Tamiya 1/48 Mitsubishi Ki-46 III Type 100 Command Recon Plane (Dinah)

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 11:15 am

Just as well we gave it Dinah as a code name, that's quite a mouthful!

This is my first ever group build, only one of a handful of models I will have completed since I came back after a productive childhood spent with Humbrol paints and hairy sticks. This is also my first Tamiya kit, which is just exciting on its own.

This kit will be a challenge for me in lots of ways and I have some goals as well as I try and improve my skills.

My personal goals for the build are :

* No seam lines!
* Weathering/Chipping - which I have not done before
* Pre shading - not done before
* Post Shading/Panel Lines - not done before
* Eduard Metal Detailing - not done before

If it doesn't end up looking like this :

I shall be pleasantly surprised

now onto the kit....

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 11:32 am

So this is the Tamiya Kit for the Dinah, along with all the other stuff I bought to help with the build or restock current supplies.

There are 22 colours quoted in the instructions so this was a great opportunity to expand my Tamiya paint collection!. I like Tamiya paints because they seem idiot proof, I have got myself to the point I can thin them ok with X-20 and also spray them and they clean nicely out of my airbrush with Alcohol. After a recent nasty experience with paint when I departed my comfort zone, for this build we will be staying firmly inside that zone just for the paint!!

Here is a shot of the sprues still in baggies, I will not be opening the kit just yet as I have a mossie on the bench and need to decide whether to carry on with that for a week or so as a practice.

The part count is nicely low - I expect due to the non-combat nature of this aircraft. Everything does look lovingly detailed, especially the pilot figures which are amazing.

Here is the very nice box-art, handily showing a weathered look.

and the sides showing potential colour schemes.

and finally the decals, I have heard there might be issues with these bad boys, so we shall see....

pmarshall · Post by **pmarshall** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 11:44 am

It's a nice kit, the decals are a bit thick like quite a lot of Tamiya.
Using warm water to soak them can help with that a bit.

Don't go crazy on the chipping though, the recon Dinah's generally operated from good bases and were kept as clean as possible to keep the speed up, so it's not like a South Pacific aircraft operating off a coral strip.

It's a lovely aircraft - i'd just bought another, having built one.

Good luck.

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:35 pm

thanks pmarshall!, light weathering only is the order of the day for sure, I am going with the box art.

I have never used, opened or even actually seen IRL an Eduard PE kit before I ordered this one, gulp! - what a lot of tiny bits!

the instructions look daunting but when I had a longer look it seems mostly add on detail rather than a lot of editing of the original kit, phew! - then I realised some of the bits aren't included in the instructions - do'oh! - should be fun... let's see how many make it onto the model and not the carpet...

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:26 pm

Howdy good people

So finally put the Revell Mosquito aside, and got on with Dinah

So first things first, everything had a bath, sprues in soapy water

and the already beautifully glossy clear parts in a nice bath of Klear

I then spent a good long time studying the Eduard PE set and working out what was what, some of the pieces are very, very small, not sure I have the kit to fit those, so may concentrate on the larger parts for now.

So putting the PE to the side to worry about later, we finally get to step one..... and painting the pilots....

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:45 pm

So first things first, I cut the two Pilots (part 6) off the sprues with a little of the sprue still attached, and seated them in some blu-tack ready for painting.

First the two figures where airbrushed with Tamiya Flat Earth which really shows up all the detail and a few issues like some missed sanding that was corrected before a light re-spray,

Then hit the hairy sticks to add the boots and gloves .... (Tamiya Red/Brown)

And finally with the detailing added

I then mixed up a very thin wash with Tamiya black and some airbrush thinners and gently washed the chaps to bring out the details and left them to dry for the night.

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 9:49 am

So last night we did a few bits and bobs,

firstly took another look at the PE and realised thinking about the PE is stressing me out and more importantly I will need to spend quite a bit more on little tools and what not to do it proper justice (like a jewellers magnifier!) which was ludicrous so after getting the cockpit off the sprue and comparing it to some of the parts I have decided to abandon the majority of the photoetch and just use the bigger instrument panels, as it was had a hard time gluing the frickin main instrument panel together and that was big enough to hold in my hands!

