SPA Modeler

Floki wrote:Again that is a beautiful looking prop. The spiral looks spot on to me.

What he said!

Superb work on that prop John!

I'd call that prop spinner a success as well. Anytime I do one of these I try to get that as perfect as possible. A wrong move up there looks like a bloody nose on an otherwise good build. Everybody looks at that.

Thanks guys! Comments always appreciated. The gun cowling over the engine has been glued into place. A glue joint that occurs on a panel line can be a delicate situation. Unless you pull it off perfectly, there is usually a bit of excess glue and plastic to clean up.



The oil cooler intake below the engine was also glued into place. I'll have to do some minor filling and clean up here still.


Time to hit the lightbox and take a look at the model with wings and stabilizers dry-fitted. Starting to look like a Messerschmitt now.

Thanks Bruce! For the cowl guns, I'm going to paint them at the end. Easy to do with a fine brush and Tamiya Metallic Grey paint. I'll finish that off by painting the inside of the barrels black, usually by using a highly thinned black in the airbrush.

I've replaced the hatch behind the pilot's head with a piece of brass. I've placed the kit part in front of the new hatch to show the differences in the hatch shape based on the photo references I have of the K-4.


For those of you that are not familiar with the utility of Milliput, here is an example of the type of fine filling you do, taking advantage of the water-solubility of this putty. And remember... this is the initial application, no sanding whatsoever.



The wingtip lights have been glued into place. The bulb areas were already recessed into the kit part so all I had to do was put a dab of clear red and clear blue paints into the holes. These will be masked off with liquid MicroMask.


The resin prop blades have been glued onto the ends of cocktail sticks to provide a handle for painting.


While applying the base silver coat onto the props, I noticed a little flaw... one tiny air bubble near the edge of the blade. This will have to fill after the silver paint dries.


After a few minor touch-ups, the spinner was given a gloss coat and pastel wash to accent the rivets. A flat coat was applied to seal the wash. I still have to glue the spinner to the backplate and then paint/weather the backplate to match.



Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Looking great! Milliput is very useful, I find it hard to use it to fill such fine gaps like that, I use it for bigger gaps and use perfect plastic putty for tiny gaps. How are you getting it so thin to achieve this?

Floki wrote:Looking great! Milliput is very useful, I find it hard to use it to fill such fine gaps like that, I use it for bigger gaps and use perfect plastic putty for tiny gaps. How are you getting it so thin to achieve this?

Because it has the consistency of clay, Milliput is good for large gaps but since it is water-soluble, it is also really good for thin, hard to reach gaps. Using an older build as an example (1/48 Eduard F5F-3), you can see a gap that I want to fill on the bottom of the fuselage.


I use a toothpick to apply the putty, forcing it into the gap.


Using an old paintbrush dipped in water, I start brushing away the excess putty.


Water will cut into the putty, making it soft and dissolving the excess bits. Using a piece of damp paper towel, I'll start wiping the putty away, leaving only the putty in the recess.



Unlike some other putties, Milliput doesn't shrink so if you do it right, you'll have hardly any sanding left to do, if at all.


This method is especially good for recessed joints that are otherwise awkward to get to. No sanding required and the water won't mess up any surrounding paint or otherwise finished surfaces.

Thanks for that tip on milliput usage on the gaps John. I’ve been looking for another alternative to super glue. I’ve gotten good with CA as filler but it takes me some time to get the results that I do. I may give that a whirl.
Progress is looking good on your Messerschmitt.

Thank you for explaining your method, next build I will give it a go if I have gaps to fill.

Nice work. I haven't done any planes over 1/48 - do you feel like it's more seam, more filling or is the detail really worth it? Also - where do you put these big birds?