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Some Foil on a Starfighter: Completed


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Wow Gaz, it's looking amazingly good, can't wait to see it finished. What clear products do you use for decals? I am wondering if polishing the foil will have some effects when you put on the clear coats

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Guys,

     Thank you!

 

Shan,

     I use Future under the decals.  As for polishing and clear coats, think this way:  Clear coats dissipate, or weaken, the shine.  So your goal when polishing is to make your sheen brighter than the actual sheen you want.

 

Big Dave,

     The answer to the first half of your question is very carefully with fresh blade and a lot of trepidation.  The second half is with rubbing alcohol and again very carefully with a lot of trepidation.

 

Gaz

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3 hours ago, Bungalow_Bill said:

The answer to the first half of your question is very carefully with fresh blade and a lot of trepidation.  The second half is with rubbing alcohol and again very carefully with a lot of trepidation.

Nerves of Steel, or WHAT....!

I've tried a couple of front screen jobs like that, with particularly horseshoe shaped glazing bars, but I try hard to avoid it if I can!

I cut thin strips of my sticky back foil and work my way round and over as required, line by line.

And if it's no good, peel it off and take another shot....

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1 minute ago, rob Lyttle said:

Nerves of Steel, or WHAT....!

I've tried a couple of front screen jobs like that, with particularly horseshoe shaped glazing bars, but I try hard to avoid it if I can!

I cut thin strips of my sticky back foil and work my way round and over as required, line by line.

And if it's no good, peel it off and take another shot....

It's really a matter of learning for me.  I'd done it this way twice before in 1/48 scale with varying (less than perfect) results.  I want to avoid seams if possible.  For real fine framing I use Alclad.

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HI Everyone,

    A small but very important update.  Well, important to me anyway.  I was able to successfully remove the excess foil from around the canopy framing today.  It's late, so no sunshine photos...  

 

Anyway....

201115.jpg

 

201127.jpg

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Gaz

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good job on the foil, especially the canopy frame.

It has polished up lovely and looks so smooth.

BMF is actually a quite good way to mask a canopy, it peels off a lot easier than kitchen foil/white glue.

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Guys,

    Thank you for the kind words.  I have a sheet of BMF, but I haven't used much of it.  I used a couple small bits in places where I couldn't get regular foil to work on a previous model.  It's probably dried out by now.

 

Gaz

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Hi Everyone,

    My model time has been severely reduced by that full-time-job thing, but when I have had time, I've been in 'Stencil Hell'.

145009.jpg

 

The Italeri decals are deliciously thin.  I've only been doing the 'common stencils' so far and only on the fuselage.

 

145235.jpg

 

An early casualty was the black triangle that forms the anti-glare panel over the nose.  It was too wide around the canopy framing.  It just didn't come close to touching it.  So, reluctantly I scrunched it into a ball and binned it.  Then I had to go through the process of masking over the foil.  I used Panzer Putty over the canopy framing, and all of my gentle (scared) touches removed the tape without lifting the foil after the painting was done.  Each piece of tape was stuck to the inside of my forearm three times before I placed it over the aluminum.

 

145127.jpg

 

At macro-vision even I am able to read the stencils.  And see the texture under the foil.  Some of that texture was intended, and some is the glue beneath the foil.  Pretty amazing what digital cameras can do to your sense of confidence.

 

145020.jpg

 

On previous foil builds, I covered the plane with a coat of Future then applied the decals, then applied another coat of Future.  This of course is two coats which reduces the sheen.  This time I tried something different.  I mixed 50/50 Future and glass cleaner in a small container and with a small brush painted it in areas where I thought stencils would go.   It's been slippery work decaling over the bare foil.  Still, none have fallen off or begun to peel.

 

I'm really looking forward to when I can apply the national decals.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Gaz

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Hi Everyone,

    I've come to the conclusion of this build.  Here are some photos in the F-104's natural element.  Please forgive the earth-bound intrusions into the photo frames.

 

160903.jpg

 

165626.jpg

 

165844.jpg

 

165947.jpg

 

170035.jpg

 

160833.jpg

 

160813.jpg

 

160723.jpg

 

Finally a nose shot beside the pool.  The clear seeker heads on the AIM9 missiles was done with UV cured glue.

160358.jpg

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Gaz

 

 

Edited by Bungalow_Bill
adding photos
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22 minutes ago, shan said:

wow, thats looking rally great. are those completed pics with a layer of future?

Shan,

   That's without a final Coat of Future.  I'll give it a protective coat later if I get to it.  I wanted to get pictures of the foil in it's natural state.

 

Gaz

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That is incredible. I thought those photos were a real Starfighter gate guard at some US airbase! It’s probably the most realistic model I’ve ever seen.

 

Insane amount of skill and patience needed for that, I’ll be sticking to spray cans! Bloody amazing old chap, genius.

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8 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

That is incredible. I thought those photos were a real Starfighter gate guard at some US airbase! It’s probably the most realistic model I’ve ever seen.

 

Insane amount of skill and patience needed for that, I’ll be sticking to spray cans! Bloody amazing old chap, genius.

Lord Riot,

   Thank you for that wonderful compliment!

 

Gaz

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