Progress on the 1/24 Trumpeter Rufe has been good. The airframe is assembled, and painted with the discontinued [:(] Aeromaster acrylic Nakajima Navy Green & Nakajima Navy Gray. I ended up using about a quarter of a bottle of paint for the topside ! The floats are just dryfitted for the pic. It will be glosscoated and decalled by the weekend. Can’t wait to get some meatballs on this bird ! Thanks for letting me share the build !
(the rivets on the float are recessed, they just look raised in the pic)
Looking good pix. Can’t wait to see this monster finished. Noticed the fin partially painted in IJNAF grey. I’m no expert on the Rufe, but that strikes me as unusual for an IJNAF AC.
upnorth - I’m not a big fan of chipped paint. The Japanese planes that suffered that fate did not have a primer coat. Being a floatplane and subjected to salt water, the Rufe had a primer coat.
rjkplasticmod - here’s the scheme I’m using
The demarcation line on the profile is straight-edged. The tail # is AI-112. Another plane from the same squadron, NI-118, is finished in overall Nakajima Navy Gray. I did the demarcation line as soft-edged, figuring that the a/c was overpainted. I don’t know if this is true, but I felt that one hard-edged line would look odd. Its the most different scheme on the sheet, so I HAD to use it ! [:-^]
Most of the detail has already gone into this bird. I posted pics of the cockpit & engine a couple of weeks ago. They’ve since been deleted from RonUSMC’s gallery, so I only have these smaller ones.
I expect to be done sometime next week. This has to be one of the most detailed and easily assembled kits I’ve ever built. For such a large kit, nothing was warped, and the only seam I had to fill was on the rear of the fuselage where the Trumpeter added a mold plug for the Rufe’s tail. Apply Tenax, press together, sand, and you’re done. What a great kit !
Just amazing once again, Pix! I don’t know how you get so much done in so short a time!
You mentioned that you used the OOP Aeromaster paint. How do you think the (replacement) Aircraft Colors brand compares? Supposedly they use the Aeromaster formula.
Can’t wait to see this one finished!
(PS - I finished the Russian front Do17, but my current pics aren’t good enough to post yet. I’ll get them up in a couple of weeks).
I know what you mean, Frank. When I “turned” (or is it “hit”?) forty, my eyesight declined rapidly. I can’t even read my computer screen without reading glasses (the CHEAP 2.75 X magnifier drugstore glasses) anymore. I know I’ll have a tough time on my next 1/48 kit. I think I’ve been spoiled. [:(]
stinger - there is a BIG difference in the two paints, in my opinion. The Color of Eagles seems to use a thicker pigment, and doesn’t cover the same way, regardless of thinning. In this close-up of the underside, you can see that it looks like the plastic just changed colors, rather than being painted. The Aeromaster paint went on very smoothly, and covered well without filling any details. Man, I sure do miss that paint !
Swanny - I think the next Me 262 will be in NMF. I have an Eagle Cals sheet with markings for W. Nr. 111711. The Me 262 Mistel “bomb” was my test-bed for the Alcad and putty lines.
I think I was absent for almost a week. This kit is such a departure for me (first 1/24 scale, first Trumpeter kit), its so easy to get absorbed. I just hope their decals are good, they look nice on the sheet. There’s no aftermarket stuff (yet), and since its for a review, I need to tell others who are interested in this kit how they are. I’ll probably have this kit done sometime next week.
