Spitfire 1b - KP 1/72 and PixScan tests

[CedB]

Shaky hands this morning - it can't be the alcohol I had last night as I didn't have any - perhaps that's the problem?

 

 

The plan was to apply the masks and spray the first colour. Ha! I decided to use the Pmask fin flash masks and they're too long:

 

 

... so I cut the tops. It occurred to me whilst typing that that perhaps there were two sizes? There are. I just checked. Idiot.

I think I may be taking this 'relax, you've just retired' thing a bit too far.

 

Note that I'm not burnishing down the 'inside bits' of the masks until I decide what order to do the colours in. I'm leaning towards Cookie's Blue Red White Yellow at the moment because he's good at this stuff

 

Applying the roundel masks took me an inordinate amount of time - I was trying to line all the bits up and, with shaky hands, it was proving tricky.

I tried peeling back some of the backing, like applying sticky-backed plastic, but the backing was too thick.

I tried taking the whole mask off with tweezers but that was, er:

 

 

... not that successful either.

 

In the end I just gave myself a good telling to, realising the inner bits would be on and off anyway, and relaxed into getting the outer correctly positioned and then nudging the inside bits into place:

 

 

 

All done now:

 

 

I'm going to do the codes separately because they nudge against the roundels and I don't want any (more) problems.

 

Just need to apply some overspray protection (thanks Bill, your warnings stay with me) and then we're off. Gulp.

[Courageous]

Ced, Do you stand at a mirror and tell yourself off while wagging your finger 

[perdu]

He doesn't need to, he has me doing it, long distance

 

😆

[giemme]

3 hours ago, CedB said:

I tried taking the whole mask off with tweezers but that was, er:

Ced, I thought I mentioned this before, but quite evidently I was thinking of something I wrote in my C205 build. I put a narrow strip of 3M Magic Tape across the mask, so that I lift all the mask elements together from the backing tape and I can put them in place maintaining the relative positioning (a lot easier to do than to describe). The narrow strip can then be easily peeled off, while you hold the mask in place. HTH

 

Ciao 

 

EDIT: one more thing: to help in placing the mask, I use a couple of toothpicks positioned on the outer edges, as if they were flag poles. This way you can move around your mask keeping it flat, and laying it down only when you find the right spot

Edited February 20, 2018 by giemme

[Cookenbacher]

Excellent tips, thanks Giorgio, never thought of the 'toothpick' method - that'll be really helpful. The most difficult part of masking is getting the masks in the right place in one piece (and then getting them back in place after each color).

 

Speaking of, well done Ced - can't wait for paint.

 

The main reason I like to paint roundels from dark to light is that it's much easier to clean up any paint bleed of a lighter color over a darker one than vice versa.

[giemme]

13 minutes ago, Cookenbacher said:

The main reason I like to paint roundels from dark to light is that it's much easier to clean up any paint bleed of a lighter color over a darker one than vice versa.

True. On the other hand, I find easier to get coverage if I start from light to dark (spraying a light grey base coat first, if the lighter color is white); for this reason, I tend to spray "dry" coats of paint (and I use Tamiya), i.e. paint that hits the surface almost already dry  - to avoid any creeping.

 

Ciao

[CedB]

Thanks Giorgio, great tips I had used tape to hold the mask together before but I'd forgotten - what's is wrong with my, er, what's it called... memory, that's it...

I'm not quite sure what you mean about using toothpicks as flag poles? Do you mean under the edges, using them to lift and 'carry' the mask? That sounds like a good idea too, thanks.

 

Thanks Cookie I remember you saying about dark colour creep and, when using great opaque paints with plenty of pigment, coverage doesn't seem to be a problem.

 

Here we go:

 

Here we go! by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

I may have gone a bit over the top with the covers but better safe than sorry eh? Blue done:

 

 

I'll save the big pictures until the end. Note I'm also using Cookie's idea of sticking the exposed mask bit to the tape close to the roundel. Hopefully at low pressure they won't get blown off

[giemme]

31 minutes ago, CedB said:

Do you mean under the edges, using them to lift and 'carry' the mask? That sounds like a good idea too, thank

Exactly like that. I should have a pic of that in one of my build threads - I'll see if I can find it and post it here

 

Ciao

[CedB]

Thanks Giorgio

 

Progress:

 

Red by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

[Stew Dapple]

I bet you're just itching to rip those upperwing masks off and see how it went, aren't you Ced?

 

Itching.

 

You are, aren't you?

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[The Spadgent]

Looking pretty great there Ced. Excelent masking. No need to paint white first?

 

Jont.

[Tomoshenko]

Wow. Why is this making me feel like another "hobby accessory" is required... Note to self, "do not go on evilbay or Amazon after a few beers and reading one of Ced's threads.

[perdu]

"Oh go on go on go on..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

[keefr22]

4 hours ago, CedB said:

what's is wrong with my, er, what's it called... memory, that's it...

 

I used to have an excellent memory, but I've forgotten where I left it....

 

Have you ripped the masks off yet....have you....?!  

 

I've got a set of masks for a 48th French Spitfire, must get around to trying them, if for no other reason than to wind @celt up....!!  (sorry Ced 'in club' joke!)

 

Keith

[bbudde]

Can't comment on that at all  The red looks really good.

By the way, I did a written english test at the weekend here to get my english better,  especially to speak it more  fluently here as I did ever.  I didn't (have?) spoke it for a long time.  So I was a bit depressed on it with only 37% to B1. So, please free feel to correct me and I request that  to all of you for that, if there is anything wrong, especially in terms of my  grammar. Obviously a disease after 25 years of abscence  of an A level. Oh,  but it was my first online (Cornelsen english) test in my life at all, but nevertheless (my last). Cheers

(Edit: After red wine and a stuck keybord)

Cheers Benedikt

Edited February 20, 2018 by bbudde

[perdu]

Benedikt since there is NO way I could even pass a basic test in German you cannot rely on my input very much

 

Not entirely sure I could get 37% in  English myself, but you come across as a nice guy

 

I will help if I can

 

Ced, as the lad here says the red looks just about bang on sir, lovely work

 

B

[CedB]

Thanks Stew - yes I am itching, you know me so well. Sadly the overspray masking goes under the wing so we'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Thanks Jont - nope, no white first. When I did use white on the Halifax I ended up with an irritating, if small, white ring due to tiny mask misalignment. Cookie then told me about his new method and, as the Colourcoats are so opaque, I went ahead and tried it. We'll see how the white and yellow turn out tomorrow but I'm pretty confident

Thanks Tomo As Bill says...

Go on, go on (thanks Bill). If you do much masking (and who doesn't) the ability to cut your own masks will pay off. What are we paying for them eh? If you reckon on about £5 each, canopy and camo template means £10 per model it doesn't take that long to pay for itself. Not to mention squadron idents. Just saying

Thanks Keith - club joke? First rule of club is...

Thanks Benedikt - English is hard, especially if you haven't spoken it for a long time and especially after wine and with a stuck keyboard!

 

Not long to wait now - white and yellow in the morning (remembering the prop tips) then ident codes in MSG, then masks off!

[bbudde]

17 minutes ago, CedB said:

English is hard, especially if you haven't spoken it for a long time and especially after wine and with a stuck keyboard!

Sorry Ced, didn't want to interfere you. Sorry, I should exchange my keybord first. The wine should be gone tomorrow. And my grammar problems will stay here for me for a while. I cannot argue that away. Some basics I guess. Cheers

[bbudde]

54 minutes ago, perdu said:

I will help if I can

 

Thank you, very appreciated, if you like to! I don't know always, where the difficulties lies

Cheers Benedikt

[06/24]

Benedikt, your English is fine. What’s charming is your accent comes across in what you write. Sure, it might not be perfectly “correct” but English is pretty flexible and we understand your meaning perfectly well. 

 

However, your last post written by a native speaker might have read:

 

“Thank you, much appreciated, if you’d like to! I don't always know where the difficulty lies.”

 

There are other bits which could change, and we could argue all day about what is correct or not! 

 

Back on topic, Ced you’re a marvel. I don’t know how you find the energy to constantly push your knowledge envelope the way you do, but it’s inspirational and all power to your elbow. Once you’ve conquered this, what’s next on the agenda?

[Beard]

9 hours ago, bbudde said:

 

By the way, I did a written english test at the weekend here to get my english better,  especially to speak it more  fluently here as I did ever.  I didn't (have?) spoke it for a long time.  So I was a bit depressed on it with only 37% to B1. So, please free feel to correct me and I request that  to all of you for that, if there is anything wrong, especially in terms of my  grammar. Obviously a disease after 25 years of abscence  of an A level. Oh,  but it was my first online (Cornelsen english) test in my life at all, but nevertheless (my last). Cheers

(Edit: After red wine and a stuck keybord)

Cheers Benedikt

Benedikt,

Us Brits are far too reserved and polite to correct anyones' English, the worst you'll get is a semi-audible 'tut'.  

 

Just to to create further thread-drift. My local newsagent recently became a British citizen after passing the exam. What he doesn't know about British history probably isn't worth knowing and would ask in depth questions about the British political system or the order of succession when I popped in to buy my morning paper.

[keefr22]

40 minutes ago, 06/24 said:

There are other bits which could change, and we could argue all day about what is correct or not! 

 

 

As long as we don't have to do it in German, I'd be finished after guten morgen Benedikt....

 

Keith

[TheBaron]

8 hours ago, bbudde said:

And my grammar problems will stay here for me for a while

Fear not Benedikt - the British have always reserved for themselves the right to commit the greatest crimes against their own language! (It's to distract us from acknowledging that we're such comparatively  poor speakers of our European neighbours' tongues...)

 

That's before you even take in to account the damned autocarrot on my smartbone....

15 hours ago, CedB said:

Here we go:

Here we go! by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

A Spitfire condom Ced! Who knew?

 

(Can't wait for the Big Roundel Reveal, like everyone else.)

[giemme]

3 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

That's before you even take in to account the damned autocarrot on my smartbone....

 Also, not taking into account slang expressions or even welsh ... (sorry K   )

 

Benedikt, as a non native English speaker, what helped me most was to try and think in English (if that makes sense to you). I often have to speak the Albion's language for my job, which is obviously the best thing to keep it fresh.

Furthermore, whenever I can I watch TV series and movies in their original language with subtitles (that introduces the issue of American vs British English, but we don't want to get into that, do we?    )

 

Sorry for adding to the drift, Ced, but you keep us waiting on that masking reveal so ....  

 

Ciao

[Biggles87]

We are watching a French crime series on British TV at the moment and trying not to look at the subtitles which sometimes bear little resemblance to what we can actually hear.. We're learning lots of slang and swear words as well.

 

John