Tears were once my only way back home (1/72 Eduard Spitfire IXs)

[TheBaron]

I've realised something rather odd of late, in that I am rather distressed by pictures of Spitfires in pieces. Completely nonsensical in a grown man of course, and thankfully mollified by these latest 'wholesome' images of yours PC. Vicariously enjoying your splendid paintworking.

Tony

[Cookenbacher]

Dang it, Colourcoats ordered.

[The Spadgent]

Don't make me build that 1/32 Tamiya kit. Nnnnggggg mmmmust resisssst.  great work PC.

[Procopius]

6 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Don't make me build that 1/32 Tamiya kit. Nnnnggggg mmmmust resisssst.  great work PC.

Don't resist! Be weak! 

 

Anyhow, I tried to start masking Skalski's Spitfire for the Dark Earth, but it was clearly too soon, as the tape lifted some of the enamel from where the primer was glossiest. (Alclad sometimes dries to a glossy sheen and gives adhesion problems, an issue I've had before when spraying their metallics over it.) Still, a bit of a shock to the system if one's used to acrylics. Another surprise to me was that when I resprayed over it, the new paint blended seamlessly with the old, with no stepping or discolouration around where the paint had lifted. Every cloud a silver lining. (I am not being paid to advertise Colourcoats. But I'm ready and willing.) Part of the problem right now is that we had a blast of warm, damp weather (it was 18 C [!!!] on Saturday and rained all day Friday and much of yesterday evening -- by comparison, a year or two ago, it was negative 28 C right now), and so the cool dry conditions that enable optimum drying have not been obtained.

 

On one of the Spitfires, I decided to use Gunze lacquers (and to forget to wear my mask, ready for death in a world of alternate facts) so that I could press on regardless and, not incidentally, test that 3M tape.

 

Blammo.

 

20170122_214746 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

The tape worked perfectly:

 

20170122_214805 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

It feels exactly like Tamiya tape, and I'm pretty pleased with it so far. The big test will be the other Spitfire's D-Day stripes.

 

As a side note, I got a new pressure regulator on my baby compressor (my other compressor, AKA "Megaweapon", waits in the wings) and it's way more precise...I think my old industrial regulator was probably only accurate to within 10-15 PSI. It's pretty neat, my airbrushes are suddenly way more controllable!

[Learstang]

Nice work there, mate! By the way, what's a mask? I've painted for years without a mask and it's never had anykelkdinnm,e.

 

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Edited January 23, 2017 by Learstang
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[Rob G]

I've spent half a lifetime inhaling (and cleaning mechanical parts with, and washing me in) petrochemicals of various sorts. I can't get excited about wearing a mask for spraying minute amounts of hobby paint. No doubt I won't live long enough to regret it.

[Procopius]

Just now, Rob G said:

I've spent half a lifetime inhaling (and cleaning mechanical parts with, and washing me in) petrochemicals of various sorts. I can't get excited about wearing a mask for spraying minute amounts of hobby paint. No doubt I won't live long enough to regret it.

 

I mean, I'm not too worried -- I'm pretty sure that at this rate, the less of the future I experience, the better. But I do worry a teeny-tiny bit about a lingering death -- those are expensive here. 

[Learstang]

What's the old saying? 'I want to die like my grandfather, peacefully, in his sleep. Not screaming in terror like his passengers.'

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[Rob G]

1 hour ago, Procopius said:

 

 -- those are expensive here. 

 

Not so much here, but if in doubt we've got plenty of sharks and really big crocodiles who will be happy to help with shortening the journey.

 

I don't have to worry about those who come after. You, however, have a wife, a young son and another on the way who deserve your best efforts to stay healthy, so keep wearing that mask, young chap.

[CedB]

Looking very good PC, great finish.

 

"...new paint blended seamlessly with the old, with no stepping or discolouration around where the paint had lifted" - move to Colorcoats to be seriously considered, again.

"It feels exactly like Tamiya tape, and I'm pretty pleased with it so far. The big test will be the other Spitfire's D-Day stripes" - 3M tape on shopping list - check.

Wear a mask, don't wear a mask... hmmm. 'I refuse to exchange my current modelling comfort* for another few years in the nursing home'.

MST3K - still on the list to watch but all those episodes!

