Profile Photo
Ralph Clements
43 articles

Kingfisher…Rode Hard & Put Up Wet

August 14, 2014 · in Aviation · · 13 · 1.7K

Here is my , ( (c) 1967), , just drug up out of the water it seems. I can't do any more for it... or to it! So...Yay!

The poor old girl was suffering from a 2" abdominal fracture in the left rear fuselage and a completely severed main float when I got her out of the box. So, thinking it was going to be a rough one, and since It was not expensive to strart with, I didn't have much to lose by trying some new tricks, new for me anyway.

...So, how'd that work out for ya' Ralph?...Weeellll...read on...

Patching the broken parts went pretty well.

Mixing my own interior paint color that's not so bright as that in the 'interior green' bottle, that went pretty good too.

Spraying Krylon Matte spray on the inside? Well pretty good to. That stuff comes in an 11 oz can, a lot of matte for your money, plus after a couple of coats it 'whitens' up whatever you spray, which is what I wanted, to make the green inside look faded.

Now I painted this thing Model Master Spray Aluminum Plat Lacquer after priming it, thinking I'd try that 'salt chipping' effect I'd read about. How'd that work out? - well, given the 3 tone paint scheme, it made it difficult. Technically you could say it worked, but only in the white underside. I gave up after that because of the masking involved. I think you have to clump up the grains some to get it better looking. When you brush off the single grains I had stuck to it, it just makes little round spots, not realistic looking, irregular shaped patches.

Using the inexpensive flat white paint from the auto parts store for the underside, how'd that work? - don't ask, don't look, you'll notice not much of the underside shows in my pictures!

Putty tacky strings down along the panel lines on the wings and spraying them with Krylon Matte to get try to get a faded panel look? Worked pretty well, I'm generally pleased, but the strings of tacky were too thick, this masking technique needs some refinement. Plus the tacky is harder to get off once the Matte is sprayed on it a couple of times.

Speaking of hard to get off, I think that MM Aluminum Plate spray is why I had such hard time with my canopy masks, Some of them seemed almost welded to the plastic...yuk...looks like c**p...sea bird c**p, hopefully...yeah! thats it! Sea Bird poop!

Now that MM Aluminum Plate spray did allow me to do some 'manual' paint chipping, a first for me, that came out pretty good, not to bad for a first try.

Lastly, I tried some dry brushed on pastel chalk for general weathering. I was really trying to make all the colors look sun faded and less contrast between the two shades of blue. If you ever used any Photoshop or similar program, you'd say I was "turning down the saturation", or trying to. How's that work? Not too bad, it seems to work better on the dark blue than the light.

My model's paint and decals are based on an illustration I saw that depicts the Kingfisher that rescued 9 shot down flyers from Truk Lagoon in 1944

Well, she's done, rode hard and put up wet, tried her best to throw me but I stayed on her!
Thanks for letting me share and for sharing all the terrific models everyone posts here on iModeler!

Reader reactions:
7  Awesome

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.


13 responses

  1. Well, Ralph, you've certainly achieved the look of a well-used aircraft, and, you've tried a lot of new techniques and materials in building this one. I enjoyed reading your write-up almost as much as admiring the pictures! What's next?

    • Thanks quite muchly George - The Kingfisher was fun but a challenge for sure, If all the floats were separate it would have been easier. I have several more unbuilt kits and am trying to decide...I ordered one to go in the BoB Group Build but it hasn't come yet - we'll see.

  2. Gotta challenge yourself to move forward. Looks like your moving at an accelerated pace Ralph.
    The Kingfisher's appearance reflects what you were trying to achieve.
    Well done.

  3. Kudos to you for trying new techniques Ralph, looks like they paid off - that's a really nice Kingfisher build. Lovely sharp canopy masking too.

  4. Thanks sirs - whacking off the flaps and reattaching them was another challenge and first for me, which I forgot to mention when I posted this.

    Whatever I do next, I will aim for a not-so-beat-up look!

  5. That's the big difference from Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The sun in the south Pacific is relentless at fading paint which you captured pretty well here. Nicely done.

  6. Ralph thanks for the entertaining self critique. I think it came out better than you take credit for, especially given what you started with and where you ended up. Well done.

  7. Thanks Paul and Rick - I'm glad you enjoyed my writing Rick, I don't know if it was meant so much as a self critique as much as just a report on how these different things I tried worked. The model was way more challenging than I'd think, but I am pleased with how it turned out generally. Is anyone who builds a model ever 100% pleased? Gosh if I was, I'd have to quit then, it could never be that good again. I think everyone is their own worst critic.

  8. Ralph,
    Your efforts have paid off in spades. This looks great and with all of your tried techniques you have created a true image of a very well worn warbird. From what you started with you have created a very, very nice silk purse. Excellent job.

  9. One thing for sure Ralph, it it looks well weathered, and well rescued as well.
    Nice one mate.

  10. Excellent Ralph, great article, pictures and very nice resultant model.

  11. Sorry I am late in saying thanks Simon and Gregor! Comments such as your encourage me -

Leave a Reply