Dave Ward's 1/48 ICM Henschel Hs 126A-1 Condor Legion

[Dave Ward]

The mask is comparatively simple - it's a matter of being methodical - now what about masking for this?

Ukrainian Su-27- I think not!
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

Well, a nervous five minutes, peeling the masks off gently.

All in all I'm very pleased with that! Only one small area ( stbd elevator ) where the paint has lifted, and some bleed under in one place.
There are some areas where ragged edges need trimming/ flattening - but I can't wait to get a protective varnish coat on
Dave

 

[Fernando N]

Hi Dave, just caught up with your fine work on this one.
Very nice looking interior and great idea of making the mask for the splinter-scheme, the wings look great.
Hope the fuselage goes just as good.

Fernando

 

[Dave Ward]

The final two camo colours RLM 62 Grun ( AK Air AK-2027 ) and RLM 61 Dunkelbraun ( AK Air AK-2026 ).
The AK paints have sprayed nicely directly from the bottle, and covered well, no nozzle clogging issues!
The ICM colour profiles are poor, so I used one I found on the internet ( discussion purposes only )

I've been working on the fuselage - I had to use a fair amount of filler on the bottom joint, and cleaning up is taking longer than I thought, but it's getting there. The camo on the fuselage will be a little trickier, and I suspect that the undercarriage legs will end up being brush painted ( as may the engine cowling ).
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

I've sanded all the filler smooth on the fuselage, and sprayed hellblau on the bottom section - now for the mask. The Hs 126 has a smooth fuselage, with a taper towards the tail.There are two cutouts, one for the cockpit, and a slot for the tail.


It looks a little confusing - in places, the demarcations and joins are hidden by struts/national marking, so it's best guess. The tail will have to be a separate mask, that I will cut almost in situ. The cowling and undercarriage legs will be brush painted separately, I think. Next up I will mask the lower fuselage, and give the upper part the base lichtgrau colour, and then the fun starts!
Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

The wing is finished - varnished, and decalled. I've had bad experiences with ICM decals before - these roundels are OK, but the crosses on the rudder simply fell apart - luckily easily replaced with trim film.
I've applied the first mask to the fuselage........................


I'll spray the green next - but the temperature is 27C at the moment, so some flow retarder will be needed - I'll leave the paint to dry overnight before the final mask and paint coat
Dave

 

[JR]

Wow ,
Impressed with the masking let alone the build, I take it's a sheet that you can buy with a adhesive like Tamiya tape .

John .

 

[Dave Ward]

John,
it is actually Tamiya film - I've had it a while, but places like Jadlam sell it * Tamiya Masking Film * for what it is, it's quite expensive, but it's the only way you can airbrush camo like this. You can get other masking films, but some are rather thick, and difficult to smooth into small radii - otherwise, it's brush painting, do-able but tedious
Dave

 

[JR]

Thanks Dave .
John .

 

[Dave Ward]

Final Mask...........................
After the paint - A long wait for it all to harden off, even longer with retarder added...................watch this space
Dave

 

[Jim R]

Hi Dave
The wing is impressive. Hope the fuselage goes as well. You have certainly done very well with the masking.
Jim

 

[papa 695]

Great work with the masking Dave

 

[Dave Ward]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Not good, the paint has lifted in several places,
Port of the fuselage - not bad, but stbd side lifted, and peeled in many places. The only difference I can think of is the high temperature when I was doing the fuselage. The primer, paints & masking are the same.
It's recoverable, but it's going to take a little more time..............
Dave

 

[MikeC]

Dave,
What a great job you are doing, pity about the peeling paint. Ref the SU-27, I have the HB 1/48 in the stash, and yes I have the decals and mask for the Ukranian aircraft....... Looking forward to the finished paint job.
Cheers,
Mike.

 

[Dave Ward]

This hot weather really reduces my enthusiasm for benchtime, but I have redone some of the paintwork, and started more assembly. The rear of the cowling has to be fitted before the engine, and this dictates the position of the rest of the cowling radially, and thus the painting demarcation between top & bottom

The long range weather forecast shows a drop in temperatures towards the end of the coming week.
In my 20's & 30's, I spent a lot of my working in the tropics - with temperatures much higher than the UK now - I think I'd last about a day at the present!, even without working....
Dave

 

[papa 695]

Looking good Dave, and a nice fix on the peeling paint

 

[Mickc1440]

Nice work on this one Dave, just had an enjoyable catch up with the build so far.
Mick

 

[Mini Me]

Dave,
Sorry to be late on this one but WoW, even with the lifting in spots the overall effect is impressive!
Rick H.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Dave
Sorry to hear of the peeling problem but I am certain you will sort it. The weather is certainly a problem at the moment when it come to modelling.
Anyway the camo looks great. When it is complete it will be a real stunner..
Jim

 

[Dave Ward]

I did have another thought on the paint lifting/peeling. It may be due to the weather, not the heat, but by me adding retarder to slow down the drying time of the acrylic paint! Difficult to prove, but another possible reason.
I couldn't work out whether the camo continued on the inside of the undercarriage legs - a search on the internet found this ( discussion purposes only )
This was labelled as a 'Bulgarian' - but no, Condor Legion - the camo is only on the bottom section of the legs & spats
Dave