1/18 scale Instytucie Szybownictwa IS-A Salamandra scratch

Do you filter the lifecolour paints before spray or just mix them directly fromthe jar. When I tried to ude them I was struggle to get them through the airbrush. Also after several seconds pigment in the paint start to separate.

Looks like real.

Do you filter the lifecolour paints before spray or just mix them directly fromthe jar. When I tried to ude them I was struggle to get them through the airbrush. Also after several seconds pigment in the paint start to separate.

LifeColor paints could have surprising results, but would also require special handling in their use. After doing many tests, I concluded that LifeColor paint should always be used with LifeColor thinner ONLY, to have nice airbrush results. Anything else (water, alcohol, window cleaning liquid etc.) may cause problems (for example color dries quickly & blocks the airbrush nozzle).

 

Although most modelers prefer spraying LifeColor paints undiluted (or with minimal thinner) I prefer to follow another tactic, adding more thinner such as 70%, 80% or even 90% depending what I'm planning to paint. I do this for two reasons:

 

• The obvious one is that in this way, the airbrush nozzle never blocks - even though I try to accomplish.
  
• The second and important (for me) reason is that in this way, I repeatedly apply multiple thin layers of paint that allows me to better control the tonality I want to succeed and that the shadows (usefull when apllying weathering effects) of an underlying color can be visible over the next layers of paint.

 

I know many modelers who hate LifeColor paints and so many others who are fanatic users. Each modeller chooses his tools and the techniques that best suit on his needs and the expected outcome he likes to see on models.

 

So, as for your question if I "...filter the lifecolour paints before spray or just mix them directly fromthe jar..." the answer is that I always transfer the paint from the jar into airbrush cup, using an old brush, or a dropper, or a syringe etc. As for the thinner, I prefer to add more than enough thinner. For example my first layer may be 40% paint and 60% thinner, which sounds too much for other type of paints. Also, I use low pressure on my aircompressor (could be 0.5 to 0.8) and I usualy spray "point blank" distance that may become even 1 or 2 cm from model. When the airflow pressure is such low, the paint does not create problems on models surface (such as wet effect) even if spray so close.

...fucking unbelievable...if you MUST use such words!

Anyway, the idea seems reasonable, but you have to destroy a bit your beautiful model - it would look unrealistic if everything including torn out windsock are long time abandoned, and the model is factory fresh? That's the minus of the idea.

 

This is what we call word-formation and creativity. Meaning of this sentence as below:

 

When someone or something sounds so farfetched that it is beyond belief. - proved by few dictionaries.

 

Anyway, I wish to myself to make so great pcs of scale modeling as you.

 

I have to switch my language for a moment:

 

Życie to nie je bajka.. Za to też dostanę ostrzeżenie? ^^

 

Buźka ;d

 

When someone or something sounds so farfetched that it is beyond belief. - proved by few dictionaries.

 

Przykro mi, ale nie znalazłem nawet w słownikach tłumaczących ""vulgar or bad words. Tak, jak zresztą nie słyszałem żeby ktoś mówił po polsku: "niepier....nie wiarygodne" zamiast "pier...lenie niewiarygodne". Wystarczy pooglądać trochę filmów amerykańskich - zawsze wszystko jest fucking. Nie wiem o jakie ostrzeżenie chodzi? Nawet nie jestem moderatorem.

...fucking unbelievable...if you MUST use such words! Anyway, the idea seems reasonable, but you have to destroy a bit your beautiful model - it would look unrealistic if everything including torn out windsock are long time abandoned, and the model is factory fresh? That's the minus of the idea.

This is what we call word-formation and creativity. Meaning of this sentence as below:

 

When someone or something sounds so farfetched that it is beyond belief. - proved by few dictionaries.

 

Anyway, I wish to myself to make so great pcs of scale modeling as you. I have to switch my language for a moment: Życie to nie je bajka.. Za to też dostanę ostrzeżenie? ^^ Buźka ;d

When someone or something sounds so farfetched that it is beyond belief. - proved by few dictionaries.

