SPA Modeler

Time to take up quilting.....
Seriously, those are jaw dropping work.

I am stunned beyond words here. I'll never achieve that level of greatness in my lifetime.

Lingered through this thread a few times now and was tempted to write something but was out of words. So many things to like in here. The Toryu is a great example for how your skills evolved rapidly in the past two years. I like how you approach new techniques and the way you implement them on the model. If there's something to suggest it may be the use of an off-white for the base of the Hinumarus and a layer of higly thinned base color over the yellow decal on the stab. It looks a bit sticker-like compared with the balanced weathering of the mottling pattern.

Regards,
Torben

Thanks for the comments everyone! I'm really humbled by the positive compliments and don't really feel worthy of such high praise. So much to learn and improve upon. I think that's why most of us are here.

mostrich wrote:Lingered through this thread a few times now and was tempted to write something but was out of words. So many things to like in here. The Toryu is a great example for how your skills evolved rapidly in the past two years. I like how you approach new techniques and the way you implement them on the model. If there's something to suggest it may be the use of an off-white for the base of the Hinumarus and a layer of higly thinned base color over the yellow decal on the stab. It looks a bit sticker-like compared with the balanced weathering of the mottling pattern.

Regards,
Torben

I'm really appreciative of your comments Torben. You have very astutely mentioned some things that have popped into my mind about my builds. The hinomarus were sprayed using masks cut from a compass cutter. My first attempt was unsuccessful as I tried my standard black preshading and found that it was way too heavy given how transparent the red was spraying. So I toned down the preshading for my second attempt.





It turned out better but the hinomarus are probably still a little too vibrant. Which leads me to your comment about spraying a dilute mixture over my markings. I tend to concentrate my weathering outside of the markings and need to learn some techniques of toning the markings down to match the weathered areas better. Spraying a thinned coat of base color (or a grey) is probably a good technique and I'll look more into it. I've done some dabbling with salt chip fading and oil filtering that may also help in this regard. I've gotten some decent results with the salt chip fading but oil filtering is still a bit of mystery to me. Thanks again for your comments... very helpful!

I would say that watching your builds is VERY helpful! At least for me!

One thing I can add is that the Japanese were always touching up the Hinomarus. They never let them degrade like the paint on certain aircraft

Here is a rare (for me) non-WW2 aircraft that I started in May 2015 and completed in August 2016. It's a 1/48 scale MiG-23MF kit by Trumpeter and I added quite a few aftermarket items to the build:

1. Aires resin cockpit
2. Aires resin exhaust nozzle
3. Eduard resin wheels
4. Eduard resin wheel wells
5. Dream Model metal pitot tube
6. Model Maker decals

Originally started as part of a jet group build, I lost motivation after the fuselage halves and wings were attached and I put the build on hold. The group build ended without me finishing the kit and it was boxed up and put on a shelf. After 2 months, I dug the kit out and started working on it again. I was able get the major components together and even completed the tedious seam work. But I ran out of steam AGAIN after the camo didn't come out as I had envisioned. The painted airframe was placed in a plastic bag where it would be protected from dust and I could see the poor MiG in a bag every time I entered my little workshop in the garage. Ten months later, I finally worked up enough motivation to drag this thing across the finish line.















It's not a great build by any means and there lots of flaws and little broken parts here and there that I didn't bother to replace. But I am proud that I finally finished it.

Oh man that looks sharp! I always liked the look of the Flogger. Great job!

Wow! Double-Wow!! This one is another fine example of your amazing skills! Love the shading on the panel lines, and especially on the landing gear areas!