(DONE, PICS Pg. 4) BF-109 G6 Trop.

[TheChronicOne]

Only you people and our GBs would have me up at 5:30 in the morning painting on a tiny airplane...



Anyway.  I've decided to cut out all kinds of steps I was going to take on this thing. Should save time and I should be able to handle it. I have a billion different colors and patterns going on but I'm not going to bother masking any of it. I'm going to try to get the paint job 100% done today. I can go all the way with it, almost, then I have to stop, put on the transfers, then I have to go back to  painting. I don't want any weird discoloration under the transfers and also it need to look like certain things were painted at certain times so... yeah.

Sorry, no pictures or this mess. It's going to be a surprise and I'm trying to save time here...

[DogfighterZen]

It's all good fun, ain't it?   

[TheChronicOne]

Wouldn't trade it for all the tea in China!!   Eating lunch right now but I can' wait to get back to work on this lil felller. I have the base coat down, now I get to paint a couple hilights, then the underside color, then it's time for gloss so I can start decalling this thing. I've  never done one like this before...(in this order)  not only that, but the paint job has never been attempted before either... I did something sort of similar decades ago but It's not the same.  Not sure how it's going to turn out.... 

Still need to get teh canopy and windscreen painted, as well...  All the other lil doo dads are already painted I think. Not much left to do really. 

[TheChronicOne]

Oh man... of all days to get the shakes.     Too much coffee this morning I suppose then the withdrawals. I usually luck out with a steady hand when I get to painting but not today!! I'm trying my best though. I think I have things mainly under control. No masking, mind you, so I wish like hell the shakes arrived some other day but....   I think I have the glass work all done... looks pretty good! Some frame work is a bit too thick, some a tiny bit too thin.. but it's nice and straight and looks great at arms length so I'm stopping now before I "study long and study wrong" and mess it up. You know what they say, "If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is... "  .. .. . well, we'll be having none of the crap, sir.   

I'm not sure yet what to think of this.... I'm not totally finished with the paint but I'm close enough now I can sort of see the end product. I'm almost at the "clean slate" stage... where the paint, if you wanted, could be called done; it's just sans things like a camo pattern or any markings what so ever --a "blank" but painted aircraft. I always love taking a few pictures of 'em at this stage because they look neat and will never be that way again. This is also usually the point where I can pretty much tell whether a paint scheme will work or not but like I said, not seeing it quite yet but I think I'm going in a good direction.   I sort of wished I had tried a couple things on my test bed but a little late for that.. (Im still not 100% locked in on the uhh... major aspect of the paint job and/or how to apply it or even the over all intention of it.... )   

[TheChronicOne]

Not going super detailed..... but here's finally something I can show! My Lil Buddy.   

Painted him grey, brown and "spun sugar."  Painted the chair silver color.

[TheChronicOne]

Good God, I said earlier something about not much else needing done, won't take much time, etc, but I've been working on this for about 5 or so hours!!! STILL thinking up things I've left to do.. like just now I realized I need to paint the exhaust!   

I need to implement Chris's note taking process sooner than later. I used to be able to rely upon my memory but no longer!!

Holy crap, though, I think once I do that, I can finally hit it with gloss and do the transfers???   I'm spent.. I'd like to continue tonight but I don't have it in me. I'll just have to make a final hour push, as with the last two GBs, and work the final minutes tomorrow....     

EDIT: YUUUUP, as always.. I just now remembered: I have to glue on the gun pods and external fuel tank. There is now paint in the equation so I may have to dry fit, then PSR, (like I had to do with the canopy! It WAS snug and glorious, then I painted  )

[strobez]

Just hang in there.  One thing about a 1-week build is it forces an economy of motion. I hadn't really though about it until I read your post here, but I think to save time I'm going to do the camouflage on my G.91 freehand (first time!).

Not sure how it's going to turn out, but it is what it is I guess.

I'll be at this right up until the last second too, I'm sure.

[TheChronicOne]

Just hang in there.  One thing about a 1-week build is it forces an economy of motion. I hadn't really though about it until I read your post here, but I think to save time I'm going to do the camouflage on my G.91 freehand (first time!).

