TA-152 Zoukei Moura 1/32, My First ZM

[coolboxx]

Well done Rob, your beating this into submission. Looking very good so far. 

[DocRob]

Thanx Darren, don't know who will win in the end, but at least I accepted the challenge . I think I will adopt your method of painting your splendid Typhoon for this one.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Glued the upper cowling in place (after taking this photo) and again did a lot of test fitting around the nose section. At least everyting seems to fit with lots of effort, glue and brute power.
In my last text I mentioned the problem how to fit the engine struts and engine into the fuselage and wing section, because of the multi dimensional alignment points. I think it can be done, if you change the order of assembley and do not as shown in the manual. It should work, if you glue the engine struts to the fuselage and after this is done, add the wings. 

I don't understand the engineering on such an expensive kit which is newly tooled. Around the air intake you could look through gaps into the engine compartment. Other parts do fit perfectly. The small intake got drilled open.
A very nice addition by ZM are the supplied canopy masks. The vinylesque material is easy to work with and they fit perfectly.

Cheers Rob

 

[Mikester]

Looking good, Rob.  I've heard this one can be a challenging build and your effort seems to confirm it.  Maybe some of the poor engineering stems from the fact that this was their first kit ever, I think their later efforts are better.

[DocRob]

Thanx mikester, I hope you are right about the progressing engineering of ZM. I have a Mustang, an UHU and a Horten in my stash. 

Actually I'm bugged by another problem, which is sidetracking me. As you can see it will be hard to manouver that bird while spraying. The shortcoming  of my booth is nagging in the back of my mind since sometime. There is a Mosquito and a B-25 to be sprayed in the future. A solution has to be found and today i might found it.

That's not the final booth, but it is my new compartement. In the next days I will cut a rectangle in the backside and fix the old Ventbox right there. Lighting will be provided by flexible LED strips.

Cheers Rob

[RichO]

Nice!

[DocRob]

My cheapo enlargement project for my spraying booth is finished. I cut the plastic box, glued some flexible LED-Strip in and attached everything to my existing spraybox with Duct-Tape, so the foldable design of the old one will be kept if needed. There is enough space now for even more than the 46 cm wingspan of the TA-152.

 

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Not even ready and promptly discovered room for improvement. I removed the inwards LED's and duct-taped them outwards for easier cleaning of the booth and added a second strip, because the emitted light was too cold. It's hard to see, but the first picture is only warm light, the second one is a combination of cold and warm light together and much brighter if needed.

Everything needed for the booth construction was found in the house, so the spent total equals nada .

But now, get away Raiden and back to the TA-152 again.

Cheers Rob

[PTW6187]

Hey, you aren't the only one that has difficulties with ZM kits. I have their P-51K and the fit issues are not allowing me to finish the build. Your build, however, looks like it is chugging along nicely. The paint boot modifications look rather sharp also. Keep it going.

[DocRob]

Thanx Paul, the point of no return on that TA-152 was the bending and glueing of the flaps, nothing is gonna stop me now from finishing this one. As it is my first ZM-kit the difficulties caught me by surprise, I was expecting something more refined. All in all there are no problems which can't be solved, but I was looking for a quick build and was willing to concentrate on my first German paintjob with all the RLM things and mottling and so on.
I have that same P-51K in my stash and hoped it would be better. Lets wait and see what this one will bring up.
I just don't understand the philosophy of ZM. I like the idea of opening the cowlings for engines and weapons, but the way ZM realised this is not sufficient to me. Some of the inner assemblies do not look the part, they seem toyish. My first thought was to show everything of the 152, but after I started the build that changed to "I don't open up, I don't bend PE-hinges for the cowlings, who cares about the already painted engine, ...
Usually i have a fixed picture of an actual build in my mind. Minor changes are possible, but this one changed a lot, since I started.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Only some small updates today, but painting will follow soon. I painted the canopy cockpit grey (RLM66 from AK) after attaching the precut masks, added the anti glare dashboard cover and the gunsight, a clear part, which I sprayed after masking the optics with liquid mask. Some final weathering and highlighting was added to the cockpit parts and the headrest and lether cushioning were painted.

