Finally, I have started wedering.

After I have read a few sites, viewed posts, consult with fellow modelers,
I have decided to go with artist oil colors. I bought a black, brown, beige and white color,
and turpentine, which is used for thinning paint and also helps the paint dry faster.



The procedure is as follows. The colors are mixed with turpentine which help him smear.
For me it seemed a lot better looking when mixing is not so much monochromatic mass but that
when applied multicolored leaves a trace. All in all, mixed color has "interesting" look





The first try was on top of the wing part that is not visible, the part that fusdelage covers.
Results not at all satisfied. I tried several times, but it seems that the wing color is too dark
and that I have to use only black on it for wedering.





If it is not ok, the color is easily removed with a cloth dipped in turpentine.
The underside is gray-green and I have decided to start wedering on it no matter what may happen.
This is how it looked before wedering. Some kind of plastic look.



Color is applied by using cotton cloth and anointed in all directions











Color need some time to dry 1-2 hours. After this time the cloth (dry or with a little or a lot of turpentine on it,
depending on how much of the color we want to take off) take off excess paint. Strokes should be in the direction in
which air flows around the wing or fuselage
In the first run I took off the color with cloth that was only slightly dampened with turpentine.
The following removal I used a dry cotton cloth. It is important that the cloth is soft as it can then do the finer details.
If you want color can be added at any time, left to dry, and you can continue



Here are the results. I do not know how this will you look at these pictures but live looks good. I am satisfied.

























Only thing that I did not find is how long does it take for this color to completly dry.
If someone has used this metod, please tell me is there any method of mat coating that I
can use as to protect wedering

Misha - that takes a lot of courage to jump in and smear that paint on such a pretty surface, but I really like the "dirty"results. It's not over-done, but just dirty enough to look natural for the condition of these airplanes in service. Looking good!

Thank you. Did not want to make it too dirty. I think that this is enough.

Had you not lived half way across the world i would ship or bring my zero to you and beg you to paint mine! Very well done indeed!

Your compliments mean a lot to me and forcing me to try to make everything better.,
Even though I am thousands of miles away from you, I am trying to make model that is good as yours models are.

For your model we have two options.
- You can send me airplane ticket and I will make it there
- and other way is to o it your self. It is so easy (even I did it) and if you have any question I am here to help if I can, of course.
this kind of weathering is so easy and you can add colors or remove color as many times as you want. After that that you
have done till now, this will be peace of cake for you.

Have only one thing that I don't know. How to protect weathering, or will I protect it at all.
Wing is painted with polyurethane paint (hope that is English saying) and weathering is oil color.
Have to do some research.

best regards

Hey everyone, sorry for my absence, my honey-do list finally had me cornered, so I had to finish some home projects. I'm getting back to the Zero and have some progress to post.

L16pilot, thanks for the great pictures on your Zero, it's looking so good, please keep up the great work and the progress pictures!

I'm having kind of a problem deciding if I should sell canopies, it was not my intent, but I really appreciate the positive comments on my work, it really does seem over the top, but I'm glad those that have seen my work like it.

ZERO-322 started this thread and not to mention all the sucking up he is doing! lol! I must bestow on him a complete ready to mount tail wheel and a few canopies for his masking pleasure!

Well well well.... You know, when you put a scale tail wheel on a plane it just begs to have the main gear done right, wouldn't you agree? The Zero is an easy plane to do, not to complicated. So I went down to Walmart and inquired about Zero accessories and they told me they were right next to the Japanese ceiling fans. There they were, a set of Zero gear, now that is service! lol!

Seriously, I just modified a set of standard 3/16" struts. They work great and should look even better painted black. The scissors are made compact enough by mounting them to the scale location. The Zero struts have some funky angles, but they are correct, I compared them with a picture of an actual Zero to get the angles as close as I could.

Good job!

Those scissors in the wrong location always bothered me a lot, especially the V groove that has to be cut in the wheel wells for them [:-]

I opted to go with Eurokit oleos as they have no scissors (an easy way out )

The mod looks good though.

V.

If you think im sucking up now? I haven't even begun to stalk you for these struts you've just presented! Lol lo so what's a guy gotta do to get a set of those from you? A right arm a toe perhaps? Name my first born after you? Lol

ok all kidding a side i would happily joyfully even pay for a package deal?

Very nice strut mod there. What did you use to build up the offset with? My first guess was JB Weld? You continue to raise the bar...Between you and Misha lately, I'm thinking I might just have to put my Zero further back in the kitbash que so I can practice on some different ones first

LOL! My young squire! Who wants a set of scale struts anyway? They just look awesome and stupid stuff like that! lol! I'm teasing now, actually I got these struts from Tanktiger in the market place for $45, not each but both. They seem just as good as the Robarts and the mod is pretty easy, but the Robarts would work as well. I'll be working on your parts on the side this week, let me get back to you.