So this is now the cockpit instrument panel, obviously far nicer than I could have painted it.... (apologies for the potato quality, need a macro lens!!)

so then having got the main cockpit parts off the sprue I went ahead and sanded them and then primed them with a Tamiya rattle can before decamping the man cave for the evening and leaving the windows open (man that stuff honks)

So now we come to my first request for noob assistance....

in this picture is the rear of the pilot bay, between the two little nubs and wrapped right round the part is a seam, I seem (haha) to have got rid of some of it but despite some pretty persistent sanding the primer has shown up nicely that there is still a pronounced ridge. Is there a trick to getting rid of these without over sanding the part ?

Anywhoo, still some tidy up needed.

So denied access to the study for the evening I hit the 'net looking for info about Japanese ww2 plane interiors, and discovered a book about the very subject! - after reading a bit of this it mentioned Mitsubishi green was the actual name of the interior paint, and some more googling found this nice web page with some good colour samples which may come in handy when mixing the paint, as the interior is a mix of three tamiya colours (why doesnt Tamiya make one.... seems wierd)

http://www.j-aircraft.com/research/greg ... review.htm

thats all for now folks, not much happened yet, but may finally crack the thin glue out later!!

TonyCnyc · Post by **TonyCnyc** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:09 pm

Coming along great. Have one of these in my stash. Look forward to the rest of your build, and final reveal!

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Wed Jan 28, 2015 2:44 pm

TonyCnyc wrote:Coming along great. Have one of these in my stash. Look forward to the rest of your build, and final reveal!

thanks, having fun, and building with a kind of diary of the build is fun to

so very quick update as snuck an hour in between teleconferences today to crack open a new bottle of tamiya flat aluminium, thinned it with Ultimate thinners

and then sprayed the main parts of the cockpit :

I am very happy with the finish both from the nice flat metallic surface and the fact that I have only ever used Tamiya X-20 to thin tamiya paints and cant see the difference from the Ultimate thinners so can't complain there.

Glad this was done as tonight I will be experimenting with AK Interactive worn effects and finally getting some stuff glued together!!

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 1:30 pm

Suffering very bad case of manflu at the moment

, so as this is almost fatal I have not been doing much but have mixed the paint whilst it was nice daylight in the study.. think it came pretty close to the photoetch, yet another issue I did not consider about the photoetch

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 10:16 pm

Well folks, some stuff finally got glued, I know, I was surprised also....

So I am concentrating on the pilots area at the moment, but the floors of both cabins where sprayed with AK Interactive Worn parts, dried, then sprayed with my cockpit mix, left for a few minutes (I think I should have left it a bit longer....) and then wet and rubbed, brushed and abused.

I didn't get perfect results but for a first time noobie they are not bad I think, it does look worn. The only issue is that it may also have taken some of the aluminium coat off as well, so I probably should have sealed that, lesson learned!!

Anyway, here were the floor pans after my abuse :

And then I went ahead and basically finished the pilots seat area. waiting for this to dry but it looks kinda cool to me

The pilot in shot was merely so I could test fit and then make engine noises whilst I fly him around a bit... you've all done it!!!!

critiques are welcome

MadDaddy · Post by **MadDaddy** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 2:19 am

That's looking pretty good. Like the big canopies on it. I may have to get one of those.

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:20 am

MadDaddy wrote:That's looking pretty good. Like the big canopies on it. I may have to get one of those.

Thanks, it's a lovely kit so far, everything just fits!

So I have done way to much google surfing on this kit and plane but finally, for some reason today the google gods delivered unto me a picture of the handheld camera! - note no strap!

(interesting looking site as well : http://arawasi-wildeagles.blogspot.co.u ... photo.html)

DC87 · Post by **DC87** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:40 am

Nice work so far, cockpit looks lovely. Interesting that they were still using hand held cameras rather than mounted ones during WW2

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:55 am

DC87 wrote:Nice work so far, cockpit looks lovely. Interesting that they were still using hand held cameras rather than mounted ones during WW2

Thanks

It has both from what I can tell of the kit and instructions, but yeah, this plane did like 600kph, imagine holding that thing out of the window, lol

Les · Post by **Les** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 5:03 pm

Great work on your kit so far! I like your paint job, very clean looking. I look forward to more update on your project.

rubegoldberg · Post by **rubegoldberg** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:49 pm

very solid work!

