B-57B Night Intruder

[Nikolay Polyakov]

24 minutes ago, opus999 said:

well what do you know? This looks very promising for replacing the raised detail!

It’s looks like a very skilled work. The results are great!

[Stalker6Recon]

3 hours ago, opus999 said:

well what do you know?

That's the one, I tried to find it last night, but failed. I have not figured out the search engine on here, it never finds what I am looking for. Anyway, glad you found it. Have fun building up those lines, let us know how it goes!

[opus999]

Well. I've spend the day--off and on--trying different "fail safe" schemes to restore panel lines and they've all been a bust.

 

One person at another forum swore up and down that putting "Mr. Surfacer" between two pieces of tamiya masking tape would make perfect raised panel lines every time. I'm not sure what he meant by "Mr. Surfacer" -- was it the spray? the bottled stuff? 500? 1200? 1500? So, I guessed it was the 500 in the jar and gave it a try. I let it sit for a couple of hours and when I carefully pulled the tape off, it pulled off chunks of my new panel line. OK, scratch that one.

 

I then tried the method I posted, but I didn't have any automotive primer, but thought that perhaps Mr. Surfacer would work as I had a spray can of M.S. 500. So I followed the instructions in the thread to a "tee" and when it came time to carefully pull up the tape -- It pulled up chunks of my new panel line. OK scratch that one.

 

I decided to try an idea of mine to put the Gel CA between two pieces of Tamiya tape. when it cured (maybe a half hour), I took a coarse sanding stick (180 grit) and sanded it down so that the top of the "panel line" was flush with the top of the tape.  The idea being that maybe there wouldn't be a connection between the "panel line" and the glue on the tape and it wouldn't get pulled off. That actually worked, but the panel line was enormous (I'd doubled up the tape and had them too far apart), so I did a second test with only one thickness of tape and a realistic spacing. I sanded that the same as the first try, and when it came time to pull the tape up carefully.... wait for it.... it pulled up chunks of my new panel line. OK scratch that one.

 

I switched gears and decided to try a method that many folks on a couple other forums swore by as their go-to repair method, which is to put a piece of Dymo tape down, lay a #11 x-acto blade on it at a 45 degree angle and just cut along the tape.  Supposedly it makes a ridge that looks like a raised panel line, and the resulting cut gets filled in with paint, etc.  I tried it on a paint mule and after a couple tries, got it to look pretty good. At this point I got pretty excited and *almost* tried it on the B-57, but wisely decided to try it on an old, beat up F-86 lying around. I could not get it to work for anything! I just ended up gouging the crap out of the model.  OK scratch that one.

 

I sat there stewing about it and realized, that my tests were on my paint mule, which is, painted (imagine that), and on closer inspection I saw that where my new panel lines pulled up, they had actually pulled up a layer of paint. So, I wonder if any of these methods will actually work on bare plastic?  I don't have any bare plastic around (that I care to sacrifice, anyway). So I picked a panel line on the bottom of the B-57, taped it off, and put Mr. Surfacer 500 from the jar on it.  I plan to sand it before I pull the tape off in hopes of preventing pull up. We'll see what happens.  I don't know what "plan b" looks like at this point.

 

I'd hoped to be at the painting stage tomorrow, but now--who knows?

 

Color me frustrated.

Edited June 1, 2019 by opus999
clarification

[Rob G]

I've used fine wire as a replacement for raised panel lines. On a picece of glass or glossy floor tile, roll a length flat with a steel ruler, smaller bit of glass, glossy floor tile etc. Tack one end down in place with superglue, let it cure. Then pull the other end to where it needs to go, hold it in place and glue carefully along the length. Let it cure. Then cut to length with your #11 blade and glue the last little bit in place. It's a PITA, but it works, and if you get select the right size wire it's tough to tell what you did once the primer's on.

 

One other option is to lightly score a line before gluing the wire in, that sometimes helps it look better- you'll have to experiment.

