VVS modelling

In this times of internet we all live in a global village. And what’s nice about the villages? Everybody knows everybody… or at least it appears so. And so it happened – I posted in one of the Facebook’s many modelling groups and I got in contact with Don Hinton – ‘Thor’s Hammer’ Mel Hinton’s son! He was kind enough to email my several photos from his personal connection, that you can’t really find anywhere on the internet.

I once again thank you, Don, for the enormous help!

Anyhow, we move on on the decals. Although very thin (no need for decal softeners) they lack a bit in print quality – the edges are a bit soft and font’s appear a bit too thick.

Reference photos show that the Olive Drab was much darker, more brown like, than the paint Model Master sells as such. Having already unmasked everything and with decals applied, I went for a dark brown oil paint wash. Liberally applied all over the front part (tail boom appears slightly lighter on photos) I let the oil paint dry a bit…

…and after an hour or so, I removed excess paint and was left with darker OD than before. Unfortunately it doesn’t show very well in the photographs. Next I repeated the same procedure with replacement panels, which appeared a little bit too greyish, so I used a green oil paint.

Tail boom was last, receiving a coat of Burnt Sienna oil paint and after some drying time it was removed.

Final results of the oil paint washes/filters.

There’s a number of little things to be added, before finishing this bird. I have to decide on the final finish as well. Although I like the flat look of the weather beaten birds, Cobra’s often appear to be quite shiny. As a Cobra Crew Chief explained to me on Scalemates, they would often put Johnson’s Floor Polish on their birds to keep them clean.

I have to say, Special Hobby Cobras are delightful kits to build. They go together really well, are very nicely detailed and before you know it, it’s time for some painting! Putty was used only in small amounts, mainly to blend in the canopy.

Painting the aircraft in one overall colour can give the model a toyish look. A while ago, I’ve read an article, where this modeller was building some WW2 fighter that was painted in Olive Drab and to give it a nice, not too uniform look, he painted the base first in yellow and brown tones, to break the surface. I’ve used Yellow Zinc Chromate and Brown. Certain areas of wear were masked with liquid mask.

Applying very thin Olive Drab, I slowly built the colour, being careful not to overdo it and achieve the random look of the OD colour.

The airframe I am building had several panels replaced, which were painted in Faded Olive Drab. This same paint was used also for some fading and the base OD was used in heavier coats to highlight some panel lines.

Test paint peeling on the tail – I really love the effect.

Black, Yellow and Red details. 

And all the masks removed. As I’ve said before, the reference photos show this bird quite weathered, especially the top of the stub wings. I’ve peeled the paint of from areas of heavier use – the steps to the cockpit and stub wings, certain panels and landing skids.