Not sure how it's going to turn out, but it is what it is I guess.

I'll be at this right up until the last second too, I'm sure.

Man, I like that, ... "economy of motion."  Very true.  I've definitely picked up a couple habits/tips for getting things done in a hurry and it also helps to prioritize certain things that might not necessarily need be done, depending. For instance... most of the seam along the belly I fixed up nice, but the section around the fuel tank and wing roots is a disaster, but, it'll never be seen, really, so it stays.

I was going to stop and play Warthunder but I was less into that than anything then all of a sudden I felt like continuing on my model..   

So... going to glue on the wing gun pods and fuel tank... may take some sanding a bit because of paint..

[TheChronicOne]

I can't win, I swear!     So it's about 9:15 PM and I decide to gloss coat my glorious lil Gustav. Hey! Luck be a lady, tonight, the wind isn't 50 billion miles per hour, like usual in Oklahoma, must be great weather to spray!  So, I hang my plane outside on the front porch and get to spraying.. shook the can for about 3X required time, made sure to hold it the proper distance away from the subject, then.......  spray spray... but,.... oh no!! The wind is SO dead that a big assed cumulous cloud of gloss clear just HUNG in the sky for like 2 minutes!! Just all around my Gustav like that dirt cloud around Pig Pen on Charlie Brown!! 

OH WELL.. Orange peel all over the place, but, that said, I think it looks AWESOME! lmao   Still looks good to me, so, onward.. I plan to finish it off with a coat or two of satin clear so hopefully that will help smooth things out. 

Any how, all that lacks gluing are the main gear to the main wheels, then gluing them to the wings, and also the tail wheel... I save that for last. I should have saved the gun pods and drop tank for last, too, but I'm going to risk those, this time, because the attach points are more sturdy and if I DO break the gun barrels off, I can put them back easily whereas I find gear breaking off become more janky each time.

Tomorrow morning will be decals then the next phase of paint!  Then, the gear, then the satin coat. (or maybe another gloss to help the peel, then satin??? someone who has tried this type of milarkey before maybe can offer advice... keeping in mind working with what I have on hand and the time constraints... for example.. does anothe gloss coat over orange peel help it any? ) 

[DogfighterZen]

  Never had the orange peel effect so i can't help with that... maybe sanding it smooth with some micro mesh or some fine-grit sandpaper but i guess it's too late for that now, right?

[zenrat]

Gloss over orange peel won't help it but satin clear should unless its really bad.

[TheChronicOne]

It's not bad, and, considering the paint job, you can't even tell it's there. Once I hit it with the satin I think it'llbe just fine. And... oh man!! The paint scheme is working!!! It looks like a million bucks. I'm not one to brag, but I'm really happy with this one. 

Anyway... almost done. Maybe another hour to go. Should be finished by lunch then I can play video games all day. Going to try out No Man's Sky.

[TheChronicOne]

99% done!  I just need to glue on the canopy (going to use white paint this time), put a speck sized piece of black paint on the tip of the gun barrels, cut and paint, then attach the aerial wire then I'm all done!

[TheChronicOne]

I haven't ironed out the story .. it's about as basic as it was at the beginning of this thread, but kind of like this:  these Trops were loaned to Japan so they could be tested in the type of environment found in SE Asia and around the ocean and in jungles and rainy weather, blah blah blah. (I swear next time I'll write the story first  ) So anyway.......  The planes were painted at various stages of their journey culminating in a final effort produced by the Germans, Japanese, and finally the 3rd RAF TAF after being captured in pristine un flown condition (gotta explain this lack of weathering and why they so fresh and so clean, clean) by the 14th Army (UK).   ~Fin~   Sorry, I had planned on a much more glorious story but I'm all out of time and don't really feel like messing with it. I'll just unload the airplane on yas and go from there. First, I took some intermediate pics at a couple stages that I thought were rather spiffy looking.





I was tempted to leave it white!!!!  But I had to press on. 

















This was fun build right here! 

[Old Wombat]

Looks good, young fella!


Would've been great with 3 layers of camo & weathering showing patches of all of them (Brit on Japanese on German).

Maybe next time?