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:49 pm

Les wrote:Great work on your kit so far! I like your paint job, very clean looking. I look forward to more update on your project.

Thanks Les!

I must say the paintwork is in good part due to the new airbrush, I would say with the Iwata Neo I had as many good days painting as bad ones, since I got the H&S I have pretty much not had any issues at all, no splattering, no jams, super fine spray at low pressure, the adjustable thing where you stop yourself being able to draw the trigger all the way back is awesome for someone as heavy handed as me, so a lot of the smoothness I would say is down to the right tool! (haha)

So anyway, having so much fun with this kit, it is stealing my life away. I was a tamiya fanboi before I started actually building their kits, now it's really true love!!

So finally got off page one of the instructions briefly, to paint the inside walls of airframe (I'm sure there is a technical term for them!...)

finalise the pilot in the cockpit seat (involving a hairy moment where I wasn't sure he was going to fit without taking the controls back off

)

and then starting in on the cameraman and the main camera

The camera has been bugging me since I started the build cos it seemed kinda low detail, so I played about with drilling out the bottom slightly, drybrushing the unit a little to look worn like someone has rubbed up against it, and then filling the "lens" I created with some tamiya clear blue and a blob of clear, I am not sure this picture does it justice but I smiled when it was done anyway

- not sure how much will end up visible but at least I know there is now a camera with a lens in there

now off for cup of tea while it all dries....

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:50 pm

rubegoldberg wrote:very solid work!

Thanks Rube!

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:24 pm

Last update today!!

Observer section is done (so I am officially off step 1 - huzzah!)

Taking the pictures with the SLR is a double edged sword because now I can see a bunch of errors in his paintwork, hehe. Ah well. Through a few MM of clear plastic no one will notice!!

Off camera finished his hand held camera (small, grey, not interesting!) which needs attaching to his groin according to the instructions, sounds painful!

on holiday next week so might be last update for a bit... we shall see as might get some time at the weekend.

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 10:45 am

So finally we get to the major construction work.....

So firstly I added the PE main detail panels, radio, etc, that's all I am putting in at this stage and I made the right call.. when together you can barely see any of it anyway and compared to the myriad opportunities for ruining the model buggering about with superglue I am ok with what I've used and what I havent so far.

Then I very very carefully (!!) glued in the pilot and observer sections on both sides....

and then used Tamiya thin to glue the airframe in stages, I did not do a perfect job but I did a good job, some sanding and maybe filling will be required before we're done but compared to the Mosquito I also have on the bench which basically refuses to go together this was an absolute dream....

So here is the internal nose section with the PE cockpit details, this was a bit of a nightmare as you have to insert and twist to make it fit and either I misread the instructions or they arent clear because it took a few attempts but we got there with only minor paint damage to the black which will need a quick touch up

see the really nifty PE footpedals in this shot??... no of course you cant because this black piece completely obscures them.... thats another ten minutes of my life lost to PE!!

Drying time.... off to do chores

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 11:04 am

Nice work so far, look forward to seeing it progress

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sun Feb 01, 2015 11:59 am

Paul wrote:Nice work so far, look forward to seeing it progress

Thanks Paul!!

So Sunday morning, up at the crack of dawn before the family to make some progress... hasn't been a perfect morning, lol....

So here is the nice eduard masking set for A tamiya 1/48 Dinah... sadly after closer examination not this Tamiya Dinah

Thankfully found the right one after some checking, double and triple checking on ebay so all is not lost...

Next up started preparing the undercarriage, sanding, etc, got to spraying and airbrush jammed up (this is only because I said just the other day not had a problem!!) -so quick strip down and clean and fortunately all was well after this...

So all the aluminium parts of the undercarriage got a spray, clean and 2nd coat to sort issues with seam lines... grr

I decided to use the wheel masks off the eduard set as at least if I damaged them in figuring out how they worked all was not lost, turns out they work great!, can you buy round mask sets just for wheels ??

time for a cuppa - oh and a change of practice card... getting pretty good at the alphabet with the AB

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:01 pm

So a week on Holiday and while I was away the right Eduard Mask was delivered as well as some weathering goodies from AK Interactive

So first things first I got on and masked the canopies and observation windows.. they came out OK for a first attempt I think, time and paint will tell!

