Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 Early | Wingnut Wings 1/32 | Part Seven

I started to paint the pilot figure.
Underpainting of Tamiya flat buff and oils for the leather.

I casted the second epoxy layer.
Now the Hansa is afloat ;-)

Once the epoxy is fully cured I will demould the base.

Just an impression :-)

Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 Early | Wingnut Wings 1/32 | Part Six

Casting the Sea

I casted the first layer of SKresin 72,
a slow curing clear epoxy resin.

The Hansa is placed and posisioned on a
simple jig made from balsa.

The jig defines the height of the float plane above "sea level".

The jig takes also care of the angle of attack of the lower wings.

Shells made from PE by INDUSTRIA MECHANIKA
and MAGIC SCULP.

Fish are also made from PE by INDUSTRIA MECHANIKA and
some MAGIC SCULP.

Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 Early | Wingnut Wings 1/32 | Part Five

View of upper wing. I tried to "bleach" the fabric not too uniformily.
Also note the contrast of the painted rear upper fuselage and
tail plane surfaces to the fabric wings.

Detail view of the cockpit and the observer´s station.

The streaking on the fuselage was done by airbrush using
Tamiya acrylics (redbrown and NATO black). It was partially removed
and re-applied according my "life-stage-weathering".

Details of the engine cowlings and lower wing.

Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 Early | Wingnut Wings 1/32 | Part Four

Slowly all sub-assemblies come togehter. Nothing finished yet but one can get an idea how the finished replica will look.

Overall view showing the dry-fitting of the struts.

Fuselage markings are from Pheon Decals.
Highly recommended!

The Naval lozenge fabric is from Aviattic. It was chemically
weahtered with solvents to achieve a UV bleached effect.
Wing rib structure was done with 0.7 mm tape and
"smoke" from ZERO PAINTS.

Fuselage spine with painted naval lozenge from Aviattic.
It was treated differently from the printed fabric.

The floats were treated in a water basin which contained a dirty salt water.
The procedure took about 2 weeks to create the stains.

The Spandau MG 08/15 are a combination of WNW and
brass parts from Master Model (Poland).

Bismarck | Main battery – The Krupp Borthers | Part A

Please welcome the Krupp Brothers!

A few months ago I started to research Bismarck´s main battery. I am using ureol plates and blocks for the basic construction. It allows for precise sanding and filing and sharp and well defined edges and corners can be achieved.

Turret A (Brother Anton). After finishing the basic turret shape
I started to file the embracures.
I will make a template for the upper front plate

Test fitting of the barbette and guns. :-)

Details of the gunmatlets.

Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 Early | Wingnut Wings 1/32 | Part Three

Painting & Decaling the wings

I bought Naval hexagon and clear doped linen decals from AVIATTIC. Both products are great and higly recommended.

I bought the printed naval hexagon decals.
They are almost completely opaque
and were applied over a white base coat.
I used Mr.MARK SETTER for better adhesion.

For Natural doped linen I opted for the translucent decals.
I airbrushed the underpainting over a white base coat using
different shades of tan color.

Rib detail was done by masking off the ribs whith thin stripes
of masking tape (0.7 mm).

Close up showing the fabric effect of Aviattic´s decal.
The decal film is thicker and more elastic than the
solid naval hexagon decals.

A teaser to keep the moral high.

Floats are still missing. But it gives you an idea
how the diorama will look when finished.

Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 Early | Wingnut Wings 1/32 | Part Two

Dry fitting of the internal assemblies into the right
fuselage shell. Good fit of parts!

Green pilot´s chair. Have a seat!

The engine served as a heating for the crew, too!

Instrument panel and oberver´s map board.

Oil and dirt stains on the 150 hp Benz BZ.III engine.

Engine serial number on front cylinder.

Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 Early | Wingnut Wings 1/32 | Part One

I could not resist to start the W.12 as it offers a great choise of different diorama settings. So this W.12 will be part of a diorama showing it floating on the sea near the shore of its base.

Painting of the wood panels was done using flat acrylic
under painting and artist´s oils for the wood grain.
Weathering and final touches still missing.

I decided to go for a fancy chromeoxide green pilot´s seat ...

Benz Bz.III engine with some additional details.
Also waits for weathering and final touches.

Dry fitting of some sub assemblies into the fuselage.

Diorama showing the sea bottom. The core is made of
floral foam leaving a 5 mm gap to the side panels.
The gap is filled with 3 different sand variations and
fixed with Gravel & Sand fixer from AK interactive.

Detail of the sediment structures.
A geologist´s must have ;-)
I hope they will survive the demoulding of the diorama.

Weathering concepts: Stage-of-life-weathering | Part One

Weathering in scale modeling

A first try of a concept of mine

All scale modelers have to deal with scaling effects and problems: we are building miniatures and replicas of real things and try to make them looking »real«. A vast number of techniques have been developed by talented modelers and several different schools have developed from »artistical« to »realistic«, from »northern« to »southern« schools.

My ideal replica looks both realistic and artistcal. I have an scientific education and I have an interest in regularities and processes. So, when studying authentic photos of, e.g. a Bf109, I try to »read« the history of that Bf109 like I try to read the history of a rock or fossil as a geologist.

The history of each modeling subject can be split in successive life stages determined by the circumstanes of its nature and operation. The life stages are also influenced by regularities that have their origin in operational and technical reasons as well as in nature itself.

The following diagram shows a succession of life stages for a given modeling subject, e.g. a WWII fighter aircraft. The dark blue spiral shows the time line and evoluton of the single life stages (orange-red boxes). Over its entire life span this aircraft is subject to several specific processes (see light blue boxes), e.g. formation and interim removal of exhaust stains. All these different processes can be contemporary and effective over the entire life time resulting in a complex and interleaved finish where several generations or layers of exhaust stains, oil streaks, dirt and grime, paint chippings and many more are present.

I think this results in a »realistic« and »artistical« replica that has a story to tell!

First try: Stage-of-life weathering

Interleaved finish of several generations of exhaust stains,
oil stains, dust, dirt, scratches and scuff markings.

Most effects like exhaust stains are made of
several generations of application, partial removal
and re-application to recreate the life stages
and processes that occured in the life time
of the original subject.

J2M3 Raiden – Zoukei-mura 1/32 | Part Three

Rivet and screw detail on the fuselage and engine cowling.

I used my trusted stone bedding tool and
authentic pictures for reference.

Rivets are hard to photograph without any weathering,
but the screw detail came out nicely.

I almost finished the rivet and screw detail on the fuselage.