The last views, before botteling up.

 

Nearly ready for painting now

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Not much to show this time, but not only because of laziness. My struggles with the fitting of the 152 continue. I had to saw off two milimetres of the engine block (front) and remove some correspondent plastic from inside the cowling and the prop-shaft to get a propper alignment of the front cowling ring and the other cowling parts.

More hours of grinding and cutting were necessary for the preparation of the installment of the PE-flaps. You have to hand ZM that if everything is glued together the static of the TA is enormous, otherways there could have happened serious damage while working with the heavy tools.

The PE-flaps are primed and airbrushed with Alclad Aluminium, the insides of all covers and the metal wheelstruts were primed and airbrushed aluminium, as well as other parts like the prop and the wheelhubs. I used Alclad Chrome for the unpainted rods of the wheelstruts. Last but not least I painted the prepared exhausts first with Alclad Jet Exhaust and than a light partial coat of Alclad manifold. After some pigment treatment they should look fine.

As on former experiences all used Alclad colors performed perfectly on Tamiyas grey rattlecan primer, my all purpose primer if PE or other metal parts or resin is involved. The Alclads spray perfectly even and have nearly no visible grain on the painted surface. My former experiences with metal acrylics like Tamiyas Chrome Silver or Aluminum where much worse in every grade of thinning.

Without removing lots of plastic there would have been a 2mm gap between the front ring and the cowlings

Cheers Rob

[GusMac]

Nice work Rob but obviously frustrating to have to do so much hacking.

If you fancy trying acrylic metallics again, I can recommend the Vallejo Metal Color range. Nice fine pigments and best of all, no smell.

[DocRob]

Yeah thanx,

it is not frustrating anymore, it's a struggle, but i will not quit. Sometimes you are tempted to throw a kit in the garbage can, but with this one it got kind of personal, I like the subject to much to get rid of it, so there has to be found a way.

i heard many good things about the Vallejo Metals from the dealer of my neighbour island. I might try them in the future, but not until my Alclads run empty, because i like them a lot. Everything is perfect about them, but the smell .

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Hi All,

almost there, the last days with little benchtime were filled with final preparations for the paintjob. All cowlings are glued shut and the canopy is closed and secured. I used a Voyager circle-cutter-template for the first time to get some protection for the front cowling and it worked out well.
The PE-flaps were primed and sprayed Alclad Aluminium, but will be added after the paintjob of the plane, because I don't want to mask the fiddely flaps with adhesive tape.
The wheelstruts are painted and are waiting for weathering and final assembly with wheels and brake lines. If the sharp-eyed of you wonder, why there are four struts, it is because I purchased extra cast metal ones.

My initial plan was to let the engine cowlings be removeable, but that was skipped due to the delicate multipart construction and corresponding alignment problems.
With the cowlings glued in position I tried to find a method of masking the exhausts, but couldn't find a comfortable way. In the end I decieded to spray them over with the camo and repaint them after finishing the plane. This way the masking is much easier.
If you have another manageable idea, you are welcome to share it with me.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

It's not a Batwing, it's not a SR-71 Blackbird, you will discover the silhouette of my loved and hated TA-152 covered in black primer. I use that Vallejo stuff for the first time and hope it will adhere well. The detail which can be seen after application looks really good. The reason I changed from my trusty Tamiya rattle can primer is, that I will try to apply the "Black Basing/Marbling technique" from rkranias aka Rick mentioned here: https://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/5000-trumpeter-p40b/?page=

I will use the black primer as a preshading while working with RLM 65 in a marbling/translucent way to add a little depth to the underside of the plane.

Cheers Rob

[JeroenPeters]

I know it's not an easy kit like people will have you believe. Well done so far! You're nailing it!

[DocRob]

Thanks Jeroen, I hope I've seen the worst know and can now concentrate on painting and finishing.

