Landlubber Mike

Beautiful work! Really nice job! 👍

I’m here and not going anywhere 👍. Love these planes and your work!

That came out great! I see those camo schemes and wonder if I’d ever be able to pull off such a complicated paint job. Did you use an airbrush?

Yves, thanks very much for the kind words. For the insignia, I used the following set from Montex which makes things a lot easier: Here are the steps I took: 1. For the yellow top wing, after priming with Mr. Surfacer 1200 spray primer, I then sprayed with Tamiya white primer (from the rattle can), followed by Tamiya Camel Yellow (decanted from the Tamiya rattle can). For the lower wings, I sprayed with Mr. Surfacer 1200, then followed up with Vallejo Gloss Black primer (recommended for use as undercoat when using Vallejo Metal color paints), then sprayed with Vallejo Metal color (I believe I used white aluminum for a slight color different from the fuselage where i used aluminum). 2. Next I painted the decals. I started with the square mask (e.g., on the upper right corner of the green sheet), but left the interior circle out to be able to paint the underlying white disc. For that, I believe I once again primed with Mr. Surfacer 1200 (as white can tend to show underlying colors like yellows and reds), then sprayed Tamiya white primer. That left me with white discs. 3. Next I painted the blue background of the insignia. Leaving on the square mask, I took the star and added it to the disc to seal off the white star of the insignia. Then I sprayed with Vallejo Arctic Blue. 4. Last was to paint the red circle in the middle of the star. I removed the square and star masks I used in steps 2 and 3, and then used the circle masks (e.g., on the upper left corner of the green sheet). I placed the open circle in the middle of that mask onto the white star, and then had the red circle. For that color, I used Vallejo Red. The Montex mask is a bit translucent, so you can easily see where you need to position it on the star so that the circle is in the center. Those were the steps that I took, maybe there are other ways to do it. Some tips and other experiences to pass along if anyone is a masochist and wants to paint their own insignia: 1. Make sure that you burnish the edges of the masks as much as possible just before you actually paint. The white discs worked really well. I had some bleed under with the next two masks quite likely because (a) I did not take the time to burnish them as well as I did with the white disc mask, and (b) I might have sprayed too heavily, when I should have just sprayed a few lighter coats (big lesson for me!). I almost cried when I lifted them and saw that the blue and red had run under. Interestingly, the top wings were fairly blemish free. The bottom wings on the other hand look horrendous. 2. Thankfully, with the Tamiya synthetic lacquer white undercoat, I was able to take a wooden toothpick and gently scrape off the Vallejo colors that had run under the mask. The paints still left a very light stain, but was much easier to paint over the stained areas than if the full paint remained. Touch ups were done by hand using the same paints. 3. I thought I was being smart and added the radio PE parts to the upper wings so that I could prime and paint them yellow along with the rest of the wing in one shot. Problem I soon discovered was I had a really rough time adding the disc mask to the wing because that PE part was in the way. I ended up having to add a small slit on the mask to let the mask lie as flat as possible on the wing (essentially the PE part sticking straight through). A bit of paint went through that area, but was fairly easy to touch up. 4. Each time I painted, I left the mask on for 24 hours for the paint to cure. I was particularly worried about the Vallejo which can get pulled up from masks I've found. Happened again here. Decals make things much easier obviously, and you are left with very crisp edges. Painting gives you a little more freedom on colors, and I think can look a little more vibrant. You also don't have to worry about decal issues like color mismatches to other similar colors on the model, bubbles, rips, underlying colors bleeding through, etc. I tend to like a challenge so I might try painting them again sometime. On this model, I could have also used the Montex masks to paint the numbering along the belly band, and the smaller insignias on the front of the F3F-2 fuselage. I decided not to as I didn't want to potentially ruin the aluminum finish that I had on the fuselage, and figured I had already used up a lot of luck in getting to where I already was. Hope that helps!

I'm moving along fairly quickly on the Tamiya Citroen 2CV kit, and am more than halfway through the instructions at this point. The fit and design are better than the Airfix kit, and you can tell that Tamiya set up the kit in a way to make construction more solid, easier to paint, etc. One other thing that's nice about Tamiya is that the bumpers have a black band running in the middle of them. I had a hard time painting a crisp line on the Airfix kit given that the plastic wasn't perfectly smooth. Tamiya gives you black decals which make things much easier. Tamiya also gives you the option of presenting the model with an open or closed roof, and I believe you can flip the windows to an open position. I decided to go with a french blue exterior/gray interior (like Tom's cousin's car pictured above, but without the white hood). For the exterior, I once again went with Tamiya - french blue in the rattle can - but this time decanted the paint and sprayed through my airbrush. Much cleaner spray than spraying directly from the can. For whatever reason, the Tamiya cans seem to like to spit, which is a pain because then you have to sand or otherwise remove blemishes and then try to repaint. Decanted, it sprayed super smoothly in pretty much one coat. On the Airfix, I spent a ton of time going back and cleaning up the spit and other issues, respraying, and repeating multiple times. The rest of the car I'm using Vallejo acrylics. I like the ease of use and clean up of Vallejo a lot. For a car exterior, however, I like the harder finish of the Tamiya synthetic lacquer, which probably holds up better to my brute handling of the model during assembly. Vallejo also can be weird about peeling when being taped at times. Tub: Chassis - nice that all four tires are sitting evenly on the ground unlike my Airfix kit Behold! The mighty 29 horsepower engine! 😆 With the chassis and tub done, really all that's next is to add all the details to the body (and a fewer remaining details to the engine compartment). Tamiya has you add the body to the chassis, then add the details. I think I'm going to first add most of the details aside from things like the windows, then spray the clear coat, then assemble. I figure I might as well have a consistent clear coat on the model without worrying about getting clear coat on areas it shouldn't go like the tires, and the clear coat can generally cover up any extra glue marks. Thanks for looking in!

