Me 262--Allan's new project

[Pablo1965]

The colour scheme, remind me some Bf109 of the east front. It promise to be very interesting.

[Weaver]

How about in-flight refuelling via some oddbal method, like the wingtip-to-wingtip hose method that some Soviet bombers used to use?

[Allan]

lots of ideas and I've got some underwing fuel tanks to add later, but first the color scheme
here we can see the sand brown on the tailplane...it's gloss paint and so will take some time to dry...I'll leave it alone for a few days and then do the grey
Allan in Canberra

[Allan]

here she is with the tailplanes painted, but unfortunately with not much of a feathered edge between the two colors--not sure what happened here--maybe the nozzle of the airbrush was too close to the edge of the tape, but I'll live with it
now turning to the wingtip fuel tanks, I've got two to attach and they come from a 1/72 Me 109--as you can see I've dug a slot in the tank to slip over the wingtip and will fill in any gaps with putty and repaint, but I'm undecided as to cement them in position so that there is outward splay or parallel to the fuselage--what do you think?
Allan in Canberra

[matrixone]

Parallel to the fuselage.

If you want a feathered edge between the camouflage colors just spray one of the colors along the demarcation lines.

Matrixone

[Allan]

I'll give it a go Matrix tho it will require delicate airbrushing skills akin to that of a surgeon
here's one of the wingtanks in position and sanded--the other is waiting for the glue to dry
Allan in Canberrs

[NARSES2]

Coming along nicely Al

[dumaniac]

Yes - coming along very nicely

[matrixone]

Allan,
Its not hard to soften up the edges between colors , for example if you choose the gray color keep your spray pattern aimed more towards the gray areas already painted and only a hint of the gray will be seen on the tan areas and will make the demarcation line look softer. Another thing that will help you is to thin your paint slightly more than usual, remember you are not trying to get good coverage like if you were painting a base coat and in this case you would want your paint to not cover that well. Also thin paint will atomize better and not leave those grainy looking paint spatters.

For most German stuff (and even a few Allied planes) they were not always as neatly painted as most modelers paint their models and a little mistake in painting can actually make the model look more like the full size machines.

Matrixone

[Allan]

Here're some more photos--not much to say at the moment except that overspray is my bugbear
I oversprayed the mottle with some very thinned light blue to tone them down somewhat
Allan in Canberra

[dumaniac]

Allan

wing tanks look good

glass of white wine looks good

Bernie in Orange

[matrixone]

Allan,
After looking at your mottling it looks slightly grainy, what that means is your paint was slightly to thick or your air pressure was way too low. Next time thin your paint a little more to get rid of the grainy spattered effect, trust me, it works! You should not have to go back over the mottling with the light blue, your Iwata can easily spray mottling in 1/72 scale if the paint is thinned enough.
One thing I should mention is to not mix up your paint and thinner in the color cup of the airbrush, mix it in a small container and then pour the paint in the color cup. I don't know why but every time I mix my paint and thinner in the airbrush color cup I can't get the airbrush to spray fine details cleanly no matter how thin the paint is or if I added the thinner first and then the paint.    I always have the best success mixing my paints outside the airbrush and then pouring the mix into the color cup, I bought a package of tiny plastic cups for mixing my paint and thinner in.

Matrixone

[dumaniac]

Matrixone

I agree with you on the mixing thing in the bowl - I suspect that what happens is some of the paint runs down into the main body of the gun and then the thinners can't access it properly - and some of the undisolved thick bits get stuck along the needle and it just buggers up the flow of paint.

Regarding the thin paint and air pressure, I must admit it is a bit hit and mix with me as well - Allan and I are in the cold country so we have more challenges than the guys in the warmer country.  Having said that, I use ModelMaster paint - 2/3 paint and 1/3 thinner, often running a 15 psi.  I drop to 10 psi for thin lines but ......

I guess I still have lots to learn after 40 years in the business

Cheers everyone

[matrixone]

dumaniac,
My starting point for paint/thinner ratio is 50-50, I will add more thinner if it looks too thick in the mixing cup. My normal range for PSI is between 15-20, but when I know I am going to be spraying extra fine detail I will thin my paint even more and drop the PSI down to 5.
A few months ago I built a couple of 1/144 scale Me 262s and when I painted the mottling on the fuselages my paint was very thin and I dropped the PSI down to under 5, when I pressed the trigger on the airbrush the guage was reading zero. All the above sounds strange but its true! Also a gravity feed airbrush is needed to spray with such low air pressure, a siphon feed airbrush needs a little more PSI for them to function.
You must be very careful when spraying paint that is highly thinned because it will spread very easily, keep an old model or model part nearby to test spray on to see if you have lowered your air pressure enough to spray such thin paint.

Matrixone

[Allan]

mmm, that is such good airbrushing intel......
my plane is coming along okay I suppose, but just okay and it isn't really anything to write home about, is it?
that's why I need to have some wine with me when I do my modelling.....
what's your take on backflushing?...I bought a small metal thimble to mix paint in prior to dumping it into the airbrush bowl, but really haven't used it all that much..do you think thorough backflushing my obviate the need to mix the paint separately from the airbrush bowl?
what I've been doing is using a medicine dropper to introduce thinner to the bowl and than dropping painting on top of the thinner and then doing the backflush twostep, then spraying some out onto a tissue to check that the mixture have been mixed okay...then remove the front needle protector and getting in pretty close to do the mottling...say about an inch or so and then moving in close in response to necessity
it's the thinning that causes much grief for me and brings home to me just how artistic are the models I've seen presented on this site, by our very own Matrixone of coursse, and Hyperscale, to ention just a few sites
I'm still riding the learning curve
Allan