Well it has been a very busy week so what little bench time I had was largely given to the task of clearing up the mess and putting things away.
I have found time for a few experiments, I wanted to give the impression of 3d rib tapes. I have some Archer rib tape decals but I don't really like them much. They seem to thick and too wide, I have had bad masking experiences where I left the masks on too long and ended up with steps between colours so I thought this would be a good way to go. Lots of masking and bit of airbrushing later;
Rib tapes from paint by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
I managed to miss a few somehow but have since corrected the mistakes, a quick rub with micro mesh keeps the effect more subtle.
One stage I have been very much looking forward to but unsure how to do was trying to create the translucency of the lower wing surfaces. Thankfully I have several failed wing making attempts to experiment with. I drew the internal wing structure with a pencil in the same way I read Des used to on his builds. I drew the cockade (with the colours the wrong way round!) with watercolour pencils and just rubbed my finger over it to create a softer edge. Around the edges of the framework I drew lighty with a pale ochre pencil and then airbrushed a light coat of MRP bleached CDL. Between the ribs and spars I then sprayed MRP white and finally a very light of thinned white was airbrushed to bring it all together.
Strut making and translucent painting experiment by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
With a bit of tweaking I think this method will work well, I still have a few reject wings to play with and I am definitely not in a hurry.
You may have noticed a single strut in the picture, I tried to make them from bamboo skewers but struggled to make several identical and had problems with drilling a hole to insert a brass pin. In the end I opted to have a 0.5mm brass rod run the length of a strut made from 3 layers of 0.5mm styrene sheet. The middle layer is cut down the middle to make room for the brass rod. The result seem easily stiff enough to use as a strut and if I use my cutter to produce the styrene layers I should end up with identical struts. This technique should work for making the undercarriage legs too.
Many thanks for reading, if you have any opinion on whether to cut out the ailerons and wing segments before painting I would appreciate any advice offered, I'm a little puzzled about which is the best order.
Richie
