I was at the EAA Museum this afternoon and, as a very early birthday gift, my mother-in-law let me get whatever model kits I wanted. I got four, yes FOUR, kits! One of them is the 1/32 Williams Brothers GB Racer.
The kit quality seems good but I was wondering if anyone had some tips on how to paint the scallops on the wings and fuse. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone built this kit and, if so, how are these Williams Brothers kits? I see they have several racers available but I’ve never built any of their kits before.
Willams Bros kits will take a lot of test fitting, filling, and making new parts. The can look very nice when done though, and they are usually the only kits of those subjects/scale available. Treat them like any other limited run type kit and there should be no major problems.
Thanks Bronto! I opened the kit up tonight and saw there were no locating pins. I like those limited run kits so I’m not entirely unfamiliar with them. I just wasn’t sure if there were some aftermarket masks or anything like that. The construction part I can handle. It’s just the painting part of all those scallops that get me. At least with the 1/48 Testors/Hawk kit, they provide the demarcation line. LOL!
Hey Eric, You might want to start by getting some 3M blue painters tape and a engineering circle guide. Also lay out your pattern on a blank sheet of paper and cut out the pattern to lay on to the model. Hope this helps some.
I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that I will have no other recourse but to break out the blue tape and circle guides. That’s all there is to it. I love the looks and color schemes of those old racers from the Golden Age of flight but they certainly will test my masking skills (or lack thereof).
I think you will have to join everyone else who has built the WB Gee Bee (and looked for an easier way) and lay out the markings. The black border seems to be the hardest part. Perhaps mask off to the black first, then mask off the pinstripe border and spray the red. That is the challenge of the Gee Bee.
Another question if I may. Any suggestions on how to get a nice white finish? I’ve heard people say that they’ll first start off with a flat basecoat in order to give the gloss something to grab onto. I’ve painted a few models with gloss white and gloss yellow. However, the gloss paint just doesn’t seem to want to cover the panel lines and other surface details very nicely. I don’t know how to describe it but it seems to pull away so you can still see the grey plastic in the rudder and aileron crevasses.
On my GeeBee I sprayed the model flat white then masked and sprayed flat insignia red after masking. Using a quill pen from a craft store, hand painted the thin line with flat black, mixed with a little dark blue to darken it. Any mistakes you can fix when dry with a finger nail. Afterwards came the ‘Future’ to gloss it up. I also never had good luck with gloss paint, white, yellow, or any other colour. My Birds look great. I have all the ‘William’s Brother’ racers along with the one ‘Lindburg’ kit.
The funny thing is that I’ve never had luck with Future! LOL! I’ve heard of some people hand brushing it on. Since the GeeBee isn’t exactly a HUGE model, maybe I can go that route. But I like the thought of starting off with the flat colors. I’ve also read other articles where someone used a good felt tip pen to make the black outlines. I’m considering trying that out as well. Hopefully the Future overcoat won’t have any detrimental effect on it.