DocRob

I cut masks myself from different materials often but couldn't find it so easy Mike. Only cutting edges sharply with no 'overcut' is no gimmie. I used different brands of masks like Eduard, HGW, Maketar and now 1ManArmy. I used Montex masks only once and didn't like them too much. Vinyl to me is subpar material for proper masking. It stretches and even worse, it shrinks. For me that means, if there are quality masks available, I will use them. As I said with decals, It's normally very late in a build, when it comes ti insignia and stencils. Not a good time to fail, with all the work that went into the project. Cheers Rob

Thank you Chris, it's not that hard to do. The kit builds up easily with a certain bit of discipline. The painting is mostly a question of dedication and thoroughly planning of the process. For me it helps to have a kind of detailed picture in my head, about what I want to achieve. Then I plan the sequences, first the building in subassemblies, like engine and cockpit and last, the exterior paintjob. According to my visualized finish thing, I develop my plan, how to get there in detail. There it helps, to have some experience with the processes, to be sure, that technically, nothing goes wrong. I'm relatively astonished, how small the advancement is, between my two Corsair builds. The first one, a Birdcage, I built more than 10years ago and it was not much worse than this one and I used about the same techniques. The Birdcage was my first airplane build after reentering the hobby and I wanted to go all out to test myself. I assume, that except from the experience, which makes things easier, it's all about, what you are prepared to throw into a build and what your goals are with it. Cheers Rob

I agree with Egilman, decals will maintain the mainstay, when it comes to insignia and stencils. To my knowledge 1ManArmy is the only producer of stencil masks and they cover about 30 different planes only in 32 scale. There are HGW' transfers, which also look very convincing, without the typical decal issues. I used them on many different occasions and found them difficult to apply on a constant base. Some didn't adhere well and flaked off partly, ... High quality decals do look good on a model, when applied correctly and there seem to be developments too, which make them appear more natural. I haven't tested Eduards newer decals, where they claim, you can remove the carrier film after application. If this works, it's the way to go. Masking isn't for everyone. The casual modeler will be overwhelmed with the needed effort and discipline. It's so easy to make errors during the process. Guess how I know, having to make corrections on the stars and bars, due to not having followed the process entirely. I hate corrections and try to prepare everything in order to commit none. Errors to me are a show stopper, as the hinder my smooth work flow. Thanks to you all for your interest in this important topic. Decaling or whatever technique to apply markings and stencils is one of the last steps in building a model and it's heart breaking to fail that late. Cheers Rob

Thank you Egilman and you are absolutely right, working with masks is a challenging, time consuming process, but very rewarding in the end. I started airbrushing in the 80's, but on paper or foil, cutting all my masks for myself from frisket film. By this time, the only 'plastic thingies, I sprayed were motorcycle helmets. There was a challenge between airbrushers, being able to cut masks from frisket film on a blown up balloon, without destroying it. I never made it . Cheers Rob

I sprayed the insignia on, not without issues. As said in the last post, I applied the outline masks first and then covered all the surrounding areas properly. I did this without first to put some transparent adhesive foil onto the masks, like the manual suggests. An idea, I should have followed, as the masks on the fuselage sides stretched a bit, which was not noticeable to my blind eye. After spraying, I had two bad spots, which need to be corrected, because of this. I tried to place the stars by hand and found it nearly impossible, so I took out my transparent Tesa film (Scotch tape) and applied strips over the masks to fill into the outline mask. Now placement was a lot easier, means not only RTFM, but also follow it . Scotch tape on inner masks. Applied onto the plane into the outside masks. After removing the unnecessary ones. The background color was AK's Real Color Insignia White and for the blue, I used Vallejo's Model Air Insignia Blue, which I luckily found in my stash. The blue seems to be very fragile, so I will save the markings with a clear coat, before I mask of the corrections and some stencils, which go onto the insignia. Cheers Rob

That's an interesting looking vehicle, like an elongated version of a Tatra car with that fin and aerodynamic design. Will be interesting to see, if it builds equally streamlined. Cheers Rob

Today, I managed to airbrush all the stencils on the underside and started with the stars and bars. 1ManArmy supplies these as masks in their set. They recommend to apply them with the help of transparent low tack frisk foil, to make placement easier. I didn't have this type of foil at hand, so I placed the outside masks by hand and hope the star and bar masks fit, after the white color has dried. I used Insignia white, which is a bit off white and sprayed it a tiny bit translucent, to not look too uniform. Cheers Rob

Thank you, CDW, it looks indeed very real, as it's the same process like in reality. You can't beat the real thing . This is the stuff. I have the narrower variants and they are similar to Tamiya Kabuki tape. A bit thinner, but also with minimal stretch and a bit more tackiness, which I found not too much, except for areas, where I applied hairspray for chipping. On these places, I underarm de tacked the tape a bit. I can't claim the idea as mine, as I read it first in a Vanguard manual, where @James H James recommended it. Cheers Rob