 

You can also use stretched sprue, but I'm pretty bad at getting consistent diameters from that stuff, so I use wire instead.

 

Fine wire can be found in all sorts of places and diameters. Prime is old electronics cables-computer internals, old USB cables (or cheap new ones!), light duty mains power cables to and from power packs /wall warts. All over. If it's a bit springy, annneal it in a candle flame and make it not springy.

 

HTH.

[Stalker6Recon]

8 hours ago, Rob G said:

Fine wire can be found in all sorts of places and diameters

Never would have considered that to replace lost panel lines. I just happened to order 20 meters of fine solder. One is the silver/tin color at .3mm, the second set is .2mm coppe. At 2 dollars each, I should have enough wire to make thousands of brake lines etc, nice having the different colors as well, the silver/tin should be perfect for conduit, but I have to see how thick it really is. It is worth the risk though, if it is too thick, I lost a dollar, no big deal.

 

8 hours ago, opus999 said:

Color me frustrated. 

I am certain that using Mr Surfacer in spray form on unpainted plastic is the method required to create those panel lines without it pulling up. That said, the idea of stretched sprue, or as above, wire glued via CA sounds promising. More consistent in size than stretched sprue, but it can't really be sanded to size.

 

You will figure it out, we got your back!

 

Anthony

 

 

[opus999]

15 hours ago, Rob G said:

I've used fine wire as a replacement for raised panel lines.

Nice idea! I considered trying stretched sprue, since I used to use it in college for antenna wire on my models. I'm just a little skeptical about my own abilities when it comes to gluing it neatly (See previous comment about antenna wire and college ), but you don't know until you try! That, and practice makes perfect.

 

6 hours ago, Stalker6Recon said:

I am certain that using Mr Surfacer in spray form on unpainted plastic is the method required to create those panel lines without it pulling up.

It appears that may be the case -- After the family finished watching our Friday night movie, I went to peel the tape from the B-57. I sanded it first to try and eliminate any connection between the Mr. Surfacer on the plane and on the tape and slowly peeled it up and away, and the new panel line remained intact. So I was very happy! One down, 19 to go! Now my concern is how durable the dried Mr. Surfacer 500 is. I'm debating whether I should try the Gel CA method next -- it seems like it would be more resistant to handling.  Either way I will have to be careful.

 

15 hours ago, opus999 said:

Color me frustrated.

I feel like I should clarify that a good portion of this frustration is with myself -- I really wish I'd thought harder about my tests before just diving in. I certainly would've thought to try on bare plastic if I'd taken a moment before hand. But I was so excited to try it out that I kinda shot myself in the foot. Oh well...

6 hours ago, Stalker6Recon said:

You will figure it out, we got your back!

I know, that's what I love about this place! Hopefully, I will "pay it forward" (or pay it back -- I'm sure you folks are learning something) by saving somebody some time by documenting my "oops"es and successes!

[Stalker6Recon]

3 hours ago, opus999 said:

I feel like I should clarify

Wait a second, did you just quote yourself, then reply to your own quote? Is that even possible? Have I just entered the twilight zone, is everything spinning to an end?

 

Anthony (I think)

[opus999]

40 minutes ago, Stalker6Recon said:

Wait a second, did you just quote yourself, then reply to your own quote? Is that even possible? Have I just entered the twilight zone, is everything spinning to an end?

 

Anthony (I think)

One of my many talents...

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

50 minutes ago, Stalker6Recon said:

Wait a second, did you just quote yourself, then reply to your own quote? Is that even possible? Have I just entered the twilight zone, is everything spinning to an end?

 

Twilight zone or maybe "The Prisoner!"

 

 

 

 

😱

[Stalker6Recon]

Wow, that was horribly awesome! Reminds me of "scanners!"

[opus999]

12 hours ago, Stalker6Recon said:

scanners

Wow... I haven't thought of that one in years.  There's probably a reason for that....

