- The Airfix Tribute Forum -

AFCBGeorge · Posted: Wed 08 Apr 2009 18:48 pm Post subject: Nightstalkers GB: Digs' build.

Digs' build will be posted below

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Digs · Posted: Fri 10 Apr 2009 06:52 am Post subject:

And it will be a P61 Black Widow:

Digs · Posted: Wed 22 Apr 2009 19:47 pm Post subject:

A diversion...

Last weekend, with spare time on my hands and no Hannants order, I decided to look for something else to make a start on. A bit of research (through the stash, then online) turned up what now looks like (through the dark lens of my mobile as herself has lost the damn camera...) this:

I'd acquired the kit sans decals or destructions from a D Day box set.
It is the dreaded 1980 vintage Airfix snapfit Bf 109G... Probably best photographed with added camera shake. It's moulded out of a nasty soft plastic that glues with normal solvent but bends and reacts to Wet and Dry somewhat like the polypropylene used for model soldiers (i.e. badly). Work on the seams has therefore relied in major part on scraping with the flat of a scalpel, before the filler stage shown in the pic.

The aim is to finish it as the Bf 109G-6 of Staffelkapitän Ltn. Manfred Dieterle from the JG300 Wildesau unit.

The colour scheme can be seen here:

http://www.fortunecity.com/campus/books/932/profiles.htm

And Manfred Dieterle himself (many years later) can be seen here:

http://www.eagle-editions.com/pilots.htm

The base colour is down as RLM 75 but the several versions of the colour scheme I've found on the net variously show this as pale grey or pale blue. Anyone have some advice on this and what might be a decent Humbrol surrogate? Preferably simpler than the convoluted IPMS mix...

Paul

PS - the Hannants order turned up on Monday!

Brews · Posted: Wed 22 Apr 2009 20:19 pm Post subject:

Lovely little profile. That is new to me, and I think it's the pick of the pics on that page.

My GUESS is that the base colour might be RLM 77 - for which the only direct match I've seen is a Testors Acryl colour (I don't like Acryls - they're ammonia-based). You could try getting H65 and making it paler with H34, or maybe H122.
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Digs · Posted: Sat 25 Apr 2009 11:25 am Post subject:

Thanks Brews.

Undercoat time is near, anyway. I've added a few more bits and pieces to the main airframe (cannon packs, air intake etc) and drilled out a few areas that should be holes.

One backwards step though - while cleaning up the seams on the underside I noticed that one wing was twisted at the fuselage root, leaving an unfixable step. Cursing myself for carelessness, I managed to snap it off, but even after cleaning up the mating surfaces again, it would not go on straight. With hindsight, the locating slot/tab must be twisted but having rushed and botched it twice now I think I'll leave it alone

.

\

PS - note to self - do not use iPhoto to reduce the size of pictures as it overdoes the file compression...

Digs · Posted: Sat 02 May 2009 16:33 pm Post subject:

Brews - sorry, I mistyped my last post. The base topside colour is given as RLM 76, not 75. 75 is the squiggle colour.

Anyway, with the absence of a Humbrol equivalent as a flimsy justification, I splashed out on a set of Lifecolor acrylic paints -

Having been so impressed by the Humbrol acrylic sprays, I've been wondering about trying acrylics for brush painting. Overall verdict on the basis of trying the RLM 76: convenient and OK, but I'm not sure they're worth the price.

Top sides were given two coats of RLM 76 and left to dry for several days while pig flu occupied most of my waking hours...

Today, I added the camouflage squiggles. No way was I going to attempt to airbrush them so I tested two options on a spare patch of underside - a grey felt tip pen and a grey colouring crayon. The crayon got the vote as it gave a slightly softer edge effect. The pattern was then sealed in with a coat of Humbrol acrylic satin varnish, the whole lot masked up and the undersides and wing roots sprayed with Humbrol acrylic Hu81.

On demasking, I found I've managed to leave four (yes, four!) separate gaps for the black to infiltrate. Cue touching up with RLM 76 and more use of the crayon.

Here's where it stands right now:

I'm thinking of using the black as a primer from now on: it's MUCH better at highlighting defects than the Hu64...

Paul

Digs · Posted: Sun 03 May 2009 21:55 pm Post subject:

More progress:

Drop tank and undercarriage added, and the rest of the painting done: crimson wheel centers and undercarriage struts (no evidence for this on the particular plane being modeled but I have photographic evidence of it on another Me109 and I like it!), green spinner (one of the three colour schemes suggested online for this aircraft...) and a RLM 23 fuselage band. Online charts suggest Hu60 for this, but that seemed insufficiently orange to me so I used Hu100 instead.

And then a coat of Klear and the decals:

Nearly done!

Paul

thomasweir · Posted: Mon 04 May 2009 10:51 am Post subject:

looking good

daniel7891 · Posted: Mon 04 May 2009 12:16 pm Post subject:

Looking very good
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Cheers

Daniel

Ratch · Posted: Mon 04 May 2009 13:58 pm Post subject:

The red undercarriage indicated that it used a special octane fuel

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and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

Digs · Posted: Mon 04 May 2009 14:08 pm Post subject:

Ratch · Posted: Mon 04 May 2009 14:56 pm Post subject:

Can't say whether it was accurate or not

it was something mentioned in the instructions for this kit

http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/about11112.html
_________________
and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

Digs · Posted: Mon 11 May 2009 22:05 pm Post subject:

Finished! Matt coated, canopied, weathered a bit, aerial added and that's it.

Photos to follow as I am camera-less at the moment.

dancho · Posted: Sun 17 May 2009 11:05 am Post subject:

I'd really appreciate it if you could provide a little more information about that "crayon." I realize this may seem like a silly question, but I'd really like a brand name and/or a picture of the "crayon' because I'm always looking for new methods to apply color. This seems to have worked very well.
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Digs · Posted: Sun 17 May 2009 11:52 am Post subject:

No problem Dancho - I may have used the wrong term anyway (or is crayon not used in the USA?).

Artist Grade coloured pencil would have been a more accurate and grander term. To be specific, it was a Design Spectracolor brand one from a large set I bought my other half around 20 years ago when we lived in Boston MA. Googling to find a photo/link for you (being too lazy to dig out the camera right now), it turns out they're long discontinued, but you can see what they look like if you look at Ebay item 220400316503 (the black coloured ones).

I think Prismacolour are a current equivalent. If I were to do it again though, I would try a very soft (4B or lower) graphite pencil to try and get a broader line and softer edge still. I used a grey Prismacolour but I don't think the shade really matters for the pattern I was after - grey is grey is gray!

Cheers

Paul

Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Sun 17 May 2009 13:09 pm Post subject:

Wow.....What a fantastic model!

That is the best I've seen the Airfix Gustav look in quite some time!

All the best
Sgt.S
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dancho · Posted: Sun 17 May 2009 14:08 pm Post subject: