Foiling a Fighter

[Deanflyer]

Hello all,

A few people have asked how I did the foiling on my Starfighter featured on Britmodeller a week or two ago...here's the technique:

What you'll need-

Kitchen foil, the cheaper and thinner the better;

Microscale Metal Foil Adhesive;

Cotton buds - lots of them!

SHARP scalpel;

Alcohol for removing excess adhesive;

wooden toothpick and kitchen towel;

Endless patience (not available in the shops).

When I first got the adhesive, I experimented with a couple of pieces stuck onto the bottle, one shiny side and one dull side. You can see the effect here:

Pour a drop of the adhesive onto the dull side of a smallish piece of foil:

Spread it out into a VERY thin coat with a wide soft brush. Use a good quality brush that won't leave bristles behind!

This is the back end of another Starfighter fuselage - I'm going to foil just the airbrake area as an example. The trick is not to try to cover too large an area at once - one panel at a time worked for me.

Cut a small piece of foil and lay it over the area to be covered. Note that the foil has a grain, and you need to pay attention to this when applying the foil otherwise the directions will be all over the place. I kept all mine running vertically.

With a cotton bud, gently start to burnish the area from the centre of the panel outwards:

To ensure wrinkles are eliminated as much as possible, I lift the edges of the foil sheet and pull it to stop it attaching itself too early. If it does, you've had it!

Once you've rubbed down the foil, the detail underneath shows through incredibly well:

With a very sharp scalpel, cut along the nearest handy panel line until you've gone round the whole area. If your scalpel is even slightly blunt, the foil will rip up, and you're back to square one.

Peel back the excess foil from around the panel:

Gently does it...

And you're left with a foiled panel. Rubbing down the edges well with the cotton bud leaves cotton fibres behind:

Wipe these away with kitchen towel moistened with alcohol...

...and you have a foiled panel!

I rubbed the spare bit of foil from this demonstration onto the scissors I was using - I did say the foil showed up things unerneath incredibly well, didn't I? Make sure your surface preparation is up to scratch before you start.

Continue on with the rest of the panels. My 1/32 Starfighter took 25 hours to completely foil the fuselage alone, so patience and persistence is required in abundance. This was my first attempt at foiling, so maybe I was a little slow..

So that's the technique. Awkward curves are just a matter of using smaller pieces to prevent wrinkles, and if you get them it's amazing what a vigorous rubbing with the side of a wooden toothpick can flatten down!

Give it a try...

Dean

[Antoine]

A very big thanks, Dean.

Your topic should be very useful in the future.

[Gary West]

A very big thanks, Dean.

Your topic should be very useful in the future.

Here here

[dahut]

Very nice tutorial, Dean. The Force is strong with you.

For the record, you can also use a product called leafing size, a craft adhesive made for applying metallic leaf.

[Edgar]

You can, also, use my foiling adhesive, which is water-based. Little Cars stock it, and so do I. Ask Miduppergunner how he's coping with it.

Edgar

[model_madness]

Thank you Dean, have always wanted a step by step pictorial of the foiling process, yours is simple and well explained!

Perhaps one of the mods can make it a sticky??

[periklis_sale]

top tip mate!!!

[Bobs_Buckles]

You can, also, use my foiling adhesive, which is water-based. Little Cars stock it, and so do I. Ask Miduppergunner how he's coping with it.

Edgar

Edgar,

I don't think bodily fluids count as an effective adhesive...

RUN!

Bob Von Sillyass

[Paul]

Thanks Dean,

That's some really good explaining, I'll definately give it a go sometime.

P

[Edgar]

Edgar,

I don't think bodily fluids count as an effective adhesive...

RUN!

Bob Von Sillyass

You're bodily fluids might be water-based, but mine have a little more substance, matey.

Edgar

[Diesel Gypsy]

Excelent stuff Dean.

Shareing techniques is one of the most important facets of modelling. IMHO.

I'll never be too old to learn.

DD

[Skii]

Thank you Dean, have always wanted a step by step pictorial of the foiling process, yours is simple and well explained!

