Ghost Flitzer

[Weaver]

Okay, I'm going to commit my Revell Flitzer to this GB. Partly this is because, after the recent conversion/scratchbuilding stuff I've done, I just fancy throwing something together OOB, and partly because I want to practice painting techniques. So this one WILL have an attempt at a nicely painted cockpit, and will have a modern-style Air-Sup Grey paintjob freehand airbrushed, instead of masked (gulp  ). There are enough white markings on the decal sheet to suite, so I shouldn't need to print any. I don't have any particular story in mind either, so it'll just be an "experimental" Luft '46 scheme.

Scene setter:



Minor basecoat painting done - nothing worth photographing in detail yet.

[Weaver]

I'll suggest a Luftwaffe 46 scheme of RLM 84* under the wings/tailplane, with the lower fuselage and booms in RLM76 with a custom "RLM 85" on the wing/tailplane uppers and fuselage uppers.

I made my own RLM 85 some years back, being a 50/50mix of RLM 75 and 76. Nice colour too.

The other scheme I'd suggest would be RLM 76 uppers with RLM 84 elsewhere.

I'll also suggest replacing the mainwheels with a pair from an Fw 190. The kit wheels are awful, being too thick (as thick as the wing) and the spokesmake them look more USN than Luftwaffe.


*RLM 84 isn't available as aspecific colour (although Aeromaster did it some ten years back) and the closest colours are either RAF Sky or Mil Mi 28 Grey/Green, both available in the Xtracolour range.  The latter is a lovely colour.

Hmmm. I've thought long and hard about this proposal (once I found an on-line RLM chart so I could see what you meant  ), but I've come to the conclusion that, though it looks nice and is very credible, the slightly "greened" colours are a bit too "WWII". The way I read it, the point of this GB is to put planes into, or take them out of, modern grey schemes that they would never normally wear, so I'm going for an F-15ish Compass Grey/Ghost Grey mix.

Some progress pics:

I HATE doing cockpits, but I thought I'd force myself to try for this one. Even with decals for the instruments, it still wound me up though:








Here's the wings with extra plastic rod inserts to make the booms a bit more stable:



The inserts look too short, but I found that if I made them longer, the booms tilted upwards at the wrong angle. Works fine now though.

Fuselage is currently glued and taped at the nose and drying. Something about the cockpit, possibly the seat, makes the fuselage spring apart at either front or rear, but I can't give the seat any more room without cutting into the canopy sill, so the fuselage will just have to be slightly bent around it.

After it's success on the Migina I tried Metalcoat Steel on the Flitzer's jet nozzle and then polished it with a mini-drill. BIG mistake: the friction heat built up too fast in the thin nozzle rim and the centre cone and melted them. I managed to get them back to a reasonable if ragged shape, but it's a good job the nozzle is mostly hidden! Lesson learnt no.37.........

[gooberliberation]

Don't forget noseweight! A few BBs in the nose and small washers under the cockpit would do fine.

[Weaver]

Erm, yeah, but it's a WWII design in what I'm suggesting as an equivalent WWII low viz grey scheme. And these colours *do* work as I've tried it.

I understand that and I'm sure they do work, but it's not how I interpret the point of this GB, which is about modern grey schemes, such as are frequently critiscised as "boring" when seen on endless F-16s etc....

The question is, are modern grey schemes inherently boring, even when applied to a novel aircraft, or are they, in fact, sexy, and people only think they're boring because they're sick of the sight of the aircraft they normally appear on?

[Weaver]

Don't forget noseweight! A few BBs in the nose and small washers under the cockpit would do fine.

Do you honestly think I'd make a schoolboy error like that? 














Well if you answered "yes", you'd be right..........

Fortunately, I'd only glued the nose section up, so it proved possible to separate it again, and after a weighing session, some strips of white metal and a washer were installed under the cockpit floor (couldn't get into the nose proper) with a scrap plastic wall to hold them, since if they came loose, they could rattle about the whole fuselage.

High tech aircraft balancing apparatus:





Wings on and tail assembly "in jig":



(I knew those Battletech missile tanks'd come in useful one day....... )

[noxioux]

The sad thing isn't forgetting the nose weights, it's forgetting the nose weights time and time again. . .  If it makes  you feel better, I almost always forget them until it's too late!

