FW 190 ARII and Halifax

[NARSES2]

Coming along nicely Al.

It is 

[Allan]

thanks for the kind comments...and now for the green and I have three shades in my modelling arsenal that I might be able to use instead of cracking open the wallet to spring from some authentic dark green...which one do you think might be the go? I'll try to spray  some of each onto a piece of scrap plastic to give you some idea of their respective shades
Allan in Canberra

[TheChronicOne]

Going out on a limb here to say that ..... the one that looks the best. 

Seriously, though... I'm digging lighter colors as if it spent time in service basking in the sun.

[Allan]

and here's the dark earth, which really has gone on well but requires quite a bit of stirring

[zenrat]

I'd be tempted to use the middle one but it might be a bit too brown when viewed next to the dark earth.  In which case i'd use the Japanese one on ether left.

[Snowtrooper]

Agree, the IJA Green looks like the best match.

[Allan]

yes, I think too that the Japanese green might be the go, but to test it out I'll paint it on the wings before the fus..the green will go on the wings and then the earth followed by the green on the fus...here's a book I picked up as a teenager in Tokyo in 1972 about British planes and it's to give you some idea of the Japanese army green....the engines went on last night and look okay given that the kit itself is pretty crappy....some engine gaps to be filled possibly this time by white glue and the alignment here and there wasn't perfect but it's not too noticeable...one thing about the Halibag has been troubling me and that is the colour of the engine nacelles/exhausts..some modellers paint them goldy-bronze, but I'm not sure it is correct...will try to find out..
Allanin Canberra

[PR19_Kit]

On the Gladiator in your pic the ring around the front of the Mercury engine is the exhaust collector itself.

I'm not sure if that's the case with the Halifax's Hercules engines, and it's not helped by the dearth of colour pics of period Halifaxes. 

[NARSES2]

Pretty sure it is a collector ring on the Halifax.

I paint these with a very old tin of Humbrol Authentics bronze that came from their a Ancient Period set (also has a couple of nice leather shades). It's no where near as bright as that Gladiator and really does have a nice "heat treated" look to it. Other than that a mix of a more normal bronze and gunmetal.

[Allan]

gold with some silver added Chris, would that be okay too do you think? and 19 you're right about color Halibag snaps as I haven't come across any at all....I have a book about 640 Squadron and it has lots of piccies of Halibags, but they don't depict all that much detail...it seems to me that the bronzey color on the nacelles would have shown up pretty clearly to the nightfighters so maybe it was painted over with the green and earth camo.....the pitot tube on the halibag is under the nose, but offset a little to the right as you look up to the plane from underneath and it seems to have a white tip with some red right at the pointy end...I get the impression that there were other small antenna on the sides of the nose, but haven't confirmed this yet....other stuff on the wings?
Allan in Canberra
I went for PPP instead of the white glue, so will have to do some sanding today

[zenrat]

Not a Halifax, but a rather nice colour pic of a Hampden.

[Captain Canada]

Nice work Allan !

[NARSES2]

gold with some silver added Chris,

Possibly too bright. Perhaps gold +silver + black or dark brown until you get shade you are happy with ?

[Allan]

good advice, thanks Chris...I sanded away the PPP and it only took about 10 minutes per nacelle...it wasn't perfect so I used one of my fav techniques and filled some small holes with paint, using Lifecolor, which I like very much...what do you think of it?....here is the modelling desk with the actual work area getting smaller every day...next: first green coat on the wings!!
Allan in Canberra

[NARSES2]

Lifecolor ? I do like it, especially since they changed the containers so that it doesn't dry out quickly.

Only problem in the UK is that you only tend to see stockists selling the boxed sets of 6 paints. I have some of them (Australian, Italian & a couple of others) and they are good, but you don't always want all 6 paints.

Another good paint I've discovered is Hataka. Again mainly available in sets but the sets vary in size, the Polish one has 3 colours for instance, and the bottles contain a stainless steel ball to help with agitating the paint before use.