I have started painting…
I am squeezing this monster into my booth section by section. Actually I painted the engine nacelles before installing them as I have done with other lower side panels which would be awkward to get at when assembled. I quite like the variation in colour on the panels (which will become evident when finished!). I am not going to pre shade this as I want to try applying different shades when the main colours are laid down. Hence I am not going to go into any great detail about this phase apart from showing that you need a whole tree to make the paper to mask it.
I have got the D-Day stripes on, they need a bit of cleaning up as the paint has bled a tiny bit.
I am painting other parts at the same time but this is all routine airbrush work. I am showing the Paragon u/carriage doors, before weathering as I recommend them strongly.
This is all fairly routine stuff and I’m posting these just to show that I am still working! I used a whole roll of Tamiya tape to mask the beast. And the paint went fast too! I had to redo the black and white stripes as the paint peeled off with the masking tape despite having undercoated that area. I also tried out the decals for the RAF roundels. They are very good indeed and have settled down without a blemish. I will complete the decals and the start weathering. I can’t believe I am nearly at the end – what am I going to do with my life after Mosquito !!!!
I am tackling the underside at present. The sequence up to now has been as follows:
a. Brown and black wash for the panel lines
b. Chips using:
- grey base and picking out small chips
- using the grey base as a base a layer of aluminium/black painted into the areas between the black base (see close up of the nose.)
- spray the whole underside with Future or its modern equivalent.
- I then used dots of black, white earth brown and blue oil paint and worked them into the whole underside surface area. In the picture of the central underside the left section (as you look at it) has been treated and the right not yet.
After completion of this I will spray the whole underside with matt varnish which will bind everything together and flatten it all out then I will:
- apply exhaust stains
- any detailed chips missed out as yet
- Take an overall look and see if it conforms to the reference I have and add or flatten out areas that look wrong.
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Before weathering the top, the wheels, undercarriage doors and bomb doors will be fitted. Detail work to the undercarriage legs will be completed.
Some more work to the underside, blending with airbrush some areas need to be softened mostly with a matt coat mixed with a bit of brown.
Wheels fixed, I cut the stubs on the undercarriage so that the wheels would fit by them without having to split them too far. What happened………. the u/c sprung open and quite some time was spent fixing it!
There is a little more work to do before starting the topside, bomb doors etc but the finishing line IS nearing!
The wheels are the Paragon resin versions and they are very good. These were painted Panzer Grey (Vallejo) mixed with a bit of brown, a small amount of “scratching” then engine oil runs, not quite finished yet as it is easier to see the effect when it is upright.
Nearing the end now!!
Now the mud pies! The weathering kit for the topside is laid out in the first pic. I am using the colour dot technique for this one as eventually it gives quite subtle hues in each of the camouflage colours. As there were no obvious panels on a Mosquito that catch the light and dirt the general quest is for an even worn look. Sunlight rain and crew trampling over it all add to the general wear that is visible.
This is done in stages the first of which is the above dot method.
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Don’t panic, it looks very messy (in fact I put a little too much in the size of the dots allowing too much for the larger scale) as long as you have a good coating of future the finish is completely adjustable.
The idea is to work complementary colours into each shade of the camo for the grey I suggest (and you can use other colours) blue, white and a bit of brown. This is worked in with a flat brush that is regularly cleaned on a tissue so that it removes as much of the oil paint that is necessary to achieve the effect that you want.
The image above shows the starting mess and the zoom image shows the result after about half an hour of working it in to the surface. It is still a bit streaky but that will be taken care of under a matt coat.
Here is the matt coat applied. See how it blends everything together to give a used look. Next I have to polish the area around the engines where the crew have worked from the wings. Then pick up any further details that come to the eye.
I did a little more work on the undercarriage by putting the u/c door cables on their rollers and securing them to the u/c uprights.