Donivanp
Captain
Has a certain appeal just in the black.
**** DONE: GB-36 1/48 Ki-61-Id Hien - Axis Manufactured Aircraft of WWII
- Thread starter JKim
- Start date
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turbo
Staff Sergeant
Looks good John, look forward to seeing the finished underside!
smooth - Thread starter
- #84
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Thanks guys! Black does look good doesn't it?
I've jumped back onto the Hien for a bit. It's hard to document in crappy lighting but I've varied the metal bottom with couple of Alclad shades. The fabric covered ailerons were painted Tamiya AS-12 to simulate silver doping.
Painting this aircraft is going to require a lot of masking.... no soft edges on this aircraft. I masked off the bottom and started with my normal pre-shading routine. First, I highlighted all of the panel lines in black.
Then I covered the entire model with fine black mottles, scribbled on with highly thinned black paint.
I made the top camo colors with a mix of Tamiya Olive Drab and Red Brown. The top camo color is sprayed as a highly thinned mixture over the preshading. I use a thinner/paint ratio of about 4:1. With paint this watery, the key is to always keep the airbrush moving and to build up the coat gradually.
It takes a while to get the upper color over the entire aircraft but hopefully I've added some depth to what could've been a very flat and featureless color scheme.
The tail stabilizers remain masked because at some point, I'm going to have to paint the red tail. Looking at the required masking, It looks like it might've been easier to paint the red tail BEFORE the upper green went on. I can still take that approach and then mask off the red to retouch the upper green color but we'll see.
I've kept the pre-shading effects on the subtle side. They will be further reduced by the high contrast nature of the markings that will come. The masks for the cockpit opening came off and will need to be replaced before I do any more painting on the top side.
More masking after this... the red tail, the anti-glare panel, the yellow on the wing leading edge, the blue/white stripe along the fuselage, all of the hinomarus. I think I'll have to stock up on some more tape!
I've jumped back onto the Hien for a bit. It's hard to document in crappy lighting but I've varied the metal bottom with couple of Alclad shades. The fabric covered ailerons were painted Tamiya AS-12 to simulate silver doping.
Painting this aircraft is going to require a lot of masking.... no soft edges on this aircraft. I masked off the bottom and started with my normal pre-shading routine. First, I highlighted all of the panel lines in black.
Then I covered the entire model with fine black mottles, scribbled on with highly thinned black paint.
I made the top camo colors with a mix of Tamiya Olive Drab and Red Brown. The top camo color is sprayed as a highly thinned mixture over the preshading. I use a thinner/paint ratio of about 4:1. With paint this watery, the key is to always keep the airbrush moving and to build up the coat gradually.
It takes a while to get the upper color over the entire aircraft but hopefully I've added some depth to what could've been a very flat and featureless color scheme.
The tail stabilizers remain masked because at some point, I'm going to have to paint the red tail. Looking at the required masking, It looks like it might've been easier to paint the red tail BEFORE the upper green went on. I can still take that approach and then mask off the red to retouch the upper green color but we'll see.
I've kept the pre-shading effects on the subtle side. They will be further reduced by the high contrast nature of the markings that will come. The masks for the cockpit opening came off and will need to be replaced before I do any more painting on the top side.
More masking after this... the red tail, the anti-glare panel, the yellow on the wing leading edge, the blue/white stripe along the fuselage, all of the hinomarus. I think I'll have to stock up on some more tape!
Crimea_River
Marshal
Good work John. I'm concerned that, with such a watery paint mixture, you may have very little bond to the plastic and that you pull up the paint with the masks as happened on your Dora.
- Thread starter
- #86
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Yeah, that is a concern for me too. One of the trade-offs of using such a thin mixture. But I didn't experience that much of an issue with lifted paint on my G-10 build and that model was sprayed with primer before the thin camo coats. I've done the same with the Hien so hopefully the paint sticks. This one will be an extreme test with all of the masking that going to happen.
Last edited:
Crimea_River
Marshal
Oh. I missed the primer step on this one and thought you were shooting on bare plastic. Should be good then.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Nicely done John.
fubar57
General
Very nice paint work once again
- Thread starter
- #91
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Thanks so much for the comments guys! Greatly appreciated!