[opus999]

Not too much to report... Still struggling with the panel lines, but I'm getting much closer to being satisfied. Between yard work and kid-related activities, I was able to get a little time at the bench to try my idea of using gel CA to make the panel lines, which worked very well, but really the biggest problem now is getting the panel lines narrow enough. I tried very hard to make the gap in the tape match the existing panel lines but when I was done they were noticeably wider. Hmph.

 

Despite using only one thickness of Tamiya tape, the resulting panel lines were maybe twice as tall as the kit's lines, but those could be sanded down -- which is a drawback of using CA, it takes forever!

 

I handled the kit all day and the first test of Mr. Surfacer 500 held up, to my surprise. So I went back to Mr. Surfacer on the top in the hopes of making narrower panel lines.  But, they're still wider and don't blend well with the existing lines.  So, my plan of attack is to sand off my new lines, sand the old lines to the nearest intersection, and try again.  This time I'm really going to make them narrow (I hope). I'd hoped to paint this weekend, but I don't think that's in the cards.  I really want to get this right because I have a fair number of older kits in the stash and this technique holds a lot of promise.

 

Not all was lost -- I finished cleaning up all the other parts, and completed gluing parts on the wings. Once the panel lines are squared away, things will likely move fast as I can glue the wings on, do a little wing root clean up and get to the paint booth.

 

I'll post pictures when I'm satisfied with the results.

Edited June 2, 2019 by opus999
I kant spel

[Stalker6Recon]

Sounds like a plan has been hatched, I am guessing the panel lines would be much easier to recreate in a larger scale, but you are getting there. I have to relearn everything I thought I knew, which was not a lot. But the one thing I do remember well, is my severe lack of skill with regards to filler/sanding. I hope that at my age and life experience, I can learn to be more focused on getting it right and not rush a bad seam to the paint booth. Time will tell. I am going to start cutting up my now useless AH-6 kits, since a new pair is on the way via ebay. I particularly want to figure out the CA line smoothing technique I have read about. My scribed lines look like a shark with bad teeth made them, so I really hope that CA can smooth them out as advertised. Any tips you can give me?

 

Anyway, look forward to the next picture update, I am sure that the panel lines will be just fine. In a pinch, and I hate to even say this out loud, but there is the option of removing all the lines and rescribing them! Now that would be nuts, but I bet you would be a masters master at all things panel lines by the end!

 

Good luck, glad the Mr Surfacer spray has worked out for you, check one more skill in your arsenal!

 

Anthony

[opus999]

So, that was interesting... I was going to remove the existing Mr. Surfacer lines and decided to test their durability at the same time.  So I took my fingernail and started scraping roughly. What I found was: it didn't come off very easily, but the scraping was making the line narrower and not as high.  The "not as high" part I get, but the narrower part I had to think about.  I believe that there was some of the adhesive from the tape that mixed with the Mr. Surfacer, which made the panel line look wider, but which didn't stick well, so I could easily scrape it off.

 

I decided to give this "fingernail" technique on the lines that I still had masked from last night.  I found that if I went slowly and looked through my magnifying visor, I could blend my new lines with the existing ones pretty well, It was just a matter of how much pressure to put on my fingernail.  So there are a couple of "oops"es, but they are so small I doubt they will be noticeable.

 

This isn't very scientific, I know, and anyone who wants to try this will just need to take the time (and some scrap!) and practice, practice, practice. But I was able to blend four different panel lines together with this method, so it is repeatable (by me at least).

 

The only possible problem is that I can feel that the "new" panel lines are not as raised as the old ones. But when I look at them in the reflected light, they blend together well enough that they may look just fine after painting.

 

I am now doing the last two lines and will take pictures of the process to show.

 

Color me cautiously optimistic!

[opus999]

22 minutes ago, Stalker6Recon said:

Any tips you can give me?

I'm not sure I've heard of the CA smoothing technique.

