+++ FINISHED! +++ Fujimi Phantom F-4K/FG.1 (Royal Navy) 1/72

[PlaStix]

Hi Jaime. Good to see you are back underway with some updates again and, despite some trials and tribulations with the decals, you seem to be making good progress. I'm not sure it would help with any more decals you have to apply on this project, but, whatever the brand of decal, I always try and cut the clear carrier film away right to the printed area. It minimises any silvering that is more evident under the clear film areas. It is fairly easy to do on straight edges with a craft knife and steel ruler but fairly complex on curved ones - especially internal curves. On roundels, for example, I usually carefully cut them out with a pair of good quality scissors.

Kind regards,

Stix

Edited February 22, 2016 by PlaStix

[jrlx]

Hi Stix, thanks for the advice. Great to see you around

I did exactly that on the roundels, using a pair of scissors to cut around right to the printed area. Unfortunately, the edges of the roundels kept curling up when I applied the setting solution.

I already applied a few more decals on the top surfaces of wings, with a minimum of carrier film around but the results were poor: quite a lot of silvering. I hope the semi- mate varnish I intend to apply in the end compensates for that.

I'll have to think about what to do for the remaining decals.

Cheers

Jaime Ramos

[Grey Beema]

On a couple of models I floated the the decal onto a surface of wet Klear.. Seemed to sort the problem however don't use it as a technique that often...

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

Just a small update with decal work done last Saturday.

 

After leaving the decals to set for about two days, I managed to make the tail fin decals conform to the panel lines. I used the point of a toothpick and was extra-careful not to rip the decals apart. Here's the result, clearly seen on the port side:

IMAG3314

 

The picture of the starboard side is not so clear but the panel lines are also clearly marked on the decal:

IMAG3317

 

I also applied the remaining larger decals on the top surfaces of the wings (the rest are stencils). As said in a previous post, this wasn't very successful, since the decals got a lot of silvering, despite the use of Micro Set and Micro Sol. It seems the protective film turns the decals a bit whitish and brittle as well...

IMAG3318

 

Thanks for looking

 

Jaime

[Robin-42]

On a couple of models I floated the the decal onto a surface of wet Klear.. Seemed to sort the problem however don't use it as a technique that often...

I would recommend the Kleer method as well.

[jrlx]

Thanks Grey and Robin. I may try using a few drops of Alclad Aquagloss, which is the varnish I used for the gloss coat before applying the decals

[PlaStix]

Hi Jaime. The tail fin decals do really look great - what a shame about those upper wing ones. The clear film can often be problem - that's why I always try and cut as much off as possible - it's difficult with small stencils though.

I hope any remaining decals go on well.

Hope you have a good weekend.

Kind regards,

Stix

[jrlx]

Thanks Stix! The problem with the clear film seems to be due to the protective decal liquid I've applied. If you take a look at the "ROYAL NAVY" decal in the same picture, it adhered to the surface beautifully. It came from the same decal sheet but was applied before I used the protective liquid.

I wish you also a great weekend and a successful progress on your Thunderbolt!

Cheers

Jaime

[giemme]

Jaime, great build thread all over! Such a shame that you had so much trouble with decals!

But that's why I try to stay away from them as much as possible

Ciao

Edited February 29, 2016 by giemme

[jrlx]

Thanks Giemme, for your very kind words!

It's the first model with which I'm having decal problems... I've been gathering courage to get back to it...

Cheers

Jaime

[jrlx]

Dear Fellow Modellers,

 

I finally gathered the courage to resume this build, after the additional problems with decals nearly one year ago. Though I intended to finish this build in the KUTA IX GB, I only started working on it again in the last third of January 2017 and only managed to work on weekends, so I didn't finish within the GB time frame.

 

Anyway, here's an update of the work done in the last three week-ends.

 

Since I was a bit weary of this kit's decals, I decided to finish painting the missiles and drop tanks.

 

The missiles have a few coloured bands along their bodies and their heads are also black or grey. So, I started by masking the missiles, which took a lot of time to do:

IMAG4562

 

The bottom halves of the drop tanks were also masked:

IMAG4563

 

The coloured bands and heads of the missiles were airbrushed, and here's the result:

IMAG4564

 

The pylons of the drop tanks were first painted medium sea grey, since their leading edges were painted that way:

IMAG4565

 

The leading edges of the pylons were, then, masked:

IMAG4566

 

and the extra dark sea grey top colour was airbrushed:

IMAG4567

 

To finish painting the missiles, I still had to paint the metallic parts of the tail fins of the AIM-9E Sidewinders, corresponding to the rollerons (the metallic wheels that spin in flight and act as gyroscopes, avoiding a roll motion around the longitudinal axis of the missile while it flies to the target). This picture shows the rolleron areas in detail:

 

Since the tail fins of the missile parts do not have the rollerons delimited, I had to mask the areas first. To ensure consistent masks, I made a template out of cardboard:

IMAG4568

 

 

This was used to mark the masks for one of the fin sides:

IMAG4569

 

Turning the template over itself, I used it to mark the masks for the other side of the fins as well:

IMAG4570

 

Each missile needs four masks of each type. Since we have four AIM-9E missiles, the total number of masks to cut and apply was 32. This was another really lengthy task...

