Here’s an interesting Utube video about the process of painting WWII British aircraft. A prime reason chipping occurs, and why it was frowned upon.
Gary
7 Likes
Excellent video. What I had hoped to see addressed was there: the camo edging was NOT masked with tape.
Many say the Brits did that, so they do it.
But in this factory video, the camo colors were edged by hand with the air brush, not taped.
Time to upgrade my airbrush,
Thank you!
1 Like
Thank you for posting this informative video.
1 Like
I thought this video would interest a few people interested in airbrushing.
Gary
Who knew so much work went into painting? Great video!
At depot level, all the attention to detail they could muster. In the field, at M.U.'s, and so on, not so much…as they show in the video.
Thanks, Gary. Cool video. I loved watching the guy, though - Degreaser? Thinner? Solvent cleaners? No problem! No gloves or mask needed! Man, it was a different world back then… I once had a professor that had washed glassware using benzene with his bare hands back when he was a student.
I’m also taken by how he didn’t mask over the first color when applying the second color. I guess overspray was less of an issue…? And that was some quality Mk. I eyeball work on the red part of the roundel! Finally, I remember reading somewhere that the Spitfire camo was often identical between aircraft because they used rubber masks. Not sure where I saw that, but now I’m curious how common a practice that was.
not much in the way of safety… no gloves, no respirators, no goggles, no paint suits.
I also notice they are FILLING IN rivets and panel lines.
By contrast, WE insist on seeing them - “More details!” we clamor.
2 Likes
This was a revelation to me, too, as Ive heard the same talk of masking colors with Biritsh aircraft, as if it was a hard and fast rule. Apparently, it wasn’t - at least not for the camo scheme.
Good catch! I hadn’t thought about that as I watched him work his magic with the putty knife. I have wondered in the past how much panel lines/etc. are wasted on the 1/72 scale aircraft I build, especially since I would expect any rivet offset to be constrained to…say…the width of a human hair, roughly 0.003". If I scaled that down by 1/72, then I’d be expecting to see rivets offset by 0.000042" or essentially 1 micron. Can I even see or feel that?
I keep the 4 Foot Rule in mind, aka, “What can you see (or how does it appear), from 4 feet away?”
Since we work in tiny micro worlds, we tend to focus on the amazingly fine details of todays kits. But on the shelf, at home - do they matter?
Everyone has to ask that question and answer it for themselves. But it is certainly food for thought.
Thanks for your comment
Gomeral,
Apparently it was practiced at aircraft manufacturers to use the rubber masks, though only to outline the area to be painted. As shown here, the painters freehanded the actual work. In the case of changing the camo scheme, they may not have had masks made up so had to do the best they could.
Here’s a thread from Britmodeller concerning this subject if anyone is interested in following it up.
Gary
1 Like