Italeri Stug III G - Part III

Yeah... nothing says Christmas like doing some work on a Nazi armored vehicle! Alright, most of work has actually been done over last couple of days, today I just applied finishing touches to the paint job.

As you can see from images below, the Stug is now completely assembled, painted and awaiting first coat of blank varnish. Reaching this stage turned out to be something of an adventure, filled with problems and mishaps.

As previously mentioned, the model itself is extremely simple to assemble. With the exception of tracks, I could glue together all parts before spraying the base coat. Then came first (and perhaps only) important decision during assembly step - would I work with chassis and superstructure separately or should I put them together and hope I could put tracks in place once I was done with the paint job. I decided for the second alternative - naaaag, wrong choice... but more on that later on.

Once the model was in one piece, it was time to take out the airbrush. Overall coat of sand yellow was followed by standard German disruptive pattern consisting of olive green and dark brown blotches. I tried to apply the pattern used according to Italeri in Normandy 1944, but the end result should be regarded as "free interpretation" rather than meticulous reproduction of cammo scheme shown in instruction manual. The simple truth is that I still have a lot to learn about airbrushing.

Once the cammo was applied, it was time to put the tracks in place. That's when the nightmare in this project began. First of all, as turned out, there wasn't enough room to squeeze the track links between the front sprockets and mud guards of superstructure. After brief and futile attempt to push track links into place (net result of that effort was a broken sprocket wheel ) I realized that I had to partially break up the model to even have a chance to get those tracks in place.

Misery likes however company and this case it was no different. There is no other way to say it - Italeri seriously dropped the boll with track assembly for this model. As can be seen in pictures I posted previously,  track assembly consists of a couple of solid sections and a number of individual links that are supposed to be  wrapped around the wheels. The thing is though that the sprue itself seems to be reused from another kit and needs to be cut to size before it is put together. The simple fact is that no matter how much you'll try, you will not be able to complete the assembly if you follow instructions provided by Italeri. Luckily there is a surplus of separate links, which can be used to cobble together passable tracks. But the assembly process which should be pretty straightforward is a real pain in the neck and in my case at least, the final result looks rather shoddy. Luckily, I build 1/72 AFV:s for my wargaming, where 1 meter rule applies - if it looks good from a distance of one meter, then it will do.

Not happy with Vallejo at the moment

Vallejo has been my favorite paint maker ever since I've decided to make a switch from Humbrol enamels to acrylics. Vallejo Model paints are pretty much the only thing I use for miniature painting (the other hobby of mine).

Right now however they are not my favorite company. The reason? Their "new next best thing since sliced bread" aka. their new polyurethane primer! I've spotted couple of adds about them and as I'm always curious about new stuff, I picked up a bottle of it when I saw it at a trader stand during my visit to C4 Open show. Couple of days ago I had a chance to test it out, as I needed to do some priming on one of the kits I'currently working on. First impression wasn't very positive - straight out of the bottle, it was rather thick, but at the same time it had tendency to pool together on bare plastic on which it was sprayed at low pressure levels (I stayed at 10-15 psi). I found it rather difficult to work with, although to be fair, the fact that I had a 0.2mm nozzle on my airbrush could have had something to do with it (thick fluid + small nozzle = clogging).

This less than optimal first experience turned out to be only the prelude to my problems with that "great" primer. Couple of days after my test run I found some free time and decided to work on the Stug. Imagine my surprise and horror when, as I picked up the airbrush, I discovered that its trigger action felt soggy as if its innards were filled with sticky glue. The problem became obvious almost immediately once I stripped the airbrush - once the needle was out, I saw that it was covered with sticky white goo. Same stuff stuck to the trigger mechanism and nozzle wasn't in much better condition. The whole brush was covered with residue from that test I did couple of days before.

Now here's the thing - I'm rather anal when it comes to keeping my airbrush clean. I strip it and clean both the nozzle and the needle with airbrush cleaner after every painting session, no matter how short it may have been. Test run with Vallejo's primer was no exception.

