I started building this plane a few weeks ago and it has been a fairly enjoyable build. I have no complaints about fit. Any errors are entirely my own.
These first few pictures reflect the struggle I had with paint colors. That intermediate blue is just wrong.
These next pics show it getting better but still not right. It needs more grey in it. Back to the drawing board.
I think I finally got it right. I couldn’t wait to see it so I unmasked the canopy. I still have several steps to do and I’ll try to document them here as I go.
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Nicely done so far! If you plan on doing gloss coat before decals, then a flat coat after decals, it’s best to leave any canopy masking on until after all that is completed. I know what you mean about wanting to see the masks off the clear parts, but patience is truly a virtue here.
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Nice progress! Yeah, Tamiya’s F4F is a nice kit. I think your 3-color camo looks pretty good. Remember that if you’re going to weather at all, that will alter how it looks, too. It will tend to knock back colors that you think are too strong. But it’s a matter of preference, of what you want to achieve. For me, the colors are starting points.
I look forward to your next update!
Best regards,
Brad
We discussed this on a different thread. I think you’ve done a good job in getting that intermediate blue knocked down from the darker blue you have in the first photos. @the_Baron is right about weathering, as that will alter the shading a bit more. And @stikpusher is right about leaving the masks on until all of your work is done, but I get wanting to see how it looks right away.
Several years ago, I built a Hasegawa Mitsubishi GM3 Nell bomber. I had this really nice camouflage paint scheme, everything looked great, and I had put down a gloss coat for the decals. After that dried, I removed the masks and then sprayed it with a flat clear coat. When I posted the photos, someone asked if I intended to fog all the windows. I hadn’t even noticed.
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Thanks everyone. I agree that I need to cover up the canopy before adding the gloss coat. I have done this before, creating a little tent with masking tape that protects the canopy and the cockpit interior.
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The main issue with that is that once you mask off the canopy framework seperate from the rest of the airframe, it will take on a slightly different appearance from the rest of the build at the final stage due to not having the gloss and flat coats also applied. Both coats will alter the look of the paint ever so slightly, and it can be noticeably so.
You’ve done a pretty dang good job of getting that tri-color camo scheme down Eric.
I’ve also unmasked canopies before I was “supposed to” in the name of checking my results out. At this point just be careful around the glass when weathering and you should be okay.