No, you're over thinking it, it is not structural but only a fairing. So, I built it up very quickly and easily with hard balsa saturated with thin CA and epoxy and micro balloons. All this was done after bending the struts to the closest scale outline I could.

I just thought these would be a nice touch, adding to my scale tail wheel. Keep going on yours, just pick up some ideas for the next one.

Hey Mike??? you know.. you need to work on your returning phone calls skills (shrugg)/...lol

Luke - the Zero gear legs you made look fantastic.

Here's some pics of the progress I made last weekend.

I added panel lines/rivets to the interior and, I'm sure purists will complain about my color choice, but frankly, there seems to be a lot of debate regarding the correct interior color on the Zeros...I like the brownish drab color, so that's what I went with. Also, I know the instrument panel is not correct and does not allow for the MG breaches...I guess I would have gone for a more scale appearance if I had done a full interior. Looking to score a 1/6 Zero pilot soon....that's the only thing keeping me from attaching the canopy.



I also made some MG barrels...will wait to install them until afer paint is complete and will glass them in securely from the inside.


Also, the inside of the canopy is painted same color as the interior...urgh....forgot to take a photo....but really looks nice.

Finally, I got the Nelson paint shipment...colors look great and can't wait to try them out...

L16pilot,
Didn't see your inst panel pic so I don't know if this is too late. I don't recall where I got this pic but I'm using it for my current build, a KI-61 Tony, panel and will use it for the Zero when I get to it as well. I know it's not correct for the KI-61 but it's the best I have for a Japanese panel.

My method is to print several copies of it resized appropriately, paste one complete copy to a piece of .020 polystyrene, then cut out several disks of the same type .020 sheet and paste cut outs of the dials to them and paste those new dial disks over the same inst dials on the panel to add raised relief/depth, I'll do the lower individual parts as seperate pieces and the top center and middle insets will be cut outs in the main panel piece with a layer behind the main panel to give the inset relief/depth. Asewing needle or stick pin can be used to put just a tiny drop of epoxy over the screw heads and when it's dry the pic wil show through the clear bump to simulate the screw heads.

I saw this done in a plane at the field and the effect was quite good so I had to try it myself. I use the super High def printers at the local copier shop (Kinko's) to get really nice color prints on a dense, smooth paper stock. Not quite photo paper, but close so it's not too glossy. Did one for an ESM FW-190 for a buddy and it looks pretty cool in his plane...Anxious to do mine soon...not quite ready for it yet though.

Below is the panel for the use of anyone who want to try it out as well.

Such great work by eveyone here. I'm really enjoying getting back into following this thread.

Aaahhhsooo! You're right, I was just thinking that plastic putty would be too fragile and the next thought was the JB Weld, not so much for sruct strength, but for durability and shapability with a file once it was cured....your way is much better!! And quicker.

I have a set of those Robart clones on a Kyosho ME/BF 109 and they have a few hundred landings on them now without a hitch...great value.

I have a set of these guys below packed away in the Zero box now. They look pretty good and my plan was to warm/heat the lower offset and bend it just a bit. Gotta be careful with that as they are aluminum and probably won't respond well to too much heat or to quick of bend. Patience and small increments will be the key here. The top of the torq link is mounted to a slip collar that can be easily rotated so it's just a matter of then doing a lower mount.

If that doesn't work, Plan B will be your method

Link to supplier below. Great service. ordered, paid and had shipping notice within 36 hrs, in my mailbox in 8 days from Hong Kong. Had some overseas stuff a day or two faster and have had a few take 4 weeks after getting tracking info and verification of shipment there...I think some shipments get tied up in customs

http://www.rcskylite.com/categories/Struts/

L16pilot, great pictures, love the guns. I've also done some looking around for colors and it seems there is some confusion about cockpit colors, I like what you have done though, looks great.

The epoxy and micro balloons is anything but fragile, I've used this combination on all of my tail wheels and it does not crack. I grind the strut a bit with a course dremel wheel so that the filler really bonds to it, works great.

It looks as though the scissors on those struts you have are for show only, so I would just make up my own out of thin brass sheet. That way you can adjust them to any size and shape and attach them to the strut in the proper location. I would be a bit nervous about bending the struts though, not sure about the aluminum they used, but thanks for the link!

This shot shows the angles pretty well. I decided to go with a Robart 4" scale wheel. I'm designing my gear doors now, so we will see how scale I can make it look!

I would agree as to the strength and durability of the epxy/m.b. combo and you are correct on the torq links for visual purposes only...alignment is maintained by a grub screw and slot.