After a night of soaking all detachable components in cleaner fluid and with rather significant effort I managed to remove most of the goo and restore the airbrush to usable condition. Based on that experience it is clear to me that the airbrush cleaner I'm using (from Lifecolor) is barely capable to thin that stuff out. Until I find find a thinner that does visibly better job cleaning/thinning it, this new "wonder crap" from Vallejo isn't coming within a meter from my airbrush!

Italeri Stug III G - Part II

Just a quick update to keep this blog alive. Rather busy times in "real life", so there isn't as much time for model building as I would have liked, but I did make some progress with the Stug. Image below shows the model in "inbetween" stage, with black pre-shading sprayed on grey foundation coat.

Airfix Spitfire MkIa - Part IX

And so, without further ado, here is the finished model. Finishing steps consisted of highlighting the panel recesses with water-solvable oils, installation of cockpit, antenna and propeller and finally double coat of Testor DullCoate matte lacquer.

Nothing particular to report about those finishing touches, except for the fact that cockpit fit could have been better - I was unable to get perfect fit, as a result right edge of cockpit sticks out a fraction of a millimeter. In any case, I must say that I am very pleased with the final result. There is still a lot of stuff I need to learn, especially when it comes to handling the airbrush, but considering the fact that this is my first model in a very long time, I'm rather pleased with the end result.

C4 Open 2012 - Part 2

All right, time for another batch of photos from this year's C4 Open. This time around it's the most noteworthy airplanes that participated in competitions. My personal taste is usually on "small is beautiful" side, but this year it was the P-38 Lightning in 1:32 scale that made deepest impression on me.

Italeri Stug III G - Part I

And now over to something completely different...

As I mentioned before, I've been absent from the hobby for about two decades. However, that didn't stop me every now and then visiting the models shops and having a look at new stuff. Usually, the result of those visits was a spontaneous purchase of one or two armored vehicles in 1/72 scale. Over the years, those random purchases accumulated into a "largish" collection of unbuilt kits and it's time to do something about it.

For no specific reason, I picked up a late Stug from Italeri as my first model. Initial impression is quite positive - it's a simple model, but with better detail than your average Airfix kit. I think it is quite suitable as a first model for beginners, since chassis and superstructure can be completed separately and then put together without any additional hassle with side skirts.

Pictures show two main sections of the model already assembled and painted with a primer. Superstructure is ready for "real" paint job, while chassis is still missing its wheels, which are still in their sprues.

Airfix Spitfire MkIa - Part VIII

There no way around it - this little model keeps surprising me in every possible way and its decals are no exception. When I sat down last Saturday, I was fully expecting to be done with this step of building process in twenty minutes or so. Four hours later and more than eighty decals of varying sizes later I was slightly stupefied by the value I got for just a couple of bucks. I was also rather pleased with the the result, even with the mistakes I made along the way (two decals scrambled beyond repair and tossed, I dare you to spot what's missing :-).

Couple of things of note. First of all, patience pays of. Deal with decals of same type all at once and take your time while positioning them. The brush comes handy if the decal dries out and needs to be "re-weted". Also, its tip works quite well as readjustment tool once the decal is set on the surface. Toothpicks are excellent holders while placing long, thin decals. Finally, MicroSol and MicroSet - if you're to get only two chemicals for this hobby, those are the two you need to get!

 Below are the pictures of the model being almost finished. Decals are in place and a final coat of Vallejo blank varnish has been applied to protect them. Finally, all the engraved panel lines have been highlighted with a very thin dark brown and black wash.

C4 Open 2012 - Part 1

For those unfamiliar with the event, C4 Open is the biggest annual competition for model and diorama builders in Southern Sweden. It is also a great opportunity for general public to admire a whole load of models built and painted to highest standards.

For me personally, a visit to the exhibition is something of an annual pilgrimage and the result of the visit is always a bunch of photos. This year was no different in that respect and here's the first batch for you to admire. First off, various models that weren't participating in the competitions.

Airfix Spitfire MkIa - Part VII

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but I have made some progress on the model. Camouflage pattern (Humbrol 30 acrylic paint) has now been airbrushed on the upper surfaces of the plane and I can say that all the hard work spent on masking did pay off. Still, I do feel that there has to be a better way to do this task.

