Kev Not much bench time the past few weeks with doctor appointments and procedures for my wife and myself. Have been making progress and by the weekend hoping to have another update and the decaling finished. Thanks for checking 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Your airbrush work looks phantastic, Peter. I hope the checkered decals will lay down well around the cowling. Cheers Rob 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 Thanks Rob. much appreciated. Finger crossed for sure about the checkerboard pattern decals - their design looks a lot different from how I remember the Tamiya's decals looked. Today is the day🤞 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 DECALING DONE Bench time has been somewhat sparse the past few weeks, as doctor appointments and scheduled procedures for my wife and myself have occupied a good portion of our time. The last few modeling sessions, I was able to finish the remaining air brush work, including the clear gloss for decaling with Tamiya X22. The kit decals are by Cartograf and for the life of me they seem to have a different feel then other Cartograf decals I’ve used in the past. They feel a little stiffer and seem to have more of a matte finish. All the decals went down without a hitch except the checkerboard nose set of five individual sections. The top and two other sections had dash lines in front of decal on the paper and I thought they were for helping locate the decals, as there aren’t any precise, easy to locate points. It turns out they indicate cut lines you need to make to allow the decals conform. I used a lot more then indicated and even cut a few when they were on the Jug and still had fit issues as I went along. I’m pretty sure since I struggled getting the cowl on, it may have been a tiny bit out of alignment and the start of the checkerboard decal issues. I started with the top section of the checkerboard, using the instructions painting/decal guide to locate the decal as precisely as I could. As I proceeded with each adjacent decal, the fit was off a bit more and there were gaps, which I filled in. Surely could have been designed to be a lot easier, taking into account there really wasn’t a positive starting point. Of course, it’s the builder’s fault in the end, as I had trouble with the cowl and it went downhill from there. The panel lines and control surfaces were highled with a few different panel line washes. The Big PaddleBlade Prop – painted, decaled and waiting for the PLW to pick out the details. If memory serves me correctly, when I bult the Tamiya Bubble Jug, I used the kit decals and their checkerboard nose decals - went on perfectly, no cutting and no fuss. 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnB Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 Coming right along Peter. Great looking prop! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 Thanks John, much appreciated. Getting close to seeing the finish line. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HubertB Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 One thing is sure: your troubles are not visible on your kit now. Great result 👍 ! Hubert 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 Peter, Looking mighty good! The panel line washes are excellent, really pulling out the details and I think you nailed the underside color. and the prop is perfect. Can't wait to see how the topside green turns out when all is said and done. I can't find the troubles you referred to on the checkerboards. I remember my own tribulations trying to use the EagleCal Big Beautiful Doll nose checkers on the Tamiya P-51D, only to find out Eagle simply scaled up their 1/48 set instead of redesigning for the 1/32 kit. I went through 3 sets before turning to Zotz... Live and learn. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 Looks great to me Peter, really nice job! Checkerboard came out great. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 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 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 Thanks Hubert very much appreciated. Just hard to believe how long it took to do the decal work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 Thanks Chris I had the same issues with the EagleCal Decals for Big Beautiful Doll many years ago and wound up cutting them into strips to get a good but not great fit. As soon as I started the checkerboard decals, I knew I was in trouble as finding both the exact starting point and being square to the cowl flap line was going to be a problem. What I wound up doing is cutting a lot of clits in the checkerboard and working each section in place with a lot of Micro Set and Sol. Some touch up work was needed and, in the end, it looked pretty good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 Thanks Rob, so very much appreciated. Just a lot of slow and careful work, plus a lot of slicing and dicing ... but in the end all looks well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 Thanks Mike, the checkerboard nose had its moments - just glad it's done and I'm now in the home stretch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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