srkirad

Those buffing metalizers are really good products - you allow them some 10-15min to rest, and then take some soft cloth (best is some old cotton t-shirt) to polish it. Aluminium gives very nice shine, Dark Iron is actually Gunmetal/Blackmetal, Stainless is Steel - good for some exhausts, while Chrome Silver is high shine polished metal. They are not on par with Alclad, but they are afordable and have solid performance, plus on smaller parts you can even brush paint with them! On the other hand, you can try Gunze Super Metalizers, but they have higher price, are NOT buffable, and they don't guarantee so much better final look then regular ones (MC series). NMF is really wide open area for experimenting - there are a lot of different producst on market, but only if we had 2 more lives to waste on experimenting...

I didn't do many NMF kits so far, but those I did, I've used only Gunze Mr. Color Metalizers - bufing ones, and after drying I gave them a few thin coats of Tamiya X-22 Gloss Clear. So far it didn't lift metallic layers - it seems X-22 keeps them safe from lifting and they don't lose their shine

Lovely, nice and tidy! Good job mate! Cheers, S.

Yeah, OD demarkation lines turned out just balanced, not so soft neither so hard. Regarding to NMF one, I rerolled a bit back to see your process of priming before NMF. I see you've polished black with polishing compound - could it be that compound is not compatible with metalizers i.e. causing lifting of NMF layers?

Ooh.. too pitty, I can understand your pain I guess black was maybe more thinned down than it should be? Also I can see on photos that part of tape on flaps is visibly off the surface - exactly where black came through. And near wheelbay there is much space where spray could go. It's not a bad idea in the future to fill the wheelbay with Blutak or something similar - this way tape left that part wide opened Hopefully you will repair additionaly NMF area around stripes. Keeping thumbs for you! S.

Many helicopters' names also are of animal origin: SA342 Gazelle, SA330 Puma/SA332 Super Puma, AS532 Cougar, AS350 Ecureuil (squirrel), AS550 Fennec, SA360 Dauphin, SA315 Lama, SA321 Super Frelon (hornet), Aerospatiale Alouette (lark), Ka-50 Black Shark, Ka-52 Alligator, Mi-1 Hare, Mi-24 Hind, AH-1 Cobra, Seahawk, Blackhawk... Probably there are many more :)

Green one looks fantastic - faded OD suits it very well! Metallic one is also nice - looking forward to see them decaled both!

Sounds interesting. Also don't have a clue what exactly I would build, but my stash is pretty good with "animals" of various kinds Count me in!

Yeah, I think we could say Kimi IS a machine! One of the most cool drivers I've ever seen - emotions: stealth, smile after pole/win: non-existent/rare, quality on track: steel good even not in so good team anymore,... in one word - ICEMAN! Anyway, thanks for the welcome, I'll do my best to finish in time (of course it's finnish, it's KIMIIIII!), and not to mess up something.. at least not too much Today I've ordered from AliExpress some buffing add-ons for dremel tool, so hopefully they arrive in a month or so... I'll try to assemble as much as I can do in the meantime, and to paint something that doesn't require polishing & buffing procedure. And of course, I'm looking forward to see all those Viggens, Drakens, Krakkens (:D) and other Nordic thingies from all of you... I think it's gonna be good fun in this one. Cheers and good luck to all with respective builds! S.

Thanks for the advice John, I bet I would be given some funny looks But I think I'll leave it as is - I like to see gun holes on scale model. Cheers, S.

Ah, OK, it seems that most of this kit suffers from some kind of missfit - after fuselage halves were joined, I saw that some lines are not quite in line, so rescribing was a must. No problem, windshield was only given a coat of Interior Green, so I will first dryfit it, make correction neccessary, and then repaint it. Thanks for the advice Cheers, S.

Good evening mates, I've finally found some time to make few photos of my participant in this GB. First, I would like to thank to Trickyrich once again, for modifying GB rules because of this model I will join with Revell's kit of Formula 1 car in 1/24 - McLaren-Mercedes MP4/20 that was driven by Kimi Raikkonen during 2005 F1 season. This build will be a real challenge for me, as I didn't do any car models since I've started with a bit more serious kit modelling (using airbrush, paying attention to some details etc). This will be my first experience with scale model polishing, using all those paints, varnishes, and polishing compounds in so many repeating stages. And all this to be done in ~4 months... well.. yeah... a real challenge for me! Here are the parts Decal sheet is a huge one, containing carbon fibre panels, and some silver/gold ones (small sheet). And finally the proof that this kit belongs to Scandinavian/Nordic theme - I knew this small flag had to be somewhere, but didn't notice it in first looking! Well, that would be intro... we'll see how it goes with this one soon Cheers, S.

Hurricane is coated with layer of final semigloss/matt varnish (matt for fabric parts of plane), and I've started to add remaining and/or missing details. Landing lights were to be represented with only clear sprue made windows, but that parts were awfully thick, so I chose to make them from melted sprue. I think they look reasonably good? Gun holes were also drilled, and red patch painted over them. Antena holder on vertical tail is made from copper wire... Cheers, S.

Thanks mates. Spit is now coated with layer of final varnish, and I've started to add some details on a journey to finish line. As I didn't have decals for red gun patches, I used thin brush to paint these details.. looking reasonably good I think. Belly light was just a hole, so I've filled it with Microscale Kristal Klear - when it gets dry, I will just paint it with Clear Orange - most similar to Amber colour that I mostly find on photos... Cheers, S.

