Me-262 Afrika begins!

[mgp]

So, objectively speaking, would you say that your weathered model is one of those things that actually looks even better in the flesh?

JHM, I've seen Richard's models in the flesh and YES they do look that good. A couple of years back, he entered his RAAF Rafale in our local model competition and I was one of the judges for that class. I was somewhat impressed with it    

[Gekko_1]

There was one thing I noticed though. On the underside, as shown with the arrows, there was some noticeable staining on the sandy coloured paint, but none on the lighter green? Reason? I have no idea. It may have something to do with the fact that I thinned the sandy colour with Isopropyl Alcohol and used Tamiya X-20A thinner on the green? I'm not sure. If I get time tomorrow I'll do some more experimenting and try and work out what happened.

That may be it, as was noted here recently I hate Tamiya paints and have never had any luck with them, while other people love them. The difference is I've only ever thinned mine with either Isopropyl or De-natured alcohol, while every one who loves them uses Tamiya thinner. I think it was Jennings who said that when he used alcohol he got mixed results too but when he uses Tamiya thinner he loves them.

Does the silly putty leave any oily residue? I've always been reticent to use it but unfortunately it's almost impossible to get Blu-Tac here in the States.

Hi Leigh,

after my experiments today I can assuredly say that when using Tamiya acrylic paint with Tamiya X-20A Thinner that the Silly Putty left NO staining what so ever, yipeeeee!  

Also, over the years (33 to be exact ) I've tried all sorts of different airbrushes, enamel and acrylic paint.

The best airbrush I've ever used is the Iwata Revolution. B)

The best paint / thinner combination for airbrushing is Tamiya paint with X-20A Tamiya thinner. This combination, for me anyway, has always been hassle free, simple and easy.



Richard.

[Gekko_1]

Marry me!! Aw, jeez, sorry.  Slipped out again.  Honest reflex action.

Wow...

So, objectively speaking, would you say that your weathered model is one of those things that actually looks even better in the flesh?

I have this feeling that it is one of those works of art that really needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated.

Good Gawd man, that is ridiculous.  In a stunning way. 

For the rest of us sorry sods: Can you imagine hooking up a kitbash that has been built by Wolfik to be finished by Richard?

....waiting for Ian's return so we can go to the Knitting Club Membership Drive together...  (packing up airbrush for keeps now...      )

Hi JHM,

let me put it this way, I always find myself going over to the Ki-84 and picking it up, turning it in the sunlight and then thinking what else I could do to make it even better.

With this 262 I hope to surpass it.

Don't you DARE pack up your airbrush!!!!!!  Not now as I'm hopefully giving people some hope that it actually CAN be done, and that even people that supposedly know what they're doing can stuff things up and have bad days too.

Like I said the Leigh, Tamiya paint, Tamiya X-20A Thinner and a good airbrush, watch you pressure, keep it low (5 - 25 PSI) keep the paint thinned and all should be well.



Richard.

[Gekko_1]

So, objectively speaking, would you say that your weathered model is one of those things that actually looks even better in the flesh?

JHM, I've seen Richard's models in the flesh and YES they do look that good. A couple of years back, he entered his RAAF Rafale in our local model competition and I was one of the judges for that class. I was somewhat impressed with it  

Thanks Mark

Hopefully you'll like the 262 even more!



Richard.

[Gekko_1]

OK gents,

today was an interesting day, I began masking off the Pale Green areas with the Silly Putty, this took me about half an hour. (I began watching my new Doctor Who DVD 'The hand of fear' whilst doing so....ahhh Sarah Jane Smith, she's still got it even after all those years! .......)



Here it is looking like its ready for the Mardi Gras!



Then I airbrushed the Pale Green areas. Slightly different mix this time as I wanted a slightly warmer green:

XF-5 Flat Green : 5 drops
XF-4 Yellow Green : 7 drops
XF-55 Deck Tan : 7 drops
XF-62 Olive Drab : 4 drops
X-20A Thinner : 30 drops

Once dry I tore off the Silly Putty masks. This came off easily and hassle free.



Next I mixed up a slightly different Pale Green /Tan:

XF-4 Yellow Green : 4 drops
XF-62 Olive Drab : 5 drops
XF-55 Deck Tan : 10 drops
X-20A Thinner : 20 drops

This I freehand airbrushed with the Iwata.



Next I began freehand airbrushing the Black Green:

XF-65 Feild Gray :6 drops
X-20A Thinner : 20 drops



After about two hours of careful airbrushing today I managed to complete the front three quarters of the topside of the 262. So far so good.

I must report that after extensive testing with the Silly Putty on the Pale Green / Tan that I airbrushed today using Tamiya X-20A Thinner that there was NO staining of the paint experienced

Now, to cover the rest of the canvas!



Richard.

[Gekko_1]

Not much to report today. Spent about 3 hours airbrushing the Black Green and getting it ready for the repair work of the Pale Green / Tan on the underside and touching up some of the Pale Green.







Once all that is done it is ready to begin the detailing and weathering!



Richard.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Just arrived on this one...... Deep breath..... Richard this is easily one of the most informative and inspirational posts I have seen in a long time. I would strongly urge you - if you haven't already - to submit this piece to any and all modeling magazines.

Like the rest of the guys, I'm looking forward to the next instalment so much, (that) I've put down the knitting !

Ian

[lancer]

Richard,
This build is simply stunning. The colour scheme you are putting down is awsome. I am going to be saving this for my own 'How To' files I have, if that's ok with you of course.

