Short Sunderland Mk III - Italeri 1/72

[HomerJ_757]

16 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

But Sunderlands were mainly aluminium. That does corrode, but doesn’t rust. Can you imagine the takeoff run a steel-hulled Sundie would need? 

It would be quicker to taxi to it’s destination!

[Heather Kay]

1 hour ago, CedB said:

I can't find a format that will load on the Mac  

I’m pretty sure I’ve used .ttf fonts on my Macs. Not wishing to thread drift, I’ll see if I can get those you linked to to work and I’ll contact you via DM with my findings. 

[CedB]

Thanks Ian  

 

Thanks for the messages Heather - it's frustrating that the Mac is fussier (it seems) about True type fonts, but then I guess, IIRC, they did implement it for their early laser printers.

 

I've found a solution for cutting idents. I found an image file somewhere of ident designs - I can't find the source now so I'll post it:

 

 

…and apologise for any copyright issues (let me know if it's yours). Note the instructions on how to get the 'missing' characters.

 

At some point I've imported this into Silhouette Studio and started to design masks:

 

 

A bit tortuous - each character has to be edited to get a simpler path and, of course, remove the extra ones that cut the character in half!

 

For Studio users, you can do this by editing points.

Right click on the line you want to remove and choose 'Break Path'. The little red dot is two points so if you move them apart you can delete them and, if you're lucky, the line will go cleanly.

[John Laidlaw]

2 hours ago, CedB said:

Same problem. I think Giorgio is right and the serials are too small for the cutter

Crikey, that is a shame. Oh well - at least you have the transfers. The rest of the model's looking fabulous!

[Biggles87]

You’ve lost me again, but that’s not difficult. 

[CedB]

4 hours ago, John Laidlaw said:

Crikey, that is a shame. Oh well - at least you have the transfers. The rest of the model's looking fabulous!

Thanks John - I think I could fiddle with the cutter settings a bit but if Giorgio thinks they're too small then they probably are  

4 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

You’ve lost me again, but that’s not difficult. 

What, with the mask stuff? I get lost myself at times  

 

 

Red first. I really like how you can see where the Oramask is burnished:

 

 

See where it's darker where I've burnished around the 'hole'?

 

On with the red:

 

 

You can see that the mule (bottom left) has had a blast too - i'll use that to check if the paint is dry enough to mask although I may not get back to the bench before tomorrow.

I used the new airbrush on that with Jamie's 'thinned, low pressure, up close and personal' technique and look, no overspray! Nice.

 

Bound to happen Part #3:

 

 

Now fixed.

[AdrianMF]

1 minute ago, CedB said:

Bound to happen Part #3:

Looks a bit sad...

 

Regards,

Adrian

[John Laidlaw]

25 minutes ago, CedB said:

Thanks John - I think I could fiddle with the cutter settings a bit but if Giorgio thinks they're too small then they probably are

There's a Facebook group with posts from some members who have managed to cut serials that small - but they're using replacement 45° blades, and the only person that can do it consistently has a £1,500 cutter/plotter. So, yes, I believe Giorgio's right .

[Procopius]

15 minutes ago, John Laidlaw said:

and the only person that can do it consistently has a £1,500 cutter/plotter.

As one does.

[John Laidlaw]

1 hour ago, Procopius said:

As one does.

To be fair, it's Mal Mayfield of Miracle Masks fame, so it's probably worth it to him .

[CedB]

2 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Looks a bit sad...

 

Regards,

Adrian

Not as sad as me  I have, belatedly, covered it with some 'protection'.

1 hour ago, John Laidlaw said:

There's a Facebook group with posts from some members who have managed to cut serials that small - but they're using replacement 45° blades, and the only person that can do it consistently has a £1,500 cutter/plotter. So, yes, I believe Giorgio's right .

Thanks John  Oooh, I have some of those 45° blades and some 30^o 'fine' ones - I might give it a try.

1 hour ago, Procopius said:

As one does.

Just now, John Laidlaw said:

To be fair, it's Mal Mayfield of Miracle Masks fame, so it's probably worth it to him .

