Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 (edited) 12 hours ago, KelT said: I think I've done enough repainting for one model so I will live with the inaccuracy and learn from it. You could always tell people the plane was in for maintenance and leave it at that. “I just started painting the yellow leading edges, I really do hate that my fate is in the hands of a little bit of masking tape and I won't know the outcome until it's removed” Are you familiar with drybrushing techniques ? If so what i do when i mask and brush an area is to drybrush the edges first. I start on the tape and move to the plastic. I always paint on an angle not at 90* to the tape. After one or two dry brushed coats i have a nice seal against the tape and can fill the area in. Sometimes you can pull the tape before filling in( bigger areas not smaller), and finish painting. Dennis Edited July 4, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelT Posted July 4, 2018 Author Share Posted July 4, 2018 @Corsairfoxfouruncle That's amazingly simple and makes me feel incredibly stupid. You guys are great and I thank you in buckets for your advice and help, I sat and thought about how to better mask, considered a coat of Future over the tape to seal it but worried the Future might lift the paint on removal, I didn't consider dry brushing it. Unfortunately too late for this time but one I will definitely remember, hopefully for later rather than sooner. It's only the kind people of BM I have to worry about with the ailerons, in real life I could probably have glued them either side of the cockpit and nobody would have noticed. Rather than maintenance I was thinking it could perhaps be a full committal Kamikaze or dive bomber. First pointing it in the direction you required on the airfield it could take off, gain height very quickly, level out and once over the target it'd dive with passion, no turning back with this one. Assuming no side winds of course, they could be a bit of a flaw to the plan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted July 4, 2018 Share Posted July 4, 2018 (edited) 9 minutes ago, KelT said: @Corsairfoxfouruncle That's amazingly simple and makes me feel incredibly stupid. You guys are great and I thank you in buckets for your advice and help, Dont feel stupid sometimes the obvious just stares at you and shakes its head. Ive done that too many times to count. You're welcome as i have no problems helping anyone. Edited July 4, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelT Posted July 5, 2018 Author Share Posted July 5, 2018 Well between tipping barrow fulls of soil into my greenhouse I just couldn't wait any longer, I had to get that masking tape off and discover the judgement. To my delight it was perfect, well perhaps not perfect by some of the standards on here but for me, I'll take it. I didn't even need to clean up any edges, I'm amazed. I did have to use Model Master paint since that was what I had from buying paints from various companies to test, I thought it was a little too thin and didn't cover very well, in all it took five coats where I probably could have done it with three using Vallejo. The result was a bit of an edge where it met the tape, a slight lip but hey I can live with that, stupid maintenance men to blame again 🙂. I wouldn't like to brush paint a large area using the Model Master, out of the pot it's already too thin to consider thinning for my personal preference, especially with how poorly it covered, and I think I'd need a retarder since it dries very quickly causing lumpy bits in the paintwork if not very careful. I couldn't justify buying two new pots of Vallejo to the wife though just for these tiny parts. Sorry for so many photos of such a boring subject but I am just too excited to pick from the ones I took. I did get a couple of paint chips on the port wing tip, one little pinhead chip on the starboard engine cover just behind the exhaust and a couple of marks on the starboard wing tip, but I reckon I can touch those up before I lather this thing in Future. Well maybe not lather but a couple of coats at least to protect this Vallejo paint, it is still very soft and delicate, the underside which has had a coat of Future is pretty sturdy but the top is nerve wreckingly fragile. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amblypygid Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 For a brush painted finish, that's splendid. I hate painting yellow by brush; in fact it was one of the main drivers for me finally learning to airbrush, just so I could avoid it as much as possible. If you have any micromesh or similar high grit polishing material, you can use that to remove the paint ridges without sanding away the hard-won main coat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Wow! That looks amazing! Your paintwork - after all those trials and tribulations - has turned out beautifully! Very impressive and very well done. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Very nice paint job! Håkan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Wow this is looking very nice indeed. Great work on the paint and great patience too. Keep up the good work. All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelT Posted July 28, 2018 Author Share Posted July 28, 2018 Well, decals... I bet anyone who follows this thought I'd thrown the thing in the bin and disappeared, not quite. It's likely most of you experienced modellers already know about all the problems I experienced but I will relate them here just in case they might help someone else save some time. The OOB decals went on fine, I am only using Future (or Long Life the Australian version of it) nothing else. The only difficulty I had was the red canvas gun port covers. Future just wasn't sticky enough to hold them down around the leading edges. In the end I resorted to applying one side (the one with most surface area) and leaving the other end flapping in the breeze. Once they'd dried I painted a little Future onto a ceramic plate and gave it a minute or two until it became tacky, I then used this sticky Future to bond down the second half of the decal, it seemed to work well. Then came my drama. Being new to all this I never realised what I was letting myself in for building a specific aircraft whose decals were not included in the box or third party. All I had was a mono laser printer. I bought some cheap, clear decal paper from Ebay, created a sheet full of letters, numbers and roundels and took it to my library to be printed. The paper just didn't