KB's Arado 196 **FINISHED AT LAST**

[Clashcityrocker]

Nice experiment. Does Mrs. Bailey now have V73 coloured teeth?

Nigel

[Kevan Bailey]

Nigel, she had those to start with!

A bit more work this afternoon , the fuselage and wings have been sprayed aluminium and then dotted up with Maskol on a cocktail stick in the time - honoured way, followed by another coat of primer.




I'll try to get a top coat on tomorrow , but I'm still dithering about which dark shade of green to use. Contemporary photographs seem to show that there's not much of a contrast between the two shades, but in some images the aircraft generally looks light and in a few more, it looks dark. I'll sleep on it.

Not literally, of course.

[ShaunW]

Very nice Van, this is an excellent looking kit and you are doing great work with it - the float weights look like 30mm cannon shells compared to the .177 air rifle fare that I normally crush up! (Back in the day I used to shoot at a local air rifle club and preferred the flatter trajectory of .177 as opposed to .22 but the latter is better at rodent control as it hits the beggars harder!)

[Kevan Bailey]

Ah, the old .177 vs .22 dichotomy! Nowadays I reckon .177 for accuracy, .22 for effect. Oh, and a 12 gauge over-and-under for intruders. If you thought the Minies looked big, you should see the .69s I use with an American percussion musket!

I managed to get the Arado's undersurfaces painted. The Vallejo RLM65 looks startlingly blue, a bit like a 1960's bathroom suite, so I've toned it down with a bit of a grey overspray. Still haven't decided on the dark green so I'll put on a coat of the RLM73 I like, then find something to go with it. A triumph of art over accuracy.

[Kevan Bailey]

Progress! I've masked off the underside, sprayed on the RLM73, masked off the splinter pattern and, for lack of any better idea, sprayed on RLM70.

It looks horrible. It seems far too dark, but it might actually be right, according to the articles I've read over the last couple of weeks.


I'll blow it over with grey or something (hemp?) and see how it works out. Masking wasn't an easy job and I seem to have a couple of spots where the paint has seeped under the tape, but nothing that's not easily sorted.





Something that's bothering me is that I'd always thought splinter camo was straight edged. According to the Revell painting diagram, the edges are a bit wavy, so I cut the edge of the masking tape so that it's slightly wobbly. It's a bit late to ask now, but is this correct? Contemporary photos aren't much help.

[MarkyM607]

I always thought it was straight edged, it's how I've always done mine.

[Kevan Bailey]

I've been studiously ignoring this model for the last week as I'm starting to hate it for some reason which I can't quite fathom. So I thought I'd better just get on with it.

The Maskol is coming off; I didn't realise how much I'd used until I started removing it. It seems to be creating the effect I wanted:





I gave some of the smaller panels a weathering and it's toned down the brightness of the underlying metal colour, so the very spotty appearance it now has should be less in yer face when it's done.


I'm now getting on with the decalling, so if I keep on at it, I might be done by weekend.

[Kevan Bailey]

I think I'm going to have to call time on this one. We're off to our place in Greece tonight and won't be back until the last week in October. I've about another three hours work on this thing and I'm hoping that there will be an opportunity to finish when I get back.

Anyway, as of this morning:















As you can see I need to complete the rigging and add a few more bits. There's still a bit of tickling -up to do, and some scratch building of the bits I've either broken off or lost.

The chipping has turned out a bit heavy handed in retrospect, but the methodology worked.

If the weather is lousy on Lesvos, which it often can be in October, I might just make up for abandoning this build by knocking up an Academy Camel I have in the stash over there. A companion piece for Toby's Nieuport!

[MarkyM607]

Looks good, worth the Aradoitis!!.

[iggie]

It looks excellent and the chipping is not excessive; the prop especially looks just right
Hope you get to finish it as soon as you return

[Kevan Bailey]

Thanks for the encouragement.

But on a positive note, look who turned up in the brush water, having gone AWOL three days ago.



I really didn't fancy scratch building this!

[JamesPerrin]

I always mix brands to get the colours I want. I quite often use enamel as a base colour and primer for acrylics.

[iggie]

But on a positive note, look who turned up in the brush water, having gone AWOL three days ago.

That's a thought! I'm going to sieve mine when I change it next; there's no telling what's in my jar....

[TobyC]

Wow. I love the effect you've got with the weathering. Really brings it too life.

[Gadfly]

It looks good..