Its been a hectic weel for me (I don’t think I’ve posted ANYWHERE in the last week!), but I finally got the Avenger painted today.
The decals that I ordered are no longer available, so I’m using the kit markings (with replacement stars & bars). Its a pretty generic tri-color scheme. This meant that I also had to add the radome to the starboard wing.
I painted the wings & tailplanes separately from the fuselage, since they fit so well. That way, I could freehand trhe camo, and have decent-looking “reverse shadows” under the wings. The white & intermediate blue are flat, and the sea blue is gloss.
The cowl & tailwheel are tacked in place, and the main gear are dryfitted (and not aligned [(-D] ) I added the gear to keep the white belly WHITE (sounds like a lesson learned, doesn’t it?)
The main gear wells are painted with a mixture of white and a touch of light gray. This way, I can drybrush the highlights with white later.
Hope you like her so far, and thanks for letting me share the build with you !
Looks good so far, Pix! Landing gear looks a little wobbly, though! [:p] I may not have been paying too much attention, but why is there a randome on an avenger? Post WWII modification?
That’s a clever idea on the landing gear wheel wells of adding some grey so you can dry brush white later. Hmmm… Out of curiosity, how do you give your model a wash if it’s painted black (washes are supposed to be done with the same base color but darker, right)?
shrikes - yes, the gear is a little wobbly. Its only fitted there to keep the white paint from touching any surface (any area of white on my models seems to be a magnet for dirt !). Don’t worry. They’ll be aligned when I glue them. The radome was fitted to the TBM-3D, and was in use during wartime. As this was not my first choice in markings, I didn’t spend too much time investigating it. I’ll build another Avenger, in the markings I want, when more aftermarket sheets are available. This choice was simply to finish the kit.
The sea blue areas will get a black wash, the white will get a very light gray, and the intermrdiate blue areas will get a darkened inter. blue. For a wash on a black plane, I would paint it in a slightly lightened black, and then do a black wash. I think that the relative color is more important than the absolute.
jimz66 - none of the camo was masked, its all freehand. I did mask the cockpit, though. Using drafting tape, I applied a small piece to the back of the windscreen. A curled piece, sticky-side-out, was put into the turret opening. Two additional pieces were run horizontally across the opening between the cockpit & turret. Four pieces of tape, no muss, no fuss.
kik36 - I use Model Master Interior Green enamel. It looks darker in the bomb bay because of the camera exposure time. LOTS of light is reflected from the white, requiring a shutter speed that is too fast to allow more light to be reflected from the darker bomb bay. If I had used lighting that was more diffuse, the bomb bay would be lighter without having the whites “screaming.” These are just “work pics,” so I don’t spend much time working on the lighting & camera angles.
kik36 - The way I mix my wash & drybrush colors may be what makes it look the way it does. After I paint the base color (enamel) & let it cure for 48 hours, I give it a few coats of Future. I wait another 48 hours for the wash. For this, I use enamel. I slowly add black to the base color, until I hit a shade that matches the natural shadows I see under the light. I then thin it with MM airbrush thinner, and apply it with a #000 brush. I always mix it with flat black, as the flat wash shows clearly on the gloss background. After an hour or so, I remove the excess wash with a #000 brush, dipped in thinner & touched to a paper towel to remove most of the thinner. Experimentation is the only way to find out how much thinner will remove the wash, & how much will remove the Future underneath (it will, so NEVER try this without first becoming proficient at removing ONLY the wash). When I’m satisfied with the shadow effect, I spray it with Testors Dullcoat, thinned with lacquer thinner. In another 24 hours, I’m ready to drybrush. I mix the base enamel with Titanium White oil paint. This sometimes needs a tiny bit of thinning, but I prefer it on the “pasty” side. I mix in the white until I get a shade that matches the highlights I see under the light. I rub out the majority of the paint, as you would with any drybrushing technique. The addition of oil paint slows the drying time, and allows me to “work” it into the surface.
Using the enamel wash CAN BE DANGEROUS, and I don’t suggest trying it until you’ve done a LOT of practice with it.
When I finish my interiors this way, it looks like I’m seeing shadows and highlights, rather than washes & drybrushing. Keeping the contrast low seems to tie things together, rather than separating them with high-contrast washes & drybrushing.
I know what you mean about light colours being a dirt magnet. I’ve had the same problem with the engine nacelles on my 262 picking up dirt all the time. So now they have masking tape booties.
YAY!! Pics from Pix!! You’re usual fine work. Taunting me are you? Stupid finals. I miss working on my models so bad. I slept with my Mobelwagon kit next to me and rolled a bottle of thinner around in my hands 'cause I missed the smell!! After today my time is MINE!!! Except for seven friends graduate tomm. The other one is transfering and thus I have no friends here anymore. I’M BEING ABANDONED!!! At least my models won’t leave me[:)] I might get something done now.
Thank you Karl, pingtang, cassibill, Swanny, therriman, & Rick !
Karl - It seems that both RLM 76 & white attract the most dirt. I don’t seem to have any problems with any other underside colors. I do the same with my 262s. A strip of drafting tape on the bottom of each nacelle.
cassibill - I’m off this semester due to an injury, and I know the pressures of finals. I’m a media arts major, so each semester I had four final projects due (photography, Photoshop, video, & a drawing/painting/color/design course). I was a sound engineer on the road for about 25 years. I’d make friends in a town, & leave soon afterward. I soon realized that the people who were really my friends were always my friends. I just went to different places to make more friends. When you leave one room, you always enter another.
Swanny - the radome is glued & filled with CA, so its gotta stay. I don’t have another “in the pile” at this time, but at under $30, I’m sure to get more (this is my fourth). If I get another, and there aren’t any sheets available, I’ll give you a holler. Thanks much for the offer.
Rick - I’ll be applying the decals on Monday, so I’ll probably post the next pics then.
Thanks again, all ! Your kind comments are greatly appreciated !
I’m not exactly a social butterfly. I became friends with my roommate and then eventually her friends became mine.
I had 6 finals this sem.
historical archaeology
german 101
human osteology
wolrd history 1500 to the present
native american lit
and a research workshop on centennial farms in Delaware county, IN
My lit. final is at 2 and I’m done to fall!!
FWIW, the radar was fitted to Avengers even before they were fitted to Corsairs and Hellcats. There should be attenae under the wings too, right?
Anyway, there’s some pretty cool stories of radar equiped Avengers in The Big E by Edward Peary Stafford. After reading that book, I wanted to build two models: The Enterprise herself, and a radar-equiped Avenger from her airwing.
