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Tamiya 1/72 Republic P-47D - 'Phyl Darlin' 2Z-J, Lt Robert E Wagner - #FINISHED#


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I forgot about your rivet experiment, looking forward to seeing that.

... and me! :)

Just a short delay at the moment chaps. HGW recommend that you spray with Mr Surfacer and then polish that with a micromesh pad before applying the decals. I will order some later and it should arrive within the next week.

Apologies for the short break in transmission. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. :)

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Good afternoon John

:goodjob: so far

Patrice

Thank you Patrice, the paint I have ordered is due to arrive today. That short delay has also given me some time to try to understand the HGW rivet application, but more on that later.

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  • 2 weeks later...

That must be a hefty sized bag of popcorn Rich, with having to wait all this time. :winkgrin:

It's been a little while since the last update but it's time to try out the HGW rivet decals. As I said in the previous post I had been reading up on applying these and there seems to be two schools of thought with varying levels of success.

The manufacturer recommends an application of Mr Surfacer before application of the rivet decals and then the model is finished the normal way. But modellers have found that the rivet detail tends to disappear under the subsequent finishing layers.

Other modellers have achieved better results by applying the decals after painting, although I'm not too sure whether these have been applied before or after the markings and stencils.

For my build I thought that I would try both methods. For the upper surfaces I will follow the usual method of finish painting the model before applying the decals. Then on the undersides I will use the manufactures recommended process. The main reason for this being that if the detail is lost at least it will be underneath and we all know that only the pedants amongst us will pick a model up to look underneath. :rolleyes:

But all of that will be in the near future. Meanwhile to kick things off I have given the model a spray of Mr Surfacer 1200 which has left a very smooth finish. I am going to leave this overnight and then I will give it a buff up before applying the rivet decals on the undersides.

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I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one, let's see how things go.​

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Thanks a lot chaps.

I'm hoping that the smooth finish will also be a good surface for the Vallejo Gloss Black primer that I will be using as the base for their new range of acrylic metallic paints. Another first for me, lots of experimentation on this build.

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I started to add the rivet decals to the underside this afternoon and thought I would try them on a small area first, so the first lot went on the tailplanes. I am not sure how much of these will be seen in the end, especially in this scale.

The application process is fairly straightforward, first identify the decal from the application guide and apply as a normal waterslide decal. Next allow the decal to dry for 2-3 hours as per the manufacturers instructions. The decals come covered with a thin plastic film and the removal of this is probably the only tricky part of the process, but providing you take some extra care and remove it slowly you will be left with neat rows of tiny rivets. The final step is to remove any glue residue left by the removal of the plastic film and I did this by using a damp cotton bud and gently wiping it over the area. The only difficulty I experienced was being able to see the lines of rivets on the Mr Surfacer 1200, maybe using a white or black version would have been of more help here.

If you look at the photo carefully you can just about make out the lines of rivets, ignore those on the elevator, they come with the kit. As I have said, I'm not sure how much will be seen at the end and, if you were looking for a quick fix, I think these would be of more use if working in a larger scale. Anyway, I'll continue with the application and see how things go.

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Thanks for stopping by.

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Flippin' 'eck John, I saw the grey ones and thought 'good job' and then I read that it's the other ones and had to re-focus my eyes - they're tiny!

But I'll admit they look really good :)

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Flippin' 'eck John, I saw the grey ones and thought 'good job' and then I read that it's the other ones and had to re-focus my eyes - they're tiny!

But I'll admit they look really good :)

Cheers Ced, you're right they are very tiny. I have just been considering the application to the upper surfaces and the slight issue in getting things aligned properly has led me to reconsider this. I am now sorely tempted to apply them over the black primer coat before adding the topcoat of aluminium.

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WOW they are tiny!!!

I don't think I need to wear my eyes out any further....I'll leave this to the younger crowd! ;)

You should get an amazing finish once the metal coat is on!!

Have bought a jumbo bag of popcorn for this!

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Those are very fine John, wow. Good idea applying after primer. The metallic coat should be thin enough so that they show through, don't you think? I wonder what they'd look like on top of the metal coat.

Excellent work as always John, your 1/144th builds were all in preparation for this moment!

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Those are very fine John, wow. Good idea applying after primer. The metallic coat should be thin enough so that they show through, don't you think? I wonder what they'd look like on top of the metal coat.

Excellent work as always John, your 1/144th builds were all in preparation for this moment!

Cheers Cookie, thanks for the kind words bud. I'm now thinking that the primer coat + topcoat will be too much for these tiny rivets and, as you suggest, think that a metallic layer will be enough to allow the detail to show through.

Your other suggestion of trying them over the metallic finish is also a good idea and I think worth trying, so I will give that a go over the fin and upper tailplane surfaces. It may end up looking like Grandma's patchwork quilt, but what the heck - fortune favours the brave so let's give it a go.

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After further consideration I have decided to rethink the application method for the rivet decals. I am now going to apply the majority of those remaining over the black primer coat, the exception being those on the upper surface of the tailplane and on the fin. I intend to add those over the topcoat, this should then satisfy Cookies and my own curiosity as to how they would look if applied later in the painting process.

The black primer coat is on and, as can be seen in the photos,, the rivet detail already applied does show through reasonably well. Hopefully this will still be the case when the topcoat is airbrushed over this. I'll try to get the other decals on in the next few days and then it will be time for a first attempt at using Vallejo's Metal Color Acrylics

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I started to apply the rivets to the upper surfaces this afternoon and I thought that I would take this opportunity to go through the application process along with some photos. The HGW set for this kit contains an A5 sheet of rivets plus a placement guide and this particular pack also includes a set of stencils.

Here is the rivet decal placement guide, the set also includes one for the stencil data.

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The rivet decal sheet along with a close up view and a typical panel of rivets for the Upper Port Wing.

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The decal is applied in the usual way and the manufacturer recommends the use of a decal setting solution to settle them down.

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After application the decal has to be left to dry for 2-3 hours and the film, seen here around the wingtip light, is then carefully peeled away to leave the rivets.

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The photo below shows the finished upper surfaces with the exception of the tailplanes (see previous post). Once these have dried I will apply those to the fuselage before completing the undersides.

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