Col. Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Everything seems to be going together well for you John and the metal effect paintwork on those exhaust cans looks great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 John, Nice work on the exhaust cans, great finish to them. I've also found the Sword plastic a little tricking to rescribe cleanly, seems very soft and easily scratched. Mark. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 After a few days away from the modelling bench I got back to doing some more on this tonight. I've made a start on adding some scratched detail to the inside of the canopy. After looking at some photos I have added what appears to be a little bulkhead at the back, it looks like it houses the de-misting, the canopy hinge mechanism, the hydraulic ram for lifting the canopy and this then looks as though it is connected to the shoot bolt mechanism which is a part of the canopy lock. I've also added the little part that I made early on in the build, I think that this houses the lights in the top of the canopy. I did find a photograph of this area a few weeks ago but like a numpty I forgot to bookmark the page and have not been able to locate it since. The other reference that I am using seems to be at odds with the photograph that I found so I can't say whether this is an accurate representation or not, but hey, it will do for me. I still have to trim the shoot bolt rod back and add a little bit more detail to create the lock mechanism then after a paint up that will finish this area off. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 That is some great work John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Tidy work on that canopy detail 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Share Posted November 18, 2014 Thanks for the comments guys. It was a lot of fun, having dropped the light housing twice in the space of 2-3 minutes I think SWMBO was getting cheesed of scrambling around the floor looking for it. It probably didn't help with me being in her ear giving her clear instructions as to the best way of retrieving said object and telling her to be sure that she didn't disturb the tiny brackets that I had spent the previous 10 minutes making and glueing in position. Anyway, this morning the Lightning had a garden cane stuck up it's jacksie so that I could give it a quick blast of primer. It's amazing just how many blemishes this step flags up, prior to this my ageing eyes (or it could be the rose tinted glasses) had declared this fine and dandy. But after a coat of primer it looks like a contour model of the Yorkshire Dales. It seems like I am destined for the attire of many an ageing modeller, DA-DA-DAH (think Dom DeLuise as Captain Chaos) THE MAGNIFYING HEADBAND. Well, maybe it's not quite as bad as that yet but there are a few areas that will require some further attention one of these being the nose ring which is going to need a wee bit more filler in a couple of places and then a rescribe to define the outline again. Primed and ready to go - err not quite. Definitely more work required around the nose ring and forward of the belly tank......... as well as the wing roots, spine etc etc etc. So all in all plenty to do yet but hopefully I may get some colour on the spine towards the weekend, we'll just see how things go. Thanks for taking the time to stop by. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Well done getting this one together John. A small amount of final filling and sanding in a few places and it'll be ready for paint. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 John, Glad to see this one together. A few tweaks and it'll be ready for the paintshop. Nice work on the canopy detailing, looks the biz! Mark. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Having seen your work in other GBs but in 1/144th, the standard of detail is as good if not better than before. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 You'll have those seams taken care of in no time - I can't wait to see it in paint. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted November 18, 2014 Author Share Posted November 18, 2014 Hey, thanks again for your comments and encouragement guys. I'm having to ration my time at the minute due to some pain in my hands, so I'm trying to do a day on and a day off. Normal service should be resumed next week after I have had my Infliximab treatment on Monday. Cheers, and happy modelling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Tell the doctors to be careful and thorough as those hands are building Lightnings! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted November 20, 2014 Author Share Posted November 20, 2014 Inspired by Cooken's quest for the perfect NMF, and after assisting his search with a couple of links along with a link to a stunning P-47 that he has found on BM, I decided to carry out a little experiment of my own and the results are shown below. Sorry about the photo quality but it was difficult setting things up to show the contrasting shades off without too much glare from the flourescent. For the nose ring I have used Mr Metal Color Stainless and for the tailplane I used Mr Metal Color Aluminium, I am pleased with the outcome and I think I am going to adopt the process on this build when I start painting. One thing that is apparent is the need to make sure that the surface is well polished, so I will wet sand the primer with some fine micro-mesh pads to improve the surface before applying paint. If things don't work out I can always shoot some more primer over and spray silver from a rattle can. Wish me luck and for those who may be interested here is a link to the relevant forum discussion http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/40296-nmf-metalizing-with-a-brush/ 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 (edited) That looks incredible John! Was the Mr Metal painted directly on the plastic tailplane, or did you prime it? I have to thank you for recommending the Uschi metal pigments. I've had fun experimenting with them - have only applied dry so far, but have plans to see how they spray with Future/Klear or Vallejo metal medium as the binder, and water as the solvent. I only wish that my Lightning wasn't already painted and decaled. Edited November 21, 2014 by Cookenbacher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted November 21, 2014 Author Share Posted November 21, 2014 That looks incredible John! Was the Mr Metal painted directly on the plastic tailplane, or did you prime it? I have to thank you for recommending the Uschi metal pigments. I've had fun experimenting with them - have only applied dry so far, but have plans to see how they spray with Future/Klear or Vallejo metal medium as the binder, and water as the solvent. I only wish that my Lightning wasn't already painted and decaled. I just wanted to try the technique so simply painted directly on to the plastic, no polishing or anything beforehand. Then a buff up with some kitchen paper when it was dry, I think that the secret is to know when to stop buffing, it starts to look good and you think I'll just give it another go and that can be just a bit too much. Today I sanded the tailplanes back to bare plastic then tidied the edges up before giving them a good polish and applying the red to the leading edges. I am now going to leave those for a couple of days for the paint to harden off, I will then tidy the ridge of paint up before I apply the aluminium. Because I have already primed the wings and fuselage I am hoping that I can polish this back to a decent level to give just as good a result. We'll see how it goes and I'd just like to say thanks to you for giving me the inspiration to try something different. I look forward to seeing the powders in action, as you say its a shame that you have already painted the Lightning. However, there are enough GB's coming up where you will have the opportunity to try them out on a full kit, F-5, P-47 and Meteor to name but three and I'm sure there will be others. I will definitely be giving them a try in the near future. