Canopies on new models

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Bruce Morris
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Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 3:30 am
Location: Columbus, GA

Canopies on new models

Post by Bruce Morris »

I just looked at the new painted models of the He-111 and the MiG-29. The canopies on these models are fantastic looking!
Who painted these models and how did you do it? What colors and technique please!
Bruce

Cav Dog
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Post by Cav Dog »

Don't know how they were done but this SU 7 from some other guys was done by painting it silver, then a light blue wash followed by a gloss varnish. I finished off by painting the rails the fuselage color.

Image
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Mk 1
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Post by Mk 1 »

Can't say as I know who did the canopies on the recent additions to the GHQ catalog.

But I have achieved a passably similar effect with a technique learned here on the forums:

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Shown here are some Romanian SM79jr's from a Brand-X supplier. For the canopies I did the following:

1 ) Paint the whole area in the color that you want the struts to be. In this case, that was French Khaki Green (the same green as the camo pattern on the upper surfaces).

2 ) Paint each panel of the canopy glass black. I tried to do a good job of painting the glass and not the struts, but oddly it is not critical to get it exactly right. The final effect actually encourages the eye to correct for you.

3 ) Put a "splash" of a reflective silvery color in the center of each canopy panel. This "splash" is done with a fine-tipped brush tipped in the paint. No actual splashing involved. But the exact pattern of the paint is not important, just that it covers some meaningful portion of the center of the panel. I chose a metalic blue. Silver would be just as appropriate, and looks like the color used in the catalog picture shown above.

4 ) After flatcoating the model, over-paint the canopy area with glosscoat.

That's it. The black outline around the shiny panel centers causes the eye to see the struts as nearly perfect, even if they aren't. Interesting effect. It's not very hard to do, and looks pretty good, to my eye.

Hope that helps.
-Mark 1
Difficile est, saturam non scribere.
"It is hard NOT to write satire." - Decimus Iunius Juvenalis, 1st Century AD

Bruce Morris
Posts: 86
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Location: Columbus, GA

Canopies

Post by Bruce Morris »

The person who painted the canopies contacted me by PM with the colors and techniques. These were the first aircraft he has painted!

Cav Dog
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Re: Canopies

Post by Cav Dog »

Bruce Morris wrote:The person who painted the canopies contacted me by PM with the colors and techniques. These were the first aircraft he has painted!
Well the whole point of a forum such as this is to share ideas and techniques so...

:D
Tactics are the opinion of the senior officer present.

Mk 1
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Re: Canopies

Post by Mk 1 »

Cav Dog wrote:Well the whole point of a forum such as this is to share ideas and techniques so...
Yep yep yep. Quite so.

Enquiring minds want to know... :wink:
-Mark 1
Difficile est, saturam non scribere.
"It is hard NOT to write satire." - Decimus Iunius Juvenalis, 1st Century AD

Bruce Morris
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Location: Columbus, GA

Post by Bruce Morris »

I just sent a PM to ask if I can post his techniques.

pmskaar
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Canopies

Post by pmskaar »

Hey Gang

I was the one that did the two aircraft that Bruce Morris had the question about canopies. As Bruce mentioned, these were my first aircraft for GHQ. I have painted a lot of the other stuff for them over the years and especially in the last several months. I have debated whether or not to stay fairly anonymous and I talked to GHQ about this and they have no problem with it.

First of all, I use Humbrol paints for my work. I'm sort of an old school guy here and haven't really made the leap to acrylics although I see some really good work by you folks that do. If anyone is interested in particular colors I use for different items I can give you the Humbrol number or the numbers if I had to mix them which is fairly often.

In regards to the canopies on these models, for the Mig-29, I used #144 lightened with a bit of #34 white. I also used a turpentine blackwash around the edges to try to give a bit of depth as well. I went lighter toward the top of the canopy and darker near the edges.
After I used Testors Dullcoat on the model, I went back and used Polyscale Gloss thinned down quite a bit to put a gloss on the canopy. I think I used two thin coats, maybe three until it looked about right.

The He-111 was a lot more work. I used #127 which is a light gray with a touch of blue.
I darkened the edges on this one and then played with things until it looked about right to me. One nice thing about the turpentine blackwash is that you can work with it for hours or days even until it is in the right places. I used dullcoat and then used the Polyscale gloss to put the gloss on. This was tougher with all the different panels.

Pete - Binpicker, Out!

Gompel
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Post by Gompel »

Great work man and thank you very much for your description!
Much appreciated.

Bruce Morris
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Location: Columbus, GA

Post by Bruce Morris »

Hey Mk1,

I guess I'll have to put a can out in my workshop to save used sanding disks!
Great idea, and thrifty too!

Bruce

Mk 1
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Post by Mk 1 »

Bruce Morris wrote: Great idea, and thrifty too!
Thrifty and effective. They really grip the felt or canvas gaming cloths I use.

Just be careful to select (keep?) a selection of different size disks.

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You see the same disk that works well with a little ol' Lavotchkin fighter ...

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Is just not going to prove a useful if you want to bring a big Antonov transort over the table. :roll:

:lol:
-Mark 1
Difficile est, saturam non scribere.
"It is hard NOT to write satire." - Decimus Iunius Juvenalis, 1st Century AD

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