Bolleken's 1:72 stuff

[BlackSheep214]

No matter how you slice it, it's still white in color. Like stik mentioned, it does look right as an off-white look. Off white and regular white are different shade wise.

[Bolleken]

Good morning guys,

I moved a bit on with some of my projects.
First the MiG-28 got some modifications: wings are fully engraved, some details like elevons and rudder are cut to make them more MiG-like. The body is filled and partial sanded. Additionally I made three holes to the nose section to put in three tubes as machine-guns.




I friend sent some russion air-to-air missiles, I guess they were of a Zvezda Su-27. Some are really too big for such a small aircraft, others might match.



I also started to modify the nozzles. I cut them off the model and picked some stuff like turned parts made of brass, straws and old markers to scratch new nozzles.




It takes all more time than expected, but let’s see where it leads to.

[BorgR3mc0]

Interesting how you did the nozzles. I can not wait to see them under a coat of paint.

[Bolleken]

I also worked on the Heller Rafale A and did some bigger steps forward.

Once it was sanded and polished, I masked the canopy and started painting. To get some dark frames, in a black that differs to the black I used for the cockpit, I used Tamiya XF-63.
Next was XF-19 as light gray primer.

Lately we had a discussion about the difficulty of a black plane getting a realistic look. I guess it is the same for white planes. Especially when the original aircraft was a demonstrator, which was cleaned and polished and which looked then always brand-new. Putting some gloss white onto the model might not be the best way to go, so I tried a pre-shading with dark gray. This pre-shading is to put some life into the model. Maybe tonight I am able to color the gloss white and see a result (hopefully satisfying).

[speedgraflex]

Good morning, Bolleken—the German Gray works really well. It reads near-black and has a nice tone to it, "tooth," to the paint, almost a bit of a suede feeling. I was thinking a lot about the discussion about black at 1/72 scale but the more I think about what you wrote now regarding white makes sense. Add to the list. Certain colors at scale seem to suffer more of a negative scale effect; maybe this has to do with the way paints are mixed from various pigments. I checked out a bunch of photos of the XF-11 miniatures New Deal made for the Aviator and the metal paneling really changed its colorations depending on the ambient light; I'm looking forward to your work tackling that build—I would like to see more photos of that as well, and I hope the discussion about paint color is useful. Honestly the smaller studio model appears green, which is so weird; it doesn't match well with the large scale version. Again, perhaps a scale effect was sought after with the added green tone controlling a light spill across the surface of the plane. Good work! What's next on the build?

[Bolleken]

Good morning, Bolleken—the German Gray works really well. It reads near-black and has a nice tone to it, "tooth," to the paint, almost a bit of a suede feeling. I was thinking a lot about the discussion about black at 1/72 scale but the more I think about what you wrote now regarding white makes sense. Add to the list. Certain colors at scale seem to suffer more of a negative scale effect; maybe this has to do with the way paints are mixed from various pigments. I checked out a bunch of photos of the XF-11 miniatures New Deal made for the Aviator and the metal paneling really changed its colorations depending on the ambient light; I'm looking forward to your work tackling that build—I would like to see more photos of that as well, and I hope the discussion about paint color is useful. Honestly the smaller studio model appears green, which is so weird; it doesn't match well with the large scale version. Again, perhaps a scale effect was sought after with the added green tone controlling a light spill across the surface of the plane. Good work! What's next on the build?

Hi Bruce, thanks for the quick reply.
I really like that color discussion, because it helps thinking about what we are all doing here.
Our brains tell always a story about what we are seeing. In reality our eyes see an aircraft, and we all can imagine the structure, details, panel lines and materials. Also we know a bit about colors and materials. All these points and a lot more build the character of an aircraft and of all things. Our eyes see what it is, our brain tells the story. To transfer this story onto a model is easier, when you have special markings, a lot of details….
But if you have only one color, you need to add eye-catchers so that your brain can tell yourself a story. That’s what I wanna try here with the Rafale and the MiG-28. Same for the XF-11. This one will get different primers first, aluminium, zinc chromate, interior greens. Then I’ll put on thin layers of the light gray and hope to get a shading while using a solid color.
I hope my English is good enough to explain my thoughts?
Additionally and currently on my workbench you can find a Matchbox Focke-Wulf FW 190 and a Messerschmidt Me 262 by Matchbox, too. There is also the Northrop B-35 What-if-Projekt and a De Havilland Tiger-Mosquito (jet-engined, Mosquito combined with Sukhoi Su-25  ).
But I focus on Rafale, MiG-28, XF-11.

[speedgraflex]

Yes, this is really good to have a conversation, Bolleken, because you're actually achieving the results; I started thinking about how difficult black, pure matte black is, when applied to a smaller scale model; and I knew that if I painted the tires in pure matte black at 1/72 scale, the tires would look like a toy, very simplistic, without a tonal variation as you describe. What I'm wondering with the XF-11—I really like this plane, and I am so impressed with what you are achieving with your 1/72 version— is how to achieve the look of the metallic sheen? Is that to be an occluded layer similar to atmospheric effect by adding a dusting or thin coat of silver or white? Or do you intend to let the particles or flakes in the paint layer do the work? Lately I have been thinking of all my paintwork as three-stages: the first is the primer, second is the pre-color coat, third is the color coat.

The smaller XF-11. Note the white foam board underneath the model.



The larger XF-11 in detail view:



In the first shot, the green is readily apparent. In the second shot, the aircraft aluminum is readily apparent. I am thinking that there is an added layer of green to create a tonal variance; the scale effect we are discussing. What do you think?

[Bolleken]

Bruce, regarding the XF-11: I really doubt some of the colors the used in the aviator movie.
For example: The first prototype, the one Hughes crashed, had in reality no anti-glare-shield on the engine sections, only in front of the canopy. And all pictures I have seen in the Hughes XF-11 handbook, on the web and other sources show a light gray aircraft. Glossy paint. I think it is not any air force spec. gray, because it was Howard Huhges's aircraft. I assume he decided on his own which color were used.
So when I look at your first picture, the green might be a result of the photo that it seems a bit green, or they used it for inflight-shots from larger distance. I know from oil painting, that you can use green or blue layers to predict deepness.
For the second picture I really doubt any aluminium or bare metal on the XF-11. The second picture look more like a spruce goose?

I have my difficulties on black aircrafts too like you can see on attached picture of my Revell/Heller Alpha Jets.

[speedgraflex]

I have my difficulties on black aircrafts too like you can see on attached picture of my Revell/Heller Alpha Jets.

Bolleken, you are right about the Aviator's XF-11 filming miniatures inaccuracies, and my mistake with the second photo... that may be the Hercules model! Edit: It is the Hercules. The tip of another propeller is visible in the photo!!! Apologies; I thank you. I clocked what you wrote regarding these issues, which was very helpful, and I also realized the anti-glare panels on both engines may be the reason why I started researching that other twin, the Lockheed P-38, thinking an older Revell/Lindberg kit would make a great painting mule. Any thoughts? And also what difficulties did you have with paint on your Alpha jets?

[BlackSheep214]

Very nice!