Tweaked my back last Sunday. It was a struggle to get out out bed on Monday morning, and it hurt to sit for any length of time. It meant I did lots of reading and watched lots of the Olympics instead of modelling. Things were better by the end ofThursday, so was able to get back to the bench for a few hours.
Too cold to bike this week. That normally means no snow but that old saying didn't hold up well. Had to shovel three times, and was also shovelling a neighbours while they were out of town. Marie took the video below on Saturday, while I was shovelling. I have run out of room to shovel snow from the driveway. The pile has gotten so high that I can't get any snow over top of it. I have had to shovel the discard pile, and created a path thru the pile, in order to move snow further across the yard. To give a sense of how much snow is there, I am about eye level with the main level eves trough.
Beaufighter
Painting is complete and the the main decals applied.
Ground crews used dope and fabric to keep water out of the cannons under the nose, clearly shown in the Aviaeology documentation. The documentation also notes that it was common to use fabric strips and dope on the wing to fuselage sealing strips to keep the bolts from vibrating out and the wings falling off. I belatedly realized it would be easier to paint and then mask the dope colour than to try and mask to apply it after all the other paint was applied. A custom colour was mixed and delicately airbrushed in the indicated places. Thin masking tape was then applied on the wing sealing strips and the main colours reapplied. The cannon area was masked using a liquid rubber compound, and then rubbed off after the main colour was applied.
Coastal Command Beaufighters apparently weathered severely. Extra Dark Sea Gray was renowned for rapid fading, even in good conditions, and these aircraft were not operated in anything like good conditions. The initial attempt to replicate the effect was done with 4 different colour greys, representing "new" to "severely faded". The effect I am trying for is shown in the last photo in this article. https://www.vintagewings.ca/stories/black-buffalo
Photo 1 - masking removed, showing the invasion stripes.
Photo 2 - Initial effort at modelling the colour variations
Photo 3 - A step backwards. Pink dope colour applied.
Photos 4, 5 & 6 - Grey resprayed and dope colour unmasked
Photo 7 - Gloss applied and ready for initial weathering
Error corrections or how not to weather
My initial weathering has typically consisted of a protective coat or 2 of Aqua Gloss, an acrylic gloss varnish, to protect the underlying paint. This allows various oil and enamel washes to be used without risk of damage to the underlying paint. At least that is the theory.
This time around the wash attacked the sky underside. The underside was painted using Model Master enamel, so it is susceptible to attack without the protective gloss coat. I don't know why the process didn't work this time, but wonder if it is related to using mineral spirits rather than turpenoid to mix the wash. Regardless, it was necessary to sand the damaged paint areas, feather the edges, and then respray.
Photos 1 & 2 show the damage from the dark oil wash, which etched into the paint below.
Photos 3 & 4 show the same areas after they were repaired and repainted.
Time for the decals.
Main decals are complete. The stencils will be applied after the main decals have dried.
Alpha Jet
I went back thru my airshow pictures, as I knew I had taken photos of Alpha Jets while at Cold Lake. Sure enough, I have pictures of 2 different planes, including the specific one in the kit. This plane appears to be kept very clean, and all the pictures on the internet show it to have remained clean. A green/gray one, parked beside this one, definitely shows signs of use.
The cockpit was finished up this week. I found some instrument dials that could represent dials. They aren't prototypic but it looks much better.
Photos 5 & 6 show the installation of some of the various pieces into the fuselage. I had noted in a previous post that Kinetic used a strategy where they can model multiple versions depending by adding the appropriate piece into a fuselage recess. It is a good idea but the moulding isn't very crisp and results in some ugly gaps. Mr. Surfacer, seen as a grey outline around the various cutouts, came to the rescue. The cleaned up fuselage, looking much better, is shown in Photo 6.
That's it for this week. Have fun and stay safe.
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