A weathering experiment that might be useful for whiffs too...

[matrixone]

For a long time I wanted to see if AlcladII could be used in small areas to represent heavily weathered or damaged aircraft parts.
I used an unwanted tail section from an old Revell 1/32 scale Fw 190D-9 and decided to make an attempt to make it look like an old war relic from WWII.
This tail was painted in the following steps,

1. The entire tail was airbrushed RLM 76 white blue

2. Some light mottling in a slightly darker color was sprayed on

3. Gloss clear coat was added

4. Swastika decals were put on

5. The fabric covered rudder was masked off

6. The AlcladII was airbrushed on only on the very uppersurfaces towards the top of the fin

7. Some highly thinned RLM 76 was carefully airbrushed only on the swastika

8. With the rudder unmasked some RLM 45 red oxide anti fungal paint was hand painted on the rudder in such a way as to represent RLM 76 that had flaked off exposing the RLM 45.




I will add more weathering to this tail later on so this is not a finished 'model' but would appreciate some feedback on how it looks to this point.

Matrixone

[Go4fun]

It looks very good but I don't (can't?) see where the Alclad II was used.

[matrixone]

Thanks Go4fun,
Sadly the metallic effect does not come across very well in my pics, in the first pic you can barely see the AlcladII on the very top of the uppersurfaces, the second pic looks like there is no AlcladII on it at all but its there. I did not want the AlcladII to look very glossy so it would better represent oxidized metal.

Matrixone

[frank2056]

Couldn't you get the same effect with a light gray (a "warmer" gray than RLM 76)? Or are you looking for a slightly metallic gray sheen?

[matrixone]

Frank,
The whole point of this experiment was to see if I could airbrush AlcladII in small enough amounts to be useful for adding wear marks for wing roots or similar high foot traffic areas on aircraft. This experiment has been useful and I have learned what will and won't work while airbrushing the Alclad, sadly the metallic sheen I was after did not photograph very well but looks okay in person. Next time I have the AlcladII handy I will spray a little more on to inprove the metallic sheen...this experiment is ongoing.

Matrixone

[bearmatt]

Thanks for sharing. Looks good to me

[matrixone]

Thanks bearmatt!

Later I will take better pictures of my experiment, the more I look at my pics the more I don't like them. They don't show the Alclad very clearly at all like Go4fun said.

Matrixone

[Go4fun]

The Camera Grimlins are tricky little monsters!  I saw a little of the sheen on the leading edge and top of the tail in the first picture but it vanished in the second. Might try putting a strong light high and slightly behind the aircraft to make it 'jump out' more next time you shoot it.

[dumaniac]

Hi Matrixone

looks good to me

thanks for sharing

Bernie

[matrixone]

Go4fun,
I take all my pics outdoors to take advantage of the natural light and in most cases works quite well for me. If I had taken a little more care in placing the tail in relation to the light the pics would have much better. Anytime I take in-progress pics I don't put much effort into them because I am lazy.

Thanks Bernie!

Matrixone

[PR19_Kit]

Even if the Alclad is not visible the tail of the Fw190 looks INCREDIBLY realistic! 

[matrixone]

Thanks Kit, the feedback is appreciated!

I don't know if you have Jerry Crandall's Dora Vol.1 book but there are some pictures of a Dora that made a belly landing at Rhein-Main airfield and was photographed many times after the war ended, some of the last photographs of this aircraft were taken in 1946 and parts of the camouflage paint on the fuselage had weathered away to almost nothing and the metal was starting to show through and this was the inspiration for this weathering experiment. To me the photographs of war relics are sometimes more interesting than the photographs of airworthy machines.


Matrixone

[Go4fun]

I agree with you on worn equipment having more character. Some of my favorite finds in auto junkyards (Scapprers) were old race cars. I always carried a camera just for interesting crashed and weather worn cars. Unfortunately the pictures were destroyed in a house fire.

[matrixone]

Go4fun,
Sorry you had losses from the house fire.

Models of junked cars or planes are really interesting to me, anybody can make a good looking model of a factory fresh machine but making a model of a junked vehicle with realistic weathering to match is not so easy. Earlier this year I attempted to make a model of a postwar scrapyard Fw 190A-8 with badly faded paintwork and I had trouble with getting a realistic weathered look to it...to master this weathering technique will require a lot more practice on my part.

Matrixone

[matrixone]

I reworked the weathering experiment on the Ta 152 tail, more AlcladII was sprayed on to give it a more metallic look to it and I faded out the black swastika a little more.


There is quite a metallic sheen to the top of tail now and to tone that down a bit I will use the salt weathering technique and lightly spray on some clear flat and then rub the salt off to give it a very patchy look.

Matrixone