SrkiRad Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 Thanks fot this notice Spejic. I might've overseen this detail and it would be worthwile of fixing, if I didn't come to this phase. I'm afraid not to mess up something, as I've already started painting process, so I think I'll leave it as it is. Anyway thanks for this comment, as I've ;earned something new about Hornet - I'm not so familiar with all details on this aircraft, so it is good to learn something new Thanks! Regards, Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Thanks Mike.Regarding to paint process, I've wrote down on paper steps to follow As rear part of this Hornet is in yellow/orange, I need to spray some white as a base colour, in order to have the colourful those two... I'll try to use grey primered surface as some kind of "preshading" for yellow - I did it once on 1/72 F-104, hopefully it will be possible to do it here too However, there will be a lot of masking, as there are 2 greys, black, white, yellow and orange to spray... Cheers Srdjan Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I see. I was thinking that because the model was so tiny they might have included decals for the whole thing rather than have you mask and spray different sections. It should turn out well then, based on what you've already done. I don't know if it's just my computer or the light of the photo but it looks like the areas you have painted white could use another coat. The white still looks quite grey. Just a suggestion my good man. Like I said, it could be my computer, the lighting or even my failing eyes. In any event, this is quite the undertaking. Keep it up. Painting will look nicer than decals any day of the week anyway. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I see. I was thinking that because the model was so tiny they might have included decals for the whole thing rather than have you mask and spray different sections. Well, parts of rear "livery" actually are given as decals - black "hornet stripes" on upper part of fuselage, and black-orange part on lower part of fuselage.... yellow base according to the manuals must be sprayed... but anyway, I'm trying to spray as much as I can, because orange on decals isn't really matched with orange I have in inventory I don't know if it's just my computer or the light of the photo but it looks like the areas you have painted white could use another coat. The white still looks quite grey. Just a suggestion my good man. Like I said, it could be my computer, the lighting or even my failing eyes. In any event, this is quite the undertaking. No problem Mike, I made the photos a bit darker on purpose - I wanted to show "preshading" effect, so I had to darken photos a bit in order to make this effect visible In reality white is really white, it should turn out good after layer of yellow - today I'm gonna spray yellow so, keep fingers crossed Thanks for the support! Regards, Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Srdjan, Firstly I am SO impressed by the tiny scale and your amazing scratchbuilding. You make it look SO easy but you can tell by the way you are working that it is hard work.You have done a fantastic job on this so far and I am enjoying your fast, neat clean build. Love the color scheme on this Hornet.Reminds ME of the colors of a wasp. Yes this is going to be one to watch for sure. HOLMES Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Thanks Holmes Today I've sprayed yellow colour over yesterday's white primered surfaces. I've used Acryl MM4683 (chrome yellow), and must admit that MM acryl colours are very strange for work - they have very short drying time, and during work require regular nozzle tip "wetting" with alcohol. After some time of work, colour turns into some kind of "gummy skim" that clogs the nozzle and make nozzle cleaning very demanding job For brush painting these acryls are very good, but it seems that are very demanding for airbrush work - Aztec airbrush worked well with them but H&S Evolution with 0.2 nozzle definitely chokes... I think I'm gonna expand my assortiment of Gunze colours very soon! OK, here are the photos of today's work I've also sprayed bottom part of rear fuselage into yellow, because I did the test sample of different base colours for orange, and it turned out that orange looks more similar to orange on decals if base colour underneath it is yellow rather than white! Arrestor hook (not photographed as it is still on sprue) is also "primered" into yellow.... Please do comment, Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 I've just finished with Orange on this one! I tried to match Orange colour on decals by mixing Gunze H24 (orange yellow) and H14 (orange) in 2:1 ratio... comparing to decals it seems pretty close... it remains to be seen if I matched the colour after decal positioning.... Detail of lower rear fuselage (arrestor hook is also painted in this orange mixture) I sprayed rear fuselage sides also, because decal has sharp edge while transition beetween orange and yellow on real plane is rather soft! Hopefully this will soften final look a bit... Details of upper rear fuselage - I chose to do the freehand spraying rather than using masks, so some overspray occured, and those two orange "stripes" are a bit wider than on real plane, but it's not a big deal - in reality it looks better (I apply Photoshop's Sharpen filter to the photos so almost every dot of overspray is very visible :D) I'll leave colour to dry thoroughly so I can mask these orange/yellow areas for next step - camouflage grey shades.... Thanx for reading, I hope you have some comments/critiques on my work ;) Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Yellow/orange areas and wheelbays are masked with Tamiya tape and blutack. I was working on Fw 190D-9's cockpit so I've used rest of Gunze H416 (RLM66) in airbrush cup to do the preshading on Hornet Preshading is not so heavy so it should turn out OK after shades of grey that follow soon.... Next step is Light ghost grey for the bottom parts... Cheers, Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Looking good, sir. Lots of work for such a small model. I hope the decal and sprayed orange colours are close enough of a match that it doesn't look out of place. Keep it up. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted January 30, 2011 Author Share Posted January 30, 2011 @AX 365: I compared this mixture of orange applied on "test kit" with orange on decals, and it looks very similar... hopefully the difference will not be so big Today I've sprayed Model Master enamel Light Ghost Grey on bottom parts of both Hornets. After initial coat I've added few drops of White, and with that lightened mixture sprayed middle parts of panels - effect of preshading is pretty well visible thanks to this step.... Canadian Hornet received LGG coat on outer bottom part of vertical tails too... Now I'm leaving both "key rings" to rest a day or so, and then go for upper part of cammo - darker shade of grey on this one! Thanks for reading, Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 Today I've finished with darker Grey on upper side... (Gunze H337 - FS35237) After a while I unmasked the model in order to see how it looks like :D Comparison with American Hornet that received different Grey on upper side (Gunze H307 - Dark Ghost Grey) All main painting is done on this one, the rest of the "livery" is represented by decals! Cheers, Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 