Steve's Models

[em2nought]

http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/2...urface-effect/
Cowling painting method might be of interest

[Aktungbby]

THanks!Love that well mottled aluminum 'Fokker scourge' nose; nothing good goes outta style!

[em2nought]

I think Steve mentioned having trouble finding a good method.

Yeah, it's not perfect. I'd probably try round tooth picks cut flat, dipped in paint, and used like stamps on the cowl with three or four metallic shades that are close together.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by em2nought

Your Fokker streaked green came out really good I think, it even does Eichhornchen's lightening to scale thing which I'd never heard before.

A couple of friends and I have had some interesting discussions on that subject over the years. One of them insists on using an airbrush and gets pretty good effects. I've tried various brushing techniques over the years. This one was done with the fan brush I purchased last August.




I put just a drop of paint on a smooth surface, dipped a few bristles in the drop and then brushed it off with a few strokes until there was almost none left - just enough for a single stroke on the model. Sometimes there wasn't any left and I had to do it again, but my biggest fear was having too much paint on the brush, which would leave a big solid streak that can't be fixed. The whole process took about fifteen minutes.

Originally Posted by em2nought

http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/2...urface-effect/
Cowling painting method might be of interest

That is interesting. To me there are too few swirls and they are too big, but it still looks good. The 'toothpick' idea is similar to that I've been using, which is a .020 brass wire. My problem there has been that the paint applied that way is too thick. I suppose I could thin it some. The next time I plan to try a single bristle taken from a paint brush. We'll see how that works.

[Buddahaid]

I would expect the lozenge patterns to work much like LCD screen pixels. RGB is additive and to the eye RGB set to 255.255.255 is what makes a pixel look white to us.

[Sailor Steve]

One of the features of the early Fokker biplanes was the struts. The strut itself was a fairly thin steel tube, with wood pieces clamped on the backs to give an aerodynamic shape. I got lazy and a little nervous with the D.I. Worried that the .020 brass wire would bend to easily, I used .032 wire and tried painted them wood color with a green leading edge to represent the steel tube.

This time I tried to use .017 guitar string, which is steel and quite strong. When I compared it with the .020 brass I thought I could see a definite difference between them. Three thousandths of an inch? Really?? Well, I thought I could, so I went with the brass anyway. Then I cut thin plastic strips for the wood backing. The cutout on the inboard rear struts was to let the wing-warping control cable pass through.

[Sailor Steve]

Rigging in place.




It turns out that I got the rigging on the previous model, the D.I, all wrong. I had forgotten the really odd rigging on the old Fokker two-seaters I did two years ago, and a careful study of the first D-types showed that they were just as strange. Wires all lead from the front , and there is no fore-and-aft cross-bracing. I'm not planning on going back and changing the D.I, but the D.II is right.

[Sailor Steve]

And the Fokker D.II is done.





Steel tube struts with wood backing.


Oberursel U.I, propeller by Integral.

[u crank]

Another nice one Steve. I like the way you got the pilot to look at the camera in the second last pic.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by u crank

Another nice one Steve. I like the way you got the pilot to look at the camera in the second last pic.

If you had the ability to glue his backside to any position of your liking I think you'd be able to as well

She's a good looker Steve

[Sailor Steve]

It wasn't easy. His attention span is very short.

Actually I didn't have to do anything at all. That figure is part of a set, and until now it's been the only set available. I used both figs from that set in the first new model I made when I started building again two years ago - the Bleriot XI.

There's a new set of pilots available from a guy in Australia. I plan on ordering some the first of the month.

[Eichhörnchen]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

I would expect the lozenge patterns to work much like LCD screen pixels. RGB is additive and to the eye RGB set to 255.255.255 is what makes a pixel look white to us.

That's an interesting comparison.

A comment on painting without the use of an airbrush, when soft effects are required (such as Luftwaffe mottle or, as here, the German green streaking): Steve's achieved a good soft look, and this can also be had by dampening the background colour first with clean turps, before applying the mottle/streaking. The base colour must be thoroughly dry, however, or you risk lifting it and ruining the job.

(Flight Simulator X screenshot)

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Eichhornchen

The base colour must be thoroughly dry, however, or you risk lifting it and ruining the job.

Been there, done that. Remember the problems I had with certain attempts at wood grain?

One solution I've read about is to use different types of paints for each layer. I intend to try that sometime soon. On the other hand the streaking here was extremely dry, and didn't cause any troubles.

[em2nought]

Do you use some kind of a wash on the figures? His face seems excellent here with highlights and shadow.

Rigging looks awesome!

[Sailor Steve]

Actually I did, much to my surprise. I've been using an enamel "flesh" (white guy flesh) tone for my pilots, but it dried up. The acrylic I replaced it with went on much better, but when dry was too light for my liking. For me 1/72 is way too tiny for adding blushes and other colors to just parts of the face. I took a small drop of light wood color, dipped a piece of brass wire in it and then dipped in some thinner, until it was almost clear. Just one drop of that on the face and it spread and came out the way you see it.