Calshot 4mm - SRS's Blog

Looking good Jam!

Jam this is really getting some atmosphere and will be a unique layout when it's finished!

Great photos

Thank you very much Matt and James!

I'm glad the layout is living up to your expectations.

Very nice, Jam - looking forward to seeing more of this B) .

 

By the way - seeing how you need to paint those two aircraft, perhaps this site might be useful for you: http://hyperscale.com/ - this is a modelling site mostly dedicated to aviation models. There are tonnes of highly useful build reports in the "Articles & Galleries" section.

Thanks for the compliment, Dominik.

 

And thanks too for the brilliant website link! I'll have to read through that thoroughly. It's certainly been bookmarked.

And thanks too for the brilliant website link! I'll have to read through that thoroughly. It's certainly been bookmarked.

 

Yeah, I built model aircraft for many years, and while it was only late during that phase that I came across Hyperscale, I found the site to be both inspirational and very helpful indeed. Unfortunately I never reached the kind of skill which is evident in all those build reports .

Oh right - I didn't know you had built model aircraft. How many had you built?

I see what you mean about not reaching the skill level - I'm looking at one which is in the right colour scheme and I'm in awe This one to be precise.

Oh right - I didn't know you had built model aircraft. How many had you built?

 

Phew - probably around two dozen over the years, give or take a few. I don't have them any longer, though.

 

 

I see what you mean about not reaching the skill level - I'm looking at one which is in the right colour scheme and I'm in awe This one to be precise.

 

Funny, I've been looking at exactly the same one earlier this evening when I looked whether there might be any Walrus builds on there . But yes, that's exactly what I mean and always admired when I browsed through the site.

Phew - probably around two dozen over the years, give or take a few. I don't have them any longer, though.

Quite a serious hobby then! Sounds like you enjoyed building them then?

Funny, I've been looking at exactly the same one earlier this evening when I looked whether there might be any Walrus builds on there . But yes, that's exactly what I mean and always admired when I browsed through the site.

The models are so good it almost gives you the opposite feeling of admiring them!

Quite a serious hobby then! Sounds like you enjoyed building them then?

 

That I certainly did! Tell you one thing, however - WWII German aircraft are NOT for the weak of heart. Those camouflage schemes on them are so complicated that they can drive you into deepest and darkest despair . In comparison, that camouflage on the Walrus you linked to is actually a piece of cake, if you ask me!

The models are so good it almost gives you the opposite feeling of admiring them!

 

Yeah, I know what you mean!

That I certainly did! Tell you one thing, however - WWII German aircraft are NOT for the weak of heart. Those camouflage schemes on them are so complicated that they can drive you into deepest and darkest despair . In comparison, that camouflage on the Walrus you linked to is actually a piece of cake, if you ask me!

May I ask - How do you mark out where to paint the different colours in the camouflage? Or do you just paint it by eye and hope for the best?

 

Really not looking forward to painting it!

I'd say it depends on the complexity of the camouflage.

 

For those which consist "only" of more or less uniform areas of different colours - such as those schemes used by the RAF - it's usually sufficient to either gently trace the outlines of the various areas with a sharp pencil, or to use masking film cut to shape with the appropriate contours. This, of course, also depends on whether the camo scheme features sharp or faded edges between the various colours - with masking film being the better choice for sharp edges.

 

However, I personally wouldn't worry too much about precisely hitting those specific outlines which are usually illustrated in the instructions. Considering the truly huge numbers in which many WWII aircraft were built and the equally large number of personnel which I assume will have worked in the paint shops alone over the years, I guess it's fairly reasonable to assume there was a considerable margin for deviation here - even when there were official diagrams of some kind or other which specified how the various colours needed to be arranged. In the absence of preserved examples of such diagrams, however, I would think trying to copy down camouflage outlines from prototype photos of the time - a fair number of which will of course lack the quality of modern day photographs - is very much bound to entail the same kind of margins.

 

However, let's now take a look at a WWII Luftwaffe plane, such as this Heinkel He 219 night fighter: Click. This kind of scheme can basically be done only freehanded. That's one of those examples for hideously complicated schemes I was referring to, by the way!

 

As a general rule, which I think you'll probably know already - in most cases the lightest colour needs to be applied first and the darker ones go on top.

Thanks Dominik - that's really useful information!

 

As for the Heinkel He 219 - all I can say is

Thank goodness I don't have to do camouflage like that! Maybe I should just get on with it and stop moaning . I actually didn't know about lighter colours usually go first - a very useful tip. I guess on some of my models I have painted I have done that anyway (more luck than anything!)

 

Many thanks Dominik!

Looks great, Jam. With all this scenic progress, how's the control panel coming along? With the NG track to feed and three points to wire, hopefully we can still sit the layout on its track to work and complete the electrics. All insulating fishplates present and correct?

Thanks John Looks even better currently with a slipway and sea bed, but seeing large amounts of DAS clay will probably scare you into thinking it isn't removable (which I hasten to add it is removable. )

 

Knew there was something I had to ask - what kind of size (roughly) would the control panel need to be?

I can then make a start on it tomorrow probably providing my suggestion of the track plan with toggle switches and controllers either side is OK?

 

I'll remove everything from the layout and store it safely by Thursday evening so don't worry about that. The layout will still be able to be turned upside down. Insulated fishplates present and correct

One other thing, Jam - perhaps you actually mentioned this to me before: Do you have an airbrush? There are some effects, including faded edges between different colours or those squiggles on the He 219 I linked to, which can basically only be obtained with one of these. Hard edges can be done with a simple brush as well, but I quickly found out an airbrush to generally give much better results. A lot of that has to do with the resulting paint layer being very thin and thus not filling in any surface details, as opposed to what can happen when applying paint with a brush. Smaller parts, like propellers and other such stuff, can but well be painted with a brush, though.

 

Of course, you can spend a tonne of money on airbrush equipment if you like . However, the mid-range spray gun I used was decently priced as well as well sufficient for my purposes and did allow for spraying on complex liveries such as that on the He 219.