Indeed it would be  

 

 

Well, I had some free time after dinner so I tested the red that I'd blasted on the mule:

 

 

NO lift  

Flickr won't tell me what time I took photos but the post was two hours ago SO I reckon that's another vote for Colourcoats and Jamie's technique.

 

Fiddle with the masks re-positioning the red, burnish down, lift the blue mask, burnish down, SPRAY!

 

 

 

 

[TheBaron]

Ced - for reference this is the dimension of the individual letter masks I cut for the Anson serials a while back:

These cut fine (using the standard Autoblade) with only a very *slight* lift on the 9s when cutting four sets of these.

 

As I cut metal foil and Washi stuff as well, one thing I do occasionally is to press the protective shroud down and clean the blade lightly with some IPA on a cotton bud, just to get rid of any adhesive or gunk that may have accumulated (which being clear is frequently invisible to the eye) that can cause 'drag' on materials.

 

[CedB]

Thanks Tony - interesting! Perhaps I'll try again - and with the right font (I cheated and used one that was 'close') after I've done my design stuff (see above)  

 

 

 

Oh OK, I couldn't wait either:

 

 

Just that one - I almost dropped the mask on the drying paint and my nerves went

 

I can see a tiny crescent of DSG at about 2 o'clock - rats.

Just shows how precise you have to be re-positioning the mask and how a white base would have been really obvious.

It'll touch up but I'll make sure I'm more careful with the others.

[Spookytooth]

I would not worry to much Ced, I don`t think it would be grounded for a minor blemish.

 

Looking quite nice sir.

 

Simon.

[giemme]

And you have tiny blue paint leaks at 2 and 11 o'clock, but that roundel still looks gorgeous!  

 

.... and to think you were dubious whether to paint or use decals ...

 

 

Ciao

[Procopius]

I was interested to see your technique for the roundels, Buffers, and I'd like to, if I may, make a pitch for my method, where one first sprays the outer colour over the whole of the roundel area, masks it, then sprays the inner colour. 

[dogsbody]

Ced, how many people are going to have their eyeball down that close to the wing? Unless you're going to enter this kit in a model contest and the judges have magnifying glasses, no one will ever notice.

 

By the by, that looks great to me!

 

 

 

Chris

[CedB]

3 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

I would not worry to much Ced, I don`t think it would be grounded for a minor blemish.

 

Looking quite nice sir.

 

Simon.

Thanks Simon  

3 hours ago, giemme said:

And you have tiny blue paint leaks at 2 and 11 o'clock, but that roundel still looks gorgeous!  

 

.... and to think you were dubious whether to paint or use decals ...

 

 

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio - well spotted; a few dots will sort that out  

2 hours ago, Procopius said:

I was interested to see your technique for the roundels, Buffers, and I'd like to, if I may, make a pitch for my method, where one first sprays the outer colour over the whole of the roundel area, masks it, then sprays the inner colour. 

Now that sounds like a good plan PC for two-colour roundels. Stored for future use!  

1 hour ago, dogsbody said:

Ced, how many people are going to have their eyeball down that close to the wing? Unless you're going to enter this kit in a model contest and the judges have magnifying glasses, no one will ever notice.

 

By the by, that looks great to me!

 

 

 

Chris

Thanks Chris  

 

 

Here's the other wing:

 

 

3/10 for accuracy, 10/10 for consistency! More bleed on this one too, but I'm not disheartened.

 

I've also taken out the cutter blades I bought (cheap) off eBay:

 

 

On the left, the 'standard' 45^o one, on the right the 'fine' 30^o. I might give the fine one a go in the morning, although I'll need to fiddle with it (fnaar) as the holder isn't an 'auto blade' so the depth is manual. Harumph.

 

I can also see that the standard blade has lost its tip, probably when I was trying to cut Plasticard.

You get what you pay for, I guess  

[John Laidlaw]

3 minutes ago, CedB said:

I've also taken out the cutter blades I bought (cheap) off eBay:

 

 

On the left, the 'standard' 45o one, on the right the 'fine' 30o. I might give the fine one a go in the morning, although I'll need to fiddle with it (fnaar) as the holder isn't an 'auto blade' so the depth is manual. Harumph.

