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I think it was about £10. For me that’s excellent value.
Avro Anson Mk.1 - Plastic by Airfix in 1/48 Scale - Build by Smithy
Masking kit? Who would have guessed?
(well...you did, Smithy)
(well...you did, Smithy)
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They have been available for decades. Some kits now include them as standard. I didn't mention that the Anson set contained some masks for the wheel hubs (I didn't need those). Many such sets also have masks for the inside of the transparencies. It's quite a thing in aircraft modelling.
They become available very soon after the kit does so I have often thought that the kitmakers collaborate with the aftermarket guys on masking sets and all of the other enhancements, which is a nice thing to happen in business.
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Prior planning and preparation having prevented p-poor performance (I pray), painting was pioneered.
I like to spray the brilliant Tamiya and the even better Gunze paints. Both of these brands make acrylics with a solvent made from water and alcohol and a host of other stuff like flow improvers, retarders, and magic fairy dust. Some people substitute IPA and water but in the small quantities that I use, I like to pay the full price for the proper stuff with the additives. On this part of the process I'm using Tamiya's retarded lacquer thinner. The retardation helps me build up the paint layer very slowly and carefully and the lacquer helps the paint 'bite' into the plastic because this first application of paint has to be applied to naked plastic - no primer!
I'm painting the interior of the transparency framing with Interior Green paint. As I didn't have any masks for the inside of the clear plastic bits and also because I'm building this model the easy way, I'm painting the interior from the outside. Now you see why I couldn't prime the model first.
It's quite important on a 1/48 scale kit to paint the interior of the cockpit framing in some way because it is usually visible through the windows. On the Anson with those huge picture windows it's absolutely essential.
I built the paint up slowly to avoid liquid flooding through any unnoticed gaps in the gluing or masking and made it thick enough not to be translucent.
It's dry now and I could crack on with the next layers. However, I'm having to be patient because I have only just glued the rudder in place. I left this as long as possible as it has a balance weight which looks very vulnerable to my clumsiness. It has to go on now because I want the camouflage boundaries to match exactly in this case.
Ordinarily I wouldn't mind a mismatched rudder, as it would add extra interest but I'm imagining this aircraft being silver doped all over until just a few months before Dunkirk and then painted at squadron level in something of a rush. This scenario allows for the thin coat of camouflage paint being a bit irregular, stained and worn. To the devil with the 'clean and tidy' Ansons in my reference - I want to play with weathering!
I'll leave my spray bay and airbrush ready and get at least the priming done ASAP. Maybe tomorrow?
I like to spray the brilliant Tamiya and the even better Gunze paints. Both of these brands make acrylics with a solvent made from water and alcohol and a host of other stuff like flow improvers, retarders, and magic fairy dust. Some people substitute IPA and water but in the small quantities that I use, I like to pay the full price for the proper stuff with the additives. On this part of the process I'm using Tamiya's retarded lacquer thinner. The retardation helps me build up the paint layer very slowly and carefully and the lacquer helps the paint 'bite' into the plastic because this first application of paint has to be applied to naked plastic - no primer!
I'm painting the interior of the transparency framing with Interior Green paint. As I didn't have any masks for the inside of the clear plastic bits and also because I'm building this model the easy way, I'm painting the interior from the outside. Now you see why I couldn't prime the model first.
It's quite important on a 1/48 scale kit to paint the interior of the cockpit framing in some way because it is usually visible through the windows. On the Anson with those huge picture windows it's absolutely essential.
I built the paint up slowly to avoid liquid flooding through any unnoticed gaps in the gluing or masking and made it thick enough not to be translucent.
It's dry now and I could crack on with the next layers. However, I'm having to be patient because I have only just glued the rudder in place. I left this as long as possible as it has a balance weight which looks very vulnerable to my clumsiness. It has to go on now because I want the camouflage boundaries to match exactly in this case.
Ordinarily I wouldn't mind a mismatched rudder, as it would add extra interest but I'm imagining this aircraft being silver doped all over until just a few months before Dunkirk and then painted at squadron level in something of a rush. This scenario allows for the thin coat of camouflage paint being a bit irregular, stained and worn. To the devil with the 'clean and tidy' Ansons in my reference - I want to play with weathering!
I'll leave my spray bay and airbrush ready and get at least the priming done ASAP. Maybe tomorrow?
Looking good Smithy, I'm currious to see how well the precut masking worked.