Next up I tried out the paneliner that had arrived from AK on the landing gear, I know it's not the right place for it but I had not used it before at all and wanted to see how it worked on something I could repaint easily!

As it turns out, it's great stuff, a bit like tamiya thin glue it just wicks into all the areas you want it to and then you can shine everything back up with a teeny amount of the AK white spirit on a cotton bud. Hard to see from the pics but I was pleased with the result on all the gear, looks better in person.

Then we got back to some major construction, so the bottom section of the wings was painted as indicated in the instructions...

and then assembled...

before with a lot of panic, some slight fitting issues and only one sticky fingermark (dagnabit) and some patience the wings and body are irrevocably joined! - Hurray!

Thanks for watching!

planemaker · Post by **planemaker** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 2:13 pm

Great work!

Looking forwards to seeing some paint.

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 2:32 pm

.
.
Up nice and early to a lovely sunrise through the mancave windows. Gives great light for modelling!

So first up there was a lengthy inspection of last nights glue job, it hasnt come out too badly but there are issues, mainly around the camera area underneath and the rear wings where there are gaps.

She looks very pretty now though....

seriously is a lovely looking aircraft in my view, it has lovely sleek lines.

I am going to have some issues with filling, I can see it coming.... I suck at filling gaps

On a brighter note, as I left the squadron putty (diluted with alcohol) to cure properly I made a start on the engines and props

So the engines where sprayed in a base coat of Tamiya Dark Metallic. I then broke out another new toy from AK interactive, Engine and Turbine Wash. Seals the deal for me with AK products because I think the end result was great. You get a grimy, slightly yellow (like oil!) cast on the engines

I then drybrushed the edges with Tamiya Flat Aluminium to get a good contrast.

The colour has not come through very well on the photo sadly...

Next up I painted the engine housing(?) or whatever it is, again the manual called for dark mettalic but I deviated (gasp!) and used Light Blue - XF-23 and then again hit it with the AK magic.

it's come out grainy in the shot but IRL it looks like it has engine stains on the painted metal, the effect is very pleasing for this noob anyway!.

I've then painted the inside of the engine cowling and housing flat black, and the two parts that are painted same colour as the rest of the aircraft have been stuck on with some strategically placed blue tak so I can paint them same time as the rest when the final coat arrives before assembling the props fully.

Next I broke out another new toy, Mr Colour Buffable Dark Iron and went to to it on the exhausts.... note to self - next time dark undercoat first!

After a good dry in the sun the tops where buffed and I got a pleasing shine on the ends of the pipes.

And finally so far today, props painted tamiya flat brown with the AB

almost there, very soon I will run out of reason not to start the main paint job, gulp

one more shot of my nice weathered engines, so proud, shame you cant barely see them when mounted

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 2:33 pm

planemaker wrote:Great work! Looking forwards to seeing some paint.

hehe, me too!! - I am getting there!

rodrant · Post by **rodrant** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 2:37 pm

Nice one , very good on those engines , and that AK Wash seems some stuff to have around

Good luck with the paint job !

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 10:14 pm

rodrant wrote:Nice one , very good on those engines , and that AK Wash seems some stuff to have around

Good luck with the paint job !

Thanks Antonio.

Well it has been two days of ups and downs frankly.....

Had a nightmare with primer, wish I had never bothered (and in fact didn't in the end) didn't do a great job fitting (or probably masking) the canopies especially the rear canopies where the fit was a PITA...

*sigh* - of course all noob issues, I just have to take them all on the chin and push through..... all lessons for next time

my lady love is now silver all over, I suppose the bright spot is any errors are hard to notice, and at least I absolutely nailed the filling and sanding over the top of the fuselage because there is no seam (yay!)

But been a hard few days though. Not sure what to do about that rear canopy because it's bugging me...

pmarshall · Post by **pmarshall** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:38 am

Coming along nicely - for the rear canopy, just try running some PVA in the gap, then wipe it back with a damp cloth. May need a couple of passes but it will fill the gap without damage.

Nige201980 · Post by **Nige201980** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 6:47 pm

Looks great so far buddy.

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:55 pm

Nige201980 wrote:Looks great so far buddy.

Thanks Nige

So more diary entries from the noob on the front lines.....

It has been an interesting evening!!