Aluminum seems a good grade and from first test on the oddball-out third strut in one of the three-fer packages the type aluminum used appears strong yet ductile and doesn't chrystalize and become brittle under moderate heat(750-950f)

Anyway here's a great photo resource link that I just stumbled across last night.



http://www.j-aircraft.com/walk/walkarou.htm

Frets - Thanks for the panel image....I'm not too far along where I can add this easily...I'll see how well our office xerox does on the print quality and I have some white vinyl. I won't be able to fit teh entire panel in my Zero...but even the upper half...then fab some MG breaches...would definitely look better than what I have in there now. Many thanks and will post photos of the results.

Glad you can use it!

Okay, I've made some progress on Zero #2...some youy can see...some you can't. For example, I am awaiting delivery of my Zero pilot....actually a GI Joe 1/6 scale pilot and I also bought some various 1/6 scale leather-appearing helmets. Should be able to make a usable and convincing bust out of them...once they arrive..

In the meantime, I've been finishing the interior details. Frets - I ended up re-sizing the panel graphics you sent...stretched it here and there to better fill CPM panel space. Also made some dummy MG breaches and applied the interior graphis provided by Misha. Overall, I'm happy. No, it's not super accurate, but I have to keep in mind that I'm building this to be my every-weekend bash around warbird. Not that I don't want to detail it all, but I have a tendency to get carried away....although I am planning to "weather" the interior a bit with a scotchbright pad.


And here's another view of the interior with Luke's PETG canopy ...love that clarity and quality...


Luke - PLEASE make some more. There's some guys here doing a much better and more creative bash than I...would love to see what ZERO322 could do to make a sliding version of your canopy.

Very nice.

With the pilot figure and canopy in place it will yield a very convincing effect from 2-3 ft . It's all just gravy in the air though...I've often thought myself abit daft for spending too much time on details that can't be seen once it's in the air. My wife's long standing question has been, "are you building them to fly, or to sit around oohing, aahing, and grunting over like Tim Allen on 'ToolTime'?"

Diony mentioned something above about cockpit colors above and some confusion around them. That would be understandable as the IJNA and IJAA aircraft were terribly inconsistant in the mid to later war time regarding paint, colors and armament. Germany had delivered a large shipment of MG-151's and 20mm cannon in '42 which were introduced in production but then was not able to consistantly supply the jap req's. The Japs themselves were having troubl keeping up with various production as well, hence it was not uncommon at all to see a flight of Zero's, Tony's or other fighters lined up for arming and have 8 different types of munitions on the cart becase the planes had so many variing combinations.

Same with the colours; It seems that a red/brown, a metallic teal, and a light tan/olive were the specified colors in order of preference for the cockpits, but there have been examples of over 10-12 different cockpit paint documented and no ryhme or reason according to dates, especially late in the war.

Frets - exactly my dilema...both issues. I love doing the details, but to an extent, details can add fragility....but if all I cared about was how it looked in the air, I wouldn't be bashing the CMP Zero to the slight extent I am. I also believe that details...even small ones like the MG breeches, panel lines inside the canopy and rivets...add depth that make an otherwise ordinary ARF "pop" from even 10-15 ft away...

As for the colors, the more I read the more confused I get. And I've also read that the interior and exterior colors...(as well as components such as the spinner on some variants) of the A6Ms varied depending on manuafacturer, as Mitsubishi didn't build 'em all. So overall, I like a correct representation...but the Japanese military during WWII was very inconsistent, not well documented and difficult to verify in many cases. So, I'm pleased with how #2 is turning out and it's a big improvement over #1 already.

"otherwise ordinary ARF"; I think the whole point of this thread is that's exactly what most here are trying to avoid

I know there are those who would vehemently disagree with my following statement and as far as I'm concerned they tend to be narrow minded, elitist, and have no practical concept of "ARF bashing" or the degree of skill and scratch building experience it takes:
At some point, and I believe many have passed that point here, an ARF ceases to be an ARF and becomes an entirely unique genre of building(yes, building); It's gone far beyond mere assembly, has numerous components of Kit building and even more of scratch building along with re-engineering/designing. The end results become the "kit bashes" that we all take great pride in- and rightfully so. There are many examples in this thread of scale fidelity and appearance that put scores of kit and scratch builts to shame and very likely (the bash's) have a LOT more hours devoted to them in research and building.

Keep up the wonderful work guys, you are all truely inspiring!!! It really does take a different type of builder to do this stuff and make it look easy

That is very true, an ARF is nothing more than a blank canvas to a good basher.

@L16pilot - nice work with cockpit.. I have painted complete part of cockpit in black and then did a little sending,.
Maybe it is not scale look, but I did like it, because it makes visual difference of inside and outside part.