Just one thing that did strike me though was the cammo pattern with the different coloured putties. You should've kept it like that. Personally I think it looks very snazzy and wildly colourful and looks like the kind of colours that an African AF would slap on thier planes...        

[Gekko_1]

Just arrived on this one...... Deep breath..... Richard this is easily one of the most informative and inspirational posts I have seen in a long time. I would strongly urge you - if you haven't already - to submit this piece to any and all modeling magazines.

Like the rest of the guys, I'm looking forward to the next instalment so much, (that) I've put down the knitting !

Ian

Thank you Ian.

I'd rather this sort of thing be free for all to access, besides magazines are always restricted in one way or another and I prefer to do things in my own unorthodox way.

One thing I've found in magazines is that one usually only ever gets to see the "perfect" article. One never gets to see the stuff-ups and re-sprays etc, where as this way you all get to follow me on this journey, good, bad and ugly.

I especially hope I have given some modellers out there encouragement and help in the field of airbrushing. Too many people seem to either not be willing to give it a try or give up way too quickly. I know it can be a pain to master and I have had more than my fair share of airbrushing catastrophes in the past. Hopefully all my years of trial and error will short track some of you on to the path of good airbrushing results.

Much more good stuff to come! B)



Richard.

[Gekko_1]

Richard,
This build is simply stunning. The colour scheme you are putting down is awsome. I am going to be saving this for my own 'How To' files I have, if that's ok with you of course.

Just one thing that did strike me though was the cammo pattern with the different coloured putties. You should've kept it like that. Personally I think it looks very snazzy and wildly colourful and looks like the kind of colours that an African AF would slap on thier planes...      

Cheers Lancer.

I'm glad you like the colour scheme. The main reason I've used Africa as the location was to give me plenty of scope with the different terrains to be found there. Plus, once I start the weathering process I know that I can go as far as I wish and would be quite confident that a photo will exist out there somewhere of an aircraft similarly weathered.

The one and only reason I'm doing this is for you all to benefit from it. Please do save it, read it, re-read it, copy it, distribute it, whatever you want. As far as I see things the more modellers out there that can pick-up a skill that they didn't possess before is just one more thing we can all benefit from.

Pink, orange, bright green and yellow on a 262 might be too much for the Luftwaffe crowd out there      At least this way they might be able to justify the camouflage scheme to themselves and not loose too much sleep over it



Richard.

[Gekko_1]

Hit a problem today. During all of the manhandling I've been doing with the model I formed a stress crack along the wing root on the port side. Only thing left to do was to try and re-glue it.



Here you see it with one wing resting on a box of latex gloves and the other being weighted down with a small metal vice to give some pressure to the freshly glued wing join area.



Also I managed to drop some of the Tamiya thin liquid glue of the wing surface! Anyway not to worry, I quickly sponged it off with a tissue and will wait till tomorrow to deal with it. hopefully not too much damage has been caused to the plastic.

The wing root join looks OK now. Tomorrow I will give it a light sanding and a re-spray and it should be as good as new.



Richard.

[K5054NZ]

Richard, have you given any thought to applying kangaroundels to this puppy? She'd look positively smashing as an Aussie!

   B)    

I feel honoured to be watching the progress of this build. She just looks stunning, and I agree with JHM's comment about having to see it in the flesh - it's a good thing trans-Tasman flights are so cheap these days!  B)  



Great work mate, keep it up! That paint job is magnificent!

[Gekko_1]

Richard, have you given any thought to applying kangaroundels to this puppy? She'd look positively smashing as an Aussie!

    B)   

I feel honoured to be watching the progress of this build. She just looks stunning, and I agree with JHM's comment about having to see it in the flesh - it's a good thing trans-Tasman flights are so cheap these days!   B) 



Great work mate, keep it up! That paint job is magnificent!

Nope, there's no way Roo's will be going on a Nazi jet.

Glad that your enjoying the build, hopefully we'll all be able to learn from it

For any and all who may be interested the South Australian Scale Model Expo is on the October 28-29 weekend, I'll be there, with the 262 and hopefully some others and will be doing airbrush demo's both days



Richard.

[Leigh]

The wing root join looks OK now. Tomorrow I will give it a light sanding and a re-spray and it should be as good as new.



Richard.

Aaaah a man after my own insanity And after it's perfectly smooth and paint matched, you'll go and try and wear it out and dirty it up with heavy weathering, spending forever trying to achieve what it looked like before you "fixed" it

Looking great Richard!


And I too loved the Day-glo silly putty scheme.

[Gekko_1]

Hi guys,

I've had a few days break from this project, plus with three kids weekends are usually a chaotic event!  :dum:

Things were getting a bit tedious with the airbrushing. A patch-up here, a touch-up there. The problem with a canvas this size (32nd scale) is that it inevitably takes a little longer to get the airbrushing done. I think this is day eight? and I've spent about two to three hours a day airbrushing this model. I know the end result will be worth it but I must admit that its usually around this point in modelling that I start looking elsewhere for the next project and the kit gets put on the shelf. But the thought of facing a third year at the local model comp with nothing to show may just spur me on.



As you can see I've added all the 'wingy bits', all I have to do know is clean-up and glue marks etc.



I also took the time to assemble one of the clear engine nacelles and paint the spare gun cover panel so that I can do some weathering practise before I commit to the actual model.



Almost there. I'll do a few touch-ups tomorrow and then seal it with Future ready for the washes and weathering.



Richard.