Foiled! Airfix 1:72 MiG-15, an OOB foiling 'mule' project *** FINISHED ***

[clive_t]

Evening all,

 

I'm taking a temporary break from the Ju52/1m project as I need to get more comfortable with the foiling process.

 

To try and get a handle on what to do, and of course what not to do before I attempt it on the Ju52, I've dug this out of my stash:

 

 

I will be honest and say that as a rule, jets don't do a lot for me, and certainly not the modern ones. Having said that, I felt this was ideal for my purposes as there isn't an awful lot of faffing around to be done on building the thing to a point where I can start foiling. I am going totally OOB for this, aside from the foil that I end up putting on the exterior.

 

So, I won't bore you with sprue shots or pics of the initial build - suffice it to say it's the very definition of shake-n-bake; it's a very good quality kit aside from the hideously wide tram lines where the panel lines should be. Not much needed in the way of cleaning up, no flash, no ejector pin marks worth worrying about. The choice of paint schemes is quite interesting, and on another day I might have been tempted by the North Korean scheme or even the Hungarian one. However, the one I want to do is the Soviet one, which is literally all bare metal save for the insignia and a red nose ring at the front. Works for me!

 

I deliberately avoided fitting the wings and any other paraphernalia so as to make the foiling process as easy as possible - not that easy is necessarily the most appropriate way to describe this! The pile of scrunched up foil on my bench is an early testimony of how 'easy' it's going to be! From that, I worked out that the tops of the wings are quite possibly the worst place I could have started. So I turned my attention to the fuselage:

 

 

OK not a lot to write home about yet, and I freely admit this may not be the absolute best way of going about it, but at least it lulled me into a sense of achievement. This could all unravel of course! I used a toothpick (sanded to round the end a bit) to smooth the foil and to press it into the panel tram lines. The excess was trimmed away carefully by running a scalpel down the line.

 

 

Things seemed to get easier after the first panel was applied, even though the curves tended to differ with each one. I think I get the notion of smoothing out from the 'high point' to avoid creases. I didn't manage that all the time, but I was able to buff out the worst of them with the side of the toothpick.

 

 

Cutting out round recesses like the air brake panels was a bit interesting, but once I'd tidied it up and run the toothpick around the finished edge it looked OK.

 

Similar story with the tail, requiring several little pieces:

 

 

The underside panels I did with a single piece, as they were all very similar in their curvature - I just scribed the panel lines with the toothpick and all was good:

 

 

So there it is, we're off and running. It's not been too bad an experience so far with the fuselage, but I know I need to re-think how I do those wings!

 

 

[Andre B]

Hi,

What type of foil did you use?

Cheers / André

[clive_t]

55 minutes ago, Andre B said:

Hi,

What type of foil did you use?

Cheers / André

André, it's classed as plumber's aluminium tape:

 

 

 I guess it's more the domain of heating engineers - to secure lagging on pipework. But, it's thin aluminium tape with an adhesive backing, and seems to work very well in this situation too! Plus it's cheap compared to BMF sheets (though probably thicker).

 

Edited to add: I am forgetting my manners - I should thank @rob Lyttle for putting me on to this idea and where to get the materials from

 

[rob Lyttle]

..... And he's OFF....! 

😎

 

Looks good to me, @clive_t.

 

What's the issue with the wings? 

If it's the fences, do them separately, first or last, and the cambered wing surfaces just up to them. 

Because the wing foil has that camber it won't want to make a nice neat 90°upstand against the fence, and they're quite big on the Mig. 

You're doing good 

👍

[clive_t]

11 minutes ago, rob Lyttle said:

..... And he's OFF....! 

😎

 

Looks good to me, @clive_t.

 

What's the issue with the wings? 

If it's the fences, do them separately, first or last, and the cambered wing surfaces just up to them. 

Because the wing foil has that camber it won't want to make a nice neat 90°upstand against the fence, and they're quite big on the Mig. 

You're doing good 

👍

Thanks Rob, Yes, those sticky-up rail things on top of the wings... I tried making slits in a single piece of foil and failed spectacularly. But, I will indeed use that approach when I come to trying it again. I want to try and get it finished in time for Tangmere, but it's touch and go for that.

[rob Lyttle]

I'm very much hoping to be there,.... Yikes, it is quite soon, isn't it!! 

I've got a couple to finish for that deadline 😳

[clive_t]

9 hours ago, rob Lyttle said:

I'm very much hoping to be there,.... Yikes, it is quite soon, isn't it!! 

I've got a couple to finish for that deadline 😳

I will be on the IPMS Portsmouth table. Feel free to stop by and say hello!

[clive_t]

A modest bit of progress today - two more panels on the port side:

 

 

The one round the wing root I found to be a bit tricky, not helped by my impetuously ripping the foil in my attempts to peel off the excess. Patience, one of the many virtues I seem not to have.

[Space Ranger]

I am by no means an expert on foiling, having foiled only 1 1/2 models in my lifetime, but I think your technique is spot-on. Most modelers attempting to foil a model make the mistake of trying to apply pieces that are too large. My experience taught me that the best way to do it is to skin the model just like the prototype, i.e, in individual panels (applying small pieces slightly larger than individual panels, then trimming those to the panel line). And I was using a much thinner self-adhesive product, unfortunately no longer available (Gunze's Mr. Metal Foil), with a thickness of 0.0005 inches!

[clive_t]

Thanks Michael, much appreciated.

 

A bit more progress today, getting close to completing the fuselage foiling:

 

 

I've left this last bit for the time being:

 

 

This is where the guns are mounted. Not sure whether to foil first then cut recesses out for the guns, or stick them on first and foil round and over them after. More to ponder!

