# BF-109E-4/Trop Spots?



## irocer (Aug 22, 2000)

Working on a 109E Trop, all the instruction sheets (Tamiya, Hasegawa & Airfix) show the upper surfaces spots as hard edged-not airbrush like. Does anybody know how the real ones were applied? I want to hand paint these spots if that would be correct to the real ones.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Google, baby!

There are a couple of shots of the real thing amidst all the model shots. The spots do look like they were sprayed on.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

They were sprayed on but, depending on the scale of your model, they will have a fairly sharp definition to the edges. Especially in something like 1/72. 

Alliance makes some painting masks to help with this task http://www.am-works.com/store/aircraft-painting-stencils-c-3_15.html


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Wow, I didn't even know that product existed!


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

It's amazing what is out there... like decals for the Italian "smoke ring" camouflage pattern. Fine Molds has some nice 1/72 Bf. 109 and Japanese Tony kits with the mottling and blotch camo provided as decals. Those are really cool kits.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

It would be highly unusual for the tropical scheme of RLM 80 mottles over the RLM 79 to be hand painted, spraying the mottles would be the best for the camouflage effect as well as less time spent on the paint job.

For 1/48 and 1/32 scale its best to free hand spray the mottles, just hold the airbrush a little closer to the models surface to get a tighter edge.
On 1/72 scale models you can start out hand painting the outlines of the mottles and then use the airbrush to fill in the center, by doing this a very tiny amount of overspray will appear giving the illusion of the of the mottles were sprayed on but with a very tight but soft edge on them.

Below is an older painting demo that I did for another project.
Base coat is on...








The outline of the darker color is brushed on








The inside of the spots are being filled in, when doing this aim the spray pattern towards the inside of the lines.








Some overspray was allowed to show how easy and controllable it is to get a soft edge if needed.









The above technique was not done to show you how to paint the tropical scheme used by the Luftwaffe but you can get the idea from this older demonstration I did on how to do it.

Decal mottles and masking devices are not nearly as good as using an airbrush plus they are an additional expense.

Agentsmith


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

agentsmith said:


> Decal mottles and masking devices are not nearly as good as using an airbrush plus they are an additional expense.
> 
> Agentsmith


Of course it depends on the skill of the modeler and what tools he has at his disposal


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## Jafo (Apr 22, 2005)

Another company that makes some great masks and not just for aircraft.
http://www.gatorsmask.com/aircraftmask.html


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The BEST thing that Gatormasks make is Gator's Grip Glue. 

http://www.gatorsmask.com/gatorglueorder1.html

It works like white/pva/craft glues but is much much stronger and can be used for photo etch, canopies, antennas, etc.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Nick,

True, it might take some practice to use an airbrush but once you do it makes painting a great deal of fun and a lot less time spent painting.

Using those mottle masks makes it sound like it would make painting the tropical scheme easy but there is also a learning curve in using masks successfully, my point is if anybody were wanting to learn some modeling skills it would be more beneficial to learn airbrushing skills instead of learning how to use the store bought masks, once a person learns how to free hand airbrush any paint scheme on any model is easy to do without having to buy a mask for every type of model which could get really expensive after a while.

The type of store bought masks that I have used before is canopy masks, if I could afford them I would use them on about every build, they are way better than cutting small bits of Tamiya tape and making my own canopy masks.

Agentsmith


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I dont use any kind of mask myself. The few times I have tried to use aftermarket masks they failed miserably. The last set was an Aztek Dummy set for the Moebius Chariot. Every single panel (even simple rectangles) was off by up to 1/4". I use Tamiya Tape or Frog Tape for just about everything.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I've been using an airbrush for decades, and I STILL have never mastered the art of very fine spot or squiggle camo. I always get spatters and blotches.


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