Once the camouflage was in place, I've sealed the paint job with Vallejo's gloss acrylic varnish (straight from a can). There is a dual purpose for this step - first and foremost it protects the paint job and I have already seen evidence of the fact that Humbrol acrylics are rather fragile.

Second, glossy surface is preferable when applying the decals. Not only do they adhere much better, but it's also the best way to avoid so called 'silvering'. To explain silvering one needs to understand what makes a surface blank or matte. Basically, a blank surface is smooth -  the more smoothness, the greater the shine. Flat finish means that the surface is porous; not necessarily porous to the touch, but it will be rough and uneven if you take a look at it under a microscope. Silvering occurs when a decal is applied on such porous surface. What happens then is that the light passes through the transparent film on which the decal is printed and bounces back from the tiny spaces in paint surface which are now trapped beneath that decal. As a result, the light bounces back "unevenly". This creates an unattractive optical phenomenon called 'silvering - decal film becomes clearly visible as a slight silvery tint of the surface, thus spoiling the illusion of decals being painted directly on the surface of the model. Best way to avoid that problem is to paint the model, or at least the areas where decals are to be applied, with gloss varnish of some sort.

Green camouflage and two thin coats of Vallejo gloss varnish has been applied.
Next, the decals.

Airfix Spitfire MkIa - Part VI

Airbrush is still something of a novelty for me and painting of the camouflage pattern for this little bird  was a lot more challenging than I expected. Once I've masked the demarcation lines, I proceeded with painting all upper surfaces with Humbrol 29 Dark Earth mixed with some white to lighten it up. This step was done without any hiccups, although I'm pretty sure that I added far too much white into the mix.

Masking the camouflage pattern turned out to be a rather nightmarish experience. There are several possible techniques for such task - masking tape, homemade stencils, rolls of sticky-tack or even ready to use stencils that can be purchased. I am a little surprised that no one has thought of making printable patterns in PDF format and selling them directly online. Initially I tried to sketch the stencils on a piece of paper, cutting them out and fixing them with tape and sticky-tack in appropriate place. This technique perhaps works for some people, but I became too frustrated over mistakes I made while drawing the patterns and over pieces of paper constantly falling off or needing readjustment. Next I tried using Tamiya's masking tape - i stuck it directly to the model, drew the pattern, cut it out and stuck the tape back in place. That technique worked quite well for smaller stencils, but the large ones constantly stuck to the scissors. So after a couple of rather frustrating failures, I marched over to the artist materials shop and got a roll of masking film for airbrush painting. Thanks to the fact that it's completely transparent and its glued side is much less tacky than that of masking tape, I was finally able to work with it in relative comfort. Below is the picture of the model ready to receive its green camouflage.

Airfix Spitfire MkIa - Part V

Another weekend and couple of hours to spend on the project. Things are moving along at speedy pace. This morning it was time to paint underside of the Spitfire with that eggshell color I always find so fascinating. How the heck did they come up with that specific shade?! Anyway... Until now I stuck to Lifecolor paints, but now, for very first time, I used Humbrol's 'newish' acrylics for my painting. It's far too early to say something about the entire range, but based on this limited experience, I must say that I have mixed feelings about that specific color. Despite the fact that I diluted it in one to one proportions with brand's own thinner, atomization of the paint was far worse than when I worked with Lifecolor. Also, the painted surface is  porous when compared with Lifecolor, Vallejo or Tamiya. It would be a shame if things don't work out between Humbrol's acrylics and me, since it' the color brand that I easiest for me to get hold of locally.

As for the paint job... things did actually work out pretty fine and there is a clearly visible result of preshading I did in previous step. Couple of thin coats provided excellent coverage of raised areas and the black I applied before shone through and gave that nice shading effect near the recesses.

Next I added some white to the previously existing mix of eggshell and white and proceeded with the highlights. From everything I read on this technique is supposed to be used subtly - it's important not to overdo with the white paint nor with spraying. In this case however, I was perhaps a bit too subtle, since I can barely see any difference in shades now that the paint has dried.