The Hien build continues. Now that the base camo colors have been painted, I can start addressing some of the more colorful aspects of Teruhiko Kobayshi's colorful Hien #5262 so we're going to be doing a whole lot of masking. Before I do any masking, the model was first given a light clear coat (Alclad Aqua Gloss). The green/brown camo color is very flat and susceptible to scratching so a little bit of gloss will help protect it. The first masking job will be the longitudinal blue and white stripe. The stripe was outlined using the flexible white Tamiya tape.
A white base was sprayed first. The blue was a mix of Tamiya Blue and Sky Blue. I added the sky blue just to give some opacity to the Blue... on its own, the Blue is quite clear and can be difficult to establish a consistent coat.
After the blue was allowed to dry for a few hours, I masked off a narrower stripe in the middle using thin strips of Tamiya yellow tape and the white was sprayed on.
Using leftover bits of white and yellow tape, I masked off the white combat stripe around the rear fuselage and painted it white.
At the front, I mixed a combination of Tamiya Black and Blue for the anti-glare panel.
The yellow on the leading edges was a mix of Tamiya Yellow with a dash of Orange. The inserts for the wing cannon were stuck in place for painting but haven't been glued in yet.
Now for the red tail. This mask called for some delicate scalloping around the rudder and stabilizer. I always use a white base when spraying primary colors like red, yellow and blue.
Although I'm not using the decals, I used the hinomarus on the Lifelike decal sheet to mix my red. This was Tamiya Red plus a little bit of Orange.
And here is the tail with the masks removed. Just a touch of overspray at the base of the port stabilizer that needs a touch-up but otherwise it came out ok. Lookit all the tape debris...
Time to pause and reflect and what we've accomplished so far.
Still lots of stuff to do... the hinomarus and the decaling. I also have to mask off the wheel wells and paint them. Stay tuned!
The Hien build continues. Now that the base camo colors have been painted, I can start addressing some of the more colorful aspects of Teruhiko Kobayshi's colorful Hien #5262 so we're going to be doing a whole lot of masking. Before I do any masking, the model was first given a light clear coat (Alclad Aqua Gloss). The green/brown camo color is very flat and susceptible to scratching so a little bit of gloss will help protect it. The first masking job will be the longitudinal blue and white stripe. The stripe was outlined using the flexible white Tamiya tape.
A white base was sprayed first. The blue was a mix of Tamiya Blue and Sky Blue. I added the sky blue just to give some opacity to the Blue... on its own, the Blue is quite clear and can be difficult to establish a consistent coat.
After the blue was allowed to dry for a few hours, I masked off a narrower stripe in the middle using thin strips of Tamiya yellow tape and the white was sprayed on.
Using leftover bits of white and yellow tape, I masked off the white combat stripe around the rear fuselage and painted it white.
At the front, I mixed a combination of Tamiya Black and Blue for the anti-glare panel.
The yellow on the leading edges was a mix of Tamiya Yellow with a dash of Orange. The inserts for the wing cannon were stuck in place for painting but haven't been glued in yet.
Now for the red tail. This mask called for some delicate scalloping around the rudder and stabilizer. I always use a white base when spraying primary colors like red, yellow and blue.
Although I'm not using the decals, I used the hinomarus on the Lifelike decal sheet to mix my red. This was Tamiya Red plus a little bit of Orange.
And here is the tail with the masks removed. Just a touch of overspray at the base of the port stabilizer that needs a touch-up but otherwise it came out ok. Lookit all the tape debris...
Time to pause and reflect and what we've accomplished so far.
Still lots of stuff to do... the hinomarus and the decaling. I also have to mask off the wheel wells and paint them. Stay tuned!
turbo
Staff Sergeant
Looking spectacular John 
. Masking is always tedious but the results when you pull it all off are satisfying!
. Masking is always tedious but the results when you pull it all off are satisfying!
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Good mask work there John, it's looking fine.
- Thread starter
- #95
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Thanks guys!
The masking continues... it's time to do the hinomarus. I'm going to use an Olfa Compass Cutter with measurements from the Lifelike decal sheets.
Since the masking tape is not transparent, the masks are a bit trickier to line up than Montex masks.
All of the red hinomarus are given a white base.
After the red is sprayed on, the fuselage hinomarus need a white outline so a smaller circle mask is placed carefully in the center of the outline mask.
Circular markings are fairly simple to mask, especially if they are only one color.
