Looks good. Middlestone is a tough color to fade and weather I think. Sounds like Vallejo paints are tough to work with for fine detailing work with an airbrush?
Thanks, Nathan. It is a tough color to weather, took a lot of thought and practice to get the color shading I wanted. I had several sheets of primed construction paper and just tried different color combinations until I found the one that I wanted. I don’t find the paints too difficult at all, actually. They’re pretty easy to spray straight, and thin reasonably (the light colors need less thinning, the dark colors can handle more) and even for the middlesone ‘translucent overcoat’ I didn’t have to thin a whole lot, I was using 6 drops of thinner to 4 drops of paint, and the above photos still took six passes to fade out the shading. I think the fine aspect just depends on the airbrush and needle aperture. I find them a lot nicer to work with in that you have the ‘eye dropper’ effect to the bottle, and compared to a Model Master bottle, I find the paint stretches a lot farther. I’d done some reading where Mig Jiminez was thinning the Vallejo line with distilled water, which is what I’m using, and so far no issues at all. It’s a lot cheaper than a proprietary thinner. I also find them quite cheap, I’ve been mail ordering from Wayland Games online, and paying about 1.75 british pounds a bottle. Personally, I’d recommend them for acrylics, but I guess it’s all about what your preference is.
Thats good to hear. I think the shading came out well. I’ve gotten some Vallejo for brush painting, but I’d never give up my Gunze for airbrushing. Any paint under $3 a bottle is a steal in the modeling world.
After a week’s vacation in San Diego, I’ve returned at the Typhoon with a renewed vigor, getting my dark earth camo applied, painting up the gun bays and the wing walks. I wanted the wing walks to have a little bit of texture to simulate the non slip paint, so while the paint was damp, I tapped in a small amount of black pigment and painted over top. I’m not sure how well the effect will come out at the end, but I figured it was worth a try.
Next is mounting the engine, a few clear coats and the few decals I will apply while I wait for the masks I’ve ordered to arrive in the mail. Once I have the masks, I should be able to start on the roundels, fin flash and radio call letter. This will probably all happen when I get back from a months worth of work.
Looking good!
Liking these colors!
Thanks very much, guys.
And a few photos with her standing on wheels instead of just oleos, and with that large hole in the nose finally plugged up (that was a @#%##$% nightmare, what a poor fit, and really tough to fill)
Nice. Looks much better with that hole filled.[t$t]
Engine looks sweet!! Do you have any close ups of it? I hear you on fit, I am so turned off of engines and such while dealing with an Eduard D-9
Well, over the weekend and the start of this week, I started on a few markings (I found some roundel masks, though I’m still waiting on the mail for the letter Y and the fin flash) but here’s what I’ve laid in so far.
And I figured I’d start at a bit of weathering on the Starboard stabilizer and elevator, just to experiment. So far, it’s panel line washes, a bit of dot filtering and some pigments.
Finally, as Jester (Eric) had asked, a few close-ups of the engine.
I don’t think I could be any happier with the barracuda exhausts. The CMK pipes that came with the kit didn’t have the hollowed tips or the weld bead down the center, which was a shame. I’m glad I decided to go with these, after a light wash, the detail really popped. I still have to wash the hollowed tips.
Looks great, Andrew.
Looking good!
Looking good!! The dot filter on that stab is really looking the part. Thanks for the close ups on the engine, the wash on the exhaust tips looks good.