WIP : Italeri 1/48 A-36 Apache Pt. 4 – Finishing
Once all the paint has cured, I gave the whole kit a once over with gloss coat.
For the scheme I’m doing, there are yellow wing bands which cut across the dive brakes. The decals for these don’t account for the openings on the dive brakes so to make my life easier, I decided to mask and spray the bands.
The decals for the bands are 1cm in width but the instructions show they are narrower. I decided to follow the instructions. These were a custom mix of yellow with some orange mixed in. These were sprayed over a base of some white marble coat which helps with opacity.
The decals are quite robust and went on quite easily and reacted well to Mark Softer. Unlike modern subjects, there is a general lack of stencils which I’m thankful for. While looking at the marking callouts I noticed that a small part of the tailfin is supposed to be white color. This was quickly masked off and sprayed.
As usual with WWII subjects, there are a general lack of stencils. Not that I’m complaining.
The shark mouth decal took a fair bit of adjusting. I really should have cut it into 2 and re-align them. And yes, I managed to snap one of the nose guns off.
I did the best I can with the placement and fixed the gaps with paint. However, if you looked closely, there are 2 wrinkles on the decal that I couldn’t get rid off.
Shark mouths are always cool.
Once the decals have cured and wiped down with a wet cloth, they were given a gloss coat. Next I added chipping using silver, olive drab and medium gray paint. These were added with a sponge.
I chipped random spots all over the fuselage simulating wear and tear. Heavier chipping was done for the leading edges of the wings and where I assume there’s more foot traffic.
While I used a silver color for the topside chips, I went with a black color for the bottom which shows up more on the gray. As you can see, 1 of the nose gun barrels have broken off. As usual, there’s always some sort of last minute disasters to fix.
Next is panel washing with Mig AMMO Dark Brown Wash. This fills the panel lines which add ‘depth’ and ‘weight’ to the kit. It’s subtle on the olive drab side.
It’s more obvious on the gray side.
To tone down the contrast I filtered with white, dark gray and dark brown oil paints. The filters also toned down the chipping I did.
The filters were done in the direction of air flow so it’s front to back on the wings and up and down on the fuselage.
I added more brown filters behind the main gear.
The wheel well were given a simple wash to pop the details.
To show that there are ‘new’ and ‘old’ chips I went back in and added more. Tamiya Weathering Masters was used for the soot on the gun barrels and exhaust stains. The exhaust stains were enhanced with some light spraying of Model Air Dark Panzer Grey.
The masking tape is finally removed from the canopy and… it’s OK. There are some dust spots inside the canopy that I’ll have to live with. I’m quite happy how visible the scratchbuilt harnesses are.
The bombs are finally attached. I also weathered them and figuring that operationally no one will really bother with being neat with an expendable weapon, I handpainted the yellow rings that indicated that the bombs were ‘live’.
Then the antennas are attached and the wing lights were painted. I decided skip the aerials this time and I’m finally done!
Build Log
Part 1 – Construction | Part 2 – Cockpit | Part 3 – Painting | Part 4 – Finishing
WIP : Italeri 1/72 MiG-37 Ferret E – Construction
Next up is what I initially hoped was a quick build. The MiG-37 is a fictional Soviet stealth aircraft designed by the Testors Model Company as the Eastern Bloc counterpart to their F-19 Ghostrider kit. My copy is a Italeri re-boxed kit.
Work begins with the cockpit which is very sparse and simplified although surprisingly, all the consoles have molded detail instead of decals. There’s even molded on harness details on the ejection seat.
I replaced the molded harness with 1mm tape instead.
The cockpit area itself is very bare.
So I spruced it up with bits of plastic plate. The kit comes with a clear part for the HUD but there’s no HUD mount so I made one up with plastic plate also.
Looks OK after a coat of paint, which is in the usual weird green color Soviet aircraft cockpits tend to be in.
After giving everything a thin wash of black, I added the HUD. Instead of the kit HUD though I made a thinner one from a battery blister pack.
The other parts came together quite quickly after that.
And then I sprayed white color to check for seamlines.
Yikes! The gaps that are revealed are quite bad, especially the wingroots at the bottom which look more like canals.
Elbow grease and time will be needed to get this to look decent which means this won’t be a quick build after all. Ah well… I should have known better.
Build Log
Part 1 – Construction
Guide : Painting a 1/48 US WWII Pilot
While finishing my Italeri 1/48 A-36 Apache, I decided to go ahead and paint up a pilot figure so I can use it as a size reference. It’s what I have been doing with my 1/72 modern pilot. This WWII pilot figure comes from the Hasegawa 1/48 WWII Pilot Figure Set. The instructions simply say ‘US pilot’ so I’m not sure if this represents a USAAF or USN pilot. I think it’s the latter though. In any case, this is the only option for a US pilot.
The details are decent but nothing to shout home about. Clean up however was minimal.
First I sprayed a base coat of black.
Then I sprayed white at a 45 degree angle from above. This simulates the Sun as the light source so I immediately get some highlights and shadows.
The basic colors are then handpainted. Some of the highlights and shadows can still be seen which is what we want.
Then I washed the figure with Army Painter Warpaints Soft Tone for the flesh with Army Painter Warpaints Dark Tone and Citadel Shade Nuln oil for the rest.
Once the washes have cured, I went back in to add highlights using the same basic colors.
The end result is… decent for an hour’s work. But it doesn’t look half bad posed with a plane so I’m more than happy with it.
The box comes with RAF, IJA/IJN and Luftwaffe pilots too so there’ll be more practice to come.
Happy Chinese New Year
Wishing everyone a merry Chinese New Year. May the new year bring more fortune, luck and time for their hobbies!
Upcoming : Academy Gatchaman New God Phoenix
Now this is unexpected. From the Korean (?!) manufacturer Academy comes the New God Phoenix from the anime Gathcaman II.
The only details so far are that the kit will come in multi colored parts and will include the Gatchaman team and their individual vehicles which can be stored inside New God Phoenix. No other details like release date and price so far.
The nostalgia fuel is strong in this one. I used to have the Popy toy and I was actually more exposed to Gatchaman II and Gatchaman Fighter instead of the original Gatchaman.
More pics at Tag Hobby.