So tonight was big paint job night.. and of course courage failed me

So I did no pre shading, I kind of looked at the box art, and wasn't happy that there was a huge differential, so on the underside I erred (to far) on the side of caution and preshaded with a colour that it turned out was to light so it go washed right out basically, will be interesting to see if it shows up once completely cured.

I also bottled on the AK Worn parts, which I was going to use to chip the paint, but I was worried about the finish over the model so in the end decided it wasnt worth worrying about and left it.

On the top, man I had all sorts of issues with the tamiya dark green paint that turned out really to be the airbrush

, I must have had something jammed like a dust fleck in there because even with really thinned paint it did not want to spray at anything other than wide open, then when I cleaned it it seemed to clean fine, we went round this circle twice before I just thinned the green paint to about a third (figuring in my noob'ness that since this was new paint, it was the paint) - and sprayed the model, now the advantage was I did get a very lovely smooth finish but lost control (like being back painting with my neo, hehe) - so having got a coat on, I completely stripped the airbrush (it was completely stripped before I started) and reamed, cleaned, used a ton of cleaner, and apparently whatever was in there is now gone, no idea what it was and I am pretty annoyed with myself because I cleaned it very thoroughly last night as well, but apparently not well enough, I am sure this is an old story to many but first time I had an issue where I wasnt really sure if it was the paint or the brush. So actually despite all these issues on the big night *sigh* the paint came out OK!!!

Even my masking was 90% ok, and I am ok to fix what didn't come out right (few leaks under the tape and some overspray underneath)

So just a couple of pictures for once...... the green coat was before I got the AB sorted and went over it again, looks good now (if a little darker in colour than I had wanted but thats no-ones fault but mine!)

On to final stuff... woohoo

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:23 am

So in the cold light of morning, after the less than zen like painting session last night time to take stock. I think if can fix the overspray and leaks actually it came out pretty well (for me)

so leaks - this looks a hell of a lot worse in the picture than real life due to magnification... honest

however the masking on that awkward rear triangle worked ok

Overspray, definitely lesson learned here....

but the top looks fabbo in my humble opinion, paint went down smooth and IRL looks great

did I do ok ??

pmarshall · Post by **pmarshall** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:38 am

Looks fine to me, and definitely fixable.

For the paint runs under the tape, it looks like you laid paint down a bit heavy ( so it goes down wet, and gets pulled down panel lines ). Near the edges of the tape it's better to build up the paint with thin layers that you let dry. With a double action airbrush just lay a thin layer of paint down, then cut off the paint and just blow air to help it dry. With Tamiya paints it's only a couple of mins for a thin layer to be dry enough to put another thin layer over the top.

As for the overspray near the edges - similar hint, but work a bit closer to the surface. Also rather than using masking tape for the whole thing, use Clingfilm to mask big areas with tape at the edges. Clingfilm is way cheaper than tape, so you can use it to block everything to stop overspray.

It's all just a case of lots of lovely practice

HTH

Peter

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 11:50 am

pmarshall wrote:Looks fine to me, and definitely fixable.

For the paint runs under the tape, it looks like you laid paint down a bit heavy ( so it goes down wet, and gets pulled down panel lines ). Near the edges of the tape it's better to build up the paint with thin layers that you let dry. With a double action airbrush just lay a thin layer of paint down, then cut off the paint and just blow air to help it dry. With Tamiya paints it's only a couple of mins for a thin layer to be dry enough to put another thin layer over the top.

As for the overspray near the edges - similar hint, but work a bit closer to the surface. Also rather than using masking tape for the whole thing, use Clingfilm to mask big areas with tape at the edges. Clingfilm is way cheaper than tape, so you can use it to block everything to stop overspray.

It's all just a case of lots of lovely practice

HTH

Peter

Thanks Peter, and thanks for the continued feedback

I have had issues with paint runs before, but last night for sure was an issue because the paint wasnt much thicker than water so I made myself an issue there and no doubt atomised paint then got underneath as well. I used to get really crestfallen with stuff like this but like you say it's fixable.

Yah on the underside I should just have known better really and masked it with something, anything!!

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:45 pm

I'm baaack!

So, happy now, in fact so happy we are now up to Klear stage and the paintwork is finally moderately safe from my tinkering under a coat of floor polish

So fixed the underneath with the overspray and took the opportunity to basically start over by being a lot bolder with the panel lining and then going very carefully over the top with the IJN Grey. Everything was pretty well masked but I still got a tiny amount of overspray so my masking skills suck but will come with practice.

