Fairey Barracuda -- Special Hobby 1/72

[RidgeRunner]

I've just seen this, Bill @billn53. A great choice of build! You seem to be making excellent progress. The Barracuda was such a purposeful looking machine. I 'm remember picking up my first, of two, Frog kits when they first came out and being fascinated by it.

 

Martin

[billn53]

Got some more things done today and I'm just about ready to do the primer coat.

 

With the wings in place, I went ahead and glued the horizontal stabilizers. A good dose of sprue gloop was filled the join:

 

 

 

The next few items are taken directly from TheBaron's playbook, and I'm not claiming any originality.

 

I used metal foil to simulate the rear gunner's sliding panel:

 

 

 

Flap actuators were assembled from brass tubing (the actuators in the kit are much too large):

 

 

 

To get the new actuators to fit, I had to carve a groove in the flap attachment strut:

 

 

 

 

Details added to the landing gear parts:

 

 

 

Oh yes, I almost forgot to add the little panels that fill the lower part of the fuselage exhaust recess:

 

U 

 

As soon as I'm able to sand down the sprue gloop on the horizontal stabs (it's still a bit soft), I'll be ready for the primer coat. The particular aircraft I'm modeling is shown below (it's also on the SH box cover):

 

 

 

I chose this one because it has lots of visually interesting details, like the replacement panels and the painted out roundel on the starboard wing. Also, I won't have to bother with the kit's fiddly little radar aerials LOL!

 

 

[Bugle07]

Some top notch work so far, really enjoying this!

 

Good choice on the paint scheme as well, I agree with you, think it's the best of the box options (nowt to do with the lack of fiddly bits, honest!).

 

Geoff

[billn53]

I sprayed a layer of Alclad black micro-filler primer last night, and early this morning did a fine micromesh before the first color coat.

 

 

 

I intend to use Vallejo Air paints for the camo. I started with the underside in Sky Type S:

 

 

 

 

 

I let that dry for a good six hours, then began masking for the upper surface colors. But as soon as I started masking, this happened:

 

 

 

The paint came up, primer and all. 

 

Now, I had cleaned the surface before painting with IPA, and Alclad primer has never given me problems before. Don't really know what to think  

 

Anyway, I repainted the damaged area and have tucked the Barracuda away in a plastic box to let the paint set for a couple days, just to be sure. Then, I'll try again with the masking.

 

There's really very little more I can do on this build until the painting is finished. I did assemble the propeller, but that didn't take long at all.

 

 

 

Doing the propeller is nearly foolproof. SH has given each blade a flat section near the hub, to ensure proper pitch. Other than that, one only needs to take care the blades are all square with each other.

 

Also, FYI, I had read where one builder thought the provided propeller was too small, and substituted the larger Frog item in its place. I found some drawings online and can confirm that SH's propeller is spot on, as far as one can trust drawings from the web.

 

 

[CedB]

Bad luck with that lifting Bill  

Did you clean the model before the primer? All I can think is that there was some grease or something on there?

[billn53]

2 hours ago, CedB said:

 

Did you clean the model before the primer? 

I wiped it down with 91% IPA

 

 

[billn53]

Looks like I definitely had a failure of the primer to bond to the plastic, although the root cause is a still a mystery.

 

Using only low-tack masking tape, I was able to strip nearly all of the paint from my 'cuda. the rest I'll remove chemically:

 

 

 

Interestingly, the Vallejo acrylic, by itself, adhered well. The stripe of paint you see here is my repair from yesterday:

 

 

 

A fellow modeler has recommended I try this stuff. He's been using it of late on all his models, spraying a mist directly from the can after first cleaning the plastic. He then primes over it:

 

   

 

I'll pick up a can this afternoon from my local auto shop.

 

In the meantime, I've been working the various fiddly bits to be installed after the painting is done:

 

 

 

Wing-mounted bomb racks on top, landing gear and arresting hook on the bottom.

 

I'll also replace the kit's undersize main wheels with resin ones from Barracuda Cast:

 

 

 

Wish me luck with my repaint, please!

[Courageous]

1 hour ago, billn53 said:

definitely had a failure of the primer

So soul destroying and things were going so well. Let's hope your new 'Adhesion Promoter' does the job.

 

Stuart

[825]

Sorry to see the problems you're having with paint/primer. I simply brushed Xtracrylix thinned with Flow Improver straight onto the plastic and had no problems.  Used Tamiya tape for masking although I didn't use vast amounts of it as I did a lot of painting, including the wings and empanage before assembly. 

 

Good luck with with your new approach. Be interesting to see how it goes. 

[CedB]

6 hours ago, billn53 said:

Wish me luck with my repaint, please!

Good luck Bill, you deserve a good result after that!  

I too use IPA for a wipe down before the primer. I know others wash the parts in soapy water but I think an IPA wipe is better as it also clears any skin oils deposited during assembly.

I'm also lazy  

Do you think the primer might be dodgy then?

[billn53]

53 minutes ago, CedB said:

Do you think the primer might be dodgy then?

