Fw 190F-8 quick build W.I.P. pics

[matrixone]

Here is the Tamiya Fw 190F-8 after its base coat of RLM 76 is on and the pre-shading has started, notice how I did not do all the panel lines and I added some small mottles with black and white paint inside the panels. I wanted this to have a very uneven look to it, when things are weathered in the real world they don't always weather evenly and can sometimes have a random appearence and that is the effect I am going for here.


And here is the model after another coat of RLM 76 has been added to cover the pre-shading a bit and tone it down. After the model has its decals on the pre-shading will still be seen but will not be a distraction and will blend in with the weathering steps to follow. This model will get extra heavy weathering because I am making it as an aircraft that had seen a lot of service on the Eastern Front in spring 1945, those aircraft sometimes were heavily splattered with mud.


Next up will be painting the wing uppersurfaces and they will get almost the same type of pre-shading done to them as was done to the sides and undersurfaces.

Matrixone

[dumaniac]

Maxi

you love those 190's

cheers

Bernie

[NARSES2]

you love those 190's

And it comes through in the finished models 

[matrixone]

Thanks guys!

The exhaust stains under the fuselage look overdone but this model will be slightly overweathered because I am doing this one as a very war weary late war 190. Some of the short nosed Fw 190's I have done before were too lightly weathered under the fuselage, I have seen photograph's of Fw 190's that had exhaust stains,leaking engine oil, and dirt/mud streaking back almost to the tail wheel and want my model to show this extreme form of weathering.

More in-progress pics later this week.

Matrixone

[matrixone]

The uppersurfaces are now painted, after the paint is dry I will mask off the nose and tail so I can paint on a yellow band on the cowl and paint the rudder yellow. This model is progressing nicely and I might meet the deadline.




Matrixone

[lancer]

Matrix, your shading and weathering techniques are some of the best I've ever seen. They come out looking so realistic and natural as opposed to a lot of the other techniques used by others. One of these days I'm going to try and attempt to try these out for myself. I just wish my airbrush skills were less ham fisted.  Man I need a how to work your airbrush course!!!!

[Pablo1965]

Agreed.

[matrixone]

Thanks lancer an Pablo1965!

If my models have the weathering looking natural its because of my observing how full size machines look after being exposed to harsh weather conditions, machines don't always have a uniform pattern of wear and sun faded paint and I try and keep that in mind when painting my models.
At other modeling sites I have seen some models that had the pre-shading so dark and uniform that it looked almost like some form of a camouflage pattern on them. Its better to keep the pre-shading mostly around the engine cowling and parts of the fuselage and kept very light or almost none at all towards the wing tips. Fluids leaking from the engine can creep towards the panel lines and attract dust and dirt making the panel lines more visable, on other parts of the airframe there should be very little dirt collecting in the panel lines.
Also looking at as many photographs as I can of the aircraft type I am modeling helps me to decide how far to take the weathering.

Matrixone

[Gondor]

Yikes, I look at the masking that people do using tape and wonder how on earth they manage to get it all to stick exactly where they want without letting in any over-spray at all !!

It scares the pants off me to even contemplate spraying at times due to masking such things as open cockpits and engines !!

Gondor

[matrixone]

Gondor,
As you can see in my pics I use Tamiya tape for covering the cockpit and engine when spraying on the camo paint but I also use damp tissue paper and wad it up and stuff it into the cockpit before I put tape over it, I do this in case the tape should lift when spraying and it keeps the paint from getting into the cockpit.

Also when I spray on the camo paint on my models I do it in two steps, I usually do the wings first and mask off the fuselage and when the paint on the wings is dry I will then paint the fuselage but not mask the wings. I do this to prevent any chance of overspray from getting on the fuselage sides and also to give me some place to hold the model when painting it. Nothing gets me pissed off more than finding I left fingerprints in the paint job!
I freehand almost all the camo patterns on my models but I take extra care not to get any overspray where its not wanted and make sure I have a safe place to hold onto the model when painting it so the two step method is something I stick with even if it takes a little more effort to do.

Matrixone

[matrixone]

more in-progress pics

I painted on the yellow tactical markings...


Here you can see I slightly reworked the exhaust staining...


A close-up of the fuselage right side showing the pre-shading and streaks I added with the airbrush...


I can't wait to get to the hard core weathering on this one! But first I have to add the gloss coat and add the decals. More in-progress pics next week.

Matrixone

[matrixone]

Almost done with this model, in these in-progress pics you can see all the markings are on it and much of the weathering is done but there are still things I need to do, but the important thing to me is getting this model finished by the deadline of 12/31/10.





Matrixone

[NARSES2]

I love watching these come together 

[dumaniac]

Hi Matrixone 0 i seem the use the same techniques but my models never seem to turn out like yours - yours look great

cheers

Bernie

[matrixone]

Thanks NARSES2 and Bernie!

I have had my first problem with this model, for some reason I can't get the landing gear positioned correctly after gluing them on. This is strange because when I built the Tamiya D-9 earlier this year there was no problem with the landing gear legs being set correctly, the D-9 and F-8 kits use the same landing gear parts and wings.
I need to have most of the model assembled and clear flat coated by tonight so it can dry overnight and I can add the clear parts Friday morning and finish this mudder Focke!

Matrixone