Group Build 6 month- open class (9-1-08) $$PRIZE

[TRDG]

I'm looking around here to see what there is in Wisconsin.

The Flames odf War way per the book is

1. Airbrush a black or white undercoat, then hand paint missed cracks

2. Airbrush the base coat with 2-3 thin coatings

3. Highlights and shadows, try drybrushing your highlights, and maybe an ink wash.

Weathering and detail, drybrush rust on appropriate parts, for grime and soot, use a black ink wash in areas that might have had these colors, for mud, use spackle and earth colored paint and a drop or two of PVA white glue to areas that would have mud accumulate.. Oil and Fuel stains also use a wash to get the highlights just right, for dust airspray earth tones, the ones that match where the vehicle was in combat, from heavy to medium to light, you could also use Artist chalk.
Winter camo can be applied by wet brushing the white mixture wash onto the vehicle, faded and worn paint an also be used by wet brushing.

Hard and Soft edge camo can be painted or airbrushed on, depending on the circumstances

Cheers, that s what they say anyways.........

Tom

[Geek44]

All pretty sound but I've never heard of an ink wash...which I guess is pretty self explanatory as to what it is.

[Wolster]

Gents, out interest, when is this build due to finish? Out of the hundreds of models I promised to build I have only finished 2. I haven't done a stroke for months now between work and the weather just being to good to stay inside!!!

[McCoy]

The deadline is set to September first. I'm feelin' a bit of stress for myself as I make slow progress on my Panther. I look at it but don't do much with it when I do sit down with it. I'm currently sufferin' a bad case of modeler's block...

[Geek44]

Paint a single figure or slap a 1/72 aircraft together mate. Works every time for me to 'un-block' the modeller.

[Whiterook]

Man, I’ve been working on this Gotha Night Raider Bomber forever! Well, it feels like forever, anyway. This is officially the longest I’ve ever worked on any one model. It’s been an interesting build for me on so many levels…the new ground traversed has been staggering (truly), in that I had to step WAY out of my comfort zone, which is a good thing to do on a regular basis! I think I would have been better served in some respects, had I chosen a less difficult subject, but no regrets here…I wanted a challenge, I recognized the challenge, and I seized the opportunity to stretch my creative limits…and that it has. Am I happy with the way it’s turning out? If I’m brutally honest…at the moment, not really; but I have hopes that this will change. I don’t consider myself a perfectionist, but I typically set a very high creative bar for myself. The learning curve has just been so great on this piece that, on mistakes made and corrected, tested my patience to the point that I bitched and swore at this damned bird more than once, with the worst display of such emotions this weekend:

Rigging…my word that can be hell on earth lads! What a pain in the sphincter posterius major! Saturday, I was at my wits end. I was a hairs breath away from scrapping the build and hiding it in its box for another day far, far away. Seriously! The mass of curled tippet fishing line anchored to the top wing was a tangled heap of confusion and source of despair. “Why was I doing this to myself?” I asked; with the answer of, “Because you’re a friggin’ moron, you moron!”…and alas, staring at my albatross sitting defiantly upon my work bench, I could not dispute the answer. My major obstacle up to this juncture has been that I never worked with super glue, so I was trying all manner of alternatives, to no avail. In the end, there was no other solution but to use super glue…the problem being however, that I could not find accelerator anywhere, which made the process without it extremely time consuming in achieving proper curing time to achieve acceptable bonds. I had previously threaded most of the left wing and tied off the lines, but getting glue into the holes fought against the taut lines; and then the final insult was a major line popping sarcastically out of its anchor on the top wing. I went upstairs to watch the Olympics, in utter disgust.

That’s when the breakthrough came. Sunday afternoon. Three hours that turned the build on a dime for me. I went down for one last go, as I just couldn’t bear the thought of defeat. My original method of drawing the line through the bottom wing, and suspending hemostats to weigh the lines taut failed miserably; I know it can be done, but I know now that you really need to jig the piece to achieve this successfully. Also, using a pin head to deliver glue to the holes proved unwieldy and gummed-up the head of the pin quickly. And I was using way too much glue, causing long cure times. The difference came when I began to use a much lighter touch with holding the tippet lines with my fingers (rather than using hemostats and tweezers) and delivering the super glue with wire (.30, I believe) that I had bought in the craft store…success! As the wire gummed-up, I would simply snip it off and keep on moving. I fished out and threaded more tippet line through the bottom wing, one at a time, flipping the bird upside down to deliver the glue…cell by cell. The anchors held, and I applied a bit of super glue to these anchor points as I went, to shore up the strength of these critical points. As I went, the confusion of line reduced, and I even managed to repair the popped wire from the night before (with maddening difficulty). The wings are totally rigged, with the exception of two long wires that have to wait for a few bits to be installed first; and I have tail wires to put on, but I need to attach some small bits and apply some decals first. I also need to trim tippet line ends from under the wing, which will be extremely difficult as the whole exterior is covered with decals, so shaving them off with a hobby knife is out of the question.

I still have a ways to go, with landing gear to be attached, bombs, machine guns, and other small bits. And I need to do some touch up painting to where the decals had “flaked” a tad at some section joins and edges. She’s almost airworthy!

[MAGNA]

How did you go with figures Em?

[Geek44]

Emery, I really have to admire your tenacity. You've been away from the hobby for a long time and then bit off a pretty big chunk to chew. There isn't a craftsman among us that wouldn't have been challenged by that kit and I'm really, really looking forward to seeing it fly.
Kudos Mate.
Peace.

[Whiterook]

Originally Posted by MAGNA

How did you go with figures Em?

Ahhhh, I realy liked the WWI figures you pointed me in the direction of, but I never did pick them up. I plan on it, though, as I want to put them in a diorama with the Gotha at some point...even just a simple one. I had thiught that this plane would be a good entry into the local modeler's clubs' next show this coming Spring, but I'm not sure how show worthy it will be, to be honest. I know where the flaws are, and I can't help but think that judges would be all over them...even if they may be somewhat slight in nature.


On figures, I did just get the pewter Stargate figures in the mail last night (5 figures of the SG1 team and 4 Serpent Guards). I'm going to Michael's craft store tonight to pick up some paints. I'll post pics as I go, in the Gaming Forum; not sure they are appropriate to this forum??

[Whiterook]

Originally Posted by Geek44

Emery, I really have to admire your tenacity. You've been away from the hobby for a long time and then bit off a pretty big chunk to chew. There isn't a craftsman among us that wouldn't have been challenged by that kit and I'm really, really looking forward to seeing it fly.
Kudos Mate.
Peace.

Gee Nick...thanks so much, man...I really appreciate that!!!

I think I mentioned this before but it bears repeating to all: Nick has been a huge inspiration to me, especially in his aircraft craftsmanship. He and I have spoken at length on this bird, and he's offered wonderful advice and support on my plans on the build. I never did a lick of rigging in my life, and I came up with a hairbrained plan of approach to everything from the basecoat under all that decaling; to the method of drilling, anchoring, and threading that rigging line. If I can get my aircraft to look half as good as one of his, that'll be an accmomplishement to be proud of!

Back at 'ya