Miguelito's untidy work bench

[ShaunW]

Looks good to me, Mig. There isn't a lot of working room on the fuselage of a 1/72nd scale aircraft and I think you've done a great job. IMHO it's worth persevering with the airbrush for that type of finish as it I don't think mottling ever quite looks right when done with a paint brush - soft edges to the spots or streaks is one of the key elements in making a mottled finish look visually correct and that is damnably hard to do with a brush and isn't that easy with an airbrush either, it takes practice. Perhaps mottling could be done with pastels and a brush but then there is the issue of "fixing" the delicate pastel finish to allow the application of decals.

[JamesPerrin]

Some fantastic armour. Really love your dioramas. The skeleton warriors take me back to my teens

[Clashcityrocker]

Marvellously mottled Messerschmitt.

Nigel

[mjatx]

Looks good to me, Mig. There isn't a lot of working room on the fuselage of a 1/72nd scale aircraft and I think you've done a great job. IMHO it's worth persevering with the airbrush for that type of finish as it I don't think mottling ever quite looks right when done with a paint brush - soft edges to the spots or streaks is one of the key elements in making a mottled finish look visually correct and that is damnably hard to do with a brush and isn't that easy with an airbrush either, it takes practice. Perhaps mottling could be done with pastels and a brush but then there is the issue of "fixing" the delicate pastel finish to allow the application of decals.

Thanks, Shaun! No doubt that practice makes perfect...and I continue feeling more and more confident with the airbrush. It's really an art, everything from getting the proper mix of paint/thinner, air pressure, and how much air to actually push through the brush. the first couple passes are always the most nerve-wracking.

Some fantastic armour. Really love your dioramas. The skeleton warriors take me back to my teens

Thanks, James! The skeletons take me back to my youth too, but I never had figures this nicely sculpted. I think the best we could get were the rough Ral Partha metal figures. Also, those were usually covered in gobs of thick paint, so any details they did have, were no doubt covered with too much paint. For the dioramas, I've had as much fun building/painting the background as much, or more than the model.

Marvellously mottled Messerschmitt.
Nigel

Thanks, Nigel!

The Academy 109 is complete. I had planned on spending some time weathering it or using pastels on it, but decided to just finish it as is. For the Revell 109, I'll probably spend some time with the weathering pastels.




Here's the Revell 109. I was originally going to do a pretty basic scheme, but the decals for the kit are absolutely rotten. They looked good, but disintegrated as soon as they touched water. So, I had some spares in the stash, but this plane has a yellow cowling and a red defense of reich band, so I had to do some repainting.


Gotta take a quick trip out of town, so we'll see how much more I can get done on this one over the weekend when I get back.

[ShaunW]

Excellent job, Mig, that is a great looking Emil. Pity about those Revell decals falling to bits, my experience of their decals is generally good although I have had issues with silvering on more than one occasion despite having a nice, smooth, glossy finish.

[gnomemeansgnome]

Nice work on the 109's and those skeletons look awesome.

[mjatx]

Thanks, Gents!

A friend of mine gave me this small kit out of the blue the other day. The kit alone is pretty cool, because I've never built a Mk I, but the addition of metal barrels is amazing.


Of course, as soon as I got home, I had to crack it open. Pretty sure this is the mid-70s kit, and it holds up very well. The parts are nicely detailed, fit great and there's zero flash. Needless to say it flew together.






It's now primed, there was one area on the fuel tank that needed to be cleaned up. Now it's ready for some painting, which should go pretty quickly.

[Clashcityrocker]

That's nice. I haven't seen this version before. Two big guns

Nigel

[ShaunW]

That's a great gift from your chum, Mig, I've never built a Churchill I either. IIRC the armament consists of a 2-pounder (50 mm?) in the turret and 3 inch (75 mm) gun in the hull. The Mark I was generally unreliable and didn't serve in significant numbers.

[mjatx]

That's a great gift from your chum, Mig, I've never built a Churchill I either. IIRC the armament consists of a 2-pounder (50 mm?) in the turret and 3 inch (75 mm) gun in the hull. The Mark I was generally unreliable and didn't serve in significant numbers.

Exactly. I think they used (lost) a few at Dieppe, but other than that, the MK I were relegated to training purposes. I've built a few versions of the Churchill, but this was the first Mk I. The kit included parts for the Mk II, with a machine gun, in place of the hull gun, but with the metal barrels I was only interested in the original version. The kit was very nice to build and went together very quickly. Here's the finished product.




Now, back to the Bf-109 and a couple other WIPs on the bench.

[Clashcityrocker]

That's a beauty.

Nigel

[mjatx]

Summer has passed us by since my last post, and while my bench has been busy, it hasn't had a lot of completions to talk about. Let's start with where we left off. The Revell 109. I finally got around to painting it, but then it sat on the bench painted for a few weeks before I got around to coating it and adding the decals.




Finally, last weekend, I decided enough was enough, and I set my mind to finishing it up. Anyway, as I mentioned at the beginning of the summer, the decals in the kit were worthless; however, I had a few spares ready to go. Granted the scheme I had was for a 109G-2, not the G-10, but that'll just be our little secret.




The frosting on the lower part of the canopy is the Future I used to seal the cockpit to the plane. It was still wet in the photo, it's dried and clear now. Around the same time, I also decided to finish up some Warhammer Orks I'd been working on for a while too.


These guys were actually kind of fun to do. What hasn't been fun, is another kit I started while the Revell kit sat untouched. This is the Planet Models 1/72 Maus. An all resin monstrosity of flash and thick resin and terrible instructions. Not sure why I even bothered with this one. The main body had bubbles, that needed filling, and sanding, as well as a big chunk missing from the front glacis, but I picked it up for $4, so I couldn't resist.










I posed it next to the Churchill Mk I to give it a sense of scale. I have managed to make some progress on it. I've fixed the front glacis with some plasticard and filler, and I have one side of track built, and about 2/3rds of the other side built, but it's a slow and tedious process.

A crowded bench is a happy bench, right? With that spirit in mind, I cracked open one more kit. This time, the Matchbox 1/72 FW-190. I've built this kit a couple times already, but I really enjoy it and can't resist picking it up whenever one shows up on the consignment shelves at the LHS. The office area is a little bare, so I added some simple details, and a pilot (I think he's actually an RAF pilot) that I had painted up. I figured at this scale and in the tight cockpit of the 190, you wouldn't see more than his head anyway








It's sealed up and primed now, so that'll probably mean it sits unpainted for 8 weeks or so.

I apologize for slacking in keeping my window up-to-date, I'd say I'm going to do better, but when I say that I don't post anything for months. Thanks for looking in!

[iggie]

Irrespective of the time interval between your updates, there's always something Interesting to look at
The 109 looks excellent, but the Maus looks more like a monster!

[gnomemeansgnome]

No need to apologise, Miguel, as you have a lot on the go and that is always a good thing. That Churchill looks good, and the Revell 109 looks terrific. And that pack of Warhammer hombres look awesome too. I thoroughly enjoyed my MB Butcher Bird build as well. Grew up on Matchbox kits.

[Softscience]

Lots of really nice stuff going on! The pilot really caught my eye. That's pretty effective facemask detail. Is he from a kit or resin?

The orc dudes look great too!