Halberstadt CL.II, Mirage 1/48; 20.3.2021 Parabellum - THE END

[Bughunter]

Thank you very much PrzemoL and Alexis!


Flames


For the stencils I had to use the decals. For this
- the fuselage was painted with gloss clear coat
- the decals are sprayed with Gunze Metal Primer (as recommended to seal self printed decals)
- decals applied (has problems even with those small ones)
- some silvering on corners fixed with Micro Sol
- decals protected with flat clear coat
- the red lines was available as decal, but I masked and sprayed them



All the other decals was read in with my scanner and I made masks of them in Inkscape and let cut them on my plotter. This was not easy, because the white was moved against the read, which I tried to correct.
At first I masked and painted the cross and the aircraft marking. So I had to change the paints in the airbrush more often, but it was not possible to mask all at once.



After masking the flames (the fit was bad, I had to split the mask on one side) I painted MRP White and fit in the small stripes from the mask.



After paint of Tamiya X-7 Red this is the result:





On lower surface it is more worse due to the frame for the camera opening.



Not perfect, but I can live with the result. Some details lifted the mask again and again, which caused some trouble.



For me is the handling of the kit decals is the weakest point of this kit. I'm able to work with them.
I would say that I would never have achieved this result with the decals. In this respect, I am satisfied.
This must now dry thoroughly before I mask again and paint the rest of the nose red.

Cheers,
Frank

[RAGIII]

That masking job looked complex to say the least! I am sure you will get the touch up done with little difficulty. The flames really do make for a striking scheme!!
RAGIII

[Fvdm]

That maskingjob wasn't an easy one. I think you did a great job.

[Borsos]

It’s getting better and better — and closer to completion. You are doing wonders here, Frank.
Don’t break your head about the little overspray on the underside. That’s nothing a fine pointed brush wouldn’t fix.
Best regards,
Andreas

[lone modeller]

Each time I look in I see more and more diverse skills on display. Your overpainting of the lozenge on the fuselage and then the flames are simply wunderbar! A real master modeller at work here.

Stephen.

[Alexis]

 

[Bughunter]

Thank you Rick, Ferry, Andreas, Stephen and Alexis for your continues support!

It’s getting better and better — and closer to completion.

But it's about time! I checked the first post - working on it for two month already. And I'm far from finish, with more details, paint and rigging needed. If then another month is gone that I can only build four models a year of that complexity
Need to save time and finish some of my shelf queens to reach my usual standard of six models.

Cheers,
Frank

[Gisbod]

Keep up Frank! 

Guy

[Monty]

Amazing masking and paint execution, Frank! Well done! Marc.

[Borsos]

Thank you Rick, Ferry, Andreas, Stephen and Alexis for your continues support!

It’s getting better and better — and closer to completion.

But it's about time! I checked the first post - working on it for two month already. And I'm far from finish, with more details, paint and rigging needed. If then another month is gone that I can only build four models a year of that complexity
Need to save time and finish some of my shelf queens to reach my usual standard of six models.

Cheers,
Frank

Shame on you! Modelling is a challenge, not a hobby, and if you won‘t finish your usual 6 models per year, I won’t ever talk to you again!

[kensar]

A truly difficult masking job, but the results aren't bad.  You probably know this, but you can seal mask edges if you paint with the same color as what is under the mask before painting the second color.
Your speckled paint job is great.

[Bughunter]

Thank you Guy, Marc, Andreas and Ken!

Shame on you! Modelling is a challenge, not a hobby

A hobby is done in spare time. So it would be better to work full time on the models.

A truly difficult masking job, but the results aren't bad.  You probably know this, but you can seal mask edges if you paint with the same color as what is under the mask before painting the second color.

Even more worse - I wanted to cut a second set of masks with only the outer line and put it on top of it. Then when I was working on it, I just forgot about it! I am getting old

Cheers,
Frank

[Bughunter]

Spinner

Not a big progress now, some time consuming things ...

The forward struts was still plastic, due to the complex mount. I decided to replace the too, with cut off the mount part and reuse it with a brass pin.



Here the backwards V-struts hold the upper middle wing.The front struts are a bit longer then needed so I can adjust them later with the wing.



But it was needed to mount them now to be able to continue with the cowling.



Alexis warned me:

Have you test fitting the cowl parts yet ? Form other builds this seems to have a few fit issues . Or are you leaving them off ?

Alexis is a woman. And woman like shoes
So I thought it is may be a better solution to create a shoe with gluing the parts on the front. After drying I primed and painted dark alu.



Now it is a red shoe. It needs to be painted now, because I cant paint it below the Spandau.



The I tried to get the shoe on, which was not easy. The main problem was the carburetor with intake pipes, which was in a wrong position.
After drying I noticed, that I made a mistake on the front, because the propeller shaft is not in the middle, but to late to be fixed without destroying more.



Now it was much easier to mask the engine.



The kit provides two spinners, one fits to the airscrew, but both are very small.



Since rotation-symmetrically constructed part, I decided to turn a new one from brass on my lathe.
This was not easy, because it is very small so it hard to turn it inside.
I glued it with CA to a drill shaft and milled the airscrew outlets.



For the final shape I used files. The head of the spinner has inside a 1mm hole drilled already on the lathe for a easy symmetrical mounting. The backplate on the right is made from nickel silver (soldered a piece on piano wire and turned it on the lathe; de-soldered again).



Looks much nicer! It is still a bit smaller in diameter, compared to the drawings.



But it mostly hides my mistake on the front.



The spinner is tinned and all is plugged together for a motivational dry fitting.



Many prepared parts will hopefully soon form a biplane!



Next step is painting red again ...

Cheers,
Frank

[Gisbod]

Great update Frank 

You go so much further than I ever would have the nerve to do!

Guy

Ps I’m going to hide behind the sofa now while Alexis comments on your shoes post 

[Fvdm]

Nice work Frank. I really like the spinner and how you made it. Top job.