 

Przykro mi, ale nie znalazłem nawet w słownikach tłumaczących ""vulgar or bad words. Tak, jak zresztą nie słyszałem żeby ktoś mówił po polsku: "niepier....nie wiarygodne" zamiast "pier...lenie niewiarygodne". Wystarczy pooglądać trochę filmów amerykańskich - zawsze wszystko jest fucking. Nie wiem o jakie ostrzeżenie chodzi? Nawet nie jestem moderatorem.

Sorry to interrupt your pleasant debate. I would like to thank you both for your important contribution to this thread. Obviously, summer heat makes people aggressive, looking for reasons to fight. I would also like to thank you because all your public comments concern only the model building, just like as should happen in any scale modeling related forum. As far as I remember, forum also provides PMs with which you can solve any situation. Otherwise, you can always open a new thread and shoot each other with no mercy.

Thank you for explain about Llife colour. I used water to thinner the paint. That's probably make my problems. I found similar situation related to Vallejo paints. Some of the people use Alcohol, water but they work the best with dedicated thinner.

No reason to do so, keep up excellent work!

I'm very impressed. I've been looking into 3d printers for a while - I'm a 3d artist, and I've always wanted to bring my virtual models to life, but your work left me speechless.

 

Beautiful model, congratulations.

Once the acrylic paint dried, the outcome had tonality differences and looked like been faded by the sun. I had obviously overdone on highlighting the areas and therefore I had to fix this and make the shades softly blend each other. To do so, I mixed artists oil paint "Red" by MIG Productions “502 Abteilung” series and artists white spirit by "Winson & Newton“ in a ratio of 5% / 95% (actually a filter) and sprayed over the windsock. I hope now it looks better than did before.

 

Meanwhile I found some time to deal with the green grass. Having a couple of different methods in mind to simulate green grass in scale, I found good idea to follow an old fashioned technique! I planted some grass seeds, watered daily and I'm now expecting to grow high grass soon. I’m just kidding of course - watering once every three days, is enough. Kids, don’t try this at home.

 

Progress has been slow for various reasons, including:

 

• I'm slower than a turtle trying to climb a muddy creek bank,
  
• I always find errors and later trying to develop ways to make model look more realistic,
  
• Mid-July heat & expectation of upcoming vacations, caused laziness that lead building process to slow down,
  
• Wife visits my bench, holding a hammer and that could possibly means that it's about time to quit 1/18 model for a while and give full attention on 1/1 model.

 

Due to all the above reasons (aka excuses), once the windsock painting process complete, I had to stop for a short relaxing brake and puzzle things out. Next update ETA, late August or early September. Summer is typically the time for vacations and a good chance to relax, unwind & recharge batteries. We all need a break once in a while and I am no exception. I hope you can do the same and enjoy some well deserved time off. I will be back soon, picking up where I left off and complete this project. In the meantime, I plan to unplug, disconnect from anything for a few days, enjoy sunny beaches & crystal waters and hopefully have some SCUBA fun with playful dolphins - as happened last summer.

 

If you follow this WIP, you might remember the update few weeks ago, when left home for a much needed vacation to the beach. I am having a difficult time transitioning back from vacation. I had an amazing month living on the beach, playing and soaking in sunshine and honestly I want to still be there instead of writing a new post. It has been less than 24 hours since we arrived home and I can already feel the pull of the day-in-day-out routines. I know that the cat in following picture might looks really silly, but it does capture how truly happy I was on vacation. Transitioning back to reality after vacation, is not easy and I need to get my non-vacation groove back. Any suggestions?

 

It's far too good to be true

 

The whole grass field scene would require a 50x40 cm display base, considering that glider measures approx 70 cm wingspan in 1/18 scale. That could be a problem for my show case in home, which yes, it is big, but not big as an elephant. From the MDC - Model Display Cases store, I bought a 50x40 cm base, made of polished beechwood with MDF core.