[clive_t]

Another small step - the tail is now done, apart from the horizontal stabiliser roots and the exhaust. I also revisited my strategy for doing the wings, and opted to do it a panel at a time. First one done on the starboard wing:

 

 

Feeling slightly more confident about it this time round!

[Hairtrigger]

Looking marvelous... My old dad many moons ago did a Fortress with Kit Kat foil.   😁 

[Kingswear1]

I tried a long time ago using baking foil over a coat of tacky varnish on an Airfix DC3! It was not a success!

[rob Lyttle]

That was a lot of chocolate, @Hairtrigger. Good on your Dad!

You guys might want to give this self-adhesive stuff a try. 

Clive is doing the best thing here, getting a bit of practice in on a simpler airframe. 

Might be worth another try some time @Kingswear1

The Mig is looking good 👍

[clive_t]

Thanks all for your comments, much appreciated. Back on it today, and managed to foil the whole of the starboard wing, and the tail pipe section:

 

 

For laughs, I also tried foiling the canopy:

 

 

It's a bit ragged but it started out as one whole piece covering the entire canopy! Not sure if I am going to keep it like this, or re-do it once it's on the fuselage.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Hairtrigger]

Looking very good so far.. 

[clive_t]

Thanks Mr Hairtrigger. Actually I've just noticed that I forgot to foil the sticky-up fence thingies on the upper wing surface...

 

Oh well, that's for next time!

[Getting Old]

Very nice Sir well done 

[clive_t]

Thanks Mr Old!

 

A bit more progress yesterday and today after an enforced absence for the weekend. The only bit of foiling left, unless I am mistaken, is at the wing roots:

 

 

As you can see I also sprayed the nose cone red - as far as I am aware, the only coloured bit on this scheme!

 

I've been experimenting with ways to smooth out the wrinkles in the body work - and there are many! Interestingly, I found that the most effective method is buffing with, of all things, the flat handle of a Swann Morton scalpel!

[Courageous]

Looking very nice... and very shiny. 

 

Stuart

[Brandy]

Pretty damn good for a test mule! Lightning next? 😉

 

Ian

[Beazer]

Nice job with the foil.

[corsaircorp]

Hello Clive !

Shiny job on your MiG !!

I really enjoyed it, and thanks for explaining your way to go !!

Sincerely.

CC

[clive_t]

22 hours ago, Courageous said:

Looking very nice... and very shiny. 

 

Stuart

Thanks Stuart, one of the only models I've made that generates more reflective glare than my head under lights!

 

14 hours ago, limeypilot said:

Pretty damn good for a test mule! Lightning next? 😉

 

Ian

Ha, no I doubt it! but thank you!

14 hours ago, Beazer said:

Nice job with the foil.

Thanks Mr Beazer!

14 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Clive !

Shiny job on your MiG !!

I really enjoyed it, and thanks for explaining your way to go !!

Sincerely.

CC

Thanks CC, I am enjoying - most of the time - my experimentation with foiling.

 

For a minor triumph, I managed to get the plane up on her legs with a dry-fit of the undercarriage - despite the additional weight of foil, she still sits nicely on her nose wheel:

 

 

Also some challenges today, not the least of which was the foiling of the drop tanks. This model comes with optional kit for the wings: drop tanks, or what I presume to be bombs (on account of they have fins). Perhaps no surprise, then, that I took the easier option for foiling purposes. All things being relative, of course! I tried doing it in one hit which was a minor disaster, so I had a re-think and decided to do the nose of each tank first as a small disc of foil with cuts at several points around the edge, leaving the centre intact for the obvious reason! This made for a better result once all smoothed down:

 

 

I then foiled the rest of the tank:

 

 

Looks a little untidy, but I need to let the glue go off first before trying to smooth things out. In hindsight, I might have been better off foiling the tanks before gluing them to the wings. Hey ho, every day's a school day is it not!

 

Thanks for looking in, and indeed your comments

 

[clive_t]

Morning folks, another quick update.

 

Having spent most of yesterday at the Tangmere show (which was an amazing collection of models of all kinds) I evidently didn't get enough of a modelling fix - when I got home I managed to finish off the horizontal stabiliser wing roots, thus completing the foiling of the MiG:

 

 

Having had a very enlightening conversation with Mr @rob Lyttle (great to meet you yesterday, by the way) I took a deep breath and embarked on sanding the surface of the foil. I had this idea whereby I might make life slightly easier for myself by pressing an old rotary toothbrush head into new service as some kind of half-assed mini orbital sander. I cut the bristles off with a scalpel, and then glued on a square of 1500-grit Tamiya sanding sponge, thus:

 

 

I then set about sanding the underside of the starboard wing - just in case things went horribly wrong, there was a decent chance it wouldn't be that obvious:

 

 

In fact, it was a bit too subtle for me, so I had a rethink, and armed with Rob's advice about sanding sticks etc, I managed to 'borrow' (on a semi-permanent basis at least) one of the wife's emery boards and had at it on the underside of both wings:

 

 

Starting to like the look of that, although it certainly found me out where my scalpel had obviously slipped - little bits of foil are now gone forever! But no matter, this is after all, a mule project so we accept it and move on!

 

Emboldened by the apparent success of this, I went ahead and did the fuselage:

 

 

What I am hoping is, when the whole thing has been done with the emery board, I will then revisit with the tooth brush sander and give it a bit more of a polish. That's for another time though!

 

Thanks for looking in!