Painting the Helldiver...

[wwwarbird]

 Well I finally started putting some color on the Helldiver tonight. The plan is the three tone scheme from like '43-'44. I'm using all Brodak dope. The mid blue is just a mixture of my own using Piper Blue and Polar Grey 'til it looked about right. The bottom is straight Insignia White and the top will end up being straight Piper Blue. The Brodak Piper Blue makes for a very believable Navy color scheme from this era, it's what I used on the PBY. The markings will be fictitious, but typical of a Pacific Theater Helldiver from around '43-'44 as well. My main reference for this whole project including the paint scheme has been one of the Squadron Signal Helldiver "In Action" books.

 Here we are so far...

[wwwarbird]

 The bottom...

[wwwarbird]

 Getting the white on...

[wwwarbird]

 A little closer view...

[Wynn Robins]

COOOOOOL!!!!!!!! 

[Rob Killick]

What Wynn said !!

[Leester]

What's the trick on keeping the white from getting on the gray ?? It doesn't look like a tape line.

[Mark Scarborough]

Wayne,
there is a big hole in the bottom of your wing! might want to fix that before you finish painting  H^^LOL

it looks pretty nice , did you freehand airbrush the seperation line? I am looking at the same situation on the 109 when I get to painting it, three colors splinter on top and HelleBleu on bottom and sides,, Actually mixed up the colors today,, now all I need to do is sand,, make exhaust, make scoops,, then I can paint it,, sigh

[wwwarbird]

 I ran out of filler Mark, I think I'll just put some lead in there.

 I did the medium blue color with the auto detail gun first as shown in the pics, then I'm using a small airbrush for the white and everything else. You just gotta take yourself a big deep breath and use a steady hand. That separation line is there because this would be the wing fold line on the full scale version keeping the airplane camouflaged while sitting on the carrier deck with the wings folded. It makes for a neat detail on the model. Barring any major issues this will be a quick and relatively easy paint scheme to do because the only masking will be for the canopy detail which will be last before the insignias etc. I'm anxious to see this one done.

 You building a 109 Mark???

[wwwarbird]

 Just finished the darker blue third color, Piper Blue...

[wwwarbird]

 That makes it all three colors done in one evening of painting, no masking really speeds things up. Tomorrow is touch-up day, and maybe I can get the canopy done too.

[Wayne J. Buran]

Its really looking good.
Wayne

[Joe Gilbert]

That is way cool I ,love WW11 warbirds.

[wwwarbird]

 This is masking the "greenhouse" last night. I tried something new here, I went to the local sign shop and had them computer cut me just a generic batch of 1/16", 1/8" and 3/16" strips of "low-tack" masking material about 18" long. Then I just cut sections from them and used as desired...

[wwwarbird]

 It worked, I've just got a minor amount of touch-up to do...

[Mark Scarborough]

Wayne,
NO I am not building a 109, I am aging a 109,, like fine wine,, some things take time to develope!  aside from some minor things, like say, exhaust stacks, gun troughs, supercharger intake, replacing a couple peices of the canopy glass that stress cracked, oh and repairing a hole in the wing thanks to a sleepover evening with 5 teenaged girls getting rambunctious in the living room  It is ready to sand and finish,, the primer has had just about enough time to dry out completely by now,,
on a positive note, I DID mix all the camo colors two days ago at work, so thats accomplished,, ( oh yeah, making some minor surgery repairs to the avenger as well in the mean time, and fixing the wheel pants on the GEE BEE profile before the REgionals,,

[wwwarbird]

 Heh-Heh, I just couldn't resist throwing that one out there Mark! This Helldiver thing has taken me plenty long too, short bursts of good progress interrupted by longer gaps of nothing. It's fun of when you get back on that "roll" though, so now it's your turn, I'm anxious to see the 109.

[john e. holliday]

Mark, too bad you can't find something to do.   Love the idea of the masking of the greenhouse.  The plane is looking better each time.

[SteveMoon]

Looks great!!