 

Those who have read my previously uploaded projects, might remember that I prefer using plaster powder to build the section that recreates the ground, especially if it is asphalt. However, the 50x40 cm dimensions of the scene dictate plaster quantity more (and therefore heavier) than usual and for this reason I chose to use another material, because my goal was to build a “grass field display base” instead of weightlifting equipment for champs. For this reason, I purchased a 50x40 cm size & 10 mm thick sheet of balsa wood from my local hobby shop, which I cut & shaped around with my cheaper than dirt Black & Decker 400 W / 3000 spm jigsaw bought for 20 € only. The basic idea, is to produce a thick & flat surface which protrudes approx 10 mm beyond the polished beechwood base, on which later green grass & extra stuff will be added where is needed.

 

Remember that operating a freehand held jigsaw could be a bad idea if not pay attention on job. Sawdust may also cause problems when breath or shallow. A powerful vacuum system to suck away the dust should be used all time to keep the workbench area clean. Using a breathing mask & pair of protection glasses to prevent dust contact with lungs & eyes, is also an important matter that you should seriously take care of. My recommendation is to also wear working gloves - made of kevlar if possible.

 

Unlike the regular practice followed in my previous projects, in which I glued static grass & plants directly on ground untill filling the whole area, I decided to change for an easier and more appropriate method, taking into account the increased surface to be covered. To do so, I bought a 50x40 cm size green grass carpet, made by Busch which specializes mostly in train dioramas. The green grass carpet will be glued on the 10 mm thick sheet of balsa wood and will become the main substrate of a dense grass covered ground. Later, I plan to add more static grass & plants, to avoid the monotonous flat football field alike green pattern and make it look closer to reality.

 

Using scissors, I cut around the Busch's grass carpet, according to contour of the 10 mm thick balsa wood sheet. The grass carpet was secured in place with steel pins and glued onto balsa using water based white glue for wood, which becomes transparent when it dries. Once the process complete and the glue dried, the steel pins which kept the grass carpet nailed on balsa sheet, were carefully removed.

 

As previously stated, the scene supposed to takes place in Spring. Next job is to plant an additional static grass layer over the grass carpet. To do so, I used different colours of Heki static grass found at my local hobby shop. Heki, also specializes mostly in train dioramas. Someone might ask, why I had to apply the grass carpet first and then spread additional layer of static grass, rather than just settle for 2nd option only. The reason that I followed this tactic, is to ensure that the density of the grass would be satisfactory, such that the soil underneath, would not be visible. It could be arguable, that this tactic might be double work for nothing. Well, I only hope that the final result will worth the experimentation & risk taken.

 

So, I pick a small quantity of water based white glue, placed it into a small metal container, add just few drops of water with a syringe to make the right mixture and finally I applied on the desired areas to be filled with additional static grass & plants, using a wet brush. Because the mixture is enriched with water based glue, it is easy to correct possible mistakes.

 

No, this is not the final form of grass - be patient for next WIP updates. For the moment, I am watering the base twice a day, hoping the grass to grow soon.

The windsock presented earlier, needed a pole to be placed on. I thought it would be a good idea to build the windsock pole to look like it's made of weathered wood, instead of some metal structure. To achieve the wanted effect, I used a 7.5 mm diameter wooden rod, which I managed to scribe with a wire brush, to obtain wood traces and look more realistic. Later, the radomly scribed wooden rod, repeatedly washed with diluted mixture of 5% "Raw Umber" oil colour and 95% White Spirit thinner, until get the desired tonality. Once the result was OK for me, I left it alone to dry for two days and then I tried some drybrushing with "Yellow Ochre" oil colour, to slightly tone up over selected areas that IMHO should look more enlightened. Finally, I sprayed over with hairspray - the cheapest I found at my local supermarket - to prepare the surface for paintscratching.

 

To paint the pole, I used the FS37925 "Matt White" and the FS31302 "Matt Red", available by Life Color as LC01 and LC06 acrylics, applied with a soft brush. I would say the pole is drybrushed more, than painted actually.

