I managed to get all the decals done yesterday. I wanted to paint many of these on this kit, but I wasn’t in a position to do so leaving me to use only kit decals. They look nice and went on without any fuss, but the kit decals are very thick and just don’t want to conform to raised panel lines. I scored the recessed panel lines and used Microsol and they sank in nicely, but I have had to work quite a bit to get them to lay down on the wings over the raised surfaces.
I did mask and paint the red warning lines which was pretty easy. I used Mr Color 114 which is RLM 23 that is darker than Tamiya’s XF-7. I found this color was a near perfect match for the kit decals. I’m most happy with them now, but I bit more attention before I clear them and move to weathering. Next time I will paint as many as I can.
I am gonna stop the weathering process here. I may have overdone it; I haven’t decided yet.
I was cruising along after I had applied the gloss coat and the Flory black over that when I went to remove the Flory some of it refused to come off, even with soap and windex. It stained places in the clear and the only thing I can think of is that my coat was uneven and it found the weak spots. So, that kinda forced my hand to weather this one up more than I had initially intended.
So, to recap the weathering process. I pre-shaded the kit, painted and all that. Then when the clear was down I applied a full coat of Flory wash black and washed off the excess. I then found that to be too dark so I also applied Flory Grime over the panel lines and it did lighten the look a bit. I then used some silver to add chipping to the leading edges of the wings and cowl behind the prop as well as the walk way and step. It came out decent.
I sealed all that down and then proceeded to try my hand at pastels. I went over the panel lines with dark grey and removed the excess. I then added my powder residue and exhaust stains with the use of my Tamiya Master weathering set using “soot” as the color. I also added a slight fuel stain to the wings at the fill caps and stopped there. I then sealed that down with “fixative” to seal down the pastels and prevent the clear from discoloring and pooling them up. I will clear it one more time.
So, anyway, this is how it looks now. Not too far to go before I can call this one complete. I will do better next time. I learned a ton on this build about Japanese planes and the next will look much better.
I am calling this one done. Finished all the weathering and final assembly, last minute painting, touch ups and whatnot. So, here she is in all her less than perfect glory. I wish I could have done better, but i kept making mistakes that could have been avoided and I get mad at myself for doing that. I expect better from myself. Next one will look better. Thanks for looking.
Looks great to me Brandon. You nailed the Ame-hiro color. I ilke the open cowl flap option which Hasegawa offer. I have that problem with Flory once in a while. I think your right about needed an even clear coat. It tends to collect in joint areas for me (wing roots, tail plane roots etc.), so now I go kind of heavy with the clear in those areas. I usually take an old Testors white paint brush with the plastic bristles, wet it with water, then scrub the wash out. It usually works for me. What clear coat are you using. I use Alclad clear gloss. If your using Future, that’s most ikely your problem. Thanks for sharing…
Joe, I used the MM clear gloss and I applied the Flory heavy over the entire plane. Next time I will just hit panel lines and choose a color that is darker than the paint but not black unless I need that dark so show. I just need to be more careful with my clear coats and make sure I get total coverage. I can feel myself starting to rush to finish and I know I shouldn’t and I think I shot myself in the foot for trying to get this one done and off my plate. I learned a great deal and the next one will go more smoothly. I have an A6M2 in the stash that I will improve upon. I am also thinking of buying one of Tamiya’s new A6M5/5a kits, provided I can find one for a reasonable fee.
Thanks everyone for all the kind words, you give a fella the inspiration to continue the fight.
Hi, Brandon - What a fine job you made of this model, I see nothing that isn’t exceptionally well done. Thanks for sharing the details and posting the photo’s, I look forward to seeing what come off your assembly line next. Best regards.
Don’t be so hard on yourself Brandon. That’s a fine looking Hamp right there. I’m my own worst enemy as well. I’ve been becoming more and more anal retentive about the little things I used to let slide. What’s your opinion about those Tamiya decals? I think I resorted to painting my markings on after the first time I used a thick set of decals. lol I’m still trying to improve that. =]
I suspected they (decals) would be difficult based on lawdog’s posts, but I didn’t feel like painting them on. They are too thick to be of any practical use for those of us who expect more. On the Japanese planes I will be painting on the majority of the decals where ever possible. I am going to also do that on my German planes as well.
I was just about to ask you how you were going to display it. In a previous post, I saw you had the landing gears up, but now I see you have them down. Did you have to cut them out to reposition them or am I missing something??
At any rate, how do you plan on displaying it now? =]
The kit comes with two sets of bay doors, one up and which I used to paint it, the other are for how I displayed it. I like to do the bays first and paint next, not the other way around. That is why I had them installed, just for painting purposes. Hope that helps.
Everyone, I really appreciate all the kind words for the Zero. I really took it hard when the Flory didn’t come off as hoped. It kinda crushed the build for me. Your words have inspired me to believe that perhaps it isn’t as bad as I thought. Thank you all. [:D]
