SPA Modeler

Simply outstanding! Beautifully done.

dmminiatures wrote:Trodding along with the undercarriages. the front wheel installation



then the main landing gear. now the reason why the struts are pure white and the wheel bay is kinda bluish grey is because the black undercoat that I sprayed before the white top coat. it came to my attention that i NEEDED more layers of white to build that opacity.



Here is another angle. I painted the copper wire metallic colors (aluminum , steel, gun metal, a mix of those) as I just knew after close inspection that they are actually metal tubes (hydrolics? electricity?). can you see the copper pins on the bay doors?

Yes, I see the pins. She's coming along really nice, Monty.

That's looking superb Monty!

As far as lines in the wells go, hydraulic lines are usually bare metal, aluminum or some similar colored metal, and electrical wiring is bundled into insulation lines. Often those are off white in color.

Stikpusher wrote:
As far as lines in the wells go, hydraulic lines are usually bare metal, aluminum or some similar colored metal, and electrical wiring is bundled into insulation lines. Often those are off white in color.

Thanks Stik - I might still have a chance to dry brush the lines with a bit of lighter metallic shades to replicate unpainted aluminium of sort.

Decaling

at the point before I placed the first decals, the whole A/C looks very boring, just light grey and white. but once I started to place the roundels one at a time, the A/C suddenly is alive with colour!!



everything seems to go smooth until one of the coloured ring (locater for the fuel cap) broke as i rinse it out of water



Before, I spent around 2-3 minutes to work on the individual decals. But now, I was very cautious. I don't want to loose anymore decals, and now I am beginning to understand that the whole decal sheet has gone beyond its "useful life".



As I continue to place more decals, I see more cracks. like the Spanish roundel was broken up to seven smaller pieces. the hull numbers broke up to 5 pieces. Now i am spending around 8-12 minutes for each decals. I spot-repaired the chipped decals by using a pointed brush (Cotman 000) on the missing colors - either that of the yellow, red, or black. The red fuselage band (in the rear of the A/C) came as decals but I opted to paint that instead.



To reduce the effect of brittleness, I brushed on Testor Gloss Coat. It was a very slow and painstaking process. I had a hunch that the decals would behave that way, but OK I learned my lesson. Miraculously, I am done with it, even though it took many hours to do the decals.



So my next step now is to make more stencils as I think at 1/32 scale, the A/C looks so plain...

sucks about the decals, I hate when that happens!

Even with the decal issues that's a stunner!

It's funny how we modelers stick with it even when it looks and feels hopeless. Way to weather through the storm Monty! You're doin' a bang up job on this one.

CallSignOWL wrote:sucks about the decals, I hate when that happens!

Close calls, OWL. Had a couple of these close calls in the past, almost ruining my finish models. Even if i swear i would not go through these situations again.. it happens!