 

Here's the first missile with the masks applied to the fins:

IMAG4571

 

The four sidewinders masked:

IMAG4572

 

The rolleron areas were brush-painted silver and this is the final result:

IMAG4573

 

The next step will be painting the tires and then finish applying the decals.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

 

[giemme]

Good to see you back at this, Jaime. Massive masking and painting job on ordnance and tanks    

 

Ciao

[SleeperService]

I'm also Happy for you that you aren't giving up on it. It's turning into a master class on repairing defects.

 

Lovely work.

[jrlx]

Thank you for your interest and support, Gents!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

[mcdonnell]

Hello,Jaime - Delighted to see this phine 'Phantom' back on the production line.

It's time for me to get my dictionary for those inevitable words of praise!

😉👍All the very best,Paul.

[jrlx]

Thank you very much, Paul: your interest and support are always very welcome

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[jrlx]

Hi again!

 

This has been very long coming... It isn't finished yet but, hopefully, I'll eventually finish it.

 

I've been very short of time for modelling since the beginning of this year and this build, which I chose to finish first because it is the one nearest to being completed, is putting up a struggle and killing my motivation more often than not. Anyway, here's an update of work done from mid-Feb to early March.

 

Going forward with the build, I noticed that I had made a painting mistake in the external drop tanks. The ones used by the Royal Navy had a straight delimitation between the top EDSG and bottom white colours from the nose to the tail tip. My error was due to my looking at RAF Phantom pictures, because initially I didn't find pictures of RN Phatoms with drop tanks.

 

So, I started by masking the top colour:

IMAG4580

 

The EDSG was scrapped from the noses' underside:

IMAG4581

 

The underside white was reapplied and here's the end result:

IMAG4583

 

I also brush-painted the tires:

IMAG4584

 

IMAG4585

 

With all the painting done, I returned to applying decals. I resumed this on the underside of the aircraft. The roundels and serials were applied:

IMAG4586

 

IMAG4587

 

Finally, the underside stencils were applied:

IMAG4588

 

There were also a few stencils to apply to the landing gear doors:

IMAG4589

 

Applying the decals wasn't an easy task, since they adhered badly and tended to curl. I think this was due to the decal protection fluid I applied after the original tail decals wrinkled with the setting solutions. Now the setting solutions do not help much and the decals tend to become silvered. They're also very brittle. The effect was more noticeable on the top surfaces of the wings:

IMAG4590

 

IMAG4592

 

There are still a lot of stencils to apply on the top surface of the wings (and also on the fuselage sides):

IMAG4593

 

After this, I applied the stencils along the edges of the folding tips of the wings, but I still haven't taken pictures. The results were not encouraging: the decals took ages to adhere and show a lot of silvering. It seems that the decal protection fluid made the decals lose transparency.

 

I'm not sure what's the best way to make the silvering less noticeable. Should a matt coat be applied first or should I go straight to the application of the gloss coat used to protect the model from the weathering steps? Suggestions would be most welcome.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

 

 

 

 

[giemme]

Jaime, great to see you back on track!   Excellent update!

What I do when I have that kind of silvering is: multiple rounds of setting solution, applied with a fine brush. Then a couple of gloss coats; then a flat coat and, if still persisting, more flat varnish by brush (applied sparingly) only on the decal.

 

Ciao

 

[mcdonnell]

Hello,Jaime - Great to have you back on radar and hope you're in good health and spirit.

She's coming along well but giving you a few headaches.🤔

I know by your meticulous attention to detail that you may not be too put off by the way I'd deal with the silvering issue.

I'd be tempted to use a very thin mix of the EDSG and with a fine brush delicately 'paint out' the silvering before adding further build up of varnish coatings over the decals.

I more than respect the other suggestions our friends have given.In all fairness,I have never tried their method.The method I've put forward worked for me on my 'Strike Eagle' build.

Either way,I know you won't be beaten!

😉👍All the very best,Paul.

[jrlx]

Giorgio, Paul,

 

Thank you very much for your interest and suggestions.

 

In fact, I used generous amounts of Micro Set and Micro Sol in order to make the decals stick to the surfaces and avoid silvering. This didn't avoid the problem, I'm afraid. I'm not sure if it is silvering (ie: air bubbles trapped under the decal) or opacity resulting from the decal protective fluid. Those decals I applied before the protective fluid was sprayed on the decal sheet, were properly transparent in the film areas and didn't show any silvering. In fact, if it wasn't for the disaster with the tail fin decals, I wouldn't have applied any decal protective fluid, as the other decals were reacting well to the setting solutions and conformed well to the surfaces.