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 I'm really looking forward to your results John. I hope that the Mr Metal isn't too hot for the primer when you brush it on. I had that trouble with MM metalizer, and they're both lacquers, I think. I found myself trying to figure out ways to include more NMF builds next year, thanks for the ideas for upcoming GB's. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted November 22, 2014 Author Share Posted November 22, 2014 I'm really looking forward to your results John. I hope that the Mr Metal isn't too hot for the primer when you brush it on. I had that trouble with MM metalizer, and they're both lacquers, I think. I found myself trying to figure out ways to include more NMF builds next year, thanks for the ideas for upcoming GB's. Thanks for the heads up on the paint, I'll try it out on the spare fin that I have before committing it to the kit. If it doesn't work then I'll save the experiment for another build and go down the spray route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tc2324 Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 That`s a great NMF. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Well things are starting to move along with this now. But, first as promised to Cookenbacher, here are the results of the little experiment with Mr Metal colour coated over a polished primer coat. I used the spare fin that was in my boxing of this kit and sprayed one side with Halfords Grey Plastic Primer, then when this had dried I gave it a polish with some various grades of micromesh pads 3600-12000 grit. Then applied a layer of the paint to the top of the fin, and again this was allowed to dry before buffing it up with some kitchen paper. As you can see in the photos below the results are very different, on the primed side you can see that the finish is dull and the brush marks are still visible. It looks as though Cooken was correct in his assumption that the paint would be to hot for the primer coat and as a result it as cut into this and bonded with it very well, but this then proves difficult to polish to a good level of shine. I don't know if it would be different if it was airbrushed on, but that is for another day. For the reverse I gave it a simple buff up before applying the paint and then polishing. I think it looks pretty close to metal and and with more time spent on polishing the surface a nice result should be achievable. That said if you get close to a polished metal surface you can usually see some very fine scratches so perhaps there is no need to be too picky about this. Mr Metal colour over primer Mr Metal colour over buffed plastic, if you look at the bottom edge you can just make out the reflection of my fingers holding the camera. So I decided that it was a case of better the devil you know and have gone with using Tamiya Bare Metal Silver (AS-12) for the metal finish and Humbrol Acrylic Red (19) for the Spine, Fin and leading edges of the Wings & Tailplanes from rattle cans. I was able to get the red on yesterday and to mask off late last night. Then after another light dusting of primer I got some silver on this morning, I removed the masking earlier and will leave it for a couple of days now to allow the paint to harden off properly. So, in the words of Bugs Bunny, That's all Folks. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 That looks sharp in the red scheme and the Tamiya silver looks great John. Thanks for sharing the results of your experiment. There is such a big difference between the primered piece and the bare plastic piece. I noticed that in my attempt to make an acrylic metalizer from the Uschi pigments, it stuck to bare plastic as well as painted test pieces, but buffed out to a higher shine on bare plastic. The experiments continue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Wow! Proper metal finish on the left side of the fin. Interesting experiment and thanks for sharing your findings Lightning is looking lovely in her new coat as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattlow Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Hello John Beautiful work on your T4. I am currently doing a Sword F3 (I didn't even know this GB was on until I was well into it, otherwise I'd have joined in ). I wondered if you had to do anything specific with the QB nose ring to get it to fit the Sword parts (apart from obviously removing the ring from the Sword kit). I'm really enjoying the Sword kit.... Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Yep I have to agree that, that is looking a little on the bright side. I think it will really look swell when the decals are applied. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimrod54 Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Hello John Beautiful work on your T4. I am currently doing a Sword F3 (I didn't even know this GB was on until I was well into it, otherwise I'd have joined in ). I wondered if you had to do anything specific with the QB nose ring to get it to fit the Sword parts (apart from obviously removing the ring from the Sword kit). I'm really enjoying the Sword kit.... Matt Hi Matt, Thanks for your comments and it is good to hear that you are enjoying all the builds here as well as your own F3. I think that these Sword kits are really nice and whilst they do take a bit more work to put together they do produce a good result with care, although Procopius may not agree with that comment after all the trials and tribulations he has just gone through. In the end though he has produced a splendid looking model and has now bought another Sword kit for a future build, so he is either determined to slay the beast or just a glutton for punishment. I know that there may be some reported accuracy issues, particularly with the T'birds but hey, I am not making a model for competition purposes, it is my hobby and something I enjoy doing and for me in the end if it looks Lightning'ish then that is all that matters. I for one will not be going over it with a vernier caliper and micrometers. OK time to get off the and try to answer your question about the QB nose ring. I did not need to modify the ring in any way and the only thing that I had to do to the kit was to trim back the front edge of the top fin a little on the nosecone/nosewheel bay assembly. This was to try and reduce a gap at the top edge where the ring meets the kit. I think that your F3 may be different in this area so you may not have to do anything to it other than blend it back to fit the shape of your kit. Hopefully the photos below will explain it better than I have. So Matt, I had a slight gap at the front where the nosering meets the fuselage. In order to improve the fit I had to remove a small amount of plastic from this edge, but you may not have to do that. I hope that this helps you. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattlow Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 John That's exactly what I was looking for - thanks. I've already cut the ring off the Sword parts, initially thinking I'd fix them up and re-fit. But life is too short and the QB parts aren't too expensive. I may have a go with the Mr Colour metallic that you tested on the spare fin, how resilient to masking do you think that finish would be? I'd imagine the lacquer base will have bitten nicely into the plastic - so it should be quite robust...? Again, many thanks. Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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