Perhaps one of the mods can make it a sticky??

Good call.

Done

[Angels49]

"When Deanflyer speaks"...........everybody listens. A superb lesson mate, as said earlier simple, and easy to grasp that.

[Alan P]

Very good explanation Dean, I've foiled a few and that is exactly the technique I use.

A few additions if i may:

If you can't get hold of the Microscale glue, ordinary PVA will work just as well if thinned with a few drops of water.

You can break up the uniform foil finish by using partly discoloured foil - this is also good for jetpipes.

Simply cut your foil into small pieces (about 2 inches square) and boil in a pan with some eggshells. The longer you leave the pieces in, the more bronzed they will become.

The lighter goldy colour was about 1 min, the darker burnt colour about 5 mins.

Also, you can artificially "grain" the different panels by burnishing with fine steel wool when the glue has set - this will give a multi-faceted polish like the real thing, very noticeable on postwar US aircraft.

[model_madness]

Damn those exhaust stains are amazing Phattie boom boom!

That must be the best rendition of a Huns @ss end i've ever had the pleasure to see

[Alan P]

Damn those exhaust stains are amazing Phattie boom boom!

That must be the best rendition of a Huns @ss end i've ever had the pleasure to see

Well, until you've seen Greg's efforts over on the in-progress forum....

[rob challis]

Dean, what fantastic work.

I will try it on some worn chrome on some of my older car kits.

Absolutely excellent-foiled again!

Take care and good weekends all.

Kind regards,

Rob

[dahut]

Wicked sharp F-100 there, Phat. Thanks for the reminder on the foiled boiled eggshell bit.

[richellis]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but has anyone used PVA glue, and how well does it work against the proper stuff?

I want to try this out on a build but save going out to buy the micro metal stuff?

[Fifer54]

Very good explanation Dean, I've foiled a few and that is exactly the technique I use.

A few additions if i may:

If you can't get hold of the Microscale glue, ordinary PVA will work just as well if thinned with a few drops of water.

You can break up the uniform foil finish by using partly discoloured foil - this is also good for jetpipes.

Simply cut your foil into small pieces (about 2 inches square) and boil in a pan with some eggshells. The longer you leave the pieces in, the more bronzed they will become.

The lighter goldy colour was about 1 min, the darker burnt colour about 5 mins.

Also, you can artificially "grain" the different panels by burnishing with fine steel wool when the glue has set - this will give a multi-faceted polish like the real thing, very noticeable on postwar US aircraft.

That "discolouring" tip is the best I've seen for , ooooooh, ages!

[Alan P]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but has anyone used PVA glue, and how well does it work against the proper stuff?

I want to try this out on a build but save going out to buy the micro metal stuff?

If you can't get hold of the Microscale glue, ordinary PVA will work just as well if thinned with a few drops of water.

[Miccara]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but has anyone used PVA glue, and how well does it work against the proper stuff?

I want to try this out on a build but save going out to buy the micro metal stuff?

Just about every craft store I've been in (in Canada) carries Mona Lisa Metal leaf adhesive...

http://www.createforless.com/Mona+Lisa+Met...;utm_medium=cse

It's a lot cheaper than the Micro stuff and works great. Its the best I've found for the job.

[RussTnailZ]

Absolutely amazing technique i have to try this on somthing

Russ

[robw_uk]

just looked at this while wasting time @ work.... great initial demo on foiling... tempted to try but my painting needs work first..... but Phatness..... eggshells? where did you learn that one? do they have to be whole eggs (ie hardboiling) or do you eat the contents first (scrambled or poached) - am sure there is some chemical explaination.....

think the Fuji T-1 or MiG could have the exhaust area done like this as an experiment - that will go down well with SWMBO....

[modelmaker]

I didn't notice your excellent article the other day when I posted MY brief piece on the same subject. I find it at the same time SOOO frustrating at times but when I get it right NOTHING is more frustrating, and I think nothing looks more ealistic than foil.. photobucket seem to be having trouble with my P38 at the moment but thank you for a very good and encouraging item.