SPA Modeler

That is looking pretty good to me...especially in that scale!

Man, you're putting me to shame in my chosen scale! Brilliant work Jon, I'm taking notes...

LyleW wrote:That is looking pretty good to me...especially in that scale!

Thanks Lyle! I'm trying to take my cues from the archive photos of the aircraft and approximating the spray pattern as close as possible. In my mind, this is a critical piece of information that is conveyed to any critical viewer of the model. Getting the spray demarcations to approximate what is on the real aircraft tells a more convincing story.

Duke Maddog wrote:Man, you're putting me to shame in my chosen scale! Brilliant work Jon, I'm taking notes...

Thanks Duke! It's been a fun and informative build and I have learned to appreciate the skill level it takes to produce models at this scale.

Before addressing the spray demarcations on the upper side, I thought I'd shoot the bottom wing crosses. Using the kit decals as a template, I've prepared custom masks for the major markings using my Silhouette Portrait craft cutter.




Flipping the bird over, I've tightened up the spray demarcations using little strips of torn paper suspended a few millimeters off the surface of the model using little blobs of Blue Tack (poster putty). It's fairly easy task at this scale since the model is so small and the makeshift masks are correspondingly small. FYI... these photos have been cranked up in terms of brightness to illustrate the corrective work and may not be representative of what the naked eye is seeing.




I've also been getting better at milking the Badger SOTAR's performance by dialing in the paint/thinner ratios and reducing the air pressure. I thought I was going to use masks for the fuselage sides but found that I am getting an acceptable spray demarcation without any aids.



I've deviated slightly from the all of paint references (Sundin, Crandall, kit instructions) and decided to paint the upper fuselage with the same RLM81/83 combo as the wings and giving the gun cover a hard demarcation all around. These late war Doras were often manufactured and painted at different factories and hard, mismatching transitions between the front and rear fuselage assemblies was often seen.





Adjustments to match the camo closer to the archive photos, the tail mottle, the mottling on the gun cowling and the yellow/white/yellow ID band are still to come.

I don’t care what scale or what subject, but John, your work never fails to impress.

The airbrush work here is just amazing!

Incredible paint work! Never seen that scheme before. A master of 1/32 scale now a master of 1/72 scale. Incredible work and a joy to watch come together.

I'd think it was 1/32 if the beans hadn't been spilled about it being 1/72. Better try a 1/144 109 next, John.

Stikpusher wrote:I don’t care what scale or what subject, but John, your work never fails to impress.

Thank you Carlos! Your words are always encouraging!

Floki wrote:The airbrush work here is just amazing!

Thanks Clint! A bit of learning curve with the Badger SOTAR but I think I could wring even more out of it with practice.

BlackSheep214 wrote:Incredible paint work! Never seen that scheme before. A master of 1/32 scale now a master of 1/72 scale. Incredible work and a joy to watch come together.

Thank you very much! I've seen this scheme modeled before but more often with the RLM82/83 combination of greens. I've incorporated more of the RLM81 Brown as described on both the kit instructions and Crandall's Dora book. I would consider it speculative since it's mostly guess work trying to figure out exact colors using black and white photos.

jeaton01 wrote:I'd think it was 1/32 if the beans hadn't been spilled about it being 1/72. Better try a 1/144 109 next, John.

Thanks John. That's always a goal when modeling... to try achieve a look that does not restrict the model to a given scale. Don't know if I'll achieve it but the effort is what makes this hobby interesting and fun.

A little more paint work was completed this evening. I got the yellow-white-yellow ID bands masked and painted.



The skinny white upper wing crosses were masked and painted next.



A periodic perspective reminder...


The black fuselage crosses are painted. The starboard cross has been partially obliterated by paint repairs, according to the archive photos. This is my initial attempt at replicating this but some more will most likely be done to fine tune this effect.



A brief pause to summarize the work up to this point. Still a bit of camo painting to do including the tail mottle.

Again just great work John. I've been thinking about getting another airbrush just to compare to my iwata eclipse. It's between the badger sotar 20/20 and the patriot 105 extreme. How well do you like yours?

That's an incredible bit of painting John!

jkim wrote: Thank you Stuart! This was a church-related trip. My church in San Diego has connections with local churches in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Every year, we partner with them to hold a conference for medical students (primarily from India and Pakistan) who are studying in Bishkek. This year, I went with a team of nine from my church and two from San Jose as well as two people from India I've been going there the longest so I did most of the planning and coordination. And I am the unofficial photographer. Not exactly work but not purely vacation either.

That sounds awesome. I used to work with a woman that spent her holidays in Africa with her church group helping to build schools etc. It sounds like a rewarding thing to do.