Lancfan's Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe ***Finished***

[lancfan]

The first colour to be applied was the light grey undersides, I then painted the white stripe on the fin & rudder and masked it off ready for the uppersurface black-green. although I consider many Japanese aircraft models to be over weathered I will depict some wear and tear on the paintwork, to do this at the wing root I have applied a coat of Aqua 99 Alluminium followed by a coat of varnish, on top of that I painted patches of Aqua 83 rust colour on top and varnished over that also. The yellow wing leading edges were then masked off and the canopy was fitted- the model was now ready for the black-green camouflage.



The Black-Green was now applied to complete the basic colour scheme.


The wing root and float weathering was revealed by carefully rubbing down the areas treated to the previously applied undercoats.


David.

[DazDaMan]

That looks great.

[lancfan]

Thanks Daren.

David

[59North]

I like your rub-down weathering technique, David. It's going to get added to my limited technique arsenal.
I've tried similar in past, using paint thinner applied before the rub. Considering the aggressive nature of thinners, I've had limited success. Frankly, it makes me feel dumb that I've not thought about ditching the thinner. Oh well!

[iggie]

Nice work and a great idea for simulating wear and tear

[lancfan]

with the decals in place and final assembly done and dusted the Rufe is finished.






David.

[DazDaMan]

Fantastic. Can't beat something a bit different.

[Gadfly]

That's really really very nicely done congratulations.

[iggie]

Really like that a lot David, a very good build indeed

[celt]

Very impressed,well tidy mun.

[lancfan]

Thanks Daren, Gadfly, iggie, celt.

David.

[JohnRatzenberger]

That's very well done, David.
The grey on the float & strut look like an attempt at counter-shading, but I just cannot see it. Did you unearth any background on that specific scheme ?

[lancfan]

Sorry for the delay John, yes the counter shading, this is how the decal sheet shows the colour scheme to be, also newer kits of the Rufe do show this on their painting guides. Most pictures of the full size Rufe are of such poor quality that the undersides are all but black, but I did find the picture below that would seem to confirm the counter shading.
http://www.warbirdphotographs.com/NavyB ... fe-18+.jpg;

David.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Thanks for that, David, appreciate the extra effort.

[lancfan]

I noticed that the aircraft in the picture has bomb racks, my Trainer decal sheet also includes these racks in resin- a plan is forming.

David.