The Big Question ?

[RICHARD WILLS]

So as you will remember , the object of this experiment is to not make me look like a clever Dickie . The object is to see what we can get away with in terms of minimum cost , skill and time . We will avoid aerosols , airbrushes ,compressors and all that drama .

Its off to B and Q then !

The colours for a mid war Fw190 are RLM 74 , 75 , 76 .  I know exactly what they look like because Ive done this a few times ...

The problem with that is that one has a bit of blue green and the other mauve and lastly a bit of brown sneaks in . 

All of that clashes a tad and can look a bit odd , even though it is technically correct . 

So a cunning short cut will be used , which will also save us money , time and skill levels . 

We will paint the 190 , three shades of grey , just like the book . (No , don't be daft, nothing like the book . That's for frustrated housewives I believe , not fine upstanding lads like ourselves ) .

We can get away with this because the original colours from a distance do look grey . Secondly , it is much harder to mess up , because any mixture of black and white will go nicely with any other combination of black and white ,as long as no other pigment is introduced . 

All we need to buy is two small pots of Valspar matt emulsion , one black the other white . They will mix them for you and it costs £4 per pot . 

I also bought a little foam roller £5 and a nice 50mm brush £7 . 

When you get home find three plastic cups and some coffee stirrers . Plus a sheet of white paper or card . Envelope will do . 

Start with the middle colour . About 1/4 of the white in a cup , start adding little bits of black and keep stirring . You are aiming to get to the colour of grey primer , so if you have an old aerosol lid , use it as a guide . YOU DONT need much black so take it easy . 

Put the tester on the white card . 

Then make the light underside colour , put a bit more than 1/3 white in the next cup and  start adding small elements of black . It needs to be grey , but still quite light and  contrasting to the first colour . 

You will need the most of the pale colour so let it have more of the white paint .  If it looks a bit pale , dont worry as in the final finish it will have mottles on it anyway . 

Finally mix up the smallest amount of dark grey . Less than 1/4 of white and enough black to look darker than the middle colour . You wont need much of the darkest one and it covers the best anyway .  

To stop your paint drying seal the tops with tin foil . 

[RICHARD WILLS]

Ive given the whole airframe a quick rub down with fine sand paper . I dont spend long , maybe five mins . Doesn't have to be that good. 

I'm trying a roller for the first time . 

I do the light colour first . Do the whole model except the top side of the wings and tail plane . 

Roller it out as much as poss and dont worry if it looks a bit opaque (BTW the paint does need stirring after an hour ) .

I speed things up by long range blasts with an electric heat gun . The paint dries in a few mins when warm . 

Then I coat the model again using very little paint to top up the first coat . 

Heat gun again . Then wing and tail top sides with the medium grey . 

That is not two shades of grey on the upper wing , its a shadow . 

So far , very fast and very cheap and easy , yes ?

The next bit will also be easy for you , but for me not quite so . You will have a decal set , which you can add after the painting . I dont . So normally I would have painted some white areas and masked them off which will be come my crosses and badges. 

I will probably plough on as if I were you and deal with my issue after . 

I did use mostly roller and a tiny bit brush . The roller was good but you could probably get away with just the paint brush albeit with a slight weight gain .

To be honest it wont make any difference . As long as you remember that this thing is not a bathroom and does have to fly , you will be fine . 

Be hones with me now . Who couldnt have got this far ?

 

[Ron Gray]

I'm totes in hones with you bruv.

[dan h]

Great update Richard,

this seems like a very straight forward build to me and very well written out step by step details, 

 

you've convinced me to go the brown paper and pva method although I'm going to use aerosols and airbrush on mine. 

 

Would love a zero this size with similar build design, after Xmas will be fine 😁

[RICHARD WILLS]

Mostly just firming things up today . Nose moulding and gun deck epoxied in place and held with bands till dry . 

Little bit of filler around the tail fin base , and tailplane squared up and fixed in place . Ive also made some "semi " decals , lets see how that turns out !

Tomorrow should get the dark grey on and show you how to do soft edges and mottles with a brush . 

The model has no gear in it yet but feels very light and stiff . Should go really well . 

While its all light grey at the moment , you can see the beautifully clean lines . Its quite close to scale actually . Not a Brian Taylor by any means but not much stretching of the truth . The wide angle lens may make it look longer than it is but in real life it looks on the money . 

I am arranging to have decal sets made up to go with the kits , so again , short cutting the time spent . 

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Behave yourself, threads making me want one. 😉

[leccyflyer]

Looking every inch a Butcher Bird Richard - nice one. 😎

[Ron Gray]

Your garage floor needs painting, maybe enough of the grey paint will be left over for you to do it.

[martin collins 1]

Don`t distract him Ron, he`s gotta sort the Tempest out first 😝 

[martin collins 1]

Looks very good already Richard.

 

[RICHARD WILLS]

Can anyone tell what the bike is from that teaser shot (My monies on Mike C) ?

[RICHARD WILLS]

too be fair there is very little to go on .

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

It's Steve McQueens from the Great Escape.

[dan h]

Richard,

 

When will these kits be ready too buy? If your not sure, no worries, only this will be a birthday present to myself 😁

 

Cheers

[Graham Bowers]

9 hours ago, RICHARD WILLS said:

Can anyone tell what the bike is from that teaser shot (My monies on Mike C) ?

I'm going with a 70's Kawasaki triple 2 stroke.

[Ace]

Slightly smaller air cooled Kawasaki KH triple  250 or 400? 

With grey paint flecks if Ron gets his wish 😁

Edited October 20, 2023 by Ace

[RICHARD WILLS]

Blimey , you guys are good . 

[Futura57]

1 hour ago, dan h said:

Richard,

 

When will these kits be ready too buy? If your not sure, no worries, only this will be a birthday present to myself 😁

 

Cheers

Ditto

[Graham Bowers]

5 minutes ago, RICHARD WILLS said:

Blimey , you guys are good . 

Easiest thing I ever won. Please deliver when convenient - you know where I live 😉

[RICHARD WILLS]

1 hour ago, Graham Bowers said:

I'm going with a 70's Kawasaki triple 2 stroke.

Graham , regarding the kits and timing , I can never be too precise because my slots with the kit cutter are a bit like stacking for Heathrow . Chris Foss , PB models and others all use my friend Phil, so he has to do a massive juggling act to keep every one happy . The 190 is pretty much done , and there has been a fair bit of preliminary work on the Tempest . 

Both models should be available before Christmas . 

Once Ive painted the 190 and posted it on here , we will have a reminder of costs to save people going back on the thread , and then have a rough hands up on who wants what . I dont want to have a "Johnny come lately" pleading with me for a model after the production run has been done . These things are done in batches , so if you miss the first batch , it will take a long time before there are enough extra people to justify a second batch . 

[martin collins 1]

Twist the knife Graham, get Richard to throw a kit in as well 🤪

[Graham Bowers]

10 minutes ago, martin collins 1 said:

Twist the knife Graham, get Richard to throw a kit in as well 🤪

I'm not that cruel, I will be dropping him off at the train station after delivery. Kit's a good idea though, it'd probably strap to the seat 😉

[Eric Robson]

You've got more chance of getting a Hawker Typhoon kit out of Richard than his bike and that is no chance. 

[gillyg1]

Now that would be nice, 63" w/s "tiffy" 😉

[Graham Bowers]

50 minutes ago, Eric Robson said:

You've got more chance of getting a Hawker Typhoon kit out of Richard than his bike and that is no chance. 

One has to dream. I was let loose on a couple of the suzuki triple 2 strokes back in the day, and had a GT500A myself.