hold the coloured inks, the blacks were fine but the colours didn't adhere to the paper, especially the blue. The Sky letters for my serial number looked fine though so I sprayed with Polyurethane spray and tested one but the ink dissolved when wet. I now suspect that it was the cheap paper leaking fluid from the back. So... I got myself a free inkjet printer from Gumtree, yep, free, from a very kind lady who no longer needed it. I bought myself some BMF clear decal paper and tried again with my new printer. These ones didn't break up in the water but I discovered something new. Printers are extremely clever. For the lighter colours (such as Sky) the printer actually uses the white of the paper to create the colour by putting a thinly dispersed coating of ink on it. As soon as I slid my decal off the white backing and onto a painted test surface the translucent ink layer just turned the decal to a shadow effect on the painted piece losing any resemblance to it's Sky colour. Pushing the decal through the printer twice just adds more green again losing any semblance to Sky. Now I had read in my research to use white decal paper for light decals on dark backgrounds but nowhere did it tell me why. My problem was that if I were to print my custom Sky serial number - which is only two millimetres high and six wide - on a white background there was no way on earth I'd be able to cut out the white. I pondered it for a while before a solution hit me. I ordered some BMF white backed decal paper and printed my serial as shown below but added a border which I colour matched to the surface it was going to be placed on removing any stark white. I pushed it through the printer twice but only for the background the second printing didn't include the Sky lettering. This worked well apart from one consideration. The decal paper provides a sealed background, the ink is applied to it, then the polyurethane spray traps the image by sealing it in. By cutting close to the serial number and letters I was effectively slicing through the ink layer opening the sandwich side to the water. This didn't matter on the extremely small serial numbers but I did get a small amount of colour bleed on the bigger squadron codes. I found that the BMF white paper is a lot thicker than the clear and both need very little time in the water compared to the OOB decals. By reducing the time in water to the shortest possible I was able to reduce the bleed to just a very slight tint of red, hardly noticeable. My finished decals aren't perfect by any means but I am happy with them, especially the miniature serials. I could have bought a sheet of pre-printed third party letters for the squadron codes but they would have cost as much as I paid for the kit and since Sky lettering in FAA aircraft is not common I figured it was not worth the expense. Still, once again I have learned a whole truck load from this experience so this "simple" practice kit continues to deliver in terms of education. I'm still working on blending the cockpit to the body which is why the paint is still matt in that area. I guess next step is to stick some of these leftover bits on and then try out some of this weathering stuff. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Really good to see you're back and haven't binned this. 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Looking fantastic . This is amazing considering the trials and tribulations you have gone through with the paint and now you have printed your own decals. I have never done anything like that. See i said it would be educational. Every day is a learning day. Great work. All the best Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 Looks great with decals! Håkan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelT Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 (edited) It turns out I have a dodgy pair of tweezers, they keep making this awful noise... *PING* So it happened that I lost my pitot and had to fabricate another one from sprue, I perhaps made it a little too short but to be honest I'm beyond caring at this point. I managed to clag on the rest of the little bits and do a little bit of, I hesitate to call it weathering. I didn't want stark panel lines so I mixed up a grey wash with oil paints just a little darker than the aircraft paint. To be honest and I say this a lot, I didn't expect the panel lines to be as difficult as they were. My first attempt just made an oily mess of the plane, eventually I figured out a reasonable dilution although capillary action wasn't very forthcoming still. I added a little dishwashing liquid and it helped but still it wasn't great. Perhaps in the near future when I am working on another model and this one means a bit less to me I may have another go on this poor girl. Not a lot of distressing was needed as it turned out since the aircraft I am trying to model it on had not long been painted itself. I tried to replicate the photo as much as possible with some pastel dirt on the tyres, some carbon around the exhaust and a little scuffing on the port wing. I was going to apply a matt overcoat using Future and Tamiya Flat but after I'd finished rubbing all that oil paint about her I was quite pleased with the sheen she had so I didn't bother. Of course if I'd got the mixture correct I probably wouldn't have had the oily covering but it did have the added effect of dirtying up the aircraft a little so I left some smearing around the oil caps etc. It was as I studied the photo's I realised that I'd followed the kit instructions and not the actual photo and like a complete idiot I'd put the wrong propeller on the kit. This really bothered me I have to say and I tried desperately to pry the thing off but without success. I read up on dissolving superglue but nothing seemed simple enough to not damage the surrounding areas. So in the end I had to get over it and live with the inconsistency. It'll probably keep me up a few nights yet but I'm also equally glad that this old girl is complete. I will put together a RFI thread later. I am, as always, open to suggestions and advice, even criticism but don't get upset if I don't carry it out on this particular model just now as I am quite happy with the overall results and delighted to be able to call it done at last. I thank everyone for your help and support, I have come to really appreciate this website although I did have to stop viewing and commenting on the work of others for a while since it was too intimidating and I was guilty of feeling a little pressured. Stupid I know