 

As far as my scribing experiences go, I've used a pin vice and a Tamiya scriber. In theory, the Tamiya scriber is better to use because it is a blade that cleans out the "trench" you make and keeps the sides of the "trench" from swelling up. With a pin vise, the panel lines you make get raised plastic on both sides, which need to be sanded down. So for me the pin vise was a process of scribe, sand, scribe again. I sanded the panel lines off of two models and rescribed them. One was a 1/72 F-86 and the other was a 1/48 Spitfire Mk. XIV that I haven't post yet because the kit was so terrible (a genuine "Starfix" kit!).

 

I still haven't gotten the hang of the Tamiya scriber despite repeated attempts. First off, it's blade tends to catch and cut the dymo tape I use as a guide so that the lines come out all crooked -- a problem I didn't have with the pin vise. Second, I'm not quite sure how to hold the scriber and, depending upon how I hold it, it either catches the plastic and goes deep to make a wicked gouge, or makes a rough, jagged cut. I've pretty much given up on it and gone back to the pin vise for any little scribing repairs I've needed to do.

 

In either case, I've found the panel lines are really wide, kind of on the order of early, new-tool Airfix kits. So, I'm never entirely satisfied with them.

 

Plus, there's the whole debate about panel lines on models (especially in 1/72). I've found that in photos some aircraft have a few panel lines that can be seen from pretty far away, but in general they aren't usually seen, which makes a case for not having any at all in 1/72. But in my Hornet build it looked kind of funny with paint and no lines (which is probably just my eye being trained to expect lines on a model). I flip-flop on the have-or-have-not panel line question.

 

I found using a 0.3 mm pencil to draw in the lines (in my Hornet build) was actually quite painless, but there are other difficulties with that technique.

 

I don't know if this helps you with your original question, but hopefully there's something useful in that essay I just wrote! I've read various posts from folks in different forums who say that if you perfect your gluing technique, you don't need to worry about sanding and re-scribing.  Maybe so, but my gluing skills still need a lot of help and I find my self sanding and re-scribing on every build. But that's a discussion for another day.

[opus999]

Here's a set of pictures to show what I've been talking about. First, I put down Tamiya masking tape using the existing, unsanded panel line as a guide.  Then I use Mr. Surfacer 500 in a bottle:

 

 

I suppose layering it on with the spray can would work as well. When I get done glopping it on, it looks like this:

 

 

I let it dry/cure for a couple of hours and then sand it with a 180 grit sanding stick until it is pretty much removed from the tape:

 

 

Then I carefully peel the tape up and away from the new panel line.  At this point it is a bit higher, and perhaps a bit wider than the old, unsanded panel line:

 

 

At this point I gently go over it with my thumbnail.  I apply a little more pressure if I want to remove more, and definitely make sure my thumbnail doesn't catch and pull it up.

 

 

Here's a picture of the transition between kit panel line and my new panel line I was able to achieve with my thumbnail. Sorry its a bit blurry.

 

 

Now, keep in mind I haven't painted yet, but I'm fairly certain the new panel lines will show just fine. I think they are a bit lower than the kit lines, but I have good transitions between kit lines and my lines so it may not be noticeable.  I'll let you know!

 

In other news: I pulled the bombs off my high school-era Testors kit:

 

 

Good Lord I used a TON of that Testors tube glue! The bombs are actually deformed where they attached.  Ugh.  Well, I did some filling and sanding and they look fine now.  The thing that's bugging me right now is that the Testors kit has the stabilizers (I'm not sure what you call them, but they keep the bomb from swaying), that I would love to use, except one broke and one must've been lost to the carpet monster back in the day because one bomb was attached without it. The rest are encased in various amounts of Testors tube glue. I was able to clean one up pretty well with an x-acto knife, so I might be able to salvage them. But can I manufacture 2 of my own to replace the missing/broken ones?