 

I left the red & white acrylic paint on windsock pole to dry for few hours and then I tried some paint scratching with an old toothbrush, previously moistened with water. The hairspray layer onto which the red & while acrylics had been dyed, began to dissolve and to drift along the overlying paintjob, giving the impression of weathering on wood pole. Additional details such as bolts were also placed and painted with the "Dark Rust", available by Vallejo as 302 acrylic. Rust stains and slimy grime streaking, later apllied on selected areas, using the "Light Rust Brown" & "Dark Rust" oil paints by 502 Abteilung & AK Interactive series and the "Slimy Grime Dark" & "Winter Streaking Grime", available by AK Interactive as AK026 and AK014 filters.

 

As previously wrote, my objective is to establish a scene of terse abandonment, without extreme features that could distract viewer’s attention, keeping the glider as the main protagonist of the story. The addition of a deflated windsock and a couple of Marsden matting / PSP - Pierced Steel Planking plates, seemed good idea to me. The PSP plates, were used during WWII to lay down airstrips. These mats were large perforated steel sheets each measuring 300x30 cm and weighing around 30 kg. They quickly interlink and with a bulldozer for levelling and enough manpower for the laying, an airstrip could be created overnight. The post WWII years, farmers and home owners used them to build garden fences, pig sties, chicken coops, benches, improvised bridges & ramps or as reinforcing panels in concrete buildings.

 

As earlier described in detail. the windsock was built by Milliput putty. On the other hand, the PSP plates construction, would follow the 3D printing way. It took only 15 minutes of CAD work on my laptop and voilà, we have a winner! A new 1/18 scale PSP plate virtual model, is ready to be forwarded to the 3D printer and become an actual object, within few minutes only. As previously described, the file can be scaled up or down to reach the desired dimensions, with few mouse clicks only and later be 3D printed under any scale. Yes, I could scratchbuild some PSP plates with my own hands, using metal foil or by vaccumforming styrene sheet, but I would surely spend much more time. The easier, the better! Actually, I'm not really sure if the handmade result would be so accurate in scale or if I could possibly build it within few minutes only.

 

The material used for the 3D printing, is a white plastic (not rubber) that can be handled just like any other styrene part, but its surprisingly durable and incredibly flexible. Additionally, the side hooks on 3D printed PSP plates, can be used to interlink the parts - just like the real one.

 

The 3D printed PSP plates washed with liquid soap and warm water and sprayed over with Humbrol acrylic primer to spot any mistakes and prepare for painting. At first, I was planning to leave the PSP plates on ground and let the grass grow through the perforated sheet. Considering the dense green grass covering, I thought that it would be better idea to place them as a part of a rusty fence. The fact is that actual PSP plates do rust when left abandoned for long period of time and available photographs proove it. Since I had in mind to build these plates to look abandoned, I had no reason to avoid an overall rusty colour tones & weathered effects painting.

 

Replicating rusty metal, sounds like the Quest for the Holy Grail for an average scale modeler like me. Of course, the books, the videos and the tutorial seminars provided by famous scale model masters, helps a lot to understand some basic principles. Furthermore, the available tools & materials today, makes our life much easier. However, whenever I attempt to recreate rusty metal, I feel like a rookie and I'm never entirely satisfied with the result. In my attempt to recreate rusty PSP plates, I did use the Life Color's "Dust & Rust diorama" 6-pack set, of 22 ml bottles.

 

• Life Color UA701 "Rust Dark Shadow" acrylic,
  
• Life Color UA702 "Rust Base Color" acrylic,
  
• Life Color UA703 "Rust Light Shadow 1" acrylic,
  
• Life Color UA704 "Rust Light Shadow 2" acrylic,
  
• Life Color UA705 "Dust Type 1" acrylic and
  
• Life Color UA706 "Dust Type 2" acrylic.

 

The first thing I had to do, was apply a base colour on the PSP plates. For a base colour of steel plate I did use the FS3004 "Matt Burnt Umber" available by Life Color as LC37 acrylic.

 

Later, using a fine brush and the Life Color UA702 "Rust Base Color" acrylic, from the previously mentioned "Dust & Rust diorama" 6-pack set, I covered the area with irregular spots. What I noticed while using the Life Color's rust shades, is that although the paints appear to be bright in color, they dry darker and are a perfect match to the real thing.

