It’s the middle of February. Still cold but there is warmer weather next week. I have been forcing 20 minutes at the workbench each night as a way to wind down the day. This doesn’t create much progress, but it is certainly better than not doing it at all.
Lots of pictures today after some decent progress over the weekend.
737
After a gloss coat to protect the decals, the 737 is done! I am really happy with the result. It took much longer than I expected but the final result justifies the effort. I replaced the overly thick nose gear doors with strip, but left the rather complex main gear doors alone. They are harder to see, and so the pay off wouldn’t be as good as the more visible nose doors.
Funny, as I reviewed the pictures, I noticed that one of the small white decals on the starboard front door is missing. I will have to fix that. And the dust on the blue tail, especially in the close ups, is horrifying.
Avenger
The primer highlighted the need for some minor repairs on the fuselage and the wing. The wing was the result of a blob of something being spilled. It was very hard, sanded off cleanly, but resulted in the loss of elevator details. I initially used strip styrene to restore the missing detail, but it looked over size. A second attempt was made using stretched spruce, and that yielded a satisfactory result.
I wanted to try something different to add tonal variation. I have tried pre and post shading With mixed results. It seems to be the way everyone is building these days, but it’s a lot of work to pre shade, and I am note sure the results are worth the effort. Post shading has been more successful, but I have a tendency to over do it. Another thing everyone seems to be doing is panel line washes. I have used panel line washes, but find they tend to direct focus to the panel lines rather than the overall paint finish. This may be the result of using too dark a wash, and I will continue to experiment. Oil washes have generally given the best result, though I need more practice. I recently read about using an artool mask - a random splotch template - to apply a darker colour in a random pattern, then overspray with a thin layer of the original colour to reduce the contrast. I have an artool mask, and have used it after painting, to reasonable effect, to represent dirt and wear on the final finish. Using it as a random pre shade was something I wanted to try.
The pictures below show the process. The mask is placed against the model’s surface, and the colour is sprayed thru. Accuracy isn’t important as I am trying to achieve a random effect. The colours used are all Model Master enamels. The darker grey, used as the splotch colour, was thinned about 3:1 thinner to paint. The overspray to reduce contrast and blend the splotches was thinned about 2:1. The effect is more pronounced in person than shows in the pictures. The contrast still seems too much but past experience has been that the contrast will be further reduced by weathering and clear coats.
The darker grey, used in the upper surfaces, was sprayed next. This time, a dilute black was used with the splatter template. The pictures below show the splatter after applying, and after a dilute base colour coat has been used to blend the effect. The last picture shows the two tone grey colours of the Royal Canadian Navy. I will let that dry before a light polish to prepare the surface for markings.
I want to try to make and use masks for the letters and numbers. I am not sure if I am brave enough to try to paint the roundels. The scheme I have chosen doesn’t use the yellow outline Around the outside of the rounded, so that should make it easier if I chose to paint them.
CRJ-200
With completion of the 737, its time to start a new kit. As noted last post, I have decided on a CRJ-200 from BPK - Big Plane Kits. The details are really nicely done, but the kit has no locating tabs. The fuselage is moulded in clear plastic, and includes masks for all the cabin and cockpit windows. There is a nice cockpit but no cabin detail. The idea of placing masks on each cabin window doesn’t appeal to me, so I plan on using window decals. I have a set of photo real window decals coming, if they ever get here. The order was placed back on November 27, and they are still shown as in transit. The vendor has indicated that it has been taking 3 months for Canadian shipments, so my fingers are crossed. The kit decals include the current Air Canada black and white scheme. I have a CRJ-900 in the same scheme, instead I will use a red maple leaf Jazz set from Nazca.
The pictures below include a standard hobby knife for scale reference to show how tiny this kit is.
I tried a test fit of the main components, and it is really quite good. Most of the parts have minor flash but cleaned up easily. There is an insert on the bottom of the fuselage, between the wings and tail, that is going to be fiddley to install. Some of the joints around the wing may need a little work. But overall it looks like it will go together quickly.
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