 

* Insert your favourite 'dangerous pleasure' here

[Thud4444]

)I'm glad to see you are taming your fear of enamels! New ideas and what not.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about wearing a mask, my money is on you dying in some freak bird related "accident."

 

I like you am trying to step out of my comfort zone and are giving acrylics their day in court.  My experience is best described here-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Spadgent]

Enamels you say? What is this e n a m e l s ? 

top stuffz.

 

J

[Andy Robbins]

I've discovered Mr Paint. Not cheap, but thin, dense pigments, dry fast, and bomb proof. They don't lift with Tamiya tape, and don't scratch unless you are brutal. I like the colours too. Some of the German ones are perhaps a bit dark- the RLM 74, for example, but generally, they look good to my eye. You do need a mask though. They are serious lungbusters. I've started to leave aqueous acrylics behind for main colours. I stopped liking the thickness, having to strip the coat if some of it peels because the outline of the scratch shows up. I also found that because they are a liquid vinyl resin, they start to soften with excessive handling, and you leave fingerprints, even when they are long dry. Tamiya and Misterkit are ok, but the likes of Vallejo, AK, etc are bad for it. I still use acrylics for detail painting, but that's about it.

Edited January 23, 2017 by Andy Robbins

[Cookenbacher]

This thread is getting expensive, I'll have to order some 1/4" 3M tape now. They're looking great PC.

[Procopius]

6 hours ago, Andy Robbins said:

Tamiya and Misterkit are ok

 

Interesting to me that you like Misterkit -- I used their paints on some WWI aircraft because of their reputation for accuracy, and the experience was so unpleasant I've pretty much stopped building WWI models altogether. What do you thin them with?

8 hours ago, Thud4444 said:

I like you am trying to step out of my comfort zone and are giving acrylics their day in court.  My experience is best described here-

 

"I'm not even mad...I'm just impressed." (FWIW, the only part of Anchorman 2 that made me laugh was Liam Neeson saying "the mighty minotaur" -- sad contrast to 1, which I unabashedly love.) I can see how the switch from enamels to acrylics would be incredibly jarring -- they really do behave amazingly differently. I honestly had no idea of how great the contrast was!

 

 

8 hours ago, CedB said:

"...new paint blended seamlessly with the old, with no stepping or discolouration around where the paint had lifted" - move to Colorcoats to be seriously considered, again.

.

My only complaint is the drying time (well, and that it's like six bucks a tin, but buying more will drive the price down...right?).

 

8 hours ago, CedB said:

Wear a mask, don't wear a mask... hmmm. 'I refuse to exchange my current modelling comfort* for another few years in the nursing home'.

 

And why cover up that classical profile? Don't hide your light under a bushel!

 

8 hours ago, CedB said:

MST3K - still on the list to watch but all those episodes!

 

As a public service, here are a few of my favourites, complete and free on Youtube (the rights holders are down with it, and even put a few up themselves!). Only a very few episodes won't make sense if out of sequence, and they give you the entire backstory in the 20-second opening song.

 

0303 -- THE POD PEOPLE: 

 

"Trumpy, you can do magic things!"

-- It's called evil, kid.

 

 

0318 - FUGITIVE ALIEN II

 

"That's a girl officer's pin! How did you get that?"

-- A lot of hard work and a lot of pancake makeup.

 

 

0322 -MASTER NINJA I

 

-- He got paid to kiss Demi Moore!

-- Most people are.

 

 

[IMO, almost any 03xx-coded episode is a good one, the third season is my favourite from the show's run.)

 

0512 - Mitchell

 

"How do you like your Scotch, Mitchell?"

-- Uh, by the quart.

 

 

0705 -- Escape 2000

 

-- Did I think that, or hear that?

 

 

 

0816 - Prince of Space

 

-- Oh no! They blew up the Hitler building!

 

 

 

0820 - Space Mutiny

 

-- I think it's very good of you to give that dead girl another chance.

 

 

 

Other people probably would recommend other episodes, but any one of these is in my opinion terrific and a good introduction.

Oh, also Winston is barfing up a storm, so we're both home with our now very cuddly, very smelly little guy. Probably not much will get done today.

