1/700 Amagi diorama

[Rob-UK]

Amazing work, very enjoyable to watch and follow.

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks guys!

I must say, you didn't choose the easiest paint brand to use for chipping but you managed the Lifecolor ones well.

I found the chipping works quite well with Lifecolor. I also tried Tamiya, which works well also but gives a slightly different effect (softer edges, as the paint itself dissolves a bit more), and I wanted the harder edges Lifecolor tends to give.

I'm having a hard time simply airbrushing with Lifecolor though. It constantly dries in the nozzle, even when I use drying retarder, and paint drying on the sides of the paint cup gets sucked into the nozzle regularly blocking the airbrush completely. When I don't have to do hairspray technique chipping anymore, I'l turn back to Tamiya acrylics or Humbroll enamels! Much less frustrating!
I love the Lifecolor acrylics for brush painting though, and much prefer them over Valejo or most other acrylics.

Cheers,

Marijn

[Benva]

Very cool your work. Amazing, following.

Benva

[medicmike]

Holy cow. This build just keeps getting better. Fantastic work Marijn!

[JimVarnellABH2USN]

Holy cow. This build just keeps getting better. Fantastic work Marijn!

Mike said it right!!!!! Keeps getting better and better all the time.

[j.mahieux]

Hello Marijn, your work is absolutely beautiful
Jean

[marijn van gils]

Many thanks everyone!!!

Still a lot paintwork to come�

Cheers,

Marijn

[Bangor lad]

Stunning work and very inspirational!

[zs180]

Nice colours and a very convincing job on the rusty parts! Looking forward to more weathering.

[marijn van gils]

Thanks guys!

[J. Soca]

Simply spectacular!!



Jose

[marijn van gils]

Thanks Jose!

Hello everyone,

As Photobucket is also holding my previously linked photo's hostage, I will just have to post some new progress (now hosted by Flickr ), no?

After the hull and hangar deck, it was time to get some base colours on the flight deck.

The youtube video showing the wreck of Amagi convinced me that that her flight deck was not just rusted steel, but actually late war green camouflage with a lot of dust, dirt and other weathering.
Note how the hangar deck shows rusty tones where a bomb hit and the flight deck was blasted away in this still, but how the flight deck shows different green shades.
video 1_01 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

Towards the stern, a lot of weathering is visible, including flaked paint, but underneath there clearly is some camouflage going on.
video 1_04 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

Figuring out the exact pattern is harder though� ?

I started with the same light green I used on the hull. At the damaged areas, hair spray technique was used again for chipped paint effect:
IMG_3700 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

For masking the camouflage pattern, I opted to use paper. The paper was stuck a couple of millimetres above the surface with thin sausages of Blue Tack.
IMG_3701 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

This way, the resulting edges are slightly soft. Also, there isn�t even a microscopic �step� between the colours. The second camouflage colour is the same dark green used on the hull.
IMG_3702 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

As I airbrushed a layer of hairspray before the dark green paint, I could now chip some of it away with a stiff bristled brush and some water, following the images of the real ship.
IMG_3703 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

The previous steps were repeated for the darkest green. Masked, �
IMG_3706 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

�, airbrushed�
IMG_3707 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

� and chipped.
IMG_3709 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

Cheers,

Marijn

[marijn van gils]

Next up were the fake �roads� on the flight deck. They seem heavily eroded towards the stern.
IMG_3710 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

To get this effect, I made sure to airbrush only a thin translucent layer in certain places.
IMG_3713 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

Also, I used Tamiya acrylics thinned with water, instead of Lifecolor thinned with Vallejo airbrush cleaner that I used for the other colours. The Tamiya paint chips in a slightly different way, and seems to �smear� a bit more, which enhances the feeling of a different material being used.
IMG_3714 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

Of course, the surface of the lowered elevator needed to match the flight deck.
IMG_3711 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

IMG_3715 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

The chipping effect achieved with the hairspray technique was further enhanced by applying more chipping by hand with a fine brush. At the rear overhanging part of the flight deck, the pattern of the supporting beams underneath was followed, as is visible on the images of the real ship.
IMG_3716 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

video 1_03 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

[marijn van gils]

The ship seems to have had the red-white stripes at the aft end of the flight deck overpainted at some point, but they still shine through.
tail stripes 01 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

tail stripes 04 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

To achieve this effect, I masked half of the stripes with masking tape. AK asking fluid was used to mask the remains of the fake �road�, which should appear as if they are on top of the stripes.
IMG_3717 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

Next, I airbrushed a thin transparent layer of white (actually light grey).
IMG_3718 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

I found the stripes too visible, so I reduced them by applying thin glazes of thinned light and dark green over them by brush.
IMG_3719 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

Also by hand, I finally added glazes of heavily thinned red paint in between the �white� stripes, making sure to get some irregularity in the degree of covering.
IMG_3720 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

[marijn van gils]

The historical photos show that the edges of the flight deck were clearly lighter.
edge 01 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

In the video, this looks like light green.
edge 03 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

To get this effect, the deck was masked with masking tape. Some AK masking fluid was used to mask the chipped �rusted� parts. Next, light green was misted over the edges.
IMG_3721 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

As a last detail, the remains of a dotted line deck marking was painted with light grey paint. Doing this by hand allowed me to paint them in degrees of opacity with full control.
IMG_3723 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

And some close-ups. This is only the base-coat, and a lot of further weathering will still follow. But have to admit, it was a more involved �base-coat� than usual with all the chipping� ?
IMG_3724 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

IMG_3725 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

[EJFoeth]

Just wondering with the chipping; you added some masking for the fwd stripes on the flight deck. Apparently you do not damage the existing layer beneath it?

[marijn van gils]

The front part of the flight deck was simpler, with fewer colours and less chipping.
video 1_08 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

No light green was used, and airbrushing started with the dark green that was also used on the hull and island. The damaged edges were chipped with the hair spray technique.
IMG_3704 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

Next, a band of the darkest green was applied.
IMG_3705 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

IMG_3708 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

Also here, the lighter edge of the flight deck is clearly visible.
edge 02 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

This was applied in the same way as above.
IMG_3722 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

IMG_3727 by Marijn Van Gils, on Flickr

Sorry for the long posts!

Cheers,

Marijn

[marijn van gils]

Just wondering with the chipping; you added some masking for the fwd stripes on the flight deck. Apparently you do not damage the existing layer beneath it?

Hello Evert-Jan!

I have been using a purple masking tape recently, which has even lower tack than the yellow Tamiya tape. Good stuff! I got it from our modelling club an don't know where they got it, but it writes 'wood field-tape' on the inside of the roll. But normally with Tamiya tape you should be fine too. Sticking it on a surface a couple of times to lower the tack a bit helps too.

Also, I apply some flat varnish on areas which have been chipped with hair spray technique if I want to protect them a bit extra.

Cheers,

Marijn

[EJFoeth]

I hope the varnish and paint won't come off with some clumsy action at some point... one of these things about chipping that sound scary...

The beam pattern on the fwd launch deck gives a good suggestion of thin deck plating

[marijn van gils]

Thanks Evert-Jan!

Nothing to scared of! So far, I had only a bit of primer (with paint on top) peel from the plastic or brass with the Tamiya tape in a couple of spots, but no lifting in between paint layers, even when hairspray was involved. Anyway, there is always a way to repair things if it happens to happen�

Cheers,

Marijn