Supersonic Hotrods of the Wisconsin Air National Guard

[Retired Bob]

9 hours ago, billn53 said:

>> I was half tempted (well, maybe not so much) to fill them in.

You can imagine my dilemma having 6 (so far) to build.  Perhaps lots of Mr Surfacer?   (Then there are my 1/48 ones, I think I need therapy?)

 

9 hours ago, billn53 said:

>>I haven't seen that on other aircraft, and I didn't include the line on mine.

I can only find one photo in my reference books, a 1957 Hughs shot of all the black boxes required to fire a Falcon missile.  It does show the black of the radome with the anti-glare panels as a very dark gray, but other photos show a weathered radome and the anti-glare panels look black.  So, no right or wrong. 

12 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Maybe finish the frog/hasegawa kit as a generic plane from the same unit, thus leaving everything you've done untouched ? Then use the Meng kit for “Red striped Rascal”. Only thing you’d have to do is change side #’s. 

As I replied to Dennis this is a good idea, 2 different kits from the same squadron, and Fundekals did include an extra set as an apology for the delay.

[Retired Bob]

Hi Bill, how is your business trip going.  I don't want to hijack your thread but I thought I would put in an update of what I intend to do with my Deuce and then start my own wip and stop interrupting yours. 

I have stripped all the old decals off, it may seem overkill but I wasn't happy with either the positioning or the quality of them, there was some colour opaqueness and the previous mention of decals being wrongly sized, and I have plenty of new ones.

I have some extras for my Deuces, the Reskit wheels are very nice, especially if you want the solid spoke pattern nose wheel.  The F-102 airframes went through various upgrades and there are Quickboost sets to provide or improve these items, so research is needed to ensure the model that you are building is at the correct state.  I'll wait now for my economy bucket sized Mr Surfacer and copy of Detail and Scale to arrive. 

[billn53]

Hi Bob. I just arrived in Boston a few hours ago. Tomorrow is meeting full — I’ll be flying home the next day (Wednesday). Before I left, I got a good glosscoat on the Deuce, when I get back I’ll do the metallic areas. 

 

BTW you have the same Quickboost and Reskit items as I do. 

 

- Bill

[LorenSharp]

On 1/24/2020 at 11:28 AM, Procopius said:

I believe the ILANG only has C-130s, if it makes you feel better.

It wouldn't surprise me if those weren't AC-130's

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

59 minutes ago, LorenSharp said:

It wouldn't surprise me if those weren't AC-130's

No sadly just plain jane transports. I could only dream of them being AC’s. My daughter went to college under there turn for approach so i got to see them every time i visited the campus.  

[billn53]

Just got back today from my business trip (earlier than expected) and was able to do the metallic areas on the Deuce:

 

 

 

   

 

If