Allan two 109s in fictitious markings, well sort of

[Allan]

I've done a lot of decaling today...the what if angle with these two planes is pretty nebulous to be sure...I just thought what about just ignoring everything about references and correct unit markings and just slap on some colourful squadron and so on markings that I've always liked and here are the results...actually, I've had the eye decals in the decal bank for eons and they were already pretty old when I received them from an American Hyperscaler to boot so I used gallons of setting solution on them...turned out okay...one boob is that on one of the 109s I think I've used a Fw190 swastika...
I've always like the ace of spades insignia....in the book about the us 4th Fighter Group in the UK one pilot said that this spades marking on the nose of the 109 he was in a dogfight with looked sinister and threatening...anyway enough blather...whaddaya think?
oh yeah, I went all out and tried to do my very best mottle on these planes and then the markings went and covered up all my careful work...don't forget that when you are mottling a German plane!

[NARSES2]

Looking good mate 

[dumaniac]

Nice - I have rain today so no painting. better sit and watch to race on the telly

[matrixone]

Really nice work Allan!



Matrixone

[Allan]

thanks fellows for the kind words
the aspect of my modelling that concerns me is the decalling.....even though I sprayed on some Testors canned gloss varnish beforehand some of the decals, particularly the wings decals, silvered to some extent even with setting solution applied and some of them refused obstinately to snuggle down onto the surface of the plane...I plan to apply some more gloss, then weather a little bit and then add some matt varnish so maybe the silvering will recede into the distance, sorta like my hair!!
it could be that the decals I've used are just old and are not up to snuff or maybe I didn't use enough gloss spray varnish or just maybe I should thin some gloss varnish and apply it with my airbush
any tips gratefully accepted

[zenrat]

Did you brush some setting solution onto the surface before you slid the decal onto it?

[Captain Canada]

Great stuff Allan ! Lovely paint work and the decals look stunning.

[Allan]

zenrat and others
first gloss varnish, though what with what happened perhaps I should have applied more, but anyway
then sometimes I used setting solution, Mark Setter, and sometimes I didn't, but after every decal application I added either Mark Softer or Mico Sol
I dunno, perhaps next time I'll mix up some gloss varnish in my airbush..but first I'd better use up my 3 cans of Testos gloss spray

[zenrat]

Sometimes they just silver in a deliberate act of buggeration.
Give them a stern talking to.

[Allan]

thinking about mottling for a moment, I tend to think that we apply the mottles too lightly...after all they were used to disrupt the light blue-grey at a distance and if they are too lightly applied they really can't be seen at a few hundred meters....I think the answer is to put them on a lot darker than I have

[Allan]

here're the two planes as they stand at the moment all glossy......now, what to do next re weathering, which is something I know very little about so I need you help, including yours, young Matrixone?....as you can see I have some oil paint and thinner burnt sienna I think and some acrylic burnt umber and burnt sienna, lots of other darkish acrylic and enamel paint in all ranges of sombre colours, so please give me some advice.....do I slap on some very thinned oil or acrylic paint and then wipe it off with a piece of clean cloth and if so do I spread the stuff all over the plane, in sections of course, including markings?
or I could just forget about weathering and slap on a coat of matt varnish!
help needed!

[PR19_Kit]

Matt varnish first and then dry brush the weathering.

[Captain Canada]

Gorgeous. Especially like red 16

[matrixone]

Allan,
When using oil paint for weathering I always use it on a gloss surface. This way if you don't like the way the oil paint looks on your model just wipe it off with paper towel dampened with mild odorless thinner.

The way I use oil paint to enhance panel lines is to first coat the model with a light coat of Future to gloss the model and when the Future is dry I use a wide flat brush to apply some mild thinner to the models surface and then use a long thin liner paint brush to apply thinned oil paint on the panel line, by just touching the tip of the liner brush on the panel line the oil paint will wick into the panel line and spread quickly...this is so easy to do you won't believe it.

Oil paint dries very slowly so what I do to speed things up is use a hair dryer and blow warm air across the models surface. Even with using a hair dryer give the oil paint a day to fully dry.

For best results for enhancing panel lines with oil paint do NOT use too high a contrasting color for your oil pin wash...for pale colors like RLM 76 use a lighter shade of oil paint and for medium colors like RLM 75 and 74 use a dark gray oil paint color. If you use black oil paint like is often seen on many models the panel lines will look too stark and make the model look more like a toy than a scaled down aircraft. Less is more in this case.

HTH

Matrixone

[Allan]

D'you mean then, Matrixone old bean, that you just use a very thinned oil paint and oil thinner mixture to introduce paint to the panel lines only without slapping on a thin coat all over the surface of the model and then using a piece of cloth or wide flat brush to gently wipe away the stuff in the direction of the airflow?
which of the colors I have picture do you thing would be best to use?...bear in mind I have a wide selection of other shades of enamel and acrylic paint to choose from, too....a thinned mixture of pale acrylic grey, perhaps, for the lower surfaces and something darker for the upper ones, do you think?