SPA Modeler

Carlos,

I noticed that too. But when thinking of Ze Germans, it made sense to me that if one of them snake planes didn’t have it on the starboard side, none of them would.

What are your thoughts?

Well, we know that AN did not have the snake on the right side. But there is no proof yet to say that DP did not have the artwork on both sides. With or without the right side snake, no one can say with 100% certainty that DP had it one way or the other.

Well, I do like gray areas! Shoot, I figure neither is right or wrong, and well, I reckon that’s a-okay with me.

Good afternoon fellas!

Today’s Friday, and that means it’s Friday Fun With The Franken-Emil!

On today’s episode: Salt Fading

I did this once on a Corsair. I recall that after a while, I wasn’t as pleased with the results as I could’ve been. Also, this technique scared the Hell out of me. But after today’s experiment, I’ve come to really appreciate it.

Here’s what I did.

1. I mixed up a few drops of dishwashing liquid and some water in a spray bottle

2. Sprayed the model, and then covered it with sea salt from the dispenser it came it

3. Leave the model to dry for 60 minutes

4. Mixed up the first coat- Deck Tan and Khaki 1:2 and then thinned that 3:9

5. Sprayed two coats on the model, as haphazardly as possible, at low pressure

6. Let the paint dry for 60 minutes

7. Washed the salt off gently with wet paper towels

8. Spray the model again

9. Add the salt

10. Let dry for 60 minutes

11. Mix up another shade- RLM Grey and Olive Drab 2:1 thinned the same way 3:9

12. Sprayed two haphazard coats

13. Let dry for 60 minutes

14. Wash the salt off

Here’s the results:













I also played around with the salt for making the Stuka’s prop before the final blend coats. I wanted to make it look beat-up like it might’ve been from being out there in the desert. Check it out:



Very, very cool technique and effect. It gave a very nice fade to the Franken-Emil, as well as some nice modulation on the wings, and grime on the cowling. I’m very happy with the results. The only tweak I’ll be giving this procedure in the future is one coat each color instead of two.

I plan on using the same colors for “Black 1”, and I’ll be going lighter for the Stuka, to emulate sun fading.

Experiments are great, and I’m glad I kept the Franken-Emil around because it’s the perfect platform to test this stuff out on.

Alright! That’s it for me for today. Thanks as always for looking. You guys be well.

Looks great, Kenny. I know the feeling. Not only it scares the hell out of fear me, I’m very intimidated by it. I guess my fear isn’t ruining a perfectly good kit and screwing it up badly enough to smash it to pieces on the floor.

I’m more of a hands on visual - meaning someone actually here showing me how it’s done physically not by pictures or videos.

It's always a good idea to do experiments on a test kit like this. It really did give the yellow area a grime dirty look to it. The prop looks fantastic and I'll give the spray bottle idea a try with the next build. Going to be starting on a 109 soon.

Mr. Black Sheep,

I am too, buddy. I can watch videos or read articles all day, but until I can get my hands on it and actually *try* it, the information is useless. And for want of a more experienced modeler to walk me through it step-by-step in-person while I have the tools and paints and whatnot in my hands, yeah.... “Intimidating” is a good word, I dunno man, something changed whenever I had all those problems with the RLM 02 overspray on that project. And then of course there was the debacle with the canopy. I just basically decided that I was gonna just totally go for it with everything I’d been wanting to do but was hesitant of, because like you say, I don’t want to ruin a great kit or build. But I’ve ruined this one two, maybe three times already? And I have to laugh because I’m spite of all it’s faults, The Franken-Emil looks great this is shaping up to be one of the finishes I’ve done that I’m the most proud of. Oh how I just LOVE some good irony.

All that said, I’m glad I’m doing this, because I can take these skills and parlay them into the Stuka and “Black 1”, and “Marga” of course. The Zeros will remain pristine, as is customary for me. The Razorback? That’ll be a whole other basket of snakes, but we’ll get to that later.

Clint,

Remember to add the liquid dish soap and give it a really good shaking before application, aside from that, buddy, I gotta tell ya- I CANNOT WAIT to see a 109 build from you. I’m excited for that.

Bruce,

I’m excited for you as well, I’ll enjoy seeing what you and Floki can do with this and where you can take it from here! My future work with it will be a shade more subtle than what’s on The Franken-Emil, but you know me, I always end up trending toward subtle. Still, this is a solid technique and I like it. I’ll be doing salt chipping on the floorboard of the Razorback cockpit, and what’s more- I plan on using salt as masking for various base color shades when doing my mottled layers with the black basing as well, based on how well it worked on the prop.

Good things are happening! And thank you gents for the good word! It was nice hearing from you tonight and I hope you’re all doing well.

Very sharp looking Kenny! All those little details are adding up into one fabulous finish.

I'm afraid of the salt fade technique and I do it all the time. It's a tricky technique and the line between I-can't-even-see-it to uh-oh-my-model-has-a-skin-disease is razor thin. Just curious... what's the dishwash soap for? I don't find it necessary when doing the salt fade on a flat finish. Maybe you're doing it on a gloss?