SPA Modeler

I wasn’t even going to log this one because at the outset I thought one of two (or both) things would happen:

1. Everybody would roll their eyes and say “Here goes the old boy Kenny X, building too many airplanes at one time again.”

2. Everybody would roll their eyes and say “Great. Just what we need. Another Emil.”

Plus, this bad boy is going to take a long time, because I only ever work on it when I need a break from my other projects. I liken this “decompression build” to eating Sushi at a fine Japanese restaurant. You’ve been steady crushing dragon rolls and pounding Asahi Super Dry since you sat down, and now it’s time to switch to Sashimi and Saki, and you need a pallet cleanse, so you eat some pickled ginger. That’s what this project is- pickled ginger. Updates won’t be as frequent, but shoot, maybe they might be useful for other folks who might wish to build this particular aircraft kit, or explore the techniques I’m using/developing.

Also- I had started a 1:32 Emil build as you’ll recall. Dragon’s 1:32 E3. I wanted a big Emil. A 1:32, done-up like Horst Tietzen’s. Well, thing is, I fell out of love with that kit quickly. Not because of the quality of the kit, the kit is great! I just don’t like it. But just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean it isn’t any good and who knows, after I accumulate more experience, I may dust it off.

All that said, I have here Eduard’s 1:32 E3. Which comes with a fully-detailed engine, and I am building this kit with the cowl off and the engine exposed and that’s another thing- more details to pour over and pick out, which I like.

Case in-point- I was flying solo with the kids last night, because my wife was conducting her students in their school’s Winter concert. After I put the babies to bed, I wanted to relax and do some modeling, but I didn’t want to paint any more of the camo on my latest Galland Emil due to time constraints, I was too tired to work on getting the remainder of the Corsair’s cockpit parts prepared (got some cutting and sanding and PE installations to do), and I didn’t want to start painting my tank’s wheels again, due to time constraints. So instead I picked this one up, and very carefully began applying raw umber washes to the cockpit parts. Just relax and do some oil painting basically.

Below is the cockpit parts, sans-seat because I don’t want to install that until after I’ve gotten the seatbelts put on there. No ETA on that as of yet.

What I did was I primed all this with black Mr. Surfacer 1500, then sprayed my standard ops mix of XF-22: 1 + XF-49:1 on there, and let it all dry. A few days later I lightened that same mix with two drops of white, thinned it out as much as I could get away with, and sprayed that mix on the raised components, and upper parts of the sidewalls, and other places I felt needed highlighting. Then I painted some individual details I felt like I wanted to stand out a bit, and when I was happy with it I sealed it with Tamiya Clear.

Which brings us to yesterday evening, during which I listened to Kate Bush and applied the washes. I dirtied up the floor a bit, as well as the bottom of the sidewalls. I also accentuated lines and curves of the details.

This is the result:



Total game-changer, these oil paint washes.

I shared the pic with Bruce and his feedback was positive. He was also the driving force behind getting me to change my mind and log this, so if anybody has any complaints about me logging yet another Emil, blame him. HA!

So here it is. The plane I work on to decompress.

No complaints here with seeing you log another build concurrently with the others. Let alone it being an Emil. It’s bigger, so it’s different.
As far as being a decompression build, we all have our own requirements for that. For me, it’s usually some sort of Tamiya kit that just falls together when you look at it. Like your 1/48 Emil...
Nice work with the oils in the cockpit!
Please do continue to share your work. You and your work are always enjoyable to see here!

Carlos,

I appreciate that! It is refreshing to me that I have folks like you on here who are supportive of my ideas. And I hope you know that it goes both ways, definitely.

Bruce,

You know what, I grok that 110%. I feel like I’m on the verge of developing certain styles of my very own which I can use on different kits and subjects. Building and weathering my tank has really opened my eyes to a myriad of different, new possibilities and it’s carried over, surprisingly enough, to my aircraft building. I’ve been insulated, to say the least, from a lot of the trends because aside from my time here I really don’t read much about modeling. I think this is a good thing. For me, the assembled components for this canvas, and I like to paint. I like looking at it like a composition. And I also agree that instructions are indeed more like suggestions. Heh, I’ve been going about my Corsair quite differently from what the instructions advise, but doing that has allowed me to really focus on how I want this thing to be. And the same goes for this Emil, here. I build as it suits me. Paint that way on it, too.

That said, I think I’m going to give my Galland Emil a rest tonight, let that new paint set up fully, and spray clear on it tomorrow, and in the meantime work on the seatbelts for this bad boy this afternoon. After that, when the babies go to bed, I’ll work on the Corsair, and continue work on the Panzer’s wheels.

I'm glad you are posting this build too, Kenny. Sometimes, that relief valve build is the one that nets the most interesting results. I usually like having multiple builds going just so that I'll always have something to work on.

Before you put the big scale Emil away, can you talk a little bit more about oil washing? The type of oils you are using, what colors and how you are applying it. I'm not familiar with what you are doing but I like the results and I'd like to learn a little more. I've done some oil filtering but what you are doing seems different.

That’s exactly it, John! Always having something to work on.

Okay, to your question. I use the Windsor & Newton oils paints you can buy at Michael’s, and for thinner I use the most gentle stuff out there- Mona Lisa mineral spirits. So far, this stuff has worked for me on surfaces sealed with both Mr. Hobby Clear and Tamiya Clear.

You can make your standard pin washes with it, sludge washes, you can use it for filters, whatever you’d like.

This cockpit was a combination of using heavy thinned raw umber as a wash, as well as using slightly less thinned raw umber in much the same way as you’d paint on a canvas, only after I laid it down with the brush, I took a Kleenex tissue, rolled some of it into a cone, dabbed it in more Mona Lisa Thinner, and gently used the tip to wipe it away from the places I’d highlighted previously. I could’ve used a cotton bud for that too, I suppose. Basically I painted it down and then immediately “erased” it from the highlighted areas by letting the Kleenex absorb the thinner and most of the pigment. Used it just like an eraser. And it worked very well! I love this stuff.

Thank you Kenny for that explanation. Always looking for another weathering technique to add to the repertoire! I'll have to play around with this. So are your oil colors earth tones? I have a set of primary colors that I found while going through my kids' old toys. I may have to pick up a complement of more model-specific tones. Any recommendations on a good starting set of colors for weathering? I guess raw umber would be one?

Real quick one before Mrs. Kenny X and I sit down to watch Big Trouble In little China-

First John, Raw Umber and Burnt Umber are a good place to start. I also have Sienna, and a variety of Grays which you’ll see used on my Corsair. A variety of earth tones and grays is what you need. And a black, too.

Okay! I actually got the seatbelts done! These were a challenge to build, because they’re small, metal, and you have to bend bits of them and link them together, and then bend them around the seat. This took a solid hour. I affixed them with Testor’s super glue. And as per usual, I got the sides of the seat all dirty with glue when I did it LOL. Had to do some touch-ups on that, but it’s fine. After that, oils. Thinned burnt umber a bit, and kind of put globs of it on there, then swiped with a brush, then removed the excess with a small Tamiya cotton bud with Mona Lisa thinner on it.



Here’s the instructions. Subassemblies for seatbelts! Wow!



Cheers folks! Gonna whatch a movie with the wife and then go to bed and hopefully the babies let us sleep in!

Big Trouble in Little China... what a fun movie! Truly under appreciated.

Nice work on the seat harness

I feel that this is the best cockpit I’ve done, to-date. She’ll get a Flat Clear coat tomorrow, and then, later, I’ll begin work on the gun bay and engine.