PL-01 - A very bland basecoat

The PL-01 has received it's basecoat, which is basically also the final coat.

Because the result looks very bland, I want to go a step further. I've always struggled to avoid monochromaticity, although I find the word itself simply fascinating. It's worth 30 points in Scrabble, NOT counting any multipliers.
It's easier when you have some kind of camouflage scheme, but harder - I think - on a single-colour object, especially when it's a big flat surface.

My inspiration for colour modulation comes from Mig Jimenez. Not that he has the pattent on the technique, but he explains it nicely in this short how-to, even though I will only apply a variation of it. I also have a DVD where it is explained, but 10 years later, I'm sure there's a ton of similar stuff on Youtube now.

In the picture below, taken with simple daylight coming from the window behind, it is clear that panels 1, 2 and 3 appear to have a different shade of the base coat. I will be trying to artificially enhance this for a better result. Or make it worse, who knows.

I took the model outside for some exaggerated examples, so I can study which panels catch more of the sun's rays than others. Wish me luck!

PL-01 - Transparent parts

I like using liquid latex for masking weird shapes. Today, I masked the lenses and what-nots on the transparent pieces.

My go-to Humbrol Maskol hadn't been used in many years and the entire bottle had turned to rubber (go figure!). Buying Maskol online (or something resembling it) always costs you more shipping costs than the actual product is worth, but the local party shop also has liquid latex, albeit for a different application. The shop clerk was interested to see the result :-).

I have - in the mean time - replenished my Maskol supply from a model train store I just happened to pass in Aachen (Germany).

PL-01 - rubber parts

The PL-01 will be one big blob of the same colour. There are no pioneer tools or spare track-links on the outside, because it wants a low profile.
For some tonal variation, I painted the rubber part of the road-wheels and the rubber track-pads on all the tracks .... well, rubber, of course. (Vallejo Panzer Aces 306 - Dark rubber)

It's a tedious job, and the contrast with the base colour isn't very high. What's worse, most of it will be completely invisible under the sideskirts.

However, if I don't paint them, I'll always feel like something's missing.

PL-01 - Track assembly

Takom's PL-01 comes with link-and-length tracks, which I usually find annoying as hell. You need to glue them all together on top of the road-wheels, but then it becomes harder to properly paint the tracks and said road wheels separately.
If you paint everything in advance, glueing the individual links is next to impossible without compromising your paint job.

Takom was very nice to provide an assembly jig (the black track-shaped pieces on the picture below).
They double up as alignment-tool for the road-wheel arms (how considerate) AND assembly jig for the tracks. The plastic is of course made from something that will NOT react to the glue with which you are assembling the tracks.

Falcon - Finished!

Now that all the decals are in place, it was a simple matter of installing the fuel tanks, missiles and canopy.

I'm very happy with the result. I intended to place it inside a small display case on a strip of tarmac, but that will be a different project.

Kit: F-16 MLu (Mid-Life upgrade)
Scale: 1/72
Manufacturer: Revell (#04612)
Price: around €10 (second-hand)
Number of parts: 98
Time spent: 18 hours
Project completion time: exactly 1 year

Paint: (Vallejo)

• Black primer
• Pale grey blue (71.046) - belly
• Intermediate blue (71.005) - topside (partial)
• Various shades of grey (lost track)

Other products:

• Alclad II klear kote (semi-gloss before decals and matte afterwards)
• Formula '560' Canopy glue (for glueing transparent parts)

Findings or issues?

It was a pretty straightforward build, no fit issues that I recall. The small antennae at the rear tend to "disappear" but that's just my clumsiness.

It would have been finished a year ago had it not been for me losing interest in applying 200 decals.

Falcon - 199 decals later

Yes, I counted them : 199 decals on this little bird.

It took the better part of 7 hours to get them all in place. It's the main reason why the project ended up on the backburner late may of last year, but I'm glad I found renewed motivation to finish it.

Initial tests without a semi-gloss coat weren't good, but that was remedied. All other decals behaved well, with some application of Micro-Sol and -Set. The stripes on the sidewinders were the hardest to convince to sit still, but we were victorious in the end.

I added a final matte coat to remove (most of) the sheen on the surface.

PL-01 Polish concept tank

In Summer 2018, I learned about the existence of the PL-01, a Polish concept tank. It was announced at MSPO 2013 (International Defense Industry Exhibition in Poland).

As I am wont to do, I fell in love with the subject. I doubt it has much to do with my SO being Polish, but that may have played a role when a link to the article crossed my path.

The second picture - from a slightly elevated angle - captures best the sleak, almost futuristic design that caught my eye.

One of the more impressive features would be the infra-red, adaptive camouflage by BAE systems.

I can't find much news - in the 7 years since it's announcement - of it entering production. The concept remains little more than a mockup tank (I believe on top of a CV-90), but that doesn't change it's visual appeal to me.

Anyway, after the PL-01 showed up on my radar, I went looking for more information, particularly scale models but couldn't find any.
I had to wait another year (july 2019), when I learned Takom had tackled the subject and would be releasing it. I found a Polish webshop accepting pre-orders and off we were.

Delivery got delayed a few times, but in oktober it finally arrived.

