Airfix 1:72 Hannover CL.IIIa

[Ernie]

Excellent paintwork on the lozenge, Ian.  Really good recovery.
Onward and upward, my friend.

Cheers,
Ernie

[IanB]

Thanks, Gents!
 I hope to get the blue overspray done tomorrow, in between World Cup games. Pics to follow....

Ian

[IanB]

Here are the promised pics now that the blue overspray has been added.
 I'm pleased with the look, but it's not totally accurate for the aircraft I'm modelling. The pic in the Datafile shows very fuzzy edges to the painted lozenge and short of spraying it, which I'm not up to quite yet, I can't replicate that. I've also filed out the area of the Spandau mounting a little to make it sit a little lower and refitted the exhausts.




 
 I plan on painting the cockpit coaming, gun ring, radiator and header tank next, and drilling all the rigging holes, then the fuselage decals will go on. I have some Wood & Wire faded lozenge decals, but they may be too transparent for my needs so I have ordered some Aviattic as well. I'll try them both to see which I prefer for this project.

Ian

[Alexis]

Not bad at all Ian , turned out then using the decals  Nice job on hand paint the lozenge pattern on the fuselage . Not something I would attempt .




Terri

[RAGIII]

Ian,
Just an awesome job as far as I am concerned! I haven't attempted hand painting a Lozenge pattern since I was a Teen. Yours is excellent and the overspray looks great to my eyes!
RAGIII
PS: My hand Painted Lozenge sucked back then 

[mgunns]

Hello Ian:

Nice recovery.  I like the painted lozenge better than the decal, you did a great job with such a small surface.  The overspray looks great and with some dull cote on it and decals, the fuzziness of the underlying lozenge will remain in your knowledge bank alone.  It looks great.

Best

Mark

[IanB]

Just a small update, a little more detail painting and the fairing for the Spandau added...





Ian

[lone modeller]

Sorry about those decals Ian…. but as others have commented, better without than with. The painted lozenges look very good - I remember hand painting one of these when they were first released, but I am not sure that I could do it now. Do keep us posted on an old kit that is basically very good and with a little attention can be turned into a good model, as you are so ably demonstrating.

[andonio64]

Ian, the result of your recovery job is amazing!
Even though I agree with Terri about daring attempting the same technique, would you please explain how did you proceed to get the lozenges hand painted in such a precise way??

BTW you're doing a great work throughout this project!

AnDonio

[IanB]

Hi Andonio,
 I used no special process - using lozenge decals as a pattern guide I drew the lozenge on with a pencil, marking each "lozenge" with a letter to denote its colour so I could be sure I didn't have 2 of the same next to each other. This allowed me to simply erase and rework areas that didn't look right - there were quite a few as I worked on it, usually a problem with colours not being separated and having to go back and change the layout of colours, occasionally I had to add an extra lozenge and reshape the surrounding ones slightly to allow proper separation. I then simply "painted by numbers" - filling in each "lozenge" by hand with a small paintbrush in the colour I had already allocated for that area. It took me only a couple of hours to draw it all out and a couple of days (allowing for drying time) to paint it all. There are still one or two areas that could be improved - the shapes are not quite right where the fuselage sides meet the underside. Be sure to draw each lozenge with 6 irregular sides meeting the surrounding colours - some have 5 but the 6th is a small point between 2 other colours. If you look at the pics hopefully you can see what I mean by that.
 Hope that helps...

Ian

[andonio64]

WOW Ian, it helps indeed!
I am fascinated by things done in that way, they are much more tiresome but much more rewarding! Even when (see hand painted balken crosses on my Mini Red Baron triplane) they do not look perfect in the end...
Thanks and again congratulations for the work done!

AnDonio

[IanB]

Thanks Andonio!
Another milestone has been reached today.This is my first attempt at anything with lozenge on it, and as such, my first attempt at covering whole wings with decals. I'm using Aviattic ones and they are very easy to work with and look great! I would prefer a little less translucency personally, but that's just me. I sprayed the undersurfaces white, and the upper surfaces Tamiya Deck Tan - I think I'll stick with the deck tan for underneath too in future, white's a little too pale in my view. Anyway, I thought I'd be at this all day, what with making templates, orientating it all, cutting out, and applying but it's gone surprisingly quickly! I've done all the undersurfaces except the lower wings, where I've done only the upper surfaces. I'll let these all dry properly before trimming them all and completing the other sides! I'm not sure quite how I'll deal with my usual drill-and-thread rigging method. The upper wing should be ok as the crosses will cover the exit holes and any tiny touch-up needed, but the lower wing crosses won't. I'm not sure whether a small patch, if necessary, would be invisible or not.....any tips?





Ian

[radio]

Great Lozenge Ian.
Martin

[RAGIII]

Absolutely TERRIFIC work on the Lozenge!
RAGIII

[andonio64]

... I'm not sure whether a small patch, if necessary, would be invisible or not.....any tips?

Ian

Maybe a tiny drip of color or vinilic glue that you can touch up after it dries...
How large is the hole by the way ? Which pin diameter will you use?
Maybe it would be so small that the rigging line fills it completely...

AnDonio