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So am I!
We must be patient. I’ll be painting, decalling and weathering for half a dozen shifts, maybe more.
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One of which shifts I managed tonight.
My primer of choice made by the airbrush company Badger. It’s been in my pocket all afternoon, warming and mixing.
A little more masking. It’s nylon packing foam.
That looks pretty good to me.
No trace of the joint is visible on the nose. You can’t really be sure until the primer covers the line of the joint and allows the surface profile to be seen clearly.
Not quite so good at the rear fuselage. The join is visible, but minimal and good enough.
Does primer obscure detail? Not so much.
The dust is a result of my impatience. I speeded up the drying with a hairdryer. Foolish boy! I don’t think it’s stuck down and I can’t see it with my naked eye so again, not something I’ll worry about this time.
Next time I’ll show you pre-shading and zenithal highlighting.
My primer of choice made by the airbrush company Badger. It’s been in my pocket all afternoon, warming and mixing.
A little more masking. It’s nylon packing foam.
That looks pretty good to me.
No trace of the joint is visible on the nose. You can’t really be sure until the primer covers the line of the joint and allows the surface profile to be seen clearly.
Not quite so good at the rear fuselage. The join is visible, but minimal and good enough.
Does primer obscure detail? Not so much.
The dust is a result of my impatience. I speeded up the drying with a hairdryer. Foolish boy! I don’t think it’s stuck down and I can’t see it with my naked eye so again, not something I’ll worry about this time.
Next time I’ll show you pre-shading and zenithal highlighting.
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Very nice kit and you are doing a great job on the painting, with beautiful attention to the details.
I think the fuselage joint looks fine. The joint runs right where a batten is on the aircraft. I think it looks natural. You're doing a great job.
Bill
Bill
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It certainly is. I’m now wishing I’d taken the opportunity to enhance the interior, open the doors, wire up the engine, and a load of other possibilities. Never mind, there’s usually next time.
It’s good enough for this one. There are worse joints elsewhere on the airframe but I did think I’d nailed this important one. It’s the one everybody looks for; the plastic equivalent of crooked ratlines.
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If yesterday was priming then today was underpainting.
Same tools. The ring spanner and the rubber cup are for removing the lids from Tamiya and Gunze paint jars which sometimes stick fast as paint dries in the lid threads.
The cappuccino frother is a paint mixer when the end is modified. Cost a pound at Ikea years ago. I've seen exactly the same 'professional paint stirrers' on sale for twenty times as much.
I've always liked to keep a full range of seals for the airbrush. Tonight I replaced two of them, which is the first time in a decade such maintenance has been required.
This is zenithal highlighting at the underpainting stage. If it works it's easier than doing it with the top coat. I've sprayed a whiteish layer of Tamiya paint downwards onto the tops of all the upward curving surfaces. These surfaces would reflect light from above and appear lighter. I've done the opposite with a very dark green paint sprayed from below for the shadows. I've also darkened the 'armpits' where wings and tail meet engine fairings and fuselage.
The idea of this is to make my topcoat colours vary in shade according to the effects of light on a 3D form without me having to change paint colours. All I need do is use acrylic paint's great advantage by spraying thin translucent coats so that the underpainting shows through.
Being out of practice and hamfisted it's likely that I'll just cover all of this lot up but if I can hack it, it can look really good. Models are just too small to cast shadows and highlights like the full sized objects - so they need a little help. When it's done well, the observer sees that the model looks more 'solid' and 'real' but won't know why.
As well as the shading/highlighting I've deliberately broken up the large flat areas with marbling and suggested some muck and grime. It looks overdone now but when the top colours are on, they will be suitably modulated like the real things.
1940s paint was not durable and never looked like a smooth and even sheet of colour. This is an original colour photo - not colorized! This Spitfire was a worn out Battle of Britain aircraft, relegated to the industrial North of England as a trainer. It's an extreme example of the king of finish I strive for.
A few months in the bright UV light at altitude and the salt air at sea turned the paint on this Warwick into something between chalk and coal dust. Theres no trace of the demarcation between green and grey that existed when it was new painted. It's interesting to see the groundcrew footprints!
Silver paint isn't great for this preshading/modulating technique because it's so opaque. I'll have a go though and back it up by using different colours of metallic for different areas. The 'silver' was silver dope over canvas in some areas, silver dope over aluminium alloy in others, and occasionally bare metal.
