This is one of the kits I’ve been working on for the last couple months - It’s about 98 % complete, but I wanted to get the pics up because of another post that had questions regarding hand painting -vs- air brushing.
This is certainly not an airbrush finish. The not-so-great resolution helps me a little with the fuzziness of the edge, but trust me - it does look fuzzy in person too.
I used a bit of pastels for the exhaust stain. I might make them a little more pronounced before I’m done.
I really liked this kit. The surface detail is great. Fit was good. Decals were great, and they give you three really nice options including a British scheme. A correction needed to be made to the assembly of the engine, but it was an easy fix (one of the banks of cylinders is oriented the wrong way - thanks for the reference Drew)
Hope you enjoy looking at her as much as I enjoyed building her !
Chris
Wow!!! You say hand painted? It looks air brushed to me. That’s a very good looking model Chris, and I like it very much. Glad to hear it was a good kit to build. I have yet to do a Wildcat, but I’m a 1/48 guy. Again congrats on a very nice looking F6F.
Jerry
looks great to me. I think the Pacific birds are my favorite.[:)]
Very nice build & good job of brush painting.
Regards, Rick
very nice brush painting technique!
Well done, thanks for the peek…
Wow, very nice Hellcat mate. You must have a good brush-painting technique. How did you do the feathered edges with a brush? Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful job on the Hellcat. Thanx for posting.
Chris,
Your Hellcat looks great! So, what’s your technique for getting fuzzy-edged camo from a brush?
Regards,
I like these birds a lot. Thanks for sharing, awesome job.
nice looking build Chris, I dont have the guts to brush my a/c anymore
Thad
I agree with all the above, the hellcat looks great, and I really wish I could brush paint like that!
Leon
Thanks to all for your kind words. It’s a pleasure being able to show it.
The technique is pretty simple.
- paint the two colors up to one another with a “hard edge”.
- mix up a batch of 50/50 paint with the two colors that you want “fuzzified” and paint a thin line over the hard edge. I use an old (but good) brush from which I have trimmed off most of the bristles. It allows me to paint a line that is somewhere around a 1/16th of an inch wide or maybe a little wider. I have heard others mention that they have problems with a shakey hand for work like this. I find that if you find a way to rest your hand and the work against some solid object (tabletop, books, etc) while you’re painting, the shakiness really calms down.
- then I take the lighter of the two colors, thin it down a little with water, and just mush it around on the edge between the light color and the 50/50 line.
In some places there may be a noticable lump where all the paint layers come together. I wait until the paint has cured and hit it with a very fine sandpaper. Sanding sometimes helps fuzzify the colors even more. A layer of dullcoat renders the lumps pretty much invisible.
If you get close and you’re looking for it - you can still see the edges where the colors come together - it really isn’t like an airbrush finish. But it’s good enuf for me. Someday I might invest in a double action that can do fine work. But for now - I work with what I’ve got.
Dragonfly, this is a Hellcat. The Wildcat has a slightly different look to it. This plane has really grown on me since doing this kit. It has a very intersting tear-drop shape in the cross section of the fuselage. I cant think of any other plane that has that. It just looks really beefy.
Aviator, I like the Pacific birds too - and the tri-color scheme in particular. I picked this scheme cuz it had the cat’s mouth.
Thanks Again,
Chris
Awesome work! I also built this same kit, but it did not turn out nearly as well! Great job on the feathering of the colors. It is similar to an artist technique that I’m familiar with. You definitely have reason to be proud of this one.
Bossman:
lovely work on the Hellcat !
& thanx 4 the paint tips, i’ll have 2 try ur brush painted
soft edge technique…
thanx 4 sharing !
frosty[:)]
Thats really cool. good job from oddjob![tup]
Thanks so much for the kind words guys and gals.
Duke - Yeah - I figured if I could do it on a canvas in high school art class, I could do it many years later on the surface of a model. If I was using oil based enamels, it might be possible to mix and blend the colors on the model with a little thinner while they were still wet. I don’t think that could be done with the acrylics I use now though. Everything dries too fast - especially when you thin 'em down.
I know this technique isn’t gonna set the modelling world on fire - but it I hope its an encouragement to other brush painters and assorted neanderthals like myself. It can be done !
Chris
Beautiful work, Chris! [:)] The Hellcat looks AWESOME!
I make soft edges with a brush when painting on canvas, but you’ve pretty much perfected it on plastic, thanks for sharing your technique!!
Take care,
Frank
Great work on the Hellcat. Thanks for posting the pictures and sharing your painting techniques.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]