Thank you Ken and Edward, these masks are easily the best thing, I had for stencils. Better than decals for different reasons, better than the HGW transfers, which look equally good, but are a bit of hit and miss, no matter how good the surface is prepared, some of them don't adhere. Unfortunately only 1/32 for planes and some generic sets for 1/35 armor. I don't think, it's technically possible to cut them finer than that. As much as I like them, the process is exhausting and you have to be very careful, to avoid mistakes. I will use them on other builds, but will use decals, when I want quicker results. Cheers Rob

The walking areas got sprayed along with the black stencils on the top side of the wings and the fuselage. I used Tamiya NATO black acrylic mixed with Mr. Leveling thinner and carefully applied the very thin mix with low pressure and in thin layers onto the masks. The manual suggest not to use pure black, which I never considered and spray the layers until you can't see the yellow of the masks anymore. That was exactly what I did and I was fearless enough, to make the first try directly on the tail wing. I have to say, I'm really amazed, how the results look. The masking is tedious and consumes lots of Kabuki tape, but the stencils look like tattooed into the surface color. I still cannot believe, how fine they are cut. That's the Corsair with the walkways and stencils, which are hard to spot in this view. This is the area from the previous post after spraying, even heavier macroed. Some more on the tail I didn't want to mask all of the stencils completely and cut some templates from 40mm wide Tesa Professional (much cheaper than Tamiya Kabuki tape and nearly as good) onto my cutting template with differently sized cutoffs. I de tacked the template, because I didn't want them to lift the masks when removing them. I'm very pleased with the outcome and the results make the tedious masking work nearly forgotten. Hasta la vista silvering . Cheers Rob

OneManArmy is a relatively new company from Belgium, if I'm not mistaken. They cover different planes with their stencils and the sets include the basic markings, like in my case the stars and bars. Obviously they only make masks for 1/32 kits. The manuals are very thoroughly made and really help during placement and application. Cheers Rob

My Corsair got the mad stenciling disease . I applied fitted strips of tape for the wing walk areas and then added all the black stencil masks, which are not covered in these areas. The OneManArmy masks are very sharply cut into Kabuki tape and the manual shows very well, where to place them. There are differences to the decal placing suggested by Tamiya, but I decided to ignore these. I gave some thought, about how to spray the stencils, without having to mask the entire plane. I will try to use a template cut into 40mm wide de tacked Kabuki tape for masking off every single stencil, one after the other, lets see, how this works. I used a rubber brush, to push down the masks around the letters properly and will use NATO black for the stenciling. Cheers Rob

I had an itch of remembering and searched for my MikroMir instructions and found a red post war Fokker D.VIII, flewn by Ernst Udet in air shows. That might be interesting for you, as it doesn't carry the double Spandau MG's. Cheers Rob

Man Popeye, that's some interesting stuff. So entirely different from plastic scale modelling. It has to fly in the end, that makes all the difference. I really like the woodwork and scratching you are doing on my favorite WWI plane. I would really like to see you applying lozenge camo instead of the completely wrong Richthofen Rot. There were some yellow black diamond colored navy birds made for a change and as an eye catcher. I've only built a plastic Fokker D.VIII from MikroMir in 32 scale, which needed some serious scratch work, including brass soldering for the struts, that was pure fun. GasPatch of Greece makes very fine resin MG's in different scales. Their largest are some 08/15 in 1/16, at least a bit closer to your birds scale than the 1/48 ones . https://www.gaspatchmodels.com/machine-guns-1-16/ Somehow you triggered something in me with your build. I may visit the only LHS on my deserted island, which carries about 10 plastic models, but one wooden flying plane, I think it was a P-40. Maybe I will have a closer look. Cheers Rob

Please be patient Egilman, there is hairspray dozing under the paint on the upper wings, only waiting to be activated. Cheers Rob

I reworked all the camo colors, until I liked the effect and color rendition, starting with the intermediate blue, then white and then sea blue. I enhanced some panel contrasts, using some drops of white in the mix. Plane 883 has a distinctive streak on the front side area of the fuselage, which I slightly painted on. I also modulated the sea blue, to let it look a bit sun bleached on the top areas. This is all preliminary and will be enhanced in the weathering stage. The first walkway markings where masked and airbrushed, using Nato black. The propeller was also sprayed with Nato black, after receiving a dose of hairspray over an aluminum base coat, which will allow some chipping, later. Cheers Rob

The third color is applied. Again, no issues with AK's Sea Blue. It sprays perfectly and I was able to build up the color out of many translucent layers until it had the desired effect. Interestingly the sea blue dried relatively glossy, compared with the other two colors, but that's no issue for me, as I will flat coat my work in the end. The sea blue rendered sometimes very bluish, sometimes very brownish on my pictures, so I chose one, which looks halfway correct to my eye. While building the Corsair, I considered leaving the outer wings and tail wings unmounted until after the painting stage. It would have made painting a lot easier and I would recommend it to everyone building a tri color Corsair. Cheers Rob

