1/48 Eduard Bf109G-6 Double Chevron

[KennyX]

Thanks for posting this! I’ve never seen pre-shade with a black mottle before, and I’m excited to see what this isnsetting the stage for. Nice!

[jkim]

Thanks guys! I finally hunkered down and finished the preshading on the G-6. In addition to the black mottling, I've also laid down some heavier black on certain areas such as the exhaust trail, the gun troughs and down the centerline of the bottom of the aircraft.

[jkim]

Time for the Light Blue RLM 76. A home-mix of Tamiya acrylics thinned approximately 4:1 (thinner:paint). This allows you to build up the coats gradually, giving lots of control to dial in the pre-shading effects. See the grain on the wing tips? A sign that the paint mixture is too thick. The airbrush should give you the ability to shoot absolutely grain-free finishes. Subsequent passes with the highly-thinned paint mixture will knock that grain down a bit.



Depending upon your control of the airbrush, you can apply panel-to-panel differentiation to the paint application, which adds to the tonal variety.



After the starboard wing is done, I flipped the model around to paint the port wing.



The bottom is finished. I like a hardly-notice-it's-there level of subtlety in my preshading. This is the first layer of multiple layers of paint/weathering so it doesn't have to do EVERYTHING.



After the bottom is done, I apply the RLM 76 on the sides of the fuselage. I want to keep the preshading effects on the top more prevalent on the top since this will be a distemper white over RLM 75/75 winter finish.




I'm going to have to take a pause here because I don't know enough about this particular machine's markings. What kind of crosses did it have? Were the crosses painted over the white or was the white sprayed around the original markings? Although I'm not planning on using decals for the crosses, I think the Eaglecal's decal sheet for this machine will be a good place to start my research.

[KennyX]

That was a great read. I dig the way you paint! And it’s looking great, too! Very nice work.

[Stikpusher]

That is looking very sharp. I may have to try it on a monotone scheme aircraft....

[speedgraflex]

Your work looks incredible, John... absolutely exquisite. I was searching for information on the subject as well, which sent me back to your page one of the build thread to check on a few details. I am curious to see how your work this out! For the moment, though, heartfelt—

[KSaarni]

Fantastic paintwork John!

- Kari

[speedgraflex]

I cannot believe the line work you achieve with an air brush, John! Amazing! What is the size of the ab tip? That’s just... I have a lot of practice to find that kind of control. And in quarter scale!

[jkim]

I primarily use an Iwata HP-C Plus, which comes with a 0.3mm tip. I think I should be able to get even finer results but I have a difficult time finding the right paint mix for fine spray work.

Check out this comparison between Iwata brushes, from 0.35mm to 0.18mm tip sizes.

[speedgraflex]

I primarily use an Iwata HP-C Plus, which comes with a 0.3mm tip. I think I should be able to get even finer results but I have a difficult time finding the right paint mix for fine spray work.

Check out this comparison between Iwata brushes, from 0.35mm to 0.18mm.

Wow!!! Thank you so much, John!