Anyway, very pleased with the pre-shading. This was before the klear coat.

flash has obliterated some of the detail sadly

Then Klear coat all over after removing the engine parts for separate attention

shiny shiny!

24 hours to dry, will try and get on with the engines and undercarriage tomorrow but my 7 year old got a tamiya half track with his birthday money so will be "forced" to help him with that a bit

AAC · Post by **AAC** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:34 pm

Your build is coming along very nicely and don't worry about any of the "alternate paths in construction" you may have taken, it's all a part of the fun

UKguyInUSA · Post by **UKguyInUSA** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 2:54 am

Cracking work on the cockpits, figures and engines. I look forward to seeing the paint go on and some weathering and chipping added!

Cheers,

Martin

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:56 pm

Thanks chaps! - the comments are a great boost!

So had a lot of fun today fiddling with several tasks, we are for sure on the home stretch at last

So I masked the end of the props and airbrushed the yellow lines, there was a decal for this but I dont think they looked great on my only other plane build so opted to be adventurous, then glossed by brush with Humbrol Clear

Then after tidying up the engine housings I assembled the engines, and tried drybrushing some chips, looks terrible in this pic but slightly more convincing IRL

then fitted the front light(?) by handbrushing the light silver and then adding the clear plastic.

And then rather than paint the navigation lights green and red, I underpainted them silver and then clear green and red, might need another coat

then finally got to the decals, yay

they are thick, but actually very nice, took quite a few coats of micro sol before I was convinced they where conforming, hehe.

now drying

pmarshall · Post by **pmarshall** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 4:12 pm

Looking the business now.

Tamiya decals are quite often recalcitrant - using warm water helps, as does using stronger setting solutions ( Mr Mark Softner / Mr Mark Setter - the Gunze versions - or Daco's ones ), but that's more a shortcut, as Micro Sol does work just takes longer.

Nearly at the best stage - unmasking the canopies

Keep it up

Peter

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 4:22 pm

pmarshall wrote:Looking the business now.

Tamiya decals are quite often recalcitrant - using warm water helps, as does using stronger setting solutions ( Mr Mark Softner / Mr Mark Setter - the Gunze versions - or Daco's ones ), but that's more a shortcut, as Micro Sol does work just takes longer.

Nearly at the best stage - unmasking the canopies

Keep it up

Peter

Thanks Peter, yeah cant wait, hehe.

I liked the decals, yes they didnt want to move, on the other hand they didnt also want to curl up in little balls or break at the slightest pressure. I changed the water in my little dish for every decal so the water was warm, the only one I think will be an issue is the white stripe which moved of its own volition already, probably should have painted that, heh

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:41 pm

Howdy all

So I havent posted for a few days but have been busy on Dinah, hasn't been massively interesting from a posting point of view because it's been panel lines, dry, klear, underside panel lines, dry, klear.....

sadly in those steps I was dumb, very dumb, and did not let one of the coats of klear dry properly and messed up a little paint.... patience is the biggest skill I need to learn in this hobby....

Anyway, we are probably one post away from finishing....

So using AKs green paneliner, we did the top...

and the underside....

the effect is a little subtle, and if you've cacked up your paint job like I did you also get a grungy look, which in the end I left because it doesnt look to bad... free weathering!

Having had a practice on an old model car kit I have tried some oils.... they didn't come out quite as I expected on the actual plane (they looked awesome in practice, of course!!), I am guessing oils dont like gloss, still the effect is ok, for a first time at either oils or exhaust stains

and well, dont know what to say about this... clearly I should have filled these holes in the wings

but onwards and upwards....

the bits from the group "most likely to snap off" are finally painted up

before getting to the good stuff....

It looks good, mistakes, of which I can see a bunch, aside, it's a lovely looking kit and a lovely looking aircraft...

carefully supported to avoid snapping the aerial !

the undercarriage was going to be tricky because it was supposed to be fitted at the same time as we glued the bays, so it was a brown trousers moment squeezing them in and expecting to hear a snap, but they did go in eventually....

which leaves me with the drop tank (still drying) and the aerial (going to try stretching some sprue) to be done tomorrow and I will be done.