Ramblings Over the Front

The ongoing saga of the best fighter of The Great War....



Time to get moving a bit more forward on this project, the Ponnier M.1 made by 'Drome member mikejr74 (Table Top Flights). Today sees a coat of primer - well, it is really a coat of Testor Panzer Gray, but it works as a good primer. Keep in mind that the digital camera on the cell phone really makes everything stand out, and in this case the ...

The grainy finish is evident in the picture, even after two costs of paint.

While I am awaiting the next Siemens-Schuckert D.I to make its way to Cincinnati, I have decided to work on another Shapeways plane, this one being the Pfalz Dr.I offering from Decapod. Ordered in the Gray PA12, which is my preferred base material due to inherent "primed" finish, I've had this cool little beast - for me one of the most aesthetically pleasing ...

The digital camera is a harsh mistress....

After trying to match the colors correctly, instead I have an epic fail. The Vallejo middlestone is simply too yellow. And damn that cell phone camera picks on the littlest details, and hence mistakes, overly well. To the naked eye the paint job (other than the overly yellow middlestone) looks rather decent, but aye yi yi, the picture smacks of brush work gone amuck!

Regardless, some lessons ...

The paint has arrived, and a coat of Vallejo Middlestone has been applied. A tad more yellow in appearance in the picture than real life, and the digital shows some primer coming through that is tough to see with the naked eye, so another bit of touch up is in order. Next steps will be to paint the underside a pale light blue, which I do not believe I have a suitable color already in the paint collection, so might be a bit more shopping! After that will ...

Color choices, the bane of some modelers. To be frank, I have seen German camo schemes with purple and green, but in the case of the D.I, that is, I believe, simply not correct. Jack Herris's Aeronauts book shows the early models in a three tone camouflage, and the late production models in a two tone of a faded medium green and a medium brown. Since the plane is a later production model, the two tone will be the selection. The Nexus card has the brown a bit ...