 

Also, I got the nose cone on and there's a ridge of plastic on both sides of the seam:

 

 

Kind of hard to see in the picture, but there's a ridge, and then a depression and then it smooths out.  So I filled in the depressions with CA and will be trying to shape the whole thing later.

[Stalker6Recon]

6 hours ago, opus999 said:

(I'm not sure what you call them, but they keep the bomb from swaying)

I am pretty certain that you basical nailed it with your guess. Remember, this is military, besides the millions of nomenclatures we use, things are usually basic and common sense. In this case, I believe the proper term is simply sway brace. Makes sense, any moron with a 33 on the ASVAB can't remember that one!

 

As for the panel lines, I must admit, I never thought the glob it on method would ever work, but you apparently have come up with a new, faster method than the "spray a thin layer a thousand times" method that we both read about. Impressive.

 

As for the scribing issue, which I fear is going to haunt me for the next 20 years, I can definitely understand the problems of holding scribers, the ones I have are also strange shapes and not as intuitive as I expected. The Tamiya set is way to thick, and probably only works on 24th and larger scales. The new Hasegawa scribers are razor thin, might even work with 72nd scale. Maybe later I will find something to gouge up,  then cut lines with each type of scribe I have, and photograph them all in a line. Maybe it will help others before they buy the wrong tool for the job.

 

I have a new pin vise on the way, but my hope for quality has been somewhat damped down, via another thread regarding the chinese pin vise invasion. Apparently they are crap. Only time will tell. The pin vise I really want, is not a vise at all. It's made by DSPIAE, but has no collet and the only tips are drill bits that I am aware of. It is a luxury item, therefore on the back of my list as of now. When I am free of debt, then I will buy one, along with their scale ruler.

 

My scriber situation will be made less complicated by buying metal templates, help limit my stupidity really. I always think "I can do this without the right tool, I just need to be careful", which almost always ends in bleeding and cussing, then a lot of filling and sanding, all avoidable with the right tool of course. My chopped up AH-6 is testimony to this, and that is the first kit I started, scary. But I did learn what NOT to do, which is progress.

 

Finally, the CA technique of smoothing out rough lines. The method is obvious I guess, the CA melts the plastic, taking the boulders and melding them into a nice smooth surface. At least that is how it is supposed to work. But I have not tried it yet. I still am trying to figure out how CA can fill small seams. Probably in a very similar method as the previous problem.

 

Anthony

 

PS. Don't you miss those testors glue tubes, all the strings and truly melting plastic that became a gooey mess, and the smell. Ah, the good ol' days!

[Steve Collins]

On 5/31/2019 at 5:20 PM, opus999 said:

Well. I've spend the day--off and on--trying different "fail safe" schemes to restore panel lines and they've all been a bust.

 

One person at another forum swore up and down that putting "Mr. Surfacer" between two pieces of tamiya masking tape would make perfect raised panel lines every time. I'm not sure what he meant by "Mr. Surfacer" -- was it the spray? the bottled stuff? 500? 1200? 1500? So, I guessed it was the 500 in the jar and gave it a try. I let it sit for a couple of hours and when I carefully pulled the tape off, it pulled off chunks of my new panel line. OK, scratch that one.

 

I then tried the method I posted, but I didn't have any automotive primer, but thought that perhaps Mr. Surfacer would work as I had a spray can of M.S. 500. So I followed the instructions in the thread to a "tee" and when it came time to carefully pull up the tape -- It pulled up chunks of my new panel line. OK scratch that one.

 

I decided to try an idea of mine to put the Gel CA between two pieces of Tamiya tape. when it cured (maybe a half hour), I took a coarse sanding stick (180 grit) and sanded it down so that the top of the "panel line" was flush with the top of the tape.  The idea being that maybe there wouldn't be a connection between the "panel line" and the glue on the tape and it wouldn't get pulled off. That actually worked, but the panel line was enormous (I'd doubled up the tape and had them too far apart), so I did a second test with only one thickness of tape and a realistic spacing. I sanded that the same as the first try, and when it came time to pull the tape up carefully.... wait for it.... it pulled up chunks of my new panel line. OK scratch that one.

