1:72 Tornado GR4, Dambusters70th Anniversary

1:72 Tornado GR4, Dambusters70th Anniversary

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dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Wednesday 14th January 2015
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HoHoHo said:
O
dr_gn said:
Windscreen masking done:

Nose photo confused
Windscreen is on top of the nose - I masked some of the inside of it too smile

Most of the cockpit is masked now, plus I added a handle out of some dowels; there is going to be a lot of messing about during painting, and I don't want to cover the thing in grease by handling it directly:


HoHoHo

14,980 posts

249 months

Wednesday 14th January 2015
quotequote all
dr_gn said:
HoHoHo said:
O
dr_gn said:
Windscreen masking done:

Nose photo confused
Windscreen is on top of the nose - I masked some of the inside of it too smile

Most of the cockpit is masked now, plus I added a handle out of some dowels; there is going to be a lot of messing about during painting, and I don't want to cover the thing in grease by handling it directly:

The image on my iPad at that time was the cutting of the old nose photo - how weird confused

Seems to be OK now, sorry for any confusion caused by modern technology wink

dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Thursday 15th January 2015
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Another evening of masking tape, Blu-tac and Kleenex; I always dreamed of this kind of life.



Anyway, masking of cockpit, wheel wells, LRMTS and intake ramps is about 50% done now.

dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Saturday 17th January 2015
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I decided to put the LRMTS lens (a "little lens") in place now, then I'll add the angled glazing and mask it. One less thing to do for final assembly:



All u/c bays are now masked. Just the above work on the LRMTS pod, and some final bits of Blu-Tac for the cockpit, then it's painting:


dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Sunday 18th January 2015
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Painted the jet exhaust / bucket area tonight:



And the internal colour of the windscreen frames:



Put the brass pitot tube on as well. Strange how I stopped noticing the nose geometry as other things distracted me. FWIW I think it looks quite a reasonable shape now. I'm still not sure whether to add the LRMTS window after completion, or mask it as it is. I'm currently erring towards removing it and adding it at the end. That view highlights how wrong the fit of the pod is...maybe I can worry about that for a while before moving on to somethign else

Edited by dr_gn on Sunday 18th January 22:25

jamieduff1981

8,022 posts

139 months

Monday 19th January 2015
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I think the nose looks good. Do you have a reference photo handy for the pod? I've seen them plenty times but can't quite remember how they should look exactly.

dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Monday 19th January 2015
quotequote all
jamieduff1981 said:
I think the nose looks good. Do you have a reference photo handy for the pod? I've seen them plenty times but can't quite remember how they should look exactly.
I think it's a bit too wide at its widest point, so it partially wraps around the fuselage at that point. It's a resin part that can only fit in one place, so that's that, without a load of extra work.

jamieduff1981

8,022 posts

139 months

Monday 19th January 2015
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It should fit flat on the fuselage bottom, right?

dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Monday 19th January 2015
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jamieduff1981 said:
It should fit flat on the fuselage bottom, right?
Right. Actually it's not resin, it's the kit part. IIRC it's hollow, and not particulaly easy to modify.

dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Tuesday 20th January 2015
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Base coat of grey now on. It did reveal some nastiness at the front of the windscreen - I think it's short shot, but the replacement clear sprue I got was the same. I've tried to improve it with Milliput. Time will tell if it worked:


dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Wednesday 21st January 2015
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Preshaded the main bits tonight with german grey:



Overcoated with my own mix of light grey and white:



In reality it's more contrasty than in the photo. The plan is to now spray individual panels in lighter and darker shades as appropriate, and becasue the chances of me getting the contrast low enough is zero, I'll overspray again with base coat until I get it subtle enough. Then paint the nose, spine panels that are much darker, then the fin. It's too cold to do any more in the garage tonight so I'll leave it to dry tonight.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
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Does this work with brushing?

Sorry, following what you are doing and just wondering. Should try it on the next one though I suppose you have to gauge how much you want the effect. Looking at the pics I took at airshows last year it can different especially for the military vs non. Looks vs form I suppose?

dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
quotequote all
jmorgan said:
Does this work with brushing?

Sorry, following what you are doing and just wondering. Should try it on the next one though I suppose you have to gauge how much you want the effect. Looking at the pics I took at airshows last year it can different especially for the military vs non. Looks vs form I suppose?
I doubt very much it would work very well by brushing; you need to mist the overcoats on so that the dark lines just filter through. The effect may or may not be totally true to life, but it's a subtle way of adding interest to a plain scheme. If you compare it to the previous image after the first coat, I think it looks much better.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
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Don't get me wrong, I like the effect. (probably not so clear in my question)


Some of the example I see are stunning I think and wondering how to apply sans airbrush. I understand what you are saying though with regards application.

72twink

963 posts

241 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
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jmorgan said:
Does this work with brushing?
Without trying to hijack the thread - It can be done with brushing but you need to be very very good!

Brush painted Spits

All worth a read but skip to page 16 where he starts brushing the camo on.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
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Yeah, sorry for the slight derail. Ignore me. I shall fade back into the woodwork and watch your excellent work.

72twink

963 posts

241 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
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I'm sure GN won't mind a huge derailment, it was a valid question and the Spit thread I posted was an eye opener to me too - not enough to hang up my airbrush though!

dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
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I've never seen that before (the Spitfire type preshading).

Another method would be to brush paint as normal, then instead of coating with Klear, apply some thinners to the panel lines and the area around them, and add a dark wash. The wash will creep slightly into the wetted region around the line, and you can dilute the effect as required by brushing thinners onto the appropriate area. You do usually get this effect to an extent when applying a wash, depending on how glossy the surface is. Never tried it but it might work.

dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Thursday 22nd January 2015
quotequote all
So I spent this evening masking various panels and spraying them slightly darker and lighter greys, plus toned down the preshading a bit further.

I removed most of the masking, including from the parts of the wings swept by the root seals. Turns out the contrast between all the greys I've used isn't really as much as I'd like. In this case I'll be kind to myself and call the effects "subtle"! Better than too much contrast I guess. I just want to get this one finished now...





Still needs the nose and the two spine panels spraying in darker grey, and of course the fin.

dr_gn

Original Poster:

16,140 posts

183 months

Sunday 25th January 2015
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Bit more progress on painting - masked and sprayed the darker dorsal panels. I think the rectanguar bit where the antennae fit needs to be a bit darker. Next job is the fin: