1/72 Airfix Fiesler Storch

[McIvan]

Doing this one as a bit of light relief from tedious sanding and filling on the Phantom (which is btw close to ready for painting).

Really difficult kit to deal with.....parts old and soft and, in the case of the struts and landing gear, often bent.

In addition the canopy was real difficult....slow drying clear glue wouldn't hold it in place, but the plastic cement fogged up part of the canopy. Ah well.

Here's a couple of shots with the canopy made up and the wings on....

 

[AirborneBob]

Try Future Floor polish on the canopy...

 

[McIvan]

Fogging is on the inside of the canopy, where fumes from the glue couldn't get away. It'll get futured in due course, but that unfortunately won't help the inside.

Futuring it before gluing was a step I missed...that may well have helped.

 

[McIvan]

All bits stuck on, and light blue applied to the underside.......we're going with desert colours.

 

[McIvan]

Camou painted on...using RLM 78 as the base. Bit darker than I perhaps quite wanted. The stripes are RLM 02 grey (normally a cockpit colour)....I was a bit suspect of this, but a bit of digging showed that RLM 02 was used on luftwaffe planes early on in the desert campaign, when they didn't have much in the way of desert specific schemes worked out.

 

[cillmhor]

Looking good, from the pics it looks like the plane has a fairly matt finish already, do you use matt gloss on your planes?

 

[McIvan]

Matt gloss? No...erm, at the moment it has a gloss finish from Future floor polish, which I've used to seal the decals in. It also gives a nice smooth surface so any wash used gets into the crevices rather than soaking into and discolouring the flat panels. After I've done any panel wash, I'll put a matt coat on.....sometimes I do, sometimes I don't...eg I wouldn't with a metal finish aircraft. This one will definitely get a matt coat to dull the finish.

 

[cillmhor]

That's what I've read elsewhere, a gloss coat to seal the decals, and then depending on whether a metallic plane or not, a matt coat to finish. Yes, of course a matt gloss would be a contradiction in terms I didn't think there was a gloss coat from the pics so far, as the paint looks pretty dull/matt in them.

Good stuff, I'm halfway through piecing a 1/72 diorama together, and the house in it has much too glossy a finish at the moment with only the acrylic paint! Hence the question.

 

[McIvan]

I assumed you meant "matt 'or' gloss"

You don't always need a matt coat on vehicles. You remember the Crusader AA I did for the competition.....that never did get a matt coat, because the future was sprayed on (resulting in a satin finish) rather than brushed (which gives a thicker glossier coat). Once the chalks and other weathering went on, there was really no need...the remnant satin you could see gave more the hint of metal than some kind of unrealistic gloss. In the same manner, I guess it depends what kind of house it is but perhaps some would have a satin or gloss paint finish before getting dust etc slathered all over them? I dunno.

For matt varnish, try a can of Testors Dullcote if you can get it. Don't spray it directly onto transparencies like aircraft canopies tho...as I found to my cost...but on a building with no plastic windows it would be great; spray and you're done. Bit smelly, mind.

 

[cillmhor]

I ordered a bottle of humbrol mattcote to brush on, most of the house is okay, but the beige I used for the exterior walls ended up drying with a glossy finish as I tried to achieve a sort of weathered effect by applying the acrylic paint without mixing it too much thus leaving it too watery. The building is a 1/76 Airfix resin house, so the paint goes on well, if you know what you are doing, which I dont!

Anyway enjoying the learning process. So does the matt cote go on after I have done all the weathering to seal it in, I have some weathering dust/pastel stuff which I want to use, as well as a wash?

 

[McIvan]

You can put the matt coat over the wash, but I understand (I've just taken it as gospel, so I haven't actually seen it myself) that a coat of varnish over dust/pastels tends to make the dust/pastels disappear. Test it out...see if a bigger application of pastels will leave the right amount of remnant even with a varnish coat, or just do your matt varnish and then do the pastels/dust.

 

[cillmhor]

Thanks for that, my worry was that if I didn't coat the dust that one fine day it would just drop off. I will experiment, as my paint job has been one big experiment!