 

I switched gears and decided to try a method that many folks on a couple other forums swore by as their go-to repair method, which is to put a piece of Dymo tape down, lay a #11 x-acto blade on it at a 45 degree angle and just cut along the tape.  Supposedly it makes a ridge that looks like a raised panel line, and the resulting cut gets filled in with paint, etc.  I tried it on a paint mule and after a couple tries, got it to look pretty good. At this point I got pretty excited and *almost* tried it on the B-57, but wisely decided to try it on an old, beat up F-86 lying around. I could not get it to work for anything! I just ended up gouging the crap out of the model.  OK scratch that one.

 

I sat there stewing about it and realized, that my tests were on my paint mule, which is, painted (imagine that), and on closer inspection I saw that where my new panel lines pulled up, they had actually pulled up a layer of paint. So, I wonder if any of these methods will actually work on bare plastic?  I don't have any bare plastic around (that I care to sacrifice, anyway). So I picked a panel line on the bottom of the B-57, taped it off, and put Mr. Surfacer 500 from the jar on it.  I plan to sand it before I pull the tape off in hopes of preventing pull up. We'll see what happens.  I don't know what "plan b" looks like at this point.

 

I'd hoped to be at the painting stage tomorrow, but now--who knows?

 

Color me frustrated.

Opus, try running the tip of a new blade along the inner edge of the tape prior to pulling it up to separate it from the Mr.S or CA or whatever you try.  Gently, of course, don't wanna score the plastic, just separate the tape from the filler.

 

Steve

[opus999]

On 6/3/2019 at 5:52 PM, Steve Collins said:

try running the tip of a new blade along the inner edge of the tape prior to pulling it up to separate it from the Mr.S or CA or whatever you try

Good idea! I sanded it, which worked reasonably well at separating the tape and the Mr.S, but I think your idea is a good one to make sure that things come out the way I want!

[opus999]

On 6/3/2019 at 12:01 AM, Stalker6Recon said:

but you apparently have come up with a new, faster method than the "spray a thin layer a thousand times" method that we both read about.

I always say laziness is the mother of invention... although it usually doesn't turn out as well as this did.

 

On 6/3/2019 at 12:01 AM, Stalker6Recon said:

new Hasegawa scribers are razor thin

I need to check these out -- I didn't see Hasegawa scribers when I was shopping around a few years ago!

 

As far as pin vises go, I bought one at the LHS that works reasonably well. One thing that helped a lot was to take the pin to a sharpening stone and try to make it the sharpest point I could.  The quality of the finished lines was much, much better, even if they were still a little on the large side.  But no worse than some early Airfix new-tool kits (I think I already mentioned that).

On 6/3/2019 at 12:01 AM, Stalker6Recon said:

Don't you miss those testors glue tubes

Holy cow, looking at some of my models high school, I think someone should've staged an intervention and taken that tube away! I have to admit, the smell sure brings back the memories.

[Stalker6Recon]

1 hour ago, opus999 said:

sure brings back the memories.

I am sure it does, that was nasty stuff. I remember having a tough time trying to get a kit to fit back then, and in my frustration, I put a thick line of the glue around the bottom fuselage of the F-18, while trying to get it to hold (it kept popping open based on a warped fuselage), I globbed on even more glue (probably half a tube by that point) and started squeezing the halves together so hard, I saw the sides become rubbery and just buckle from the glue melting the plastic and obviously over pressure by my frustrated hands. I think this may have been my last build attempt before I put modeling away for the long 30 plus year break. The F-18 went so badly, even while painting, things went sideways. I tried to strip the paint in an equally frustrated state, using mineral spirits to remove the testors model master enamels. This too turned into a gooey mess!

