Diabolical Dornier ... a 1/48 Odyssey

[GazzaS]

15 hours ago, DocRob said:

Maybe these are the guys for you, they can be made to inspect battle damage.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/dartmoor-military-models-48a001-wwii-three-luftwaffe-pilots-inspecting-aircraft--238180

Can't wait to see how you tackle the all black finish.

Cheers Rob

Thank you for the link, Rob.  They might be useful inspecting the tail area as they are looking very low to the ground.  Although I originally envisaged the bomber crew inspecting their own aircraft, along the rear fuselage, I could make it look as if there are some curious fighter jocks having a peek instead of the crew in who are relieved to have landed safely.

 

Trying to reconfigure the uniforms and life preservers into The Kapok form might be more work than I want to do/ruin.

15 hours ago, Bomber_County said:

Loving the build Gaz, I’ve been looking at the ICM Ju 88A-11, never built ICM interested in your project opinion.....

Thank you!  ICM are quite bold when it comes to subjects and moulds.  For instance, these Dorniers have plastic MG 15’s.  But here is the amazing thing... their MG 15’s actually have the ring sight moulded to the barrel.  I’ve never had one I considered not worth the time to fix a few minor fit issues.  Now these Dornier moulds aren’t their newest or best.  I recently built their Dornier Do 217 night fighter.  I thought it was a nice kit except for it’s radar array.  It’s fuselage needed a little internal stiffening.... it was a pleasure to build.   I also built their MiG-25PD... Another nice kit with only one real glaring but not insurmountable fit issue.  I thought I had an ICM Ju-88C6...  but when I got home to look, it turned out to be Dragon.  Now...  to put all that into one sentence:  If I want a plane...  and ICM covers it, the only other brand I would jump on first would be Dragon or Tamiya.

12 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Looking fantastic, very nice job!

Thank you!

8 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

Exciting build Gas, me likey

Thank you!

[GazzaS]

Today I spent a lot of bench time with the same 4-square inches of plastic.  I decided that I would try to improve my canopies.  I feel that they never really look right.  So, I thought an improvement might come about if I mask the inside.  Which meant cutting masks by hand.

So, I would trace one side, to attach them to the other.  Which would seem simple...  but then this glasshouse is asymmetrical in places.  So, I would stick the tape in place...  and hold it up to the light and trace...  and then cut.

 

I'm not  overly happy with the result.  Some touch up was required and I just cant paint a straight line to save my life.   Macro photos don;t help.

 

 

And the 'correctness' of each panel changes depending on your viewpoint. 

 

The former C-Stand still has a large glass for vision.

 

Gee....  wish I had thought of those aluminum strips.....

C-Stand pictures are pretty rare.  I have one in a book that shows some cushions for the gunner.  So, I made a frame, steps, and cushions.

It's not perfectly symmetrical, either. 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Gaz

 

[RockieYarwood]

Looking good Gaz! I need two hands and a vise and a shot of scotch to paint a straight line. Well at least it looks straight to me while under the influence of the scotch! 

[GazzaS]

Thanks, Rockie!

 

[GazzaS]

Not a lot done, but a bit of a learning experience.  PE and Brass Barrels...  by Master Barrels.

Explanation to follow:

 

This is the kit gun.  Pretty good in my estimation...  I don;t think anyone else has molded on the ring sight.  To me, it's a critical detail, however.

If I hadn't already bought brass barrels, I would have tried to drill and then thin the ring site.  It was almost a shame to chop off the barrel.  But I had to, cuz there was no way I was painting the model with that delicate assembly protruding.

 

The greenhouse is cemented in place along with the back half of the MG 15.  The barrel is dry fitted.  It took me more than an hour and a half to assemble that 7-piece assembly with my most powerful glasses on.

 

Even my wife's Canon camera has difficulty focusing on the bleeding thing.  The only bad thing is that for two barrels, you get four barrel bands.  And I lost one of the barrel bands (they're about 3mm long by 1mm wide)...  making one of the guns ruined/spare parts.  I bought ten because I have a few German twins in 1/48 scale to build. 

I had a look today.... I have:

Do 17Z (ICM)

Do 215 night fighter (ICM)

Ju-88c6 (Dragon)

Me-110 D1 (Dragon)

 

Thanks for looking!

[DocRob]

Well the plastic guns are not too shabby, but the Master barrels are always an improvement, a fiddly one though. If you pre drill the plastic body of the gun you can leave the barrel off for the painting of the plane and stick it in after. I love to burnish brass parts and dip them into burnishing liquid for some seconds and rinse them under water, to stop the process. Cleaning the parts with alcohol before is necessary and while in the burnishing bath, you should move the parts with a tweezer, to hinder bubbles being caught, especially inside the barrel. It's best to burnish before assembling the parts, because on CA there will be no burnishing process.

The benefit against priming and painting is, that there is no actual coating which erases details on these delicate parts, like with paints. I also like the (adjustable by burnishing time) brownish black very matte effect of the burnishing process. If you prefer a more metallic appearance in the end, some steel pigments rubbed on help there.