 

The next two steps involve the use of the sponge technique to add the small chips, which will give visual interest to the base colour. To get best results, I did use a fine textured sponge like those used for packing of electrical items.

 

For the first colour, I chose the Life Color UA701 "Rust Dark Shadow" acrylic. For the second colour, I chose a rust tone that is brighter and lighter than the previous base colours. First dipped the sponge in the Life Color UA703 "Rust Light Shadow 1" acrylic, then remove the excess on a paper towel - otherwise it would end up with large blobs of paint on surface instead of a chipping effect.

 

Following, a dense oil paint filter should be applied. In this case, I did use "Vandyke Brown" available by Winsor & Newton, thinned with White Spirit thinner to a consistency between a filter and a wash. This would help to unify the previous effects and tones.

 

Once the "Vandyke Brown" filter was fully dry, the next step was to apply a paint layer, to create the chipping effect. This could be done using the hairspray technique and in this case I did use the AK Interactive’s "Worn Effects" which has been developed for exactly this type of effect and would guarantee consistent results.

 

With the "Worn Effects" coat dry, some Life Color UA512 "Light Blue RLM 78" acrylic airbrushed on, in a random cloud pattern. Once dried, more sponge chipping added, using the Life Color UA704 "Rust Light Shadow 2" acrylic.

 

The paint allowed to dry for about an hour before starting the chipping process. To chip the paint, I simply wet the PSP plate surface with warm tap water and let it soften the paint. Some old stiff bristled brushes & toothpicks were used to scrub and dab the plate’s surface, to create the chipping effects on the light greyblue areas.

 

Fresh rust marks also added in some selected points, with some of the Life Color UA704 "Rust Light Shadow 2" acrylic. Using a fine tipped brush, the "Light Rust Brown" & "Dark Rust" oil paints by 502 Abteilung & AK Interactive series painted in vertical lines from various chips and scratched added earlier. Once the oil paints had been allowed to dry for a short while, a brush dampered in White Spirit used to blend and soften these streaks for a more subtle effect and obtain visible signs of wear & oxidation.

 

Hmmm, is the camera too far to see details? OK, let’s zoom and get a closer look on oxidation effects & light greyblue paint chipping. To be honest, I'm starting to believe, that my attempt to turn a pigs ear to silk purse, is quite possible to succeed.

 

It's far too good to be true

 

 

Yeah, I also would like to have THAT kind of a flying helmet on my wall.

I 've noticed that pilots & airfield supporting personel, use a number of improvised anchors types, to tie down the gliders, ultralights or even single engine aircrafts such as Cessna 172s, especially when operating from some grass covered airfield, without any permanent anchorage points & lashing hoops installation on ground. These improvised anchors are made of concrete filled tires or cement block bricks also known as CMU - Concrete Masonry Units).

 

The tying is part of the checklist and therefore gliders, ultralights, gyrocopters etc, should remain tied and with wheel chocks instaled when grounded, because even the slightest breeze can cause to aircraft start rolling or flip the wings and hit wingtips on ground or worst. I've watched a video on YouTube, where a RAF's BAe Harrier GR.7 aircraft with no wheel chocks installed, began trundling because the wind gust, gone away from the apron and finally stopped on the grass, several meters away from the initial parking position. During this special "ride", the ground personnel just stood and watched the embarrassing view. Fortunately, no big damage caused that day, if we exclude some taxiway sign & the fence fell down and of course the groundcrew chief's pride. So, if this can happen on a mighty fighter jet that weighs 13 tons, why not also happen on a glider or an ultralight?

 

Building this improvised anchor made by concrete filled tire under scale, seemed OK to me. My first thought was to 3D print it and for this reason I actually, had just the right CAD model waiting for this purpose, in my laptop’s HD. Not having anything more to do that afternoon, I took my Mrs for a ride in town and some shopping at local Mall.

 

As people say, everything starts with a wish. And then, just like that, while shopping at the supermarket, I found the following item (actually a pencil eraser set for kids), for 0.5 € only. Sometimes the simplest idea can make the biggest difference and it looks like someone had the idea to produce & sell some pencil erasers that look like car wheels, waiting for me to find it, when I need it. Since I found this item which looks like a weathered wheel tire and seems to meets the criteria for 1/18 scale size, for a cheaper than dirt cost, I had no reason to 3D print the tire.