Falcon - gloss before decals

Inspired by having absolutely nothing to do in this Corona-quarantine, I picked up the Falcon again for adding some decals.

Normally, I always gloss-coat (or semi-gloss) before decals, but everybody is always going on and on about this not being necessary, so I decided to skip this step this once.

However, even with multiple applications of Micro-Sol and -Set, the decal film was still showing white spots.
Is it air trapped underneath or just the film not settling nicely?
Do some paints (I use Vallejo, also a very contested topic) yield a smoother finish than others?
On the second picture, you also see the water-marks (for lack of a better term) left by the Micro-Set, something I don't recall seeing on earlier builds.

I don't know just what it was, but after a few decals, I decided to go back to my old habits and spray a coat of Alclad II klear kote "semi-matte". It sprays very rough ("orange peel" is the technical term) if you use it straight from the bottle, so I always thin it 50/50 with White Spirit (aka "mineral spirits").

After that, there should be no more silvering, no more marks left by the Micro-Sol.

Thinned this way, it sprays and settles perfectly smooth, BUT :

• take your time and apply multiple layers allowing each to dry (overnight, if you have the luxury of time). If you go too heavily, it stays sticky for ages.
• clean out your AB extra thoroughly afterwards. 
• I use Tamiya lacquer thinner as it seems to get rid of the Alclad best.
• Once cleaned, I give it another round, just to be sure.
• Remove the needle from the AB and let it sit overnight. It wouldn't be the first time that my needle is stuck in place because I didn't clean well enough.
  It's MUCH easier to remove the needle and next time, flush the AB with cleaner again before inserting the needle.
• I use an older airbrush - that I never really liked - strictly for Alclad klears, just to be on the very safe side.

If all these cautions tell you it's a shitty product, who am I to say that your wrong. But switching to Alclad was a huge improvement coming from Vallejo varnishes that I used at first. I'm open to recommendations for better products. At least I'm not using floor polish :-).

This will look beter once dry

Falcon - painting

I love painting models, but sometimes I hate the airbrush. Most of the time, it's probably just me, trying to rush something or not cleaning the AB enough when changing colour. Sometimes I'm convinced the thing has it in for me.
I have an Aztek airbrush, that works for what I do, but is bad at fine work. I SHOULD buy a new one (and also a better compressor), but I'm constantly arguing with myself about it costing too much money because I don't use it that often. I would probably use it more if it was a better one, but .... I'm sure many of you have had these internal debates.

On with the show!

Step 1 : protecting the already painted cockpit and gearbays. For irregularly shaped masking, I use my go-to Silly Putty.

Step 2 : priming in black and than the base-coat light-grey.

Step 3 : preparing for the blue-ish topcoat, while protecting the front and belly.

Step 4 : only the top-side of the nose left to do in slightly darker grey.

The easily recognizable round shape behind the cockpit should not be with too harsh a separation line, so I added a little "roll" of silly putty, making sure, it's still round where touching the model.

When spraying paint, I started from a backward angle spraying forward (direction of the nose), to get full coverage on the nose and sides.
Then slowly tilt the AB forward to paint closer to the silly putty, easy on the trigger, so the result is a soft transfer from grey to blue and not a harsh line.

I'm very happy with the result!

And because this is the point (May 2019) where you start adding 200+ decals, I lost interest.

Viper - Finished!

And here's the final result, on both the Mark II and mark VII.

Started in August 2014 and abandoned several times along the route. Finally finished early 2019.

Kit(s): Colonial Viper Mark II and VII
Scale: 1/32
Manufacturer: Revell & Moebius
Price: $25 and $40
Number of parts: ~60 and ~50
Time spent: ~40 hours
Project completion time: 5 years

Paint: (Vallejo)

Mark II

• White primer - entire model (10+ layers)
• US Grey (71.047) - cockpit
• Aluminium, steel, gold, silver ... - details

Mark VII

• Black primer
• Base colour was trial and error mix of
• 35% Pale grey blue (71.046)
• 35% US grey (71.047)
• 20% Insignia blue (71.091)
• 10% aluminium (71.062)
• Black, aluminium, steel, gold, silver, ... - details

Other products:

• Alklad II klear kote (semi-matte)
• Abteilung 502 oil
• 180 - Copper oxide blue
• 070 - Dark rust
• 050 - Olive green
• 060 - Light rust brown
• 215 - Flesh shadow
• 160 - Engine grease (brownish)
• 510 - Starship filth (dirty green)
• 170 - German grey highlight

Findings or issues:

• Not sure you can call it an issue. I misplaced some of the smaller inserts, like for the nose of the Mark VII.
• The front landing strut on the Mark II was warped, but nothing a little hot water couldn't fix. Nowaday's, I would use a heatgun, but I didn't have one back then.
• The Moebius building instructions leave somewhat to be desired, but the Revell instructions can be found online.
• The Moebius cockpit could do with a few more decals. It's pretty bland in there now.
• Red decal stripes on Revell's Mark II are a bit short to cover the entire length. You'll need to match the paint color and do touch-ups. (Humbrol #19 is a perfect match)

I took these pictures outside in bright sunlight. I only spotted afterwards that the models have collected quite an amount of dust in the year they've been in the bookshelf already.
More and better quality pictures will be in the Facebook album.