Few days ago I painted tip of the radome with acrylic Model Master Radome Tan. Today I gave Hornet a protective coat of Future, before the most important phase on this kit - decals! Preshading effect can be seen very well now, as Future "darkens" colour a bit.... I'll leave Future to cure few days, and then I'll go on with decals - hopefully everything will turn out ok... Thanks for reading, Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Middleton Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Srdjan - looking forward to seeing how the decals line up :( Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Ken, I can't wait to start decaling phase either! I think I'll start work on Canadian decals during weekend as I'll have a plenty of time on disposal. Probably I'll start with work from middle part of decals - one on the back of fuselage, because it has to be aligned both with cockpit segment and with vertical tails... Well, may the Force be with me... Cheers, Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Well, here we are! I've been waiting for weekend to do the most awaited part of this build - decals! Decals applied, the kit overcoated with protective layer of Future, so waiting for wash now... On the nose, I've painted blue blister anntenas, as decals were mismatched with scratchbuilt antennas! I've started decaling phase from big decal on the spine - with "Canada" sign and maple leaf. I was worried how it will turn out as decal began to wrinkle under Microscale Sol, but in the end everything was fine. Only surgical move that had to be done was removal of antena on the spine and under the nose, as there was no hole in decal for this detail - I will glue back these antenas in the end! Decals on wings lined up well with that big one on spine, and I just made a hole on decal on both sides for that "gap" near the spine... Thanks to decal solution every panel line is still visible - even after few layers of Future! Main problem was here - on vertical tails - decals were printed smaller then they should be, so after their positioning, leading edges of tails were still in grey colour painted beneath, instead of black! So, I brush painted them with some flat black... I've made "fountain fill" effect below the tail - orange decal had tiny white edge, visible on yellow/orange background, so I mixed up orange as during painting, and brush made that colour transition effect - am pretty satisfied with result! Black part in front of nose gear wheelbay is painted in black a bit, as I had to move decal a bit forward in order to align it well with two nose decals previously applied... And... the part of the job that was the biggest puzzle - did I mix up the orange properly to match the orange on decals? Well, I must say that I almost matched it - the difference in shades is so minor that it is almost invisible! (rear end is painted orange, while bigger parts with black stripes are decals) What do you think folks? And here are two more photos that show this interesting livery.... So, next phase is wash... stay tuned! Thanx for reading! :) Please do comment if you wish... Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Looks like you overcame lots of challenges with those decals. And your colour matching was superb. You've done a better job in 1/144 than I can in 1/72 - excellent work. When you apply the wash, go easy. These special scheme aircraft were kept quite clean. The one area where I would put some dark streaks on it is the belly, behind the wheel wells where the engines leak a bit of fuel and oil that tends to get dirty. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 (edited) Thanx ALF - it didn't take me too long to finish the wash and applying protective coat of varnish... Wash is done with artists Winsor & Newton oil colours - black and white, thinned with W&S white spirit. I've tried not to overdo the wash, maybe it looks a bit darker than it should, but it was the same mixture as for other kit I washed first. Regarding to oil streaks, I'll simulate those in the end with pigments/pastels... After a while I've sprayed two different mixtures of varnish on model: 1. Grey surfaces were given a coat of MM Matt varnish (lacquer version packed in rounded bottle) 2. All those "decorative painted" surfaces were sprayed with MM Semigloss + a bit of Matt, as reference photos show that livery was glossy except basic camouflage (grey areas). You can see the difference beetween those two mixtures of varnish on following photos (front part of the wing is matt, and rear end is more glossy). As I'm doing another Hornet for other groupbuild, here is the shot of both "bugs" with reference objects, in order to see the effect of preshading and wash in this tiny scale... B) What was left to do is painting of tiny details and glueing of exhaust nozzles, landing gear and other small parts, and unmasking of canopy! Hopefully, this build will be finished in a week... Cheers, and thanks for reading, all comments and/or critiques are very welcome! Srdjan Edited February 16, 2011 by SrkiRad Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spit1A Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Wow! Those look fantastic. Great attention to detail as well with the different surface finishes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 Thanks Spit1A What I was most afraid of was the question "Will this kit be tailsitter?". Well, it turned out all well! Kit stands steady on landing gear without any balast in nose! Exhaust nozzles were brush painted with Model Master Metalizers (few shades), and buffed in the end - I will add some more weathering on them with a little help of Tamiya weathering sets... Spotlight on left side of nose was painted with Model Master Chrome Silver, while "glass" over it was made with Microscale Kristal Klear and glued with gloss lacquer. Same story goes for landing light on nose gear. I've also brush painted "traffic lights" below landing light - red, orange and green spots - red arrows show these details. I only have to glue wheelbays doors and few more details, and to paint few details, to do the subtle weathering "here and there", and I can call this one done in few days... Thanx for reading, Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Charlie Cheetah Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Great work on both Hornets Srdjan, I forgot these were 1/144 scale for a minute. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Coming along great for such a tiny model! :P Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 Thanx for kind words Charlie and Phantom Today I can say the work on this project is finally done! I've finished some small paintings and glued tiny details in recent days, and also weathered kit with Tamiya Weathering D set (exhaust nozzles with burnt orange and blue, and few oil stains on wings and on the bottom side of rear fuselage) Enough words, here are the photos! I hope you've enjoyed this build of mine as much as I did Thanx for reading and please do comment Srdjan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SrkiRad Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 Few photos of details.... Comparison with my favourite "reference object"... And "group photos" with its American brother from VFA-115... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Srdjan, Great work. I'm very impressed. Well done. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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