zipnz1

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Ram 3500 started a great in service thread last year that i thought of posting on but since i was planing on posting updates of my progress i probably should start my own thread.

I started back on the repaint of my ziroli P-38 last july, I even had the olive drab paint applied and was working on the hardware hoping to get this bird flying over the summer.
Since the weather is starting to change towards winter i thought i would slow down a little and put a little more time into the paint finish.

I have been doing other things with the paint previously that i will bring out later but i first wanted to start out with some paint chipping.
Every model i paint i like to try different techniques and on the p38 i used the hair spray paint chipping technique.
Basically after applying the paint masks you spray hair spray on the area you will be painting. when this is dry you apply your paint color. I have found that the results are better if you apply the paint thin avoiding excess buildup.

In one of the pics you can see my markings before i started chipping. The larger paint areas i sanded with 600 grit paper wet in small areas and when i started to see just a hint of the base paint i stopped and took a stiff paint brush that i cut the bristles shorter and applied water with the brush and stippled at the paint surface. The hair spray is water soluable so it will desolve with the water and allow the top coat of paint to be chipped from the base paint.

I am not quite pleased with the resilts of the of the tail numbers on the right side and will probably repaint and try again. It was very hard to sand the yellow paint with out cutting through the olive drab and the chipping does not look quite right to me.
The left side i took a xacto knife and made very small chips and scratches with the tip to allow areas for the water to react with the hair spray and produce what i think is better results.

Chris Nicastro

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To get more scale results with weathering the paint try to wet sand with 1000 grit paper or finer. At panel line edges you can add chip detail with a piece of a sponge and silver paint.
See how these techniques work for you, not hard to do and will leave nice results.

Dash7ATP

As the old saying goes, everyone has an opinion, just like Ah-s. Here is mine. I think the chips are overdone. My question would be, what would make paint chip off like that? Maybe paintingt over an oilly surface, or impropper priming. Maybe throwing rocks at it, etc. It just does not look right to me. As I said, it's just an opinion.....


Dash

Mk23socom

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He said the same thing basically.. so the OP is already of the same mind as you.

BobH

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Take a look at this link. It's an original P-38 at the Natl Air and Space. It's preserved as it was received from the Military.

Google for additional picturs. I should be helpful.

http://airandspace.si.edu/images/col...295000CP31.jpg

zipnz1

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My inspiration for this project is from a original paint P-38 at the Steven F Udvar Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum.
It would be too difficult to reproduce this plane exactly but i wanted to achive the look of a distressed p-38.
I like to try new painting techniques every time i paint a plane and on this one i am going to concentrate on chipping.

The paint on planes from the pacific theater appear to be more distressed because of the adverse weather than the planes from the europe theater.

I started doing work on the top of the wing and it looks very exagerated but this is the base work. I will be applying a light coat of olive drab back on then chipping the paint back down to the base work.

I have a vision and hopefully things will come together to achive the look i am after.


mike

zipnz1

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Thanks for the pic bob, I was in the middle of updating my thread and saw your pic after. This is the plane that is giving me the inspiration.

zipnz1

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I have one inboard side finished and thought i would post an update.

I am going to back up a little bit. I had my p38 painted with olive drab with plans to fly it this past flying season but other commitments prevented me from getting it flying.
I ended up sanding most of the paint off the top of the wing back down to the gray primer. Some tinted yellow paint was sprayed on top of the primer for the look of yellow chromate primer.
Then the olive drab was painted back on. I then sanded this paint down in areas where the pilot and service crew would have walked on the wing back down to the primer emphasizing an areas where the stringers would be located.
Although looking exagerated this will be the base for my weathering. To make the effect more realistic multiple colors will show through the chipped drab. For the bare aluminum i just used the gray primer. I did end up dry brushing some silver paint onto the primer and rubbing it in with my finger but this was probably just a waste of time because when i apply the flat clear the silver is going to turn gray.
Hair spray was sprayed onto the entire area, the olive drab was lightly sprayed on and the stencils around the gas caps were painted.
600 grit wet dry paper was lightly sanded on the olive until i saw it was getting thin. Generally this was only 2 or 3 strokes.
The cut paint brush was then used with water stippling at the surface until the paint started to break up.

I have used the standard chipping technique of using silver paint on my planes in the past and this does produce a good effect if you stand back but to me up close it just looks like silver paint on top of the base paint to me. I am pleased with my current chipping results and will be expanding its use on my planes in the future.

mike

glazier808

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I like it Mike!

Casey

zipnz1

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Thanks casey, It goes slow but a little more progress.