1/48 A-1H Skyraider

[StuartMont]

Almost finished with this one. I have to put the telltale exhaust stains on the fuselage but I wanted to post these ahead of that. Thanks for looking, finally used an airbrush for the entirety of the fuselage and wings but there are lots of brush strokes where I had to touch up. Still struggling with consistency when using it. Please do not hesitate to make critical comments, I have a long way to go to match what is typically posted here. 
 

 

[ghodges]

Dunno.... looks pretty darn good to me! If you used a brush to touch up the surfaces it's not readily apparent in the pics. Post some pics when the weathering is done, though it looks pretty sharp as is! The only "critique" I can make is there appears to be a circumferential seam around your tires that contest judges would gig you for (seam or mold mark problem). Nice build!

 

Gil 

[StuartMont]

Thanks very much Gil. The painting issues are more apparent on the bottom, the insignia white gave me fits. I think I’ve looked at 100 pictures of this plane in flight and the staining from the exhaust is almost like fingerprints. I’ll finish that up. I also have to decide if I am going to add the bombs but it looks fine without them in my opinion. Do you typically paint the tips of the propeller blades or use the decals? In this case I tried trimming the decals after application but you lose the color on the edges.

Stuart

[ghodges]

I always paint prop tips..... most decals fit lousy (if at all) and as you point out, end up ragged after trimming them to fit. White can be a tough color to paint! My suggestions would be to first try to get some Tamiya Fine White Primer in the spray can. It's a great primer and also a good flat white that covers well. Although not available much anymore (out of production) I've found Model Master gloss white, thinned with lacquer thinner works well IF sprayed over the Tamiya white primer. If you can't find that, then the small bottles of Testors gloss white (also thinned with lacquer thinner) will do the job. If you use acrylics..... you'll have to get better advice elsewhere. Cheers!

 

Gil 

[StuartMont]

16 hours ago, ghodges said:

If you use acrylics..... you'll have to get better advice elsewhere.

I do use acrylics Gil but thanks, as always, for taking your time to provide advice.  The lack of proper ventilation and more difficult cleanup being the only reasons. The propeller decals are quite disappointing so moving forward I will paint them instead. 

Stuart

[StuartMont]

Well I tried . . . couldn’t get the staining to look very realistic. I kept messing with it and that didn’t help. Thanks for looking and commenting. 
 

Stuart

Edited April 30 by StuartMont

[ghodges]

It may not have come out how you wanted, but Skyraiders got pretty dirty with heavy exhaust staining, so it doesn't look outlandish at all. 

I've had pretty good results building up exhaust stains using (brushing on) chalk powders instead of trying to airbrush them on. You can keep building them up until you get the look you like and they wipe off with water if you mess up. The only down side is they need to be sealed in place with a flat coat or they're susceptible to fingerprints, and sometimes the flat coat will seemingly tone down the look you got. But then.... you just add more and flat coat again until you're happy!

 

Gil 

[StuartMont]

Thanks for responding Gil, always great to hear advice on how to improve!  Too much paint on the brush in this case I think.  I’ll look into the use of chalk powders.

Stuart

[Jmarc]

LLLLLLLLLLLooking good and well done !..way to go SIR and thank for sharing it with us, it's quite appreciated !

[StuartMont]

Thanks very much Jean-Marc!