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

HI Rob,

   Thanks for the comments.  Burnishing fluid is a pain to get here in Australia.  Anything very toxic is.  But I'm not always bound to use primer.  Especially on a part that won't get touched much...  as opposed to a metal barrel on a tank which is a useful handhold while weathering the turret.  I'll most likely paint the gun barrels dark gray...   then give them a black was to fill in the recesses...and then a metallic drybrush with enamels.   Shit...  reminds me...  I still need some MG 17 barrels. 

[GazzaS]

After spending most of the week sick, I found some time to devote to the Dornier.

With a bit of aluminum flashing I fabricated the part that holds the aerial cable at the top of the mast(yellow arrow).  And for a long time, I held off on scribing the line around the base of the nose cone.  Masked the clear parts, too.

Again, with the aluminum flashing... I made the streamlined antenna at the right.  I also used some copper wire to make the FuB1 blind flying aerial look a bit nicer than the kit part.

Got to lay down some paint today.  Some very off, off white for the national markings.   That means I devoted a couple hours making the simple set of masks.

I have a pilot picked out, but no real pics of his machine.  I'll talk about him later.   Some machines had fuselage bands and some didn't.  Likewise, the Englandblitz badge.  Some machines were all black, and some weren't.  But it's my new habit to avoid the in-box scheme.  So, I've decided to go minimalist on the scheme so I can concentrate on the all-black aspect.  Call it artistic license.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Gaz

[harv]

Nice !!....harv 

[GazzaS]

2 hours ago, harv said:

Nice !!....harv 

Thank you, my friend!

 

[GazzaS]

Ok....finally...  some color!  

 

Or is it...  a lack of light?

Now...  believe it or not, there are seven shades of 'black' here.

Looking at the nacelles, some of the shades are easy to see.

I cleaned my airbrush last night....  I wanted a clean nozzle for painting.  Notice that you can still see the panel lines.  Just tell me...  does it look gray to you?  If it looks gray...  I am failing in my mission.

 

Notice the open panels?  There are two bits of true Tamiya black there.  Also around the curved leading edge of the cowl.

That little light spot....  I must have dropped a drip of thinner on it.

Now....   shade your eyes....   we're going outside to see what it looks like in sunlight.

 

,

Compared to the black side of the barbecue, the shade (even though it;s a bunch of shades) is highlighted.

Note to self:  There can be no true black on the base.

At the rear of the wing root, you can see two areas where my preshading shows through.

 

Now...  There is a lot to do.  Highlighting.  Shadow making.  Pin Wash.   Spills.  And the base.

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Gaz

 

 

 

[DocRob]

Nice work with the details like the aerials Gaz. The black to me is impossible to judge on the pics. It looks really good to me on the indoor pics and I hope the uneven distribution of black patches will remain under a sealing coat as well as the matte look. By the time you demask crossings and markings it will come together, with the contrast of the markings, I'm sure.

Cheers Rob

[harv]

I think you nailed it. Black on inside shots....harv 

[GazzaS]

17 hours ago, DocRob said:

The black to me is impossible to judge on the pics.

Thank you, Rob.  That is kind of what I was hoping for.  When you don't have true black around for comparison, anything close looks black.  As long as you don't do something crazy like use white or blue to dilute the blackness.  FYI I used Tamiya black X-1 diluted with Tamiya Red Brown XF-10 and Tamiya Green XF-5.

 

My painting bench top is just worn wood with paint drippings on it.  While I was painting, it looked as if the model was just black.  And when I set the model down on my BBQ with it's black sides, the difference shocked me.

 

I am honestly unsure of how I'll proceed from here.  Originally I had planned to to the pin wash in pure black.  But now, I think I will have to dilute it a bit because I don't want too much contrast. 

 

Regarding the irregularities of the paint.  I honestly have no idea what will happen with the clear coat.  But there are effects I will try to use to make some detail pop.

 

Sadly, it's blowing a gale today.  I don't dare do any painting, inside the house or out.  But I can at least can do part of the first phase sanding.

 

Cheers

Gaz

[GazzaS]

14 hours ago, harv said:

I think you nailed it. Bleach on inside shots....harv 

Thank you, Harv!

[DocRob]

3 hours ago, GazzaS said:

I am honestly unsure of how I'll proceed from here.  Originally I had planned to to the pin wash in pure black.  But now, I think I will have to dilute it a bit because I don't want too much contrast. 

A pin wash to my eye doesn't have to be darker than the surrounding base colour. I tried lighter tones on different occasions and liked it a lot. the effect is obviously the opposite of a dark pin wash emphasizing shadows. In natural light panel borders may also produce a little highlight against the base colour, which could be replicated, by using a lighter grey tone for panel lining. Grey would keep the tonal balance, with some olive panel wash you might get interesting effects too. Just a thought...

