rob Lyttle Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 You were right @Space Ranger... ""Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. The well-known brand name of PTFE-based formulas is Teflon by Chemours." There was a time when I would have been able to draw a molecular diagram of that just from the name. Long time ago..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted October 7, 2019 Author Share Posted October 7, 2019 23 hours ago, Space Ranger said: Cool technique. But what is PTFE tape? Is that what we Former Colonials refer to as "Teflon tape"? Pretty much, yes. 52 minutes ago, Fazzman said: Space Ranger, PTFE tape is a sort of thin, normally white sort of stretchy tape that is usually used as a sealant on tap threads, pipe unions etc., anywhere you don't want system leaks on pneumatics, water, etc etc. Hope that helps. There is a PTFE tape such as that, but not in this instance. 22 minutes ago, ragnarec said: This is looking really nice! I'm looking forward to the next steps. Interesting tip regarding the PTFE tape. I have the white variety in the basement somewhere, but have never thought that it could be useful in modelling. Definitely something I will try one day. Ragnar As above, not the tape I used in this instance though. The PTFE tape I am refering to is the type in the pic below, a semi-transparent sticky-backed flexible tape, available on various roll widths etc. Actually the piece of tape I used is visible in the pic a few posts back, where the small piece of roughly sized tooling block is sitting on the dollop of automotive body filler, before it has been sanded to shape. This is the type of PTFE tape I was refering to: Very useful stuff! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted October 7, 2019 Author Share Posted October 7, 2019 27 minutes ago, rob Lyttle said: You were right @Space Ranger... ""Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. The well-known brand name of PTFE-based formulas is Teflon by Chemours." There was a time when I would have been able to draw a molecular diagram of that just from the name. Long time ago..... What that man said! 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fazzman Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 Wow! PTFE tape has changed a bit then since my time in the aero-industry!!😃 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Ranger Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 9 hours ago, Fazzman said: Space Ranger, PTFE tape is a sort of thin, normally white sort of stretchy tape that is usually used as a sealant on tap threads, pipe unions etc., anywhere you don't want system leaks on pneumatics, water, etc etc. Hope that helps. I finally had the presence of mind to google PTFE, and learned that, yes, "Teflon" is a trade name for it. Your description is perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted October 9, 2019 Author Share Posted October 9, 2019 On 10/7/2019 at 9:10 PM, Fazzman said: Wow! PTFE tape has changed a bit then since my time in the aero-industry!!😃 No idea, I have never been directly connected with the aero industry , Although you probably would not get very far with the sticky-backed PTFE tape I used on my model, as a thread sealer, it is used as a release barrier between two materials, as per the model. (Use it ALOT for that purpose at work!). I have used the ultra-thin white PTFE tape for thread sealing on my domestic heating system in my house though, in the past .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fazzman Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 That's very interesting Neil. I had no idea of this other use as a barrier between two surfaces. Makes total sense though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fazzman Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Any further movement on the Heron front Neil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share Posted December 23, 2019 Finally got around to masking up all of the transparencies, masks were hand-cut in Tamiya masking tape, using a scalpel. Fuselage windows were rather tedious to cut out, basically a rectangle with rounded corners, and were more awkward than I first thought they would be. The rear starboard fuselage window and door window are simply two squares of tape, again with rounded corners. The cockpit canopy has been masked without making any attempt to create the narrow frames between the separate panes, these will be achieved with very thin strips of White decal once all of the exterior airframe colours have been sprayed on. Now that the fuselage window masks are in position, it can be seen how I carefully measured and installed the Orange curtains in the fuselage interior before assembly, the intention was to have a small section of Orange curtain 'just' showing to the forward and rear section of each individual transparent window pane, once the fuselage is sprayed, and fortunately that is how they have turned out . The rear door opening was masked over to stop any paint entering the fuselage interior, and a quick, light coat of Grey primer has been sprayed over the wndow masks before the White is sprayed onto the fuselage exterior surface. 26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Absolutely beautiful as usual Neil! Nice clean, crisp and tidy workmanship... just beautifully done Cheers Anthony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Loving the fine details such as the panel catches. Can’t wait to see the paint on and masks off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Great to see! 😃 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Coming along splendidly, and I loved the way you used PTFE tape to get that coming fitting nicely. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted December 23, 2019 Share Posted December 23, 2019 Great work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 I haven't been around much lately what with work and work on the house and trying to take part in a GB, so I am relieved to see this beautiful model still in progress. Great work Neil you panel lines look very nice indeed and all that lovely extra detailing stands out a treat. All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fazzman Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 Nice one Neil. It's good to see she's finally coming together. It's like an early Christmas present to us all! Keep going and all the best for Christmas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringbag Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 Thoroughly enjoying this one Neil. Thanks for posting. Just to put everyone straight regarding this tape you mentioned. Forget all the scientific explanations and remember. PTFE stands for Plumber's Tape Fixes Everything. Chris. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 27, 2019 Author Share Posted December 27, 2019 Thanks for the comments again, much appreciated. Not posted anything recently as other things keep getting in the way! . Finally got some paint on the airframe at last, will post a pic or two shortly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 27, 2019 Author Share Posted December 27, 2019 Finally paint is on the exterior. I have no idea of the exact colour shades used, so I have had to take an (un)educated guess at what some of them should be, and used Enamels as I generally do: Gloss White (Humbrol 22) for the upper fuselage, Gloss Black (Humbrol 21) for the fin/rudder and prop hubs, Gloss Pale Grey (Humbrol 40) for fuselage underside, tailplanes, wings, nacelles, prop blades. Looking at photo's, the elevators, ailerons and flaps are in a Dark Grey, and I had a tin of Xtracolour Enamel, X130 Gunship Grey, to hand which looked a close match, so used that. As usual, all enamels were thinned with Cellulose for airbrushing purposes. The prop blade tips were brush painted Gloss Yellow (Humbrol 69). I will leave things to dry off for a day or so, and then the wing and tailplane leading edges, along with part of the prop blade leading edges, can be painted Black, and the upper parts of the fin/rudder will be sprayed in Alclad ALC 108 Pale Gold, to match pics of the real aircraft. The Gold section on the right of the pic is a piece of clear decal film sprayed with the Alclad 108 Pale Gold, this will be sliced into thin strips and laid above the fuselage windows to create the Gold fuselage stripes, rather than spraying the Gold straight onto the fuselage itself. There is also a single Red line to go below the fuselage windows too, but I already have some Red decal stripes which can be used for that. The small sections of the decal-backed raised resin panel lines, from Archer Fine Transfers, that I used to replicate the ribs on the elevators/ailerons have worked a treat, very pleased with how they turned out. They have created some nicely restrained, fine raised lines and will look really good once the final coat of Matt or Dull Satin varnish is sprayed onto the elevators/ailerons. Pic below shows the elevators a little closer, obviously still in Gloss paint at the moment though. Getting quite eager to remove those canopy and fuselage window masks now too! 24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony in NZ Posted December 27, 2019 Share Posted December 27, 2019 My word what a difference a coat of paint makes! I agree, those archer lines worked a treat.....Going to use a similar idea on my 24th Mosquito on LSP Thanks for the update Cheers Anthony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 Crikey, what a beauty, looking lovely in paint. May have to get some of the raised line decals myself as they look very effective. Great work All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 28, 2019 Author Share Posted December 28, 2019 13 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said: My word what a difference a coat of paint makes! I agree, those archer lines worked a treat.....Going to use a similar idea on my 24th Mosquito on LSP Thanks for the update Cheers Anthony 4 hours ago, bigbadbadge said: Crikey, what a beauty, looking lovely in paint. May have to get some of the raised line decals myself as they look very effective. Great work All the best Chris I have been wanting to try out those Archer Fine Transfers for a while, now that I know they work I can see me using them again. They are not cheap (quite pricey actually!) but they do what they are supposed to do, and I must admit that it is an easy way to create fine raised lines, although it did get a little tedious when applying lots of tiny short lengths such as on here. Very happy with the result though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 28, 2019 Author Share Posted December 28, 2019 Fin and rudder masked up, ready for the Alclad ALC 108 Pale Gold to be sprayed on. That should be the bulk of the main colours applied, mostly detail painting from here on, after I have left these main colours a few days, to harden off some more. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fazzman Posted December 28, 2019 Share Posted December 28, 2019 Phew! You've really pulled out the stops on this Neil! Fantastic work....and I am another who loves your elevator stripes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 31, 2019 Author Share Posted December 31, 2019 Fin and rudder are now in Pale Gold, and the wing and tailplane leading edges are in Black. Peeled off the window masks and I am quite chuffed with how they now look, I'm happy with that! . The Orange curtains are just visible in each window, as I intended, and the wheels and u/c legs are painted too, and gave all four exhausts a 'mucky rust' kind of look. All four props are now finished aswell, the leading edge of each blade, from the blade root at the hub to approx half way along it's length, was masked and painted Black (took ages to mask up, even though they were only tiny pieces of masking tape!) and some small generic decals placed on the front of each blade face. Decals for the airframe markings and lettering will be added next, and some subtle, restrained weathering too, just to give a hint of a 'used' look about it, as most of these aircraft had that kind of visual aspect to them. 21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now