After letting the Black Acrylic Primer from Vallejo dry for two days, i testet the adhesion with masking tape and parts of primer came off. Never trust a primer which dosen't smell funny . The whole plane was cleaned in advance with alcohol and a piece of cloth, a precaution I normally skip on pure plastic planes, but used this time because of the sometimes brutal handling (my normally dry fingers got sweaty) while building. It didn't help, so i changed some more planned steps for the TA-152. I will paint as much freehanded as posssible and will only use Panzer-Putty and paper as masks. The Insignia and fuselage ring will be decaled, instead of masked with adhering masks .

Finally I sprayed the sides and underside with AK's RLM 75 and used a technique I call Inverse Preshading. Having used the black primer gives the possibility to work with thin translucent layers of RLM 75. I emphazised the panels a little and used less paint on the connection seams between different fuselage parts. This creates a little depth in the monochrome areas. This is done with dilluted paint and low pressure. After doing so, I gently sprayed some RLM 75 over the whole area, to blend everything in. I'm happy with the result and will soon start with the upper camo.

Cheers Rob

  

[DocRob]

Hola Muchachos,

starting with my first german camo, I used AK Colors for RLM 81 and 82 and with the idea of getting a soft cornered fuselage camo, I used black masking putty. I always have problems with soft bordered paintjobs and these continued here. The masking putty was used, because it dosen't adhere very strong and I didn't want to peel my primer off the bird. One of it's drawbacks is, that it if flowing with the gravity, that means the needed upper corner gets sharp after some minutes, but hey, that will be corrected while mottling. The wings were not masked and were airbruhed freehand. The whole camo is painted in tiny translucent dots in different layers. The plane shouldn't look new, but also not overused.

First layer of RLM 82 light green

 

Adding the first layer of RLM 81 brown violet

 

The result after removing the masks

 

I'm a little afraid of the following mottling. I used the H&S Infinity (the upper one) with a 0.2 nozzle for the upper camo and it tends to clog a lot, even with the colours thinned, the pigments build up in seconds at the needle.
One of my old treasures is my set of two Rotring (lower one, you guessed it) airbrushes. They are perfect for working with inks and other non pigmented colours. Clogging was an issue with these while using acrylics, but heavily dilluted it might work. I will give it a try because removing clogged paint is done by useing the fingertip on the tip of the needle and last but not least, because it is a single action airbrush (one and a half to be correct) with the possibility to preadjust the amount of colour very finely.

Cheers Rob

[coolboxx]

Hi Rob, really like the paint job so far the colours look spot on, a great build can't wait to see this finished. 

As you already know I use that H&S, and suffered from paint bubbling in the cup. The paint stopped spraying, I was forever tightening the end cap to seal the  (white) ptfe washer. Ptfe has a tendency to migrate. So I decided to make my own rubber washer and now no more issues. If you pm me I will gladly send you a washer. I do still get dry tip now and then but this mod works very well. 

[DocRob]

Hi Darren, thanks for your offer, but I think, we have to dive a little deeper into that subject. You are speaking about the PTFE seal on the backside of the nozzle, am I right? Tighten the cap, like you did is what the H&S manual is recommending if the paint in the pot is bubbeling. I think that is not the only reason for bubbles, bubbles generally appear if the airflow is blocked somewhere. It means, that the paint is not flowing anymore, because there is nearly no spray in front of the brush, only a little irregular sputtering. The way for the air is blocked and therefore the air tends do use the easiest escape route through the colour cup.

In my opinion and experience the supplied 0,15 mm nozzle is not easy to use with pigmented colours like acrylics, it's too fine. Thinning reduces the tendency of clogging a little, but not totally, because the pigments are still the same size. The pigments are blown along the needle and because of the airflow, some of them dry immediately on the needle and irritating the airstream. As a result you wil have an irregualar spray on the model. After a while, more and more pigments adhere on the needle and nozzle tip and block it more or less completely and here they are, bubbles.