First colors are on, at least preliminary. First I sprayed Insignia White heavily thinned in very translucent layers until i got something like a 3/4 coverage. I decided to airbrush the camo free handed, therefore, I wanted the borders between colors not entirely finished, as the color may be too dense there to let the pre shading shine through equally. After masking off the inner wing sections it was time for Intermediate Blue, which I sprayed a tin little bit closer to the desired density, specially, where it borders the white. I don't want to perform too many corrections in this area later. The AK Real Colors spray exceptionably well, with good coverage and a nice flow in the airbrush, when thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner. The white was sputtering tiny drops on some occasions and I don't understand why. The mixing ratio was the same like with the blue. Of course, I started and stopped spraying off the model, but I have two or three tiny dots, which will be addressed later. Interestingly, the Intermedite Blue looks greyer in the jar, than sprayed, where it has the right blueish tint to my eye. Here you can clearly see the effect of the multi colored pre shading, especially on the wing ends. Cheers Rob

Thank you Edward and Andrew. I'm expectant too and it will not be easy to have the pre shading showing through equally with a tri tone camo free handed or with Panzer putty for soft transitions, which need some overspray in the meeting areas. This technique, I used on monochrome or hard edged paintjobs, where it is easier to perform. Edward, you are giving me ideas with that steam punk story line. A Corsair kit, bashed with some stuff from other kits, lots of oversized rivets and a patinaed paint job of copper and brass. Sounds interesting and wouldn't be my firs venture into steam punk. Andrew, I didn't know about the right and wrongs in pre shading, as it doesn't exist in reality . Honestly, I try to achieve a tonal balance in my paintjobs and blue and brown complements the insignia white and blue tones best. Whatever it takes . Cheers Rob

Pre shading time or how do I let my plane look silly . I have used a multiple color pre shading approach on different builds and always liked the effect. Black shading looks mostly too stark to me and using blue and brown in this case compliments the camo colors. To let the effect work, it's absolutely essential, to work in very translucent layers onto the pre shading until you reach the desired effect. I hope, I can achieve this, never used AK's Real Colors before on wings and a fuselage. Panel lines got airbrushed in blue for harsh contrasts. Followed by red brown for other panels and structural lines and some panel accentuation. At last some red brown splatter, applied with a splatter mask, to break the monotony in the larger panels. Funky, isn't it ? Cheers Rob

De nada Mike, writing about the hairspray technique made me thinking about my approach to come. aluminum, topped with hairspray and primer color are chipped and sealed, but now comes te second phase. If I pre shade and afterwards apply hairspray under the camo layer, maybe chipping is revealing too much of the pre shading. It may be better to apply hairspray before pre shading, as it wears with the camo then. Cheers Rob

Thank you Popeye, Corsairs are indeed good looking planes, one of my favorite prop plane, actually. The Stukas are a different breed, bent wings they have too, but they lack the elegance. I like them as well, but never built one since my teens, I guess. I will have a look into your builds. Cheers Rob

Thanks Mike, I used the hairspray technique several times now and like the effect a lot. Using the flat brush for abrasion was the key this time, helping emphasize the panel borders. In this case the base coat is AK's Extreme Metal matte aluminum. The hairspray is normal stock and smells horrible, used directly from it's can. It's only one liberal coat, which dries very fast and the slight tendency to pool evaporates soon, in the words meaning . The second layer is AK's Real Color interior green, an enamel color, I guess. I have used acrylic colors as well on other projects and never had any issues. There are producers of dedicated chipping fluids around, but I started with hairspray and liked working with it, except for the smell. The second color dries onto a transparent film, which is water soluble. The dampening passes through the second layer and reacts with said film of hairspray and loosens it's adherence. After a short soaking period, the top color lifts easily and you have to try out the appropriate tools to chip. Tooth picks, tweezers, brushes of all sizes and states of stiffness, cotton swabs, whatever comes in handy. Try these tools carefully for the desired effect. Areas with a better hairspray coverage, peel easier, so poco a poco, step by step is the way. After finishing the chipping, I dry the area with a sheet of kitchen paper and let it thoroughly dry for some more hours. The area then will be sealed with a clear coat, as I don't want to have paint liftings in later stages, while masking or applying of other weathering effects. With the Corsair, this is double important, as I will apply pre shading onto the chipped and sealed areas, followed by hairspray and the top color coat, again from AK's Real colors. I hope that helps Cheers Rob

Thank you Egilman, I thought so, but was not sure. I saw a picture once where a battle damaged Corsair looked like cloth covered in the destoyed flap area, but that might not have been a -1A. I'm free to chip the hell out of the bird . Cheers Rob

The next step after letting the hairspray thoroughly dry on the aluminum coat was to apply the primer color, interior yellow-green and let dry again. Then it was chipping time. I dampened the area with water, applied with a flat brush and let it soak for some minutes. After that, I used the same flat brush and abrased the interior green, emphasizing panels and areas of heavier wear. In some areas, I used wetted sandpaper as an addition. This may look like a bit overdone, but there will be pre shading on top, followed by the surface color, which will largely reduce the effect, as it only shows in later to chip areas. After drying, I will save the primer chipping with a gloss coat and proceed with pre shading. One question remains, were the middle flaps made by aluminum or cloth coated? Cheers Rob