and other artistic stuff
After doing some final touches with chipping and finally getting the gear sit as it should, I decided to declare this kit as finished.
If you want a easy to build P-47 that looks nice, I can recommend this kit, but get other decals as the kit ones are very stiff and hard to work with.
Fun build, but right now I’m glad it’s done! 🙂
The P-47D got a clear cote on the topside, and the gear leg gave away again.
I’ve glued the leg again, but are thinking of securing it with CA glue. I also have started weathering the plane and will show pics of the result later.
I added a few details to the Stuart like tracks, gun and antenna.
Like the P-47D this is also an Academy kit with their old decals, which are quite stiff to work with, making them hard to conform to the surface. I think these turned out better than on the P-47.
Once all the decals was in place I sealed them with a clear cote.
Before continuing with the weathering, I needed to sort the hatches that I plan to have open.
I just need to check which colour the inside of the hatches should have.
Lastly the landing gear covers and the drop tank for the Corsair got some white paint and the propeller tips got a cote of pink.
Next will be to paint them yellow, then I’ll mask and paint the blades black. I might need to redo the hub paint as it’s easier to mask the blades.
A while ago I decided to try to finish some of my so called shelf queens, meaning models that have been sitting on my shelf or lying in their box, waiting to be finished.
The P-47D I’ve shown here is one of them, which now is nearing finish. So the other day ig got a clear cote on the underside.
I will do the clear cote on the topside asap.
Next in line is my Academy 1/35 M3 Stuart kit. I’ve started to paint it, but evidently it got stuck there. I started with painting the underside and part of the sides and rear in olive drab. The idea is to make it look like it’s been painted over with the desert colours.
I started with the sand colour.
Then I masked and painted the next colour.
Just to realise that it was the wrong colour. So I just painted the “correct” colour once this one had dried.
Once dry, I masked and painted the last colour.
Then I removed the masking tape.
Lastly I started painting details like the tools.
Next will be a clear cote and then decals.
Lastly I picked up this kit again. Had a search session for the box, and found it, but now I must find the instructions and covers for the landing gears. Otherwise it’s ready for decals.
I hope I can get at least one of them done before the end of this month.
In attempt to solve the problem with the decals, I tried to use Pledge on a few of the stencils. It turned out quite well and I think I’ll use the same method for the rest of the decals.
Meanwhile i glued rocket launchers, bombs and rear wheel.
Shortly after I also added tank and landing gears.
There I left it to dry over night.
Next to do is the rest of the decals before I paint it all with Pledge, then antenna and gun barrels and a few glass pieces needs to go on as well.
Now I finally have got all the decals and stencils in place!
The decals sure needs some work to sit properly, but with the stencils I might have found a method that might work. As they seems to look in place when wet, I used some Pledge and laid a thin cote with brush on a few stencils. Have to see how that turns out when dry.
No return from that method though!
Gears, covers, bombs, and rockets sorted and some made ready to paint.
Then I painted the outside of the covers, bombs and rockets.
Next will be to get the decals to sit, make brake lines for the landing gears and then do some final assembly.
The original decals to this kit isn’t the easiest I’ve worked with. Even on relatively flat surfaces it’s hard to get them to confirm properly, and even with decal fluids it doesn’t seem to work as I want. I just might need to live with silvering in some areas.
Also I need to buy stronger decal fluids, but that won’t help on this one I guess as I won’t get them fast enough.
So far I’ve done all the major decals and left to do is all the stencils, and normally stencils have a tedency to silver. I just have to see how it turns out with these.
I also must check that I have all other things ready for assembly later.
Well almost atleast! I unmasked it and then masked around wheel bays and painted them zinc-chromate yellow.
I’m gonna put a cote of Pledge over the paint to get a gloss or semigloss finish for the decals.
Left to do is landing gears and painting all the small stuff that needs to go on. I decided to go with rockets on this one, just cause it looks so cool.
I’ve heard many praise Hataka colours, but I guess that must be their laquer range they’re talking about. I know acrylic colours have a tedency to clogg up the nozzle after a while. For some reason I thought they were thinned and ready to go, but it clogged up almost instantly.
After cleaning up the airbrush, I diluted the colour and added a few drops of airbrush medium. That made brushing a lot easier and it lasted longer before it clogged the nozzle, calling for another clean up.
After my first go with the second colour, it looked like this.
A bit spotchy and uneven. So I mixed up a new batch and had one more go.
Still a bit uneven, but perhaps acceptable. I might lay another layer.
After a second cote of primer to check the seams, I could start to paint the underside in neutral grey.
This is the first time I use Hataka acrylic colours. I started with the paint directly from the bottle, but it clogged the nozzle pretty fast. After diluting it, it was a lot easier to paint. A good thing with the Hataka paints is that there is a ball that helps when shaking the bottle.
I will mask for the medium green colour and see how that turns out. I’ll try to get softly feathered edges.
I glued the front glass and then used blue tack to hold the canopy in place, as I haven’t decided if I’m going to have opened or closed yet. Then I painted the frame.
Then I gave almost the whole plane a layer of Vallejo primer. It wasn’t enough to cover everywhere, but enough for me to spot some seams that needs to be taken care of.
I’ll put primer everywhere once the seams are sorted.