but it was taking the fun out of things a bit so I took a step back. I have learned so much from all of you and from this one kit. Every time I look at her I see so many errors and yet for my second model I am quite happy. I shall take all those errors, absorb them and try to ensure I don't repeat them on my next kit. EDIT: Damn I just noticed I forgot to clean off the underside light. I will take a cocktail stick to that immediately. Edited August 3, 2018 by KelT 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Beema Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 (edited) Lovely build and finish - well done.. Not sure if it's an optical illusion but you might want to look at the ailerons. Ailerons use differential to roll the aircraft and thus need to work in opposite directions. (When one goes up the other goes down), with the aileron that goes up on the inside of the turn. Edited August 3, 2018 by Grey Beema Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelT Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 @Grey Beema Thanks Grey Beema. I have already had the Aileron mistake pointed out to me and I hang my head in shame for such a rookie error, my only excuse is that I am indeed a rookie but it's not much to console myself with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Beema Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 1 minute ago, KelT said: @Grey Beema Thanks Grey Beema. I have already had the Aileron mistake pointed out to me and I hang my head in shame for such a rookie error, my only excuse is that I am indeed a rookie but it's not much to console myself with. It OK don't worry about it, we all make mistakes it's part of the learning process. A two minute fix and you have a really super model.. I was at an exhibition recently and the winning aircraft model had the same mistake... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelT Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 @Grey Beema A two minute fix? How can I fix it without damaging anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelT Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 @Grey Beema I am hoping you might have a solution to my aileron issue GB but I think I'll post the RFI post anyway as I don't trust myself to not damage something. I'd still be interested in hearing any advice you might have though as I would like to fix the problem if it's a simple job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Beema Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 23 minutes ago, KelT said: @Grey Beema I am hoping you might have a solution to my aileron issue GB but I think I'll post the RFI post anyway as I don't trust myself to not damage something. I'd still be interested in hearing any advice you might have though as I would like to fix the problem if it's a simple job. It'd difficult to judge from here and is dependent how you fixed the aileron to the model. I usually only glue it at the hing so it is a case of a sharp blade around the hinge to break the joint. Then re attach and make good.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelT Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 @Grey Beema I'm not so smart unfortunately, I didn't build this thing to come apart. I used Tamiya Extra thin and plenty of it. I did try just breaking the joint but without success. I've since read that I could have used the same glue to loosen the joint and fix the problem but at the time I'd had considerable difficulty with the painting and I was just glad to finally have a reasonable finish. It looks like I'm going to have to live with this one but I appreciate the feedback and I will certainly be using your method of just gluing the hinges in future. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Hello @KelT .. I am really happy to see that you finished this. Out of Curiosity what is the next kit on your assembly list. Looking forward to your next build. Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelT Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 Thanks CFF, next up is a Trumpeter 1/32 Swordfish, a plane I do want to build as my grandad worked on them during the war. I have already done all the research for this one and am just waiting on the service records of the pilot to arrive from NZ. I'm less nervous about it now than I was but I have also learned of my immeasurable capacity for mistakes. One of the errors I made though was to be swept along by the pace and skill of many of the people on BM, I just don't have the time or experience for the kind of production line I see you guys performing so I am determined to take it slow and not get over pressured in this next build, a fault in my character I'll admit. It's interesting that I worry what others might think of my work and yet nobody seems to have read the information I included in my RFI thread about AB986 and that doesn't bother me at all, the information is what makes it interesting for me. I need to expand that perspective to the model itself I think. One bit of information I forgot to include in the RFI which I will put here now; in case someone has cause to read this thread, due to making the same kit, as I would. I accidentally came across this rather beautiful colour photo of AB981 the aircraft featured in the kit itself. The photo is taken at the end of her days only a couple of months before she was scrapped and the hard work she has done shows all to well in her tired appearance. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 (edited) 58 minutes ago, KelT said: One of the errors I made though was to be swept along by the pace and skill of many of the people on BM, I just don't have the time or experience for the kind of production line I see you guys performing so I am determined to take it slow and not get over pressured in this next build, That there is the most important lesson to learn. Do not build to anyone else’s expectations or pace or whatever. You must build only for yourself to make yourself happy. This forum certainly has some incredible model builders. However you are just as important to the fabric that makes up this forum. There are a few bad 🥚 but most here will only provide constructive criticism or offer helpful tips/advice. Most wont pressure you to build at anything other than your own pace. Looking forward to seeing the Swordfish. I like that your models have a history more so if its a personal one. Dennis Edited August 3, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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