Could be. TheBaron used the same stuff and he didn’t report any problems. I remember I bought mine at my local hobby shop — they specialize in radio control not plastic models, so who knows how long it sat on the shelf. 

[billn53]

All the old paint is off, and I'm nearly ready to paint again. I'm just waiting for the liquid masking on the wingtip lights to dry.

 

 

 

The Dupli-Color website recommends cleaning with their Prep-Spray oil and grease remover before using the plastic adhesion stuff. The Prep-Spray says it is safe for automotive plastics -- I conclude from that, that polystyrene must not be an automotive plastic! The stuff consists of alcohol and aromatic hydrocarbons, and will dissolve styrene in a flash (ask how I know). It's kind of like when I accidently spilled Bondene on my YB-35's wing.

 

I definitely won't be using my bottle of Alclad black primer again.  Instead, after I spray a light mist of the adhesion promotor, I'll do a base coat of this:

 

 

 

which is an acrylic lacquer and should do fine. (I've used it before and had no problems, knock on virtual wood).

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

On 9/2/2019 at 2:15 PM, billn53 said:

The paint came up, primer and all. 

I use Vallejo and Ammo by Mig quite a bit. I learned after the same thing happened on my Mosquito that you need to spray/brush a clear-coat on after every color. The only exception is if I'm free handing the camouflage. 

 

Dennis

[billn53]

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I use Vallejo and Ammo by Mig quite a bit. I learned after the same thing happened on my Mosquito that you need to spray/brush a clear-coat on after every color. The only exception is if I'm free handing the camouflage. 

 

Dennis

Does it matter if the clearcoat is gloss, matte, or whatever?

[Grey Beema]

I usually spray Halford aluminium paint onto the bare plastic then leave it for 24 hrs.  I use Xtracrylics for the Camouflage colours and spray that on over the top.  I get a bit of paint lift sometimes but it's easily fixable.  Advantage is you can carefully abrade down to the aluminium for wear and tear..

Edited September 4, 2019 by Grey Beema

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

4 hours ago, billn53 said:

Does it matter if the clearcoat is gloss, matte, or whatever?

I don't know i usually use gloss coat myself. However if i had to guess i don't think it matters. I would think any kind of protective coating should work ? I would test it out on a scrap model if you have one though to be safe. 

[billn53]

Looks like I'm back in business!

 

I did a mist coat with the adhesion enhancer and then an overall black base with the MRP paint. After that dried, I did a tape test and the base coat came through with flying colors. I can't say if it's because of the adhesion enhancer or not, and frankly I don't care at this point. I'm just happy to have paint that sticks.

 

 

 

 

 

Next came the Sky lower surfaces:

 

 

 

 

 

I just now did a clearcoat (thanks for that tip, Dennis) and this evening I'll begin work on the upper surface camo.

 

[Courageous]

...and all comes good. 

 

Stuart

[Adam Poultney]

That is a strange looking aircraft 

[CedB]

Nice recovery Bill  

[billn53]

Got the first camo color on (dark slate gray). I'm using a marbling technique to add variation (same with the underside):

 

 

 

Then (using an enlarged copy of the kit's painting instructions) I cut out the camo pattern for the second color (extra dark sea gray):

 

 

 

There's a lot of slate gray peeking out around the edges, so I touched up my base coat with more black:

 

 

 

When that's dry, I'll marble in the EDSG and remove the masking (hopefully, without taking any paint with it).

[billn53]

Barreling along...

 

Got the Extra Dark Sea Gray on and removed a huge amount of masking tape. Here's how she looked just after the unveiling:

 

 

 

Only one teeny place where any paint pulled off 

 

 

 

But I did find some touchup was needed -- there were places where the dark slate didn't extend entirely to the pattern edge, allowing the black undercoat to show:

 

   

 

Easy enough to fix. I then sprayed a satin coat to even the surface in preparation for the next step: a Flory wash:

 

 

 

Beautiful, isn't she? But, that didn't last long! Here she is all dirtied up:

 

 

 

I'll let that dry overnight, then clean the worst of it off with a damp cotton cloth.

 

In the meanwhile, I'm contemplating my options concerning the cracked canopy. Here's the Falcon canopy (top) compared with the kit item. I'd use the Falcon in a snap, except it's designed for the Frog kit and won't fit this one.

 

 

 

Decisions, decisions....

[CedB]

Very nice paint job Bill  

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

On 9/4/2019 at 10:36 AM, billn53 said:

I just now did a clearcoat (thanks for that tip, Dennis)

Always glad to help Bill. 

[Terry1954]

How did I miss a Barracuda build! Just caught up on this and really felt the frustration of problems with primer failing. I have had a couple of problems with Alclad black primer, which I suspect are down to shelf life in my case.

 

I must say I intend to try MRP's range as I have heard nothing but excellent feed back about them, so it seems your decision to re-do using this, was an excellent call.....

On 9/4/2019 at 1:01 AM, billn53 said:

I definitely won't be using my bottle of Alclad black primer again.  Instead, after I spray a light mist of the adhesion promotor, I'll do a base coat of this:

 

 

The Barracuda is coming on great now it seems, so I'm looking forward to seeing this one done.

 

Terry