Cheers Rob 

[GazzaS]

On 11/24/2020 at 7:03 PM, DocRob said:

A pin wash to my eye doesn't have to be darker than the surrounding base colour. I tried lighter tones on different occasions and liked it a lot. the effect is obviously the opposite of a dark pin wash emphasizing shadows. In natural light panel borders may also produce a little highlight against the base colour, which could be replicated, by using a lighter grey tone for panel lining. Grey would keep the tonal balance, with some olive panel wash you might get interesting effects too. Just a thought...

Cheers Rob 

I have seen a couple black model aircraft done with light colored lines.  Every rivet and every line stood out.  Not seeing your model, I can't comment on it. 

Very recently somebody over at TOS completed an ME 110 in black with lighter colored details.  For a while it looked great to me...  But before I had quit looking a the selection of photos I began to feel that it just looked wrong.  Again, every detail stood out from every distance and every angle.  We all know that panel lines are little magicians who sometimes show up brilliantly, and at other times disappear.   I don't think that I would be satisfied if I went that way.

 

Today's update...  some early morning pics after pulling the masks.

The white markings are 50% Tamiya white and 50% Tamiya JA Grey which also doubles as RLM 02 in many cases.  I have three different mixes of RLM 02.  The gray letters are MRP RLM 74. 

Again, another photo with a lot of black in the background.

 

I really hate that the tailwheel isn't constructed so that it couldn't be added after painting.  So, that's the next stop...  and then a clear coat.  Then sanding... then another clear coat.  ...and hopefully a final lot of sanding.

 

Thank you for looking!

 

Gaz

[Bomber_County]

Gaz, in my opinion you’ve nailed the weathered black, when you remove the canopy mask that’s when it will all sing......intriguing on what sanding you are going to be doing.........

[GazzaS]

16 hours ago, Bomber_County said:

Gaz, in my opinion you’ve nailed the weathered black, when you remove the canopy mask that’s when it will all sing......intriguing on what sanding you are going to be doing.........

Thank you, Phil.  Sanding is my 'new' thing in all models.  It's actually wet sanding done with very fine grit paper or micromesh.  Usually about 6000 grit or above.  The hoped-for results of the sanding are:

Distresses the camo paint.

Reduces 1/1 scale overspray.

Gets rid of matte texture which can cause weathering effects to wick across the surface uncontrollably.

 

It has to be done carefully, of course without a sanding block, and a drop of liquid soap in the water for lubrication.  Truth be told, I'd rather none of my paints were matte.  It would save me a step, and a layer.  Tamiya acrylics are just head and shoulders above everything else.  MRP lacquers spray nice...  but they're not as tough as Tamiya Acrylics.

 

Gaz

 

 

[krow113]

Nicely done!

And to my eye you can see the glider influence on some of these earlier airframes.

[GazzaS]

1 hour ago, krow113 said:

Nicely done!

And to my eye you can see the glider influence on some of these earlier airframes.

Thank you!  I've always liked the Dornier shape.

[Fran]

Nice work!! I like it!

 

I will get the Eduard Special Edition in February of the ICM kit! 

[GazzaS]

Thank you, Fran.

 

Well, everyone...  here is where it gets real hard.  Weathering scale black.  The jet black pin wash went well...  but after it dried, I can't really tell if I see the jet black, or just the shadows of the engraved details.

 

Then there was oil details and shading.  You know what happens when you get scale black wet?  Yes...  it turns jet black.  And you can't do a damn thing with it.  So, I'm  on another tack, now.

 

To give the oils something to grip...  I've coated the model with Tamiya XF-86.  And...  then I apply straight, undiluted paint.  Then I begin to remove and blend the paint.  I'm using a natural bristled brush which I've cropped to 2-3mm long bristles.  Every little bit, I smear the bristles onto white paper towel to remove unwanted paint. 

 

I've even tried a few oil steaks with varied results.  Mostly unsatisfactory results.  I think I made some decent headway with the cloth covered surfaces.  But the metal skinned areas are another matter.

 

In the end, even with solvents I couldn't get all of the black out of the natural bristles.  So, it's all a bit like this:

 

I don't have much time for waiting for oils to leech out the linseed oil midweek.  So, I won't get much done.  Hopefully this weekend I'll have something to show this weekend.  I dunno.

 

 

[GazzaS]

Weathering...  continued.

Dot filter. 

I'm using yellow ochre, Burnt sienna, green, and blue dots.  No white allowed.  For some reason, white develops a frosty look.  Here's a dot pattern closeup:

And a couple more gratuitous shots.

 

One note for anybody who is curious:  These Dornier's with radials don't seem to have any exhaust staining.  All of the exhaust stubs seem to be removed enough from the body to keep the engine gases in the slipstream.  It's different with the ones that have the inline engines.

 

A couple more step in weathering, then I'll add the final coat, detail painting, fixes, and landing gear.

 

Thanks for looking!

[DocRob]

Cool looking blackbird Gaz, love the oil dot modulation in the direction of the airstream, with still recognizable differences in panels.

Cheers Rob