The hinomaru under the starboard wing came out a little ragged due to wrinkles in the mask. The leftover circle masks are a perfect fit and can be used to apply any touch-ups.
I'm almost to the decaling stage so I'm going to glue in the wing cannon inserts at this time, since there is a star decal that goes over the gun opening. The Quickboost resin gun barrels are glued into the inserts from the inside.
And then the inserts are secured into place with Tamiya Extra Thin cement. A small but noticeable upgrade from the kit barrels AND they are neatly painted already.
Once the hinomarus are done, I give the the model another gloss coat prior to application of the decals.
The masking continues... it's time to do the hinomarus. I'm going to use an Olfa Compass Cutter with measurements from the Lifelike decal sheets.
Since the masking tape is not transparent, the masks are a bit trickier to line up than Montex masks.
All of the red hinomarus are given a white base.
After the red is sprayed on, the fuselage hinomarus need a white outline so a smaller circle mask is placed carefully in the center of the outline mask.
Circular markings are fairly simple to mask, especially if they are only one color.
The hinomaru under the starboard wing came out a little ragged due to wrinkles in the mask. The leftover circle masks are a perfect fit and can be used to apply any touch-ups.
I'm almost to the decaling stage so I'm going to glue in the wing cannon inserts at this time, since there is a star decal that goes over the gun opening. The Quickboost resin gun barrels are glued into the inserts from the inside.
And then the inserts are secured into place with Tamiya Extra Thin cement. A small but noticeable upgrade from the kit barrels AND they are neatly painted already.
Once the hinomarus are done, I give the the model another gloss coat prior to application of the decals.
turbo
Staff Sergeant
Nice work John. The painted markings far superior to using decals.
- Thread starter
- #98
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
The masking is not quite done yet. The wheel wells were masked off and painted in the interior color.
I also masked the walkway warning lines on top of the wings. I did it in two parts and re-used the tape because I was distraught at how much tape I was using on this build!
The decals were next. There were a lot of tiny red stenciling that was all but invisible so I stopped after putting on a couple. Kobayashi's kill total was nine B-29 bombers and two Hellcats. The Lifelike decals had a set of generic fighter kill markings but the Tamiya kit had kill markings from a later K-61 that I was able to cut and use for this one.
The tail insignia decal took a bit of coaxing to get it to settle into the panel lines. I used Solvaset and then a knife to finish the job.
The wing guns had the little red star around the openings.
The decals were sealed with another gloss coat and then it was ready for a pastel wash. Here's the bottom of the wing before the wash.
I use a homemade mix of pastel chalk and water for my washes. Easy and very benign since it is water based. I mixed a dark brown wash for the bottom.
The wash is wiped off with a damp paper towel leaving the recesses highlighted with the dark pastel.
I used a darker wash for the top side.
I also masked the walkway warning lines on top of the wings. I did it in two parts and re-used the tape because I was distraught at how much tape I was using on this build!
The decals were next. There were a lot of tiny red stenciling that was all but invisible so I stopped after putting on a couple. Kobayashi's kill total was nine B-29 bombers and two Hellcats. The Lifelike decals had a set of generic fighter kill markings but the Tamiya kit had kill markings from a later K-61 that I was able to cut and use for this one.
The tail insignia decal took a bit of coaxing to get it to settle into the panel lines. I used Solvaset and then a knife to finish the job.
The wing guns had the little red star around the openings.
The decals were sealed with another gloss coat and then it was ready for a pastel wash. Here's the bottom of the wing before the wash.
I use a homemade mix of pastel chalk and water for my washes. Easy and very benign since it is water based. I mixed a dark brown wash for the bottom.
The wash is wiped off with a damp paper towel leaving the recesses highlighted with the dark pastel.
I used a darker wash for the top side.
- Thread starter
- #99
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
The pastel wash is sealed with a flat coat. I've been using Model Master Lacquer Clear Flat and I've been very happy with the results. No white frosting like I was getting with Tamiya Flat Clear and Alclad Aqua Gloss + Tamiya Flat Base.
Oh... here are the painted drop tanks. More paint chip experimentation using a sponge... I really like this technique.
Oh... here are the painted drop tanks. More paint chip experimentation using a sponge... I really like this technique.
Crimea_River
Marshal
Looking very good John.
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