Allan-Gerhard Barkhorn's Sabre-Heller 1/72

[Allan]

All set for a coat of RLM 76, WEM in the first instance and then some other manufacturers' offerings lightly sprayed here and there to produce some contrast. One uniform coat of the same shade of color may not be too interesting.
Canopy is unpainted-just masked and lightly tacked into position with white glue.
Allan in Canberra

[Brian da Basher]

This is coming along very nicely Allan! I'm impressed by your craftsmanship as there's nary a seam or gap anywhere. I'm really looking forward to seeing your Sabre come out of the paintshop!

Brian da Basher

[Allan]

Thank you, Bryan, as encouraging as ever.
Here're some more photos. Airbrushed RLM 02 in the wheel wells, although there is no reason why, in What If world, the wheel wells cannot be a color other than 02, but 02 is what I chose.
And yellow for the wing tips---I've yet to decide whether to apply a yellow band around the fuselage. Maybe too much trouble masking to warrant having a go.
Looking back, it might have been better to paint the upper and lower surface colors first and then mask the wingtip for the yellow, but for some reason or another I've chosen the yellow first.
Allan in Canberra

[Allan]

The yellow on the wingtips is Modelmaster bright yellow. Upon mature reflection, it appears a little too lemony for my liking, so I painted Revell Lufthansa yellow over it. Not any appreciable difference, I'm sad to say.
I love the slightly reddish yellow that the Luftwaffe experts achieve with their models, but haven't been able to replicate in just yet.
I'm using Tamiya lacquer thinner with my enamel paint now and they seem to go on better and dry pretty quickly. Also, the beeswax in the threads of my airbrush is making a world of difference. Thanks, Matrixone.
As you can see, the plane is masked and just about ready for the first coat of paint. I think I'll put a lightish blue underneath, RLM 76 on the fus sides and two different shades of grey on the fus spine followed by mottling.
Still haven't decided about a yellow fus band, but will be forced to a decision once the light blue is on.
Allan in Canberra

[Taiidantomcat]

This going to look great, excellent so far 

[Allan]

Thanks Tomcat,
Here's the plane with its first undercoat, Humbrol Matt No. 65. I'll sand away the imperfections and put on another coat tomorrow after 24 hours have elapsed. Then on with the RLM 76, although it must be said that this 65 looks pretty nice as is. It's a little streaky in places, so I'll have to spray at right angles to the original coat.
Allan in Canberra

[sequoiaranger]

>A rosé and Mellow Candle on the music box makes modelling a pleasure.<

I hear you. When you drink too much rosé and forget about the candle, the shooting flames when the airbrush starts up are kinda entertaining! 

Progress looks good!

[matrixone]

Your Sabre is looking good!

When painting yellow markings on my Luftwaffe models I have found that using the Model Master paint color ''Deep Yellow'' looks much better than Model Masters version of RLM 04, the RLM 04 looks too pale to me.
I always paint my camouflage colors first and then mask off the areas where the markings are to be painted, the real aircraft were painted that way and no reason not to do the same on our models.
I always undercoat the areas that are intended to be sprayed yellow (or red) with flat white, I hold the airbrush further away than usual and fog on the coats of white paint. I do this for two reasons, one is it keeps the white paint from creeping under the masking tape, and second it assures the flat white paint will not be smooth at all and will give the yellow paint something to grip onto and avoid any runs in the paint.

Here is a model I painted with yellow markings using the methods I described above. On the engine cowl I did not paint the top of it with full strength yellow paint, I was trying to go for a slightly paint faded effect by allowing a hint of the white undercoat to show through.


Matrixone

[Allan]

Such useful and welcome advice, Matrixone. Thank you.
But, having a think about what you wrote, I think you'd have to do a lot of masking if you fog on the white with the brush further away from the model than is usual after applying the camo. Correct? The idea of putting on the yellow, and after white at that!, after the greys absolutley petrifies me!!
I'm going to have to think carefully about what I need to do next with this plane so as to not muck it up.
Thanks again for the beeswax tip and boy! does the lacqer thinner make the paint dry fast--sooo convenient!!!!
Allan in Canberra

[Allan]

Progress report:
I've pre-painted the airbrake doors with white and will apply yellow later on to see how the white undercoat affects the yellow.
As you can see, I've applied the yellow to the fuselage and will put on one more coat after doing the airbrake doors. The yellow on the fus has light blue as an undercoat, so let's see how white performs.
Allan in Canberra

[Brian da Basher]

Thank you for the progress pics, Allan! I'm enjoying whatching this beauty immensely and it will be a real treat to see this bird at roll-out!

Brian da Basher

[sotoolslinger]

Gorgeous work ,as usual, Allan

[Allan]

Hi fellows,
Here's the plane in its coat of RLM 76. Yellow fus band masked off. The RLM 76 is WEM. I ran out of Revell Lufthansa yellow, so had to put some Aeromaster yellow on the fus airbrakes. It's not the same shade of yellow, but provides an interesting contrast.
I'll mix up some RLM 76 from other manufacturers next and mist on about three coats--it's not good for the plane to have one uniform coat of 76.
Allan in Canberra

[Allan]

Hi fellows,
Here're the possible colors for my Sabre in Barkhorn's markings, but I haven't decided what to use yet. Bear in mind that my airbrush is the Iwata HP-B Plus with 2.00mm nozzle so that would suggest the Xtracolor enamels. Suggestions welcome.
Allan in Canberra

[AeroplaneDriver]

In my entire 33 years of building models I've only built a single Sabre (US, OOB), but seeing this makes me want to do another!  Very nice so far Allan!!