It's looking good.  And you know, it's often the kits that fight you the hardest that turn out to be your best builds.

[Mossie]

I've been known to forget nose weight befroe, but I'm putting a helicopter together at the mo & completley forgot to put the cabin windows in before closing her up!   No option but crack her open again.    You know what was really strange?  I'd had a feeling before hand I closed her up that I missed something, but couldn't think what.  I wasn't anyway near it when I realised, I'd left it to set overnight & I woke up bolt upright in the morning thinking 'Awww, feck!!!'!!!

Looking good so far, I've somehow managed to resist buying a Flitzer but looking at your build I'll have to succumb!

[Weaver]

I've been known to forget nose weight befroe, but I'm putting a helicopter together at the mo & completley forgot to put the cabin windows in before closing her up!   No option but crack her open again.    You know what was really strange?  I'd had a feeling before hand I closed her up that I missed something, but couldn't think what.  I wasn't anyway near it when I realised, I'd left it to set overnight & I woke up bolt upright in the morning thinking 'Awww, feck!!!'!!!

Looking good so far, I've somehow managed to resist buying a Flitzer but looking at your build I'll have to succumb!

Now you see you missed a trick there: if you'd photographed it properly, everyone would have complimented you on how clear the windows are. You could then have told them it was a special version of Klear that only you can make, and sold them a bottle at £10 each.......

[Weaver]

Coat of rattle-can white primer this morning, and then an airbrushed coat of Ghost Grey tonight.

I think that some of my former airbrushing issues might be due to the "table" I spray on being too low, so that I'm holding the airbrush at a steep angle all the time. What I've done this time is fill the jetpipe with blu-tack, stick a length of alloy tube in it, and now I'm holding it upright and higher with the tube clamped in a big ratchette clamp.

Now off to paint another canopy frame: I've decided the best way is to mask and paint each one individually, rather than trying to make fiddly little masks with imperfect corners. Takes a while though......

[Weaver]

Ghost Grey coat:




Soft mask for the Compass Grey "saddle":

[Weaver]

Results:



I'm not particularly pleased with that. The wavy edge got lost and it's too near the edges of the wing - think I should have cut the mask smaller. i'm going to have a go at taking it back a bit with a freehand spray of the Ghost Grey along the edges.

[ChernayaAkula]

Maybe a bit smaller masks, plus having them closer to the wings to cut down on the overspray. In any case, I think the Flitzer looks great in those colours!

[Weaver]

Maybe a bit smaller masks, plus having them closer to the wings to cut down on the overspray. In any case, I think the Flitzer looks great in those colours!

I agree - I was being lazy by setting the mask stand-off to be the same as the fuselage top-to-wing-root height  .

Taking it back from the edge with freehand Ghost Grey worked to a degree, but I also lost too much edge definition on the Compass Grey so I'm going to have to do it again. I'll cut the same mask up to make smaller, closer left and right masks. The fuselage can stay unmasked since I was going to extend the Compass Grey along it's length a bit anyway.

Oh well, live and learn. Part of the point of going for this GB was to learn more painting techniques anyway......

[Weaver]

Okay I SWEAR this thing is doomed, DOOMED I tell you!!!!

The re-spray of the Compass Grey on the wings went mostly okay, apart from one slightly too sharp edge. I also noticed that the Ghost Grey on the booms had run a little, so I sanded it off. Then I had a bit of a mini-slump for a couple of weeks for various reasons.....

Today, I got back into it, sanded off the sharp edge, re-masked and re-sprayed it. Fine so far. I then decided to touch up the sanding on the booms witb a brush, and managed to drop the paint brush, loaded with Ghost Grey, onto the wings. In middle of the Compass Grey bits. Both of them (it bounced). 

Got straight on it with a tissue, but it left a mark. Just barely touched it with extremely fine wet'n'dry, and it brought the Compass grey clean off. So tomorrow, I'll mask the wings AGAIN and spray the Compass Grey AGAIN.....

Gawd knows what'll happen then: the house'll probably fall down or something...........

[John Howling Mouse]

Would blu-tac or similar "sausage" masks give you the degree of soft demarcation you seek?