 

I am having a brain fart. On the twin WIP, I mentioned that I was waiting for updates here, but obviously you have updated, and worse, I replied and totally forgot that I had done so. Scary. And I have to track my powerful opioid medications that I take daily!

 

Anyway,disregard the comment on the twins, you are obviously working both build logs simultaneously, which is really three builds at one time, crazy!

 

Cheers,

 

Anthony

[opus999]

Weeknights are usually terribly busy for me, so I don't update my threads.  I often don't get time at the bench either. But I was able to squeeze in 10 minutes here and there this week and got a lot of little details squared away.  First, the nose:

 

 

 

That's better!!!

 

Looking at my old model and some photos, I determined the bomb pylons on this kit were too far inboard. I guess it's a remnant of the BAE Canberra mold?  Anyway, I filled the holes by putting toothpicks in them, cutting them flush at the surface, then soaking them with liquid CA.  A little sanding flush and you (usually) can't tell there was a hole there.

 

 

And then the moment I was waiting for!

 

 

The wings fit fairly well, but there was a little bit of a gap that needed filling.   There was also a bit of a step on the starboard side, but I really didn't know how to make that look nice without really making a mess of things with sand paper, so I left it alone. I'm gambling that it won't be too noticeable with the black paint.

 

The bottom side of the engines need to be glued on, so there was some work to get those to blend in because there was a gap and a step when they were glued in:

 

 

 

I also glued in the airbrakes, which could be mounted opened or closed.  Now, this helps validate one of my laws of modeling, which is, "If a part is designed to have the option of being open, it will look terrible when it's closed". My Revell SR-71 in 1985 had the option to have the nose open; my Dad's recent Revell (?) P-51 could have the ammunition access panels open; Most landing gear doors are designed to be opened; my recent Hasegawa F-18's canopy was designed to be shown open. I could go on and on, but in all cases it took a ton of work to get all of those examples to look decent closed.  These airbrakes were no exception and I had to do a lot of cutting, sanding and shaping before they looked right.

 

I also have been doing some research since I started because the box top of the Testors kit show the finished model with a satin, almost flat finish.  I thought I saw photos of these night intruders glossy, so I did some looking around.  I also wanted to get other painting details that Testors and Airfix may have missed.

 

So, by and large the photos I found of these planes were very glossy:

 

Martin B-57C Canberra side view detail. Forward fuselage of B-57C (SN 53-3825, aircraft no. 159) 061026-F-1234P-016
US Goverment [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 

Notice in the picture above, there is a anti-glare panel just ahead of the cockpit on the top of the nose. I haven't found any other pictures that are at the correct angle to see this, but it makes sense that they would have this on all glossy aircraft, so I will add it to mine as well.

 

345th Bombardment Wing B-57B Canberras 1957
United States Air Force [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 

In the above photo there is a light gray or white little spot on the very tip of the tail-end of the A/C. 

 

B-57B Canberra 3d Bombardment Wing Johnson AB Japan 1956
United States Air Force [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 

Again, the photo above shows the light gray spot on the tail end of the aircraft, and maybe the anti-glare on the nose. Also note the external fuel tanks are flat black on the front 1/4 to 1/3, which is prominent in several photos.

 

B-57b-ma-52-1560-71lbs-laon-1957
United States Air Force Historical Research Agency - Maxwell AFB, Alabama [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 

The above photo looks closest to the scheme I chose. Notice the flat black on the external fuel tanks and the flat black on the tip of the nose.

 

461st Bombardment Wing Martin B-57B-MA 53-3934 1956
United States Air Force [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 

The above photo shows off the flat black parts pretty well as well as showing how glossy the rest of the body is.

 

Finally, I found one that was not quite flat but very satin-y looking. This was in Vietnam, so I suspect that they got more flat with heavy use in wartime. Notice the nose cone is different -- I had one of these nose cones in my kit, and it said it was for an RB-57.  The photo credits don't say RB-57, but I suspect it may be.