Because i think my PTFE-washer seals well, I tryied to hone the needle with a 6000 wetstone and oil, because I think the best way of getting less clogging is by having the evenest possible surface on the critical spots.

Another critical component is air pressure. The assumption has to be that as low as possible for the planned result is sufficient, because higher pressures cause faster drying of the paint in unwanted places and again, clogging.

I use mainly acrylic colours, because I think it's a little healthier than laquers, but I experienced different results with different colours (not brands). Colours which tend to be problematical in the way of opacity like white, yellow and red, seem to have a rougher grain of pigments than others as a rule of thumb. For these colours I use a 0,4 mm nozzle, because I think they are barely to handle with a 0,15 mm nozzle. Alclad Aluminum on the other hand never clogs in my airbrush, it seems to be very fine pigmented and flows perfectly.

When I was young, about the time I purchased the Rotrings, I worked on paper using mostly inks and dyes (80's chromium effects, ) for airbrushing and never had problems with clogging.

Annother path I will further try is the usage of a flow retarder, because in theory something which dries slower should clog less. But the only time I used Vallejo retarder I had nearly no effects and skipped more testing.

I hope I could make my thoughts understandable, as it is not so easy to describe complex ideas and theories in english language.

I haven't searched for a decent airbrush-thread in LSM and I think it might be a good idea to start one, because after all that cutting and glueing, it's the paintjob which is the first visible access to a finished kit.

Thanks again, I will do some experiments and comment them. I have some hope for the Rotring, because the length of the contact surface between colour and air is minimised (another aspect, where the H&S airbrushes are not properly designed for acrylics) and the tip of the needle is rounded and extruding and easy to clean with the fingertip.

If nothing helps at all, I will get back to your offer of a new washer, but I think that is not my source of problems. I will change the Infinity to a 0,4 mm needle and judge the results, because normally I use a H&S Evolution for the rougher works with a 0,4 mm nozzle.

Cheers Rob 

[coolboxx]

Anytime Rob, I have the .2mm, and yes that's the washer. I found after a while I squashed that washer and the seal became bad. The rubber one doesn't fail. I guess your thoughts on the  .15mm are the limits with some acyrilic's. Hope you sort this annoyance soon. 

[Mikester]

I use a Grex airbrush with a .2 mm needle.  I get good results mottling with Mr. Color (acrylic lacquer) thinned down with Mr. Leveling Thinner, enamels and other paints not so much.  Smaller needles really require good quality paint with fine pigment that won't foul the tip.  If I have to use something other than Mr. Color, Tamiya is my back up brand,

[DocRob]

Thanks mikester, I experimented a lot with my three airbrushes and five different sets of needles and I have to admit, as longer and harder I tried, the results got worse. I spent the whole day yesterday changing washers, needles, nozzles, varying air pressure and thinning different colors with different thinners, but no positive results. I have painted the upper surfaces with AK colours which behaved well and I had to use them for the motteling.

Today I told myself you have to start painting the bird or you will loose yourself in endless testing. This time I used the H&S Infinity with a 0,2 mm nozzle.
The first thing I did was removing the too harsh border between the top colours and the sides by motteling the top colors on. The second step was the bone shivering one motteling freehand, first the green and then the brown dots. I got a lot of overspray so in the end I decieded to reduce that a little by motteling some light blue between the darker dots.

Beside my terribly cramped hands (I wish my Rotring airbrushes would have worked properly, because it's much less finger twisting to work with a single action) I have to ask myself, are you satisfied. It's my first German camo so I think the result could be worse. With less equipment issues it would have been easy to achieve something better, but I have to solve these issues for future builds. I hope everything will be blended in a little with weathering and decaling. 

Finally a soso result on a soso build , so everything is in line, sometimes it's more about learning than about results.

Cheers Rob

[Mikester]

That came out nice, Rob!  Mottling is an art form in itself, took me many years of trial and error to get to the point I was happy with my results and could do it with any consistency.