Saturday 19 May 2012

The Great Hawker Named-After-A-Weather-Event Aircraft Group Build Day 19

Good evening,

Well, I've finished the camo. And then sanded it down. And have finished it again.

Let me explain...

Last night I finished the dark green...all the while realising that the sea grey hadn't gone on at all well in places. Far too lumpy...





So...how to fix it, how to fix it...

Let's try some light application of wet wet 'n dry paper. See if that'll work...



And it kinda did. Well, it looks better than it did, if not entirely perfect.




Which is probably why folks in the know use an airbrush! Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Interestingly, the Humbrol grey stood up to the light sanding much better than the Vallejo dark green.

Now to mask and paint the leading edge, apply the decals, paint the invasion stripes and weather it. Hmmm...and write reports. Hmmm. I may well be lucky to get this done by the end of the month! I won't lose my job if I don't get the plane finished, I'd be in a boat load of trouble if the reports don't get written!

Nick

11 comments:

  1. Looking really nice Nick.

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    1. Thanks Rodger. Still a wee way to go, but, so far, so good...ish!

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  2. looking good, I would say the paint came out lumpy because it was to thick, thin it out a bit and it should paint on smooth, but you may need to do a couple of coats to get a consistent coverage.

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    1. Cheers Dan, yeah I'm fiddling around with a thinner approach with the Hurricane.

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  3. This has happened to me before as well Nick, and Dan has hit the nail on the head with the issue.

    Cold weather hurts the process as well mate.

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    1. Thanks Paul. I found that when I thinned the paint the coverage was...patchy...at best. And then the second coat, well...this'll take some practice!

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  4. Sanding is the absolute key for aircraft models, they just need a smooooth finish. I suppose that why 1:72 and 1:76 armour is so much more satisfying, as lumpy bits look fine. I'm with Dan on thinning plus a number of coats.

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    1. I hear that! Are you meaning sanding the plastic, or the paint...or both?

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    2. Well, the usual procedure is to sand after the filling (wing-roots etc) has been done, then apply a coat of grey primer. The primer will highlight bumps and lumps that aren't apparent without paint. Then sand again at that stage to get the smooooothie finish. There is, of course, a problem if the kit has raised panel lines because they disappear. The only choices then are 1) the difficult option - sand off all raised panel lines and rescribe them (aieee!), or 2) just go very carefully on the sanding and accept that it won't be really smooth at the end.

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