Gekko Tribute Build - F I N I S H E D !!

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

B*gger !

Ever had one of those days ?... 'course you have. Picture the scene, scorching hot afternoon - well at least it was in sunny Merseyside - Mrs & Baby Hunter-Gatherer (now renamed Toddler-Gatherer), have gone out to the local park, all my chores are done and I'm standing in front of my 'Schwalbe' with airbrush clutched eagerly in my paw......

Time to apply the final matt varnish coat (Humbrol MattCote). Ten mins later all done. Twenty mins later, it's still shiny, another ten mins, still no change, but the varnish is dry. OK, no biggie, try again with a different bottle...... same performance/result. An hour later - after spraying some Olive Drab at a 'real world' model, and cleaning-up, one more try with a third bottle of MattCote.

Yep you guessed it - still shiny 

I'm guessing it's something to do with pigment separation & too much thinning, but could you believe the same thing happenting three times..... Ahhh well, off to the LHS on Thursday to re-stock.

B*gger !

Ian

[matrixone]

Ian,

My last model that I finished (Bf 109G-10) I used Humbrol MattCote on it and also had the same sort of trouble with it being too shiny, after a couple of times of re-spraying it did not get much better so I tried using Mr. Super Clear Flat (from a spray can) and it worked quite well.
I prefer using the Humbrol flat clear but the last bottle of the stuff I bought does not work quite as well as it once did so I won't be buying any more of it.

Matrixone

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Oil wash - heavily thinned raw umber into all panel lines to give the whole a 'sepia' tone. The recesses for the control surfaces including the leading edge slats were given a wash of Paynes Grey to emphasise the shadow effect.

Oil wash on:-









Then leave it for twenty-four hours and remove with an old t-shirt











Still not matted down, so thought I'd post these shots in lieu. Hopefully I can get this finished over the next week. In the meantime it's on to assembling the Tamiya Marder APC for the GB.



Ian

[ysi_maniac]

Is the old T-shirt soaked in any solvent?

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Tiny, and I do mean tiny amount of regular thinners. Once a patch of t-shirt gets too dirty, move on to another, otherwise you just end-up smearing/mixing the oil tones. The key is to leave the wash to settle (minimum) overnight.

Ian

[sotoolslinger]

WOW and BEAUTY what a lesson Such an excellent learning experience. I will now go try to redo my last efforts..... or take up fence building ,knitting seems too complex

[John Howling Mouse]

Well, there ya go, Ian: setting up a whole new class of excellence on the ol' What If site!   

PS: By far, the finest matte clear I've ever used is Testors Acryl Flat Clear.  Thinned just a touch with tapwater and blasted at 45 PSI from a distance.
Will take the shine off of anything and I don't think it cares what kind of enamel, paint, lacquer is underneath, either.

[BlackOps]

Ian, this is truly magnificent! 

Barry is right, Testors Model Master Acryl flat clear is good stuff!

[Gekko_1]

Your a very brave man Ian!

Great job on a very difficult camouflage scheme!



Richard.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

It's Back !

No pics yet, because, (and in no particular order):-

1: I only matted it down yesterday when ALL the children and Mama-Gatherer were sleeping (Shhhhh don't tell 'em)

2: With three minutes to go before I HAD to leave for work this evening, I was still struggling with (VERY) unco-operative lycra thread, an awkward model and some Cyano glue !

3: It's 0200 here and I'm at work !

4: I'm sure that after all this time you lot won't mind waiting till it's completely finished. I hate rushing a model that I've invested so much time and effort in, just to meet some self-imposed deadline. I've done it before and it's a sure-fire way to scr*w the project-up for absolutely no reason !

Pics to come..... patience my friends, patience.

Ian

[Damian2]

Woohoo it lives!!!

D

[Dork the kit slayer]

mmmmmmmmmmmm.......................................havent you got some sailors to look after??

Thats not a bad build.....in the right light with yer eyes screwed up.

[sequoiaranger]

>Then leave it [the oil wash that brings out the panel lines] for twenty-four hours and remove with an old t-shirt.

Is the old T-shirt soaked in any solvent?

Tiny, and I do mean tiny amount of regular thinners. Once a patch of t-shirt gets too dirty, move on to another, otherwise you just end-up smearing/mixing the oil tones.<

**MY** question is....do you have to take your T-shirt all the way OFF to do this? 

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

**MY** question is....do you have to take your T-shirt all the way OFF to do this? 

Actually I use Mrs Hunter-Gatherer's T-shirt whilst she's still wearing it...... on these occasions I dont get too much modelling done ..... Hmmmm maybe this explains the recent arrival of Baby-Gatherer

Ian

[ysi_maniac]

^^^^
This is a great idea.

BTW: the Me-262 is just perfect