I shall be watching with bated breath for the outcome of this. Good luck!

[Biggles87]

Nice roundels. I’m sure the tiny bleeds will be easily rectified, and any blemishes can be put down to’ wear and tear ‘. I’m becoming convinced that I should be painting roundels too. It’s that Italian bloke’s fault.

 

John

[TheBaron]

5 hours ago, John Laidlaw said:

I shall be watching with bated breath for the outcome of this. Good luck!

What John says x2: I didn't know that you could buy a 'fine' version Ced! (could you post a link to the ones you bought if you get a chance?)

 

Roundels look great btw - easy clean up. I always use a burnishing tool on the edges of the Oramask - a quick rub along the edges seems to slightly soften the material due to heat/friction and helps it conform to any surface relief/curvature better. Rumour has it that @giemme sings opera arias to his so that the masks wilt and drape themselves languorously over the airframe....

[CedB]

6 hours ago, John Laidlaw said:

I shall be watching with bated breath for the outcome of this. Good luck!

Thanks John - all ready for a test cut when the house is awake  

42 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

Nice roundels. I’m sure the tiny bleeds will be easily rectified, and any blemishes can be put down to’ wear and tear ‘. I’m becoming convinced that I should be painting roundels too. It’s that Italian bloke’s fault.

 

John

Thanks John  Give it a try - you won't regret it!

27 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

What John says x2: I didn't know that you could buy a 'fine' version Ced! (could you post a link to the ones you bought if you get a chance?)

 

Roundels look great btw - easy clean up. I always use a burnishing tool on the edges of the Oramask - a quick rub along the edges seems to slightly soften the material due to heat/friction and helps it conform to any surface relief/curvature better. Rumour has it that @giemme sings opera arias to his so that the masks wilt and drape themselves languorously over the airframe....

Thanks Tony  

 

The blades I bought are these, 'KKmoon 15PCS 30° 45°60° High Hardness Blades' but they're 'currently unavailable'  

Have a search for 'CB09 blade' deals on eBay - lots of options there. 

There are some videos on YouTube too - have a look for 'CB09'. This one has some useful tips on setting up.

 

Let's see how I get on later  

[perdu]

Colour me unable to understand the foreign lingo 

 

But also very much loving the roundels, they look marvellous

 

And it will be easy to distress the roundels with weathering because paint behaves like paint not an artificially added plasticated surface like decals/transfers

 

Another rather distinguished Bufton Special, nice work mate

[CedB]

Awww, thanks Bill, really appreciated  

 

 

How did the CB09 blade work? Not well, sadly:

 

 

Once again the blade has scuffed going around the corners. Here's a close up:

 

 

I can see from that photo on the big screen that the blade has cut into the paper (top of the 9) and should perhaps be retracted a bit but it doesn't look good.

Too small for the cutter then. It's not very often Giorgio is wrong, and he was right again!  

 

All this masking / unmasking / re-masking has made me think about the Oramask too.

Now I know a bad workman always blames his tools, but in this case…

The Oramask is flexible, which makes it great for canopy masking and camo masks that need to go over lumps and bumps.

Trouble is, when you remove a burnished down mask (and your cack handed like me) there's bound to be a bit of stretching involved.

When you re-position the mask if it's not exactly in the same position, or there's any stretching, it's going to cause problems.

 

I think I might use Washi stuff for roundels in the future - less chance of it stretching I think.

 

I got (perhaps over-) confident this morning that I could spray with my new airbrush and Jamie's technique very locally so I did the yellow AND the white.

Encouraged by that, I also did the Sky Squadron codes:

 

 

Tempted to rip the masks off but I should let the paint dry, if only for a bit.

[giemme]

2 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

I’m becoming convinced that I should be painting roundels too. It’s that Italian bloke’s fault.

Who? What??? I plead not guilty, Your Honor!  

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Rumour has it that @giemme sings opera arias to his so that the masks wilt and drape themselves languorously over the airframe....

     

 

On a serious note, in addition to burnishing the mask edges, I also brush paint some gloss varnish along them, to prevent paint leaks. HTH

 

Ciao