I'm also modulating the silver, mostly as an experiment to see how effective this all is.
That's the modulation on the upper wing where it might be too faint. I'm out of practice remember.
Top Tip # 7 Post it notes are great for quick, simple masking jobs.
I aim to spray the green and brown on the top surfaces in the next session. In view of the delicacy required, I'll wait for daylight.
Same tools. The ring spanner and the rubber cup are for removing the lids from Tamiya and Gunze paint jars which sometimes stick fast as paint dries in the lid threads.
The cappuccino frother is a paint mixer when the end is modified. Cost a pound at Ikea years ago. I've seen exactly the same 'professional paint stirrers' on sale for twenty times as much.
I've always liked to keep a full range of seals for the airbrush. Tonight I replaced two of them, which is the first time in a decade such maintenance has been required.
This is zenithal highlighting at the underpainting stage. If it works it's easier than doing it with the top coat. I've sprayed a whiteish layer of Tamiya paint downwards onto the tops of all the upward curving surfaces. These surfaces would reflect light from above and appear lighter. I've done the opposite with a very dark green paint sprayed from below for the shadows. I've also darkened the 'armpits' where wings and tail meet engine fairings and fuselage.
The idea of this is to make my topcoat colours vary in shade according to the effects of light on a 3D form without me having to change paint colours. All I need do is use acrylic paint's great advantage by spraying thin translucent coats so that the underpainting shows through.
Being out of practice and hamfisted it's likely that I'll just cover all of this lot up but if I can hack it, it can look really good. Models are just too small to cast shadows and highlights like the full sized objects - so they need a little help. When it's done well, the observer sees that the model looks more 'solid' and 'real' but won't know why.
As well as the shading/highlighting I've deliberately broken up the large flat areas with marbling and suggested some muck and grime. It looks overdone now but when the top colours are on, they will be suitably modulated like the real things.
1940s paint was not durable and never looked like a smooth and even sheet of colour. This is an original colour photo - not colorized! This Spitfire was a worn out Battle of Britain aircraft, relegated to the industrial North of England as a trainer. It's an extreme example of the king of finish I strive for.
A few months in the bright UV light at altitude and the salt air at sea turned the paint on this Warwick into something between chalk and coal dust. Theres no trace of the demarcation between green and grey that existed when it was new painted. It's interesting to see the groundcrew footprints!
Silver paint isn't great for this preshading/modulating technique because it's so opaque. I'll have a go though and back it up by using different colours of metallic for different areas. The 'silver' was silver dope over canvas in some areas, silver dope over aluminium alloy in others, and occasionally bare metal.
I'm also modulating the silver, mostly as an experiment to see how effective this all is.
That's the modulation on the upper wing where it might be too faint. I'm out of practice remember.
Top Tip # 7 Post it notes are great for quick, simple masking jobs.
I aim to spray the green and brown on the top surfaces in the next session. In view of the delicacy required, I'll wait for daylight.
Kurt Konrath
Kurt Konrath
Reminds me of old leadership saying of use the 7-P method. Prior Proper Planning Prevent Pitiful Poor Performance! We has alternat P words for Pitiful though.
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Potentially?
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Clever!
Good Lord Smithy, you're a properly planning prepared professional painter! 
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Phew!Good Lord Smithy, you're a properly planning prepared professional painter!
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When I’ve been painting the previous evening under artificial light, the first thing I do in the morning is check the model in England’s almost constant sunshine.
Sometimes the disappointment is cruel but not today.
This is with incident sunlight perpendicular to the surface. (See the shadow of the control horn on the aileron.) This flat lighting would normally wash out the contours but can you see now how the various shades give a 3D effect? By chance and design, this is very much what I intended. I’m chuffed to rocks!
Raking sunlight reveals the subtle surface contours included by some genius at Airfix.
Seeing the two effects combined I’m chuffed to little monkeys! It’s the dogs!
Sometimes the disappointment is cruel but not today.
This is with incident sunlight perpendicular to the surface. (See the shadow of the control horn on the aileron.) This flat lighting would normally wash out the contours but can you see now how the various shades give a 3D effect? By chance and design, this is very much what I intended. I’m chuffed to rocks!
Raking sunlight reveals the subtle surface contours included by some genius at Airfix.
Seeing the two effects combined I’m chuffed to little monkeys! It’s the dogs!
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