On the home stretch now. Finally got the cowl on the F3F-1 all straightened out. After stripping the paint, priming with Mr. Surfacer gray, followed by Tamiya white primer, I added the Vallejo red. Then I taped and added the aluminum band (Vallejo gloss black primer followed by Vallejo Metal aluminum). Everything was looking great when I started pulling the tape off, except I got a weird 3mm or so line of black paint on the red. Argh! Have no idea how that happened, except that it might have come through some tape when I was airbrushing the interior of the cowl. I tried touching it up with white primer and followed by red, but it was noticeably whiter. Another argh! I tried a different approach of lightly sanding off the new red, white, and black to get back down to the original white primer coat. Then I had to re-tape and spray the red a couple of coats across the full cowl to even out the color, and finally the modeling gods were with me and everything worked out. Then I was able to add the pinstripe (need to touch up a tiny spot that seems to have ripped), so the F3F-1 is finally, after all the cowl trials and tribulations, caught up to the F3F-2. Everything is pretty much painted except for the canopy pieces. Next up is some very light weathering/shadowing/highlighting (to keep the bright look of the planes), final clear coat, and remaining assembly and rigging. Wings came out fairly well too - the numbers and pinstripes along the chevrons are decals, the US insignia markings are painted on: Looking ahead, I'm next going to work on the Tamiya F4F-1, to be converted to a FM-1 (same plane really, just made by a different manufacturer with different gun specifications) with a wing fold set. I have the Aires full resin detail set for it, which will add a layer of difficulty, but the paint scheme will be significantly less complicated than these yellow wings. I'm glad I tried painting the US insignia on these F3Fs rather than using decals, but that made for a ton of extra work. Famous last words, but the FM-1 should be easier, at least in terms of painting. Thanks for looking in!

Looking great!

Really nice job! If you don't think you're a plastic modeler after turning out that beauty, there's no hope for me. All kidding aside, excellent build!

Thanks, really appreciate it! I don't think that these are Accurate Miniature reboots of older Monogram kits (unlike the F4B-1 and P-6E boxed set I put together a couple of months ago). Aside from the tricky landing gear assembly (that you have to turn three different ways to pop it in), the kit has been really great to build and I highly recommend it. They pop up on eBay from time to time for reasonable prices. I don't think the aftermarket is necessary, the kit is great on its own. The Eduard PE set looks great when you're putting the cockpit together, but then you can barely see any of the details once in the fuselage. Those tabs do need to be cut off. I've left them to help handle the models as you noted. Keeping them on for now helps too in avoiding getting paint on that area in case I want to use plastic cement as opposed to CA (I might just use two-part epoxy to lock everything in). Thanks Lou, appreciate the kind words and you looking in. I've pretty much got everything but the canopies painted up and ready to go, but ran into a bit of an issue with the cowl on the F3F-1, needing to strip off the paint and start over. So far, the red has gone on nicely, and last night I taped and sprayed gloss black as the base for the aluminum section of the cowl. Fingers crossed that the masking this time works! I burnished the tape with a toothpick, sprayed a lighter coat of the black, and hung the part to dry with the tape side high so any extra paint hopefully will flow down by gravity and not under the tape (hopefully any potential capillary action is not stronger than gravity!). I find the Vallejo gloss black primer takes a while to cure, so I'll give it at least a full 24 hours before spraying the aluminum. In the meantime, I started work on the canopies. I dipped them twice in Future, and started the taping process last night. Not a fun part of the build! The canopy parts are so small. I have Montex and Eduard sets, but they seem to only fit the F3F-1 (the F3F-2 has a different size and shape to the canopy). Also, for some reason the masks for the rear section don't have and opening for the midline of the framing. I think I'm just going to paint the canopies by hand in stages using the masks where I can, and otherwise using tape. I don't think I'm going to make my own masks and then try to airbrush them, the canopy pieces are just too small.

Really nice (and impressive) work! I will also echo Dumont tweezers - I went through a ton of different hobby tweezers, but these are the best by far. I have a couple, and they are perfect for tiny PE and other parts. Joe, can I ask what micro belt sander you are using?

Looks great Grant! Good to know about spraying it - I tried using the pen on my Citroen 2CV, and it's a bit tricky. You need to be very careful and not go back over your work or the finish will look wonky. The pens generally have good flow, but from the one time I used them, at times the flow isn't consistent. I'll have to try out the airbrush approach. Also agree on the longer drying time. I found that to be the case with their black pens as well.

Looks really good to me - that last bulkhead needs to be faired a lot to get a smooth run to the stern, and you see a lot of models where there is a defined kink at that spot. Yours looks like a nice smooth run to the stern

Nice choices! You won’t be disappointed!

Thanks Pete, I’ll have to try that! just out of curiosity, how much paint does a Tamiya rattle can hold? About the same as one of their larger jars?

Hang in there Chris we feel your pain 😀