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Good evening all
So Monday night was club night and so I took this kit to work on. By the end I had the fairly basic cockpit constructed. The fuselage halves and wings were also off the sprue by the close.
This has allowed for a bit of a rudimentary dry fit. This has highlighted that there is not much support for the rear of the underside wing to grab on to where it joins the fuselage when it's put in place but I have a cunning plan.
Wings are now gluing with the help a 'few' 'clamps'.
Best of all the pilot actually fits in his seat!! This is unlike every 1/72 Airfix pilot I have ever used......I now cut their flying boots off before bothering to paint them, I've had that many problems in the past.
Is it an uber detailed modern kit? Nope!!! but it's going together ok so far!
ACW as usual.
ATB
Andrew
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Looking very neat and tidy there Andrew :thumb2: ,
It is quite a "chubby" looking plane isn't it? You're right about that pilot....he looks very "at home" in there!
Good stuff mate.
P.S. I'm sure you could've got another couple of "clamps" on there!
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Looking good Andrew. Interesting subject.Comment
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Junior was the typical blunt teenager and just called it fat....I was trying to be a little more circumspect!
I think I also need to educate him on racial stereotyping. When I told him it was a Japanese plane, he immediately asked where the sushi storage compartment was.... :sad-face:
Thanks Tim. It is a bit different....although I'm still coming to grips with how big it is!
ATB
AndrewComment
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Good morning all
So a small update......
Some of you will remember on the 109s for my 'Hunters and Hunted' collection the AZ Models really are awful in terms of alignment/attachment points. Whilst this old Tamiya kit is much better, the initial dry fit did suggest the potential for the same issue to occur in some key places - this of course could have led to some alignment issues later on in the build. The base of the fuselage and the wings being the worst offenders.
I have therefore started to attach some 0.3mm x 4mm plastic strips along the key joins to give the other half something to butt up against. It may not be the 'done thing' but subsequent dry fits show the all around alignment is much more positive and the various line up nicely.
Hopefully you can see what I mean below.
ATB
Andrew
PS....apologies for the second picture being slightly blurry.
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An interesting idea Andrew, can't say I've seen that done before :thinking:.
I'll watch this closely..... I might well adopt it in my future build.
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Good idea Andrew. Good alignment of the fuselage halves will save a lot of faffing about with filler, sanding, rescribing later.Comment
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Nice progress andrew , nothing wrong with giving a kit a hand with the alignment , a lot of older kits ( like I seem to do quite a bit!) usually dont line up like they should , probably a result of the toolings wearing over the years .Comment
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Thanks gents. It seemed the logical thing to do, because although it line up reasonable well, it tended to slip a bit each time I changes hands or where I was holding it.
Should be seeing some primer soon!
ATB
AndrewComment
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Good evening all
So I have finally managed to get the pilot done. I wanted to get him finished before got the AB and spray booth out for the plane.
As usual I have used the forum famous 'Marlow Method'!! Thanks again Tim!!! :thumb2: :thumb2: :thumb2:
In attempting to do a skin tone that is appropriate for a Japanese pilot, I have consulted this very helpful post on the CoolMiniOrNot forum here LINK.
As you will see all the paints are water-based acrylics, almost all Vallejo and so as they dry quickly. I was therefore able to get this done in less than three hours and I could probably have done it a bit quicker if I had focussed more.
For newer members to the forum, what follows is a very quick overview of the 'Marlow Method' - full SBS is here LINK
ACW as usual
Andrew
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Having primed the figure you splash it all over with a wash that is made from a 50:50 mix of Vallejo’s Glaze Medium (70.596 & 73.596) and Game Color Black Wash (73.201). This make the figure easier to 'read' and helps to create some preshading.
Next up is the face using the CoolMinisOrNot suggested colour palette.
For 'white' western figures you then splash Vallejo’s Game Color Flesh Wash (73.204) all over. It settles into the recesses giving shade and definition to the features and hands. I added a couple of drops of Sepia Shade Game Wash (73.200), given the skin tone I was after, not entirely successfully.
You can also see the initial black wash effect much better in this shot.
In terms of the rest of the kit for the major areas i.e. uniform, you simply take your chosen base colour plus dark grey and off-white.
You then mix a bit of dark grey and your chosen colour and apply that as a dark base coat
You then apply a thin coat of your chosen colour as it is out of the bottle, making sure you leave some of the darker base coat in recessed areas to create some shadow.
You then mix a bit of the off white and your chosen colour and highlight raised areas like creases or shoulders that will catch more of the light! Job done!
The rest of the kit was then painted to my taste....not easy when there are so many variations of Japanese wartime pilot colour schemes to choose from.
This was my chosen palette, along with my DIY wet palette.
I actually painted him yesterday but had to wait to today to get some hopefully better pictures, although the dreaded digital zoom has done it's usual worst!
It's not my best work but the worst of the worst will hopefully be hidden in the cockpit!
Also, he looks rather 'western' to my eye - a feeling my daughter confirmed.
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Looks very nice indeed Andrew..
.... and great to see you back!! :thumb2:Comment
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