Hello again-
Here is my latest project, the Tamiya Bristol Beaufighter in 1:48 scale. An excellent kit. Preshaded and weathered with the new love of my life, my $15 Harbor Freight dual action airbrush. Enjoy!
Looks fantastic. I like the light weathering and the preshading effect on the panel lines. Looks like the $15 airbrush worked great.
Wow! I really don’t have anything else to say…
Very nice [Y]. Thanks for sharing.
Regards, Rick
That’s gorgeous! That’s pretty much how I’d like any of my builds to turn out. Awesome.
For some reason, the wheels really jump out at me!!! (What is the method to your madness there? They look awesome!!!)
Excellent job, all the way around!!!
[dto:]very cool[Y]
[dto:] I would love to know how you did those as well! Also, what technique did you use for masking the camo? Good, sharp demarcations. Nicely done Mark, very nice work indeed.
Thanks a million, guys!
Fermis & Frank:
The wheels are quite simple: They get a coat of Floquil Grimy Black. Then I run a little watercolor paint (a tan color) into the lines in the tires. Now I slip a small nail through the center of the wheel, and chuck the pointy end into my rotary tool, which is clamped into my bench vise. Then I spin it up at the lowest possible RPM, so the wheel is spinning now. With my airbrush, I squirt some desert tan (or similar color) onto the tire sidewall. And now it looks like a dusty wheel that uses a relatively hardpacked runway.
Frank, the camo is a bit more involved. Many of these Tamiya kits (as you likely already know) come with a full scale 3-view of the color scheme (albeit in black-and-white). I just photocopy this sheet several times, cut out each camo section, then use that as a cut template for making friskits (friskets?) from Tamiya wide yellow masking tape. A real chore, I hate to admit! I lay these tape friskits down on the model, which has already been topcoated with my lighter color. Everything left exposed gets shot with the brown.
Thanks again everyone-
What a co-incidence! I was at my LHS today (surprised they were open to be honest) and bought a bottle of Grimy Black. I have never used it before (or any other Polly Scale paint for that matter) but kept seeing it used on some spectacular builds for tires, guns, exhausts, etc. So, I thought I would pick up a bottle and give it a try. Do you thin yours with distilled water?
Thank you for taking the time to explain your techniques, I will use your tire painting guide on my next build. Thanks again Mark!
Happy to share!
Actually, I use the Floquil enamels, so I thin them with lacquer thinner.
Hey Mark,
That is just gorgeous. The light weathering is just right. [:D[
Perfection![:D[[][H][Y][ap]
Excellent finish to your Beaufighter. I have not seen this aircraft in desert camouflage until now.
Thanks for sharing like said above.
Jason
Love the wheel technique. I use grimy black on my wheels, but the extra step you take with the dusting is a great tip…thanks.
Beautiful build, BTW.
Always a favorite aircraft, this one came out fantastic. Whats great is that the finish doesn’t jump out, its subtle and thats what makes it a standout.
I’m just getting back in, so I wondered how you brought out the panel lines. Did you use some sort of acrylic wash?
Thats another thing about the camo, what determines hard or soft lines between colours?
The panel lines and surface details are brought out with everyday, ordinary waterbased tempera paints (found at any arts 'n crafts store), thinned down quite a bit with water.
The hardness of the demarcation lines in the camo are determined by how far off the surface your friskit is. If you want a hard line, place your friskit directly on the model. If you like a softer line, put little wads of masking tape (sticky side out) between the surface and the friskit, so a little paint “fog” can get underneath the friskit edges.
Thanks again everyone for the kind comments!
looks awesome! and concur with others… the weathering is fantastic and those tires are just top notch!
Sorry, what I meant was how do you know whether the particualar model your working on should have hard or soft demarcation lines? I remeber when I was much younger I used to do my camo freehand, with one color right over another, which usually meant soft lines.
Ahh, that knowledge comes from research. What I like to do before I begin building is to scour the web for reference photos of the plane I’m building. If I can’t find enough good stuff, I’ll break down and buy a book on the subject. Although, as I am cheap, that’s usually my last resort! The Squadron/Signal books are a good value, they can usually be found on eBay for under $10.
Thanks again everyone-
Wow and double wow, it looks fantastic and all done with a $15 airbrush? hmmm… it’s like what they say, its more the skill than the tool.