[Procopius]

Bonus post! Two MST3K shorts if you don't have a ton of time:

 

 

 

 

[lasermonkey]

I have to agree with Mr P about the Misterkit paints. I bought a whole load of them some time ago, as they had colours that didn't seem to be available elsewhere. They were absolutely dreadful. I tried everything I could think of to get them to either spray or brush, but every time, the paint would disassociate from the thinner, leaving spatters, pool marks, pretty much every nasty effect you could think of. The best I managed was thinning with Klear, but even then the opacity was bad and it was very fragile.

 I went back to them a year or two later, and every one had dried up.

 Never again!

[Cookenbacher]

I ordered a bunch of Mr Kit paints and they arrived as powder and some were still gloopy, but none were paint. I added water to the ones I could, and use them as thinners/mixers to other paints to give variation as I really do like the colors.

[lasermonkey]

I think the best I can say about the Misterkit paints I bought is that they ended up being very expensive paint swatches!

 Apart from all the WW1 colours I bought, there were some late-war Luftwaffe colours. These were way off. Their RLM 75 was darker than their RLM 74, but weren't mislabelled, as the violet and green tints were correct.

 I must have wasted over thirty quid on those.

 Harrumph!

[Procopius]

Well, at least I'm not alone. FWIW, I quite liked the look of their paints on an SE5a and a Nieuport 17 that I built. But they were a real trial to spray well.

[Brandy]

I recently bought a load of WWI Misterkit paints and love them! I've sprayed them unthinned but usually use Tamiya thinners, they go on a treat and if I need to touch up there is no seamline. I just sprayed the Muromets with Mister kit and had no problems at all. Have I really been that lucky?

 

Ian

[Procopius]

19 minutes ago, limeypilot said:

I recently bought a load of WWI Misterkit paints and love them! I've sprayed them unthinned but usually use Tamiya thinners, they go on a treat and if I need to touch up there is no seamline. I just sprayed the Muromets with Mister kit and had no problems at all. Have I really been that lucky?

 

Intriguing! 

 

It certainly seems so.

[Navy Bird]

On 1/22/2017 at 1:53 PM, Cookenbacher said:

Dang it, Colourcoats ordered.

 

You'll love them! Seriously the best enamels I've ever used - they leave Humbrol and Testors groveling in the dust. I can spray a very fine line, and my airbrush never clogs. I like the colour renditions, although I'm no expert like Nick. They remind me a bit of the old Pactra Authentic International Colours - but now I'm dating myself. I better go back to admiring PC's work.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Procopius]

So Winston threw up all morning (the final total was six tiny shirts and five tiny pairs of pants worn and washed in one day) and then followed this marathon session with some troubles further south (which I took as a good sign -- things were working their way down to the proper orifice). After a very long post-meridian nap, he made an almost miraculous total recovery by about five this evening, then nearly sent himself to the next world by overenthusiastically attempting to ingest a fistfull of cheerios. 

 

It was a long and trying day for everyone.

 

20170123_141408 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Everyone else was in bed by, no foolin' 7:30 PM, so I had a little time to model. I decided to do the decals on Gabszewicz's machine, since everything else is still curing. I'm using a sheet of Techmod decals. You may recall I've had some negative experiences with their decals in the past. I took no chances this time. I've heard a lot about the awesome, earth-shattering power of Solvaset, so I recently procured a bottle. I also quite literally boiled a teakettle full of water and used that to immerse the decals. I'm happy to say that thus intimidated, the decals were fairly docile, though I'm not so far convinced of Solvaset's efficacy compared to Micro-Sol/Micro-Set. (At some point I have to get some of the Daco decal stuff to try as well.) 

 

20170123_195110 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Wait, dammit! I forgot to do the wing leading edge stipes! 

 

At last, a use for that flexible Tamiya tape stuff.

 

20170123_200339 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

And ta-daaa:

 

20170123_201512 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

I used Colourcoats' RAF/FAA yellow. Hard-earned wisdom: Not a great idea to use enamels if you're going to pick up the kit by the wing to apply more decals. It's fixed more or less now, but in the future perhaps a faster drying paint will be used in this sort of situation.

 

I am amazingly tired. I may go to bed now.

[Procopius]

Oh, one more weird note: the Eduard Sky codes are a rather lurid greenish colour, and not a great match for Mr Color Sky Type S...which wouldn't be a big deal, but that's the paint Eduard specifically suggests you use! The Techmod decals were a much closer match for the Gunze colour.