 

Martin B-57E-MA 55-4237 Da Nang AB South Vietnam
United States Air Force [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 

So, all of this evidence leads me to feel that a glossy black coat is appropriate for an aircraft stationed in France in 1955. And so late last night, I decanted Tamiya spray black (TS-14) from the can into the airbrush and thinned it with Mr. leveling thinner at

somewhere between 1:1 (Paint:thinner) to 2:1 (Paint:thinner).  It's hard to tell how much paint there is without a dropper. The leveling thinner helps ensure a glossy finish with no orange peel or "Sandy" texture from fine overspray that dries before hitting the surface. The leveling thinner seems to delay drying to allow the paint to self level.  Also, if I don't think it's leveling well enough, I will sometimes spray a fine mist coat of pure thinner on the surface (a trick I learned from someone in the car painting business). Just be aware that so much leveling thinner keeps the paint tacky for much longer than just straight Tamiya Lacquer.  To be on the safe side I will just let it sit over night.

 

Here's a sneak preview -- I was letting it dry and didn't want to touch it for more photos yet.

 

 

Busy day with lots of things to get done, so I don't know how much time I'll have at the bench.  I still have to paint the tail fin and some of the little parts black, plus detail painting.  Hopefully I can do that some time today and maybe start decals tomorrow.

 

[Stalker6Recon]

2 hours ago, opus999 said:

 flat black on the tip of the nose.

I doubt you missed this, but since you didn't specifically mention it, I figured I would, just to be safe. You are absolutely correct with the observations regarding the shiny bits, and the flat bits. The one you didn't list, is the nacelles. They also appear to be flat in all the photos as well. Would hate to have you miss that one.

 

Something tells me that the flat Vietnam era craft, is the result of a pilot asking his crew to flatten the finish, he probably thought that a shiny aircraft was far to easy to spot at night, and based on common sense, a plane would sparkle like a diamond in the night sky if all glossy like that. Putting a clear coat of flat would have been fairly simple to do, even if deployed.

 

I can't believe that is the same nose, I would say you handled that perfectly. I would be scared to death having a wet surface for that long, but I have cats, lots of cats, even though they won't be in or even near my spray room, their hair will be, it's everywhere! That is my biggest concern when I start painting, how to keep my kits free from feline fur!

 

Only time will tell.

 

Anthony

[opus999]

1 hour ago, Stalker6Recon said:

how to keep my kits free from feline fur!

Ugh. For me it's a losing battle. And I've tried everything. The cats are never allowed in the room I paint in, but every time... there's a hair.  If you're lucky you see it while the paint is still wet when it's easy to patch.  But on my polished aluminum CF-104, there's a hair right on the top that I noticed when it was far too late.  Anymore I just shrug.

 

1 hour ago, Stalker6Recon said:

The one you didn't list, is the nacelles

Hey, thanks for pointing that out! Do you mean just aft of the engine intakes? It kind of looked like that was flat to me.  Also, the leading edge of the tail fin is black as well.

 

I'm also trying to decide if I want to use plain ol' flat black, or Tamiya NATO Black, which has a slightly greenish cast to it.  Looking at some of the photos, the flat part almost doesn't look totally black.

[opus999]

On 6/5/2019 at 10:26 PM, Stalker6Recon said:

This too turned into a gooey mess!

My dad loves to tell a story about when he was 15 or 16 (so... maybe about 1960) and thought he was being clever when adding nose weight to a B-25 with a strafer nose by putting a bunch of fishing weights in the nose, dousing it in gel model glue and gluing that on the A/C.  He said when he came back when it was dry, it had the droopiest nose you could imagine.

 

On 6/5/2019 at 10:26 PM, Stalker6Recon said:

really three builds at one time, crazy!

It seems that way dosen't it? But The US Hornet is done and on the shelf (No WIP yet), The Canadian one is on "hot standby" and I'm really only working on the B-57 right now.  If those decals ever come, that will change!