 

PS. Damn’d, I should wish for “World Peace” instead of “I need a 1/18 scale tire”.

 

I removed the rim and filled the inside of the wheel with plaster to recreate as closely as I could the rough surface of cast cement & gravels. Because the plaster mixture was quite watery, I had plenty of time until become hard. So I also added some grains of volcanic sand into the plaster mix, hoping to recreate gravels. These volcanic sand grains (hand picked during summer vacations at the island of Santorini) seem to be ideal for the purpose and weight much less than normal beach sand.

 

As soon as the plaster cast got harden, the anchor was sprayed over with Humbrol light grey acrylic primer to get prepared for the FS 37038 "Matt Black" available by Life Color as LC02 acrylic. Later, the gravels were also painted with light gray & sand shades.

 

The paint allowed to dry for a couple of hours before starting the dusting process. The next two steps involve the use of pigments, which would give visual interest on the old & weathered tire. To get best results, I used "Raw Umber" pigment, a small metal cup, a flat brush and a bit of water. I add some grams of pigment powder and few drops of water into the cup to make the right mixture. It is important to add a tiny amount of water in order to make the mixture look like mud - not like soup. For this reason, I use a syringe to add just few drops on the pigment powder and I stir using the brush. The pigment applied with paintbrush with pressure, over the whole surface.

 

When the pigment wash dried, I rubbed off the high spots with a hard toothbrush and removed the dust excess. The high spots were cleaned to the basic finish and the low spots were left dusty. As soon as it looked OK to me after brushing & removing "Raw Umber" pigment dust, I continue to second step and add some grams of White pigment powder in the metal cup. Using a flat brush, I tried a pigment powder drybrushing, on the areas that supposed to be more enlighted.

 

Afterwards, the surface was soaked with fixative by Winsor & Newton, to fix the previously applied pigments, moving in a motion outwards the center of the wheel. As a final touch, I tried some drybrushing on gravels, using light gray & sand acrylic paint.

 

Hello, Following your thread from the beginning and I am very impressed. The manner in which you show the different stages deserves a separate mention. Great job and I look forward to more.

Hello, Following your thread from the beginning and I am very impressed. The manner in which you show the different stages deserves a separate mention. Great job and I look forward to more.

If you are interested for more projects like this one, please allow me propose some of my previously uploaded WIPs. They are also uploaded here on ModelWork.pl. You 'll find that I always try to combine step-by-step building presentation, with useful tips & techniques: Just click on the following thumbnails and have fun.

 

Some of my already finished models...

 

 

...and some that already built, but not uploaded yet.

 

Daily watering was successful and the green grass is now high & wild enough on the field display base. At last, I had to conclude the "alles zusammen" final step. To assemble all individual parts in one scene, without damaging the glider's construction, the paint, the weathering and the rust & dust effects. That’s why I had to constantly monitor and try some dryfit tests all time, to ensure that I will not face any nasty surprises later. The windsock & the PSP plates, would be the first to be placed on the green grass display base and secured in place with hidden metal pins encased in the polished beechwood base through balsa wood sheet & glued with CA super glue. A last moment’s addition, an also 3D printed Fahrrad NSU bicycle model, painted in light blue colour (ammo box removed) not to remind it’s German military origin, placed against the windsock wood pole. Some rust effects also applied on bike’s metal frame.

 

Later, the improvised anchor made by concrete filled tire and the IS-A Salamandra glider model, both secured in place with hidden metal pins and glued on the ground with transparent silicon. Final details were added, such as the seat belts & buckles in cockpit, the clear windscreen, some extra dust & rust weathering effects on tension wires, etc. As soon as the result was OK for me, the scene sprayed over with Humbrol enamel mat coat, to seal the work so far and left it overnight to dry. The next day, I did a final inspection on result and set it up to shoot some pictures.

 

Finish will be awesome! Bicycle is breathtaking!