I've decided it would be safest to let the paint cure over the night (don't want to lift it of with the masking tape when I'll be painting the camouflage), so I proceeded on to all the details that are still not finished. In my younger years I didn't bother with masking the cockpit. Instead I used to paint the panels with brush and scratch off any mistakes with a toothpick. It worked OK, but not more than that. So now I've spent some 45 minutes on the task of properly masking the cockpit - what a tedious job! I already dread needing to do the same with Me 110 cockpit.

Once the tape was in place, it was time to do some airbrushing again. First a coat of interior green, followed by same dark green color used for camouflage of upper surfaces. The idea is to have the cockpit color visible on the inside and dark green on the upper surface of the cockpit.It must be a sign of my maturity (a personality trait often questioned by my environment :-) that I still haven't ripped the masking tape off, so all you get for now is a picture of cockpit in completely over-sprayed condition.

Airfix Spitfire MkIa - Part IV

Once upon the time, by now I would be mixing my paints, sticking out the tongue and putting the paint on one brush stroke at the time directly on bare plastic. Yes I know- pure heresy! Well, this time around, having read all there is to know about the "proper way" to do things, I've decided to give the concept of primer a go. Little Spitfire got one coat of Vallejo Grey primer yesterday night and another complementary dusting this morning. I've got to admit, maybe they're on to something with this primer thingie - after about an hour, the model was smooth as a baby's arse and it was enough to just look at it that paint would stick to the surface like white to rice.

An hour or so ago, it was time to try yet another concept that is rather new to me - preshading. At this time I may just as well tell the story about my experiences with airbrushes up to this point. Just like every teenager interested in modeling, an airbrush and compressor were the holy Grail items that would turn me into master modeller in a blink of an eye. With limited budget, I managed at one time to scrounge enough cash to buy a Chinese knockoff and canned air - it goes without saying that the results of that experiment were rather discouraging. Couple of years later, I've gotten a proper compressor and one of those Testor airbrushes with exchangeable nozzles; an Aztek 470, if I'm not mistaken. I know that some people swear by them, but could never get over the flimsy plastic it was made of. Also, the bloody thing can hardly push any paint out, unless you go to 20-30 PSI of pressure, which makes any detailed painting (at least for me) almost impossible.

So, driven by my newly rekindled interest in modelling, I decided that a proper airbrush was one of priority items to acquire. I won't bother you with my selection process (well, maybe I will, but that's a topic for another post), but in the end I've gotten a Badger 150 with a set of three needles. It's a  different animal from the Aztek - in my opinion at least it's a lot more pleasant to use. Of course a quick glance at the pictures below is enough to confirm that it's not the tool that makes a craftsman. As you can see, even this simple job couldn't be done without a lot of spatter and oversprays. Also, there is a lot to be left to wish for in regard of steadiness of my hand and consistency of my work. I have a lot to learn about airbrushing, but it can take as long as necessary, as long as I enjoy the process. After all, I do it for fun and Rome wasn't built in one day. :-)

Oh yes, one last thing. In case you don't know what preshading is - the idea is to spray either black, dark grey or dark brown paint into all recesses and over all panel lines. Next, when the 'correct' paint is sprayed, those dark outlines are supposed to be left slightly visible, thus giving an illusion of shade and variation in color tone that is supposed to be more realistic.

Airfix Spitfire MkIa - Part III

Quick progress report - the fuselage and wings are now assembled, with almost no problems to report. Getting the fuselage halves to fit, while aligning the cockpit in correct position was a bit of a challenge, but I remember from old days that it is one of those situations where you wish you'd have an extra hands with 30 cenitimeter lång fingers.

Some gap filling and filing was required, but there were no real issues and I must repeat that I am amazed over how nice this model is, especially when compared with the old Spitifre I. Crispness of shape and details are true delight to behold. Also, I really liked the fact that wings aren't inserted one at the time into the sides of the fuselage. Instead, they are put together into a single unit and mounted in a cutout section at the bottom of the fuselage. The dihedral angle of the wings is ensured by bottom part of wing assembly all on its own, so the only thing you need to take care of is to make sure that the wing section is correctly assigned with the fuselage!

Airfix Spitfire MkIa - Part II

Well, it took me a while to figure it out, but the cockpit is now finished. Some traces of my earlier mishap still remain, but the extreme closeup pictures look tad more dramatic than the real thing, which is rather tiny.