 

I'm tempted to follow Paul's suggestion of going over the opaque areas of the stencils with a thinly diluted EDSG before applying any varnish coats. If it works well with one or two stencils I'll do it on the others. But first I'll finish applying all the stencils.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[Antoine]

You didn't already applied a varnish coat above the decals, don't you?

So it should be ok, just get some Future (klir) and using a fine brush, apply a thin coat around each decals, trying to get under their edge if still possible.

let it dry, it should look ok.

And when it is, airbrush, or brush, another thin coat on top of each decals.

 

Pardon me, I might have missed something, but did you applied some gloss clear varnish, or Future, before decaling?

[jrlx]

Hi Antoine,

 

Thank you for your suggestions and interest.

 

I applied an Alclad Aqua Gloss coat before applying the decals (it's a gloss acrylic varnish from Alclad) and haven't sealed the decals with any varnish coats yet. I used micro set to soften the decals and, when they where already sticking to the surface, pressed them with a cotton bud, while removing any excess fluid at the same time. Then, I applied micro sol to soften the decals further and let them conform to the surfaces and panel lines.

 

When the silvering appeared, I repeated the above process. The decals also had the tendency to curl up and unstick from the surface, which I dealt with with additional applications of the solving solutions and cotton bud pressing.

 

After all this pressing and solvent application there should be no trapped air bubbles but the silvering-like problems appeared nonetheless. That's why I think the decals turned a bit foggy with the decal protection fluid I applied to the decal sheet, to avoid them breaking up with the setting solutions.

 

Has anyone used this decal protection fluid and got similar problems? It's MicroScale's fluid (Micro Liquid Decal Film), in the family of Micro Set and Micro Sol.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

 

[Antoine]

So, do you tried the Future trick?

[jrlx]

3 hours ago, Antoine said:

So, do you tried the Future trick?

 

No, I don't even have Future. I may try some Aqua Gloss, which is also an acrylic varnish. Till now, I've just used decal setting solutions. 

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

After finishing my Defiant, I finally resumed this build in mid-September. In fact, I've already finished it but I'll conclude this WIP first, before posting the final pictures in the RFI area.

 

As I didn't have any deadline to fulfil, I decided to add some more extra detail in the form of an Airwaves canopy PE set and a Master pitot tube set:

IMAG5967

 

Here is a more detailed view of the pitot tube set. From top to bottom we have: pitot tube, RAM air inlet and angle of attack (AoA) probe:

IMAG5969

 

The PE fret and pitot tube set were primed with Alclad Grey Primer:

IMAG5970

 

Next, the fret was painted flat black and the pitot set extra dark sea grey:

IMAG5972

 

Finally, the rear view mirrors in the PE fret were brush painted silver:

IMAG5983

 

Then, I returned to applying the many stencils still in the decal sheet. Here's the set-up for that job:

IMAG5974

 

It was a very laborious process but I managed to finish it after several days of work. I also applied generous doses of setting solution this time and managed to reduce, though not completely eliminate, the silvering problems I had before. Here are pictures of the finished wings:

IMAG5978

 

IMAG5977

 

Views of the port side with all the stencils and other decals applied:

IMAG5984

 

IMAG5985

 

IMAG5986

 

Similar views for the starboard side:

IMAG5992

 

IMAG5993

 

IMAG5994

 

The "horizontal" stabilisers also had a few stencils applied:

IMAG5988

 

Nose well lateral door:

IMAG5979

 

The nose well front door had also stencils but had to be painted, as there was a semaphore on it. This was done by brush and transparent colours were used:

IMAG5980

 

Stencils on, before painting:

IMAG5981

 

Finished:

IMAG5982

 

As can be seen, the decals are not very good. Registration is not the best and I'm not sure the silvering was inherent to the stencils or induced by the decal film I applied to strengthen them. On the other hand, there are a few errors on the decal placement diagram regarding the stencils on the stabilisers and the scale for the stabilisers' angle of attack. This last one I just spotted after the stencils were already in place and fully dry. Nothing can be done now.

 

With the decaling concluded, the next phase was the installaton of the pitot tube, RAM inlet and AoA probe. Here's the set-up for he job:

IMAG5995

 

I started by drilling a hole for the AoA probe:

IMAG5996

 

Next, I cut the plastic representations of the pitot tube and RAM inlet from the tail fin, and drilled holes for the brass replacements:

IMAG5997

 

The tube and inlet were glued in place with CA:

IMAG5998

 

The surrounding areas were repaired with PPP:

IMAG5999

 

Finally, paint was applied in thin layers:

IMAG6000

 

To finish with, the AoA probe was also glued in place with CA:

IMAG6001

 

Thanks for looking. To be continued.

 

Jaime