Aichi B7A2 Ryusei Kai (Grace)

Started by Colin Gomez · 41 · 1 year ago
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    capt. R said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    Very nice paiting!

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    Colin Gomez said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    Thanks, Bernard.

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    Colin Gomez said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    Here is the latest on the Grace. All sprayed on markings are now finished. I had to buff down a thin ridge of paint build-up around the edges of the wing hinos. I then had to reuse the outer and inner masks to spray over the red "halo" on the outer edge of the green surround.

    This was exactly the problem I anticipated with masks like these. For the fuselage hinos I created a second mask over-top of the montex mask to ensure that the red center would fade to a fuzzy edge inside the mask and therefore get covered completely by the green ring without paint build up. It was elaborate, but it worked. It saved me a lot of annoying cleanup involving sanding and repainting.

    The rest is a bit hard to see. I did an oil pin wash on all panel lines.

    Oil splotched of different colors were dabbed randomly but inside panels. After they dried a bit, I streaked them in airstream flow direction across the wings and fuselage. The base color is so dark you can't see this clearly with the gloss coat on. It should come out after the matt coat goes down. I had to do the white stripes on the tail from the kit decal (no Montex stencil). This worked well, with no silvering. Next up will be to install the tiny exhaust stacks behind the cowl flaps. I have painted the landing gear legs separately but I still need to do the wheels. Here are the final results, after oil wash and tail decals applied. I won't put the gear on until the matt coat is done and the masks come off the clear parts. Hope you like it. A lot of work done this week but unfortunately it doesn't show much yet. That is the problem with dark finishes in artificial light. Hopefully it will all look good in the final presentation. Comments welcome.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    Fantastic job so far, my friend @coling! The painted on markings came out wonderful, as did your thorough weathering.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    Really great progress, Colin @coling
    The extra masking on top of the Montex masks was a great idea and worked perfectly.

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    Colin Gomez said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    Thanks, Spiros. I am really looking forward to getting the matt coat on to bring out the detail. I will consider some further airbrushing to highlight panels and maybe some pastel work after that, but I don't want to lighten the finish too much. These birds were a very dark late war color with no time to weather much.

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    Colin Gomez said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    Thanks, John. The masking work was pretty tedious but it came out the way I wanted in the end.

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    capt. R said 1 year, 2 months ago:

    realy good painting and cool IJN insignias!

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    Colin Gomez said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    This is one for the headlines now, but I will add on or two photos in-progress to show addition of final details.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    Definitely ready for the headlines, Colin @coling
    This is a graceful Grace, a true gem.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    Congratulations, my friend @coling!
    What a beauty! What a fantastic result, up to your usual standards!