I painted entire section with  Lifecolor Interior Green, after which the details were painted in  black and silver metallic paint. Cockpit of this model is rather sparse when it comes to details and instrument panel is represented with help of a simple decal. Pilot seat color is a bit speculative - Airfix wants to use buff color here, while a quick search on the Interwebs showed me pictures of Spitfire seats in all possible color variants ranging from dark greens to pale browns. In the end I decided not to dwell over it and used generic light brown shaded with sepia wash from Games Workshop.

Once I was done with the cockpit, I took advantage of the fact that the airbrush was already loaded and sprayed interior green on insides of fuselage and wing components before removing them from the frame. Acrylics without a solid base coat of some sort are notoriously fragile, but as long as I don't scratch the paint I should be able to get away with it.

Final step was addition of thin wash of water solvable oil paints to provide a little shading and voila, I'm ready for next step - putting together the fuselage and wings.

Airfix Spitfire MkIa - Part I

My selection of first subject is rather unoriginal, but it's hard to resist this model. After all, what can be more classic than a Spitfire Mark I. Also, judged solely by the components out of the box, this is a splendid little model. I've actually built the earlier Airfix version of this airplane once upon a time and I've got to say that I am slightly amazed over the difference in quality between those two models.

The first thing that is immediately noticeable is the sharpness and detail of scribing in this model - sharp as edge of the razor. Another thing that catches ones attention is the quality of the cockpit - I don't know if it's thick or thin by today's standards, but it's certainly very clear. I also like the decals, although I am a bit disappointed that there is only one variant. Guess I will have to look into third party offerings if I decide to build more than one of them.

At first sight, it's a simple model to put together, but it didn't take long for my 'rustiness' to have some impact. As a first step in this project I decided to spray a first layer of paint on all exposed surfaces that would be difficult to reach once the model is assembled - cockpit and wheel wells. While doing that I discovered that there are several injection marks that needed cleaning up. Now, I was never the kind of modeller that would throw a hissy fit over a blemish or two, but at the same time I'm of opinion that models usually look a bit better if the most obvious issues are fixed. Anyway, filling and sanding inevitably messed up my first painting effort, so it was a bit of a wasted effort.

Cockpit consists of five parts that are quite small and fiddly, so the assembly naturally turned out to be riddled with messy mistakes. First I managed to glue the rear vertical component turned wrong way, which in turn caused me to attempt to fasten the pilot seat in incorrect position. Luckily, things just didn't look right to me, which caused somewhat late detailed study of the assembly instructions (note to self - RTFM!). Once all the mistakes were corrected, cockpit finally looked as it was supposed to, but the paint job will definitely have to be redone.

Model out of the box, minus cockpit components

Cockpit assembled, once I was done messing about

Going back to my roots

So... just to get going, a couple of words about the reason for me getting this site started and about my modelling background.

The 'reason' part is easiest to explain - the  idea is to use this blog to document day-to-day progress with models I will be building, my experiences with different techniques, hopefully getting some feedback and of course to use it as a convenient place for posting a picture or two.

As for me... I've been building plastic models ever since I was a little kid. I was however never very good at it. Sure, as I got older, my models were cleaner, the gaps in the joints became less noticeable and sometimes I even managed to apply a technique I've read about with decent results. I was however never near the quality of the models shown at exhibition or in magazines. Then life happened and I dropped out of the hobby almost entirely... until now.

So what triggered my reignited interest in plastic models, you may be asking. Well... of all possible things, the spark was created by those newly tooled airplane kits in 1/72 scale that Airfix has been churning out for last couple of years. They are so damn simple, affordable and yet they give an impression of being high quality models. By now I have bought a bunch of them and hope to start building one of them within a couple of days.

Oh yes, just a couple of words about what models I will be working with and writing about. In my youth my main interest were tanks and airplanes, mainly in 1/72 scale. I still find that scale most attractive, so expect a mixed bag of military vehicles and airplanes. I've always built my models straight out of the box and don't think I will deviate from that habit this time around, at least not in the beginning of my 'come-back'.

OK, that's it for now. Hope to post progress on my first projects in near future.