You guessed my intentions Yellow represents plane from first Aerobatic team of Yugoslav Air Force - it didn't have name in that stage, and they flew 5 Sabres (I think it was 5) painted in Yellow/PRU Blue, so I chose this one as regular ones are a bit boring. Anyway, I've made floor and back wall of cockpit from styrene as line of join of fuselage halves would be very visible. They are painted in black now, wheelbays are painted in Interior Green, and I've added some ballast from lead pellet, fixing it with Kristal Klear. Cheers, S.

Thanx for the kind words mates. @Andre B Actually I didn't try to dryfit clear parts. Canopy will be opened for sure, so any missfit will not matter.. but windshield if does make problems I'll see what to do. Hopefully in few days I will clean the wing joints, and correct what is needed, and then I will take care of windshield... not so long until primer, and start of painting... Cheers, S.

Thanks Hewy, I was working on fuselage during last week, it seems like not so much haven't been done, but this kit requires some attention around details... I've finally assembled fuselage and wings, with some styrene inserts on the joint beetween them, as there was a minor gap to be filled. Fuselage halves joint had some nasty seams that were filled with super glue or styrene strips and then sanded. All panel lines that were lost are rescribed. These rectangular panels with 32 holes on the nose section were misplaced, so I deleted them by layer of super glue, and rescribed them on the correct position. Holes were drilled with a needle using template/matrix of 32 holes printed on tracing paper. Nose intake was also some 0.5mm smaller than rest of nose, so some super glue added made up for it. I must admit that super glue slowly becomes on of my favourite "putties" for some nasty seams and gaps... It hardens good for sanding, doesn't loose its volume after drying, and behaves nice during rescribing panel lines over it... Some styrene was added around underfuselage intake to fill the gaps... Also nice view of Extratech etched grill inside intake... ...and rear radiator grill (or whatever is called in english - sorry, can't find appropriate term for it as english is not my native language) Continuing work, with new photos soon hopefully.... Cheers, S.

Painted roundels definitely look better and more realistic, but I have a suggestion if sometimes this problem with wrinkling after Softer occurs again. Some decals are pretty stubborn and don't honour "leave it alone while not straightened after drying" rule. In these situations I do just the oposite - I DON'T leave them alone after applying Mr. Mark Softer, and use the Q-tip (cotton swab) to straighten it by rolling or tapping over decal and/or toothpick to make them adhere to panel lines. I do this very gently, not using too much pressure and force - idea is just to make them obey setting solution and adhere to the surface. This method is pretty successful with old Academy decals and some thicker like Hasegawa and Tamiya. I don't do this usually with Microscale Microset/Microsol, but if neccesary... Cheers, S.

Looking good, you gave it some life with decals. Repainted underwing is a nice touch and it was very common with some of aircraft in Yugoslav Air Force that were either captured or left by original users. Just cut out with scissors or modelling knife leftovers on blue part of flag on tail, and touch up with paint Cheers, S.

Thanks very much for elaborate explaining Ray - it helps a lot! I spray X-22 also very thinned - maybe something like consistence of milk, and at the pressure of ~2 bar (29-30PSI), and make the shots some 10-15cm from the surface. In few layers it usually gets enough gloss for decals, but I think it's not just yet enough gloss for car kits (I'm starting soon McLaren-Mercedes in Scandinavia GB so trying to get acquainted with the new are of modelling for me). I did watch Plasmo's tutorials, and that's actually where I saw GX100 in real good action.. and .. that's just the hotspot! I fell in love with GX100 finish so can't wait to try it for real. Well, hope others will learn something new too from your experience, and of course we're waiting now for the next stage - bring those decals on! Cheers, S.

This looks very nice Ray. Can you tell me please, have you tried to compare Gunze GX100 and Tamiya X-22 Gloss Clear? I am using X-22 for gloss coats, and am pretty satisfied with it, but I see all recommendations for GX100 for using on car models as they require perfectly high gloss finish. If GX100 dries on touch in 10 minutes that is fantastic for quick manipulation of models during coating... Cheers, S.

Thanks for the kind words mates. Decals i.e. only RYAF roundels are set, as I represent plane that just arrived to Yugoslavia from Great Britain, and already have roundels, but no other markings. This is improvised solution for this version of RYAF Hurricane and no available decals for fully marked one... Cheers, S.

Thanks for kind words mates. Decals are set, and protective layer of Tamiya X-22 Gloss Clear over them... Cheers, S.

Stunning weathering! I really like the look of wheelbay covers, sooo realistic!

As this year marks 50 years from the first flight of F-14 Tomcat, I've decided to give it a special homage with triple build of Revell's nicely moulded Tomcats in "mini" braillescale: 1 - F-14A, VF-84 Jolly Rogers ("Final Countdown" movie) 2 - F-14A, VF-142 Ghostriders 3 - F-14D, VF-101 Grim Reapers I will keep whole of the build(s) in one topic, as I work on all 3 kits at the same time. For the beginning, I've sprayed Mr. Surfacer 1500 Grey on parts that will be painted in white and grey (cockpit and landing gear bits), and won't cut off parts from sprue yet.. I think it will save me some time during this initial phase... Cheers, S.