No!
I’ll post some update pics tonight.
Karl
Work has been heavy this week, so I haven’t managed a lot of time at the bench, but I’ve had today off so managed to get some more paint on.
Seeing as this is a Luft late 45/46 machine I decided to go with an RLM 84 finish for the undersides.
Yes I know some people don’t believe in the existence of RLM 84, but having seen good quality colour shots of late war Luftwaffe birds, there was definately a German Sky shade out there.
I used Tamiya Sky, with Gunze Sky for the lightened panel centres as there is quite a difference in shade between the two brands. It may look overstated, but I usually undercook the contrast, not this time!
Next up was the RLM 82.
Like most Gunze acrylics, these come up slightly glossy, which really highlighted the fact that I hadn’t properly hidden the top seam!
I ended up scraping the top seam and sanding again. You can see the grey primer down the spine on non 82 sections here.
Like the 84, I lightened all the panel centres, with 84 and a touch of Sky.
I did think about free handing the RLM 83, but wanted a factory finish for the bulk of the airframe, so masked up with good old Tamiya tape.
Is it just me, or does it look a bit like the Jamaican flag? Note beverage in back ground,Non-alcoholic obviously![;)]
The Gunze 83 has come out looking more like 81, which is weird as I have used it before and it looked right. Think I might have mixed up a batch of 81, and stuck it in the wrong jar, not that it matters with this build.
Thanks for letting me share.
More soon.
Karl
The main camo is now complete, including the mottling on the fuselage sides.
The panel fade looks pretty severe, but should look fine by the time I’m finished.
I’ll put a coat of Future over everything tonight, before starting on the ‘extra’ paintwork.
Thanks for letting me share.
Karl
That’s some outstanding airbrush work, Karl. Nicely done!
Looking good Karl. I like the faded paint work but look forward to seeing what the ‘extra’ paintwork involves. Keep the pics coming.
Stunning stuff Karl. AB work is amazing.
…Guy
I agree, that is some mighty fine painting Karl. [tup] Looking forward to the next set of pics!
Thanks for the kind comments all.
My mottling is a little rusty, as I found out, as I haven’t done a Luftwaffe mottle in over a year!
Not quite sure how I managed to go more than 12 months without mottle, but I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen this year.
The ‘extra’ paintwork is done. There will be a ‘history’ that goes with it for the Endgame GB.
I’ll post some pics tonight.
Karl
Outstanding work on a real Classic, Karl!! [tup]
It’s great to see someone turn one of them around and make a showpiece out of it!
Will be watching… [:)]
Take care,
Frank
Very nicely done, Karl.
Brews, Frank, thanks for the encouragement.
As promised, some pics.
262s had a habit of collapsing their nose wheels on landing, and many ended up getting a nose transplant, often without gaining a matching paint job.
Collapse of the nose wheel often led to damage to the engine nacelles, with replacement parts being taken from old or damaged airframes around the field.
To add a bit more variation, I’ve assumed one of the donors was a 262 nighfighter, hence the black nacelle.
With the paintwork complete I’ve started on the decals.
The numbers are by Tally Ho! and are beautiful, being very thin, and extremely opaque.
Late in the war Luftwaffe training aircraft switched to using the last 3 digits of their Werknummer rather than individual aircraft numbers.
I’ve taken this a step further and assumed that with the chaotic war situation the same was applied to frontline aircraft, hence the Soviet style Bort code.
Also most Kommando Novotny machines carried their numbers forward of the cockpit rather than behind as per normal practise, which I liked the look of.
Thanks for letting me share.
Karl
Karl thats a stunner for sure. I need to find a supply of those pegasus kits. They scrub up real nice. I love the mottling no matter what you think of it.
…Guy
I can hardly wait to see it totally complete.
Nice touch on the paint and numbering nuances.
Guy, I’m quite happy with the mottle, I was just a little surprised at how rusty I was when I applied it.
The Pegasus kits are well worth a look. I see they have just released a P-51B, which is tempting.
Trexx, thanks, and glad you like.
Karl
Karl I like this build. The mismatched panels look very cool
Karl, this is my first peek at your post…very impressive! I will continue to admire your progress from this point!
Mucker, John, many thanks on the kind words.
Work has been heavy this week, which in turn hasn’t meant as much time at the bench as I would have liked.
I finished the decals on Monday…
…the skull and cross bones is the badge of KG54, which converted to 262s in late 44 early 45.
I’ve added some stencils, as I wanted the airframe to look like a full factory build, but using late war austerity markings, such as the plain black crosses on the undersides of the wings.
The decals are a mix of Tamiya, AIMS, Tally Ho! and Eagle Cal.
Having finished the decals, I wiped the airframe down, only for two chips of paint to detach themselves…
One came off clean down the plastic, the other to the primer layer.[censored] Not a big deal but a pain all the same.
Once I’d sorted out the paint, all the panel lines got a wash with oils.
Once the oils were dry, I simply wiped the airframe down with a paper towel, and set to work shading all the panel lines with a very dilute mix of Tamiya Smoke.
You can really see the lack of wheel well detail in this shot.
I used the post shade to highlight the areas of filler on the real machines, as these always seemed to attact more dirt, possibly due to the porous nature of the filler.
To add some more depth, I added streaks chordwise on the wing, masking along panel lines with post it notes.
This allows streaks to start behind panel lines as they do on the full sized aircraft.
Finally standing on it’s undercarriage, ready for the next stage of the weather process, a dot wash.
Thanks for letting me share.
Karl
Since last week’s instalment, things have really moved on.
First up was a dot wash using artists oils.
I simply use a toothpick to dab blobs of oil paint straight from the tube onto the surface of the model. I used a variety of colours, from black & white to bright blues and greens.
These I then streaked with a chisel edge brush that I had dipped into clean thinners beforehand and wiped almost dry.
It takes a number of passes, cleaning the brush after each to build up a slight streaked effect on the surface to replicate the effects of dirt.
With that done, I applied a couple of light coats of flat, in this case Gunze Flat Clear with a dab of Tamiya Flat Base. This makes for a very flat finish, which many Luftwaffe aircraft exhibited towards the end of the war.
Here it is with all the various sticky out bits awaiting attachment.
The drop taks are both from Hase Me 109 kits, and therefore had the mounts removed, and a hole drilled to accept a short length of wire.
I simply drilled a corresponding hole in the bottom of the viking ship mounts under the nose of the 262.
Here’s a shot of the underside with rockets, tanks and landing gear attached.
The Morane antenna is another ex-Hase 109 item from the spares box.
Another evening’s work should have this one finished.
Thanks for letting me share again.
Karl
She keeps getting better and better Karl! Are those dot filters extremely subtle? I looked at the photos but couldn’t really see it. I have toyed with the idea of trying them but have not as of yet. The mismatched engine cowlings/ drop tanks are a very nice touch, gives a sense of the desperation felt in the Luftwaffe during the last days of the war. [tup]
I love that way it has come out so far Karl. It really goes to show you do not have to have a $40.00 kit with tons of PE and resin bits to build a sweet looking model. A well done airbrush job with nice sublte panel lines and a good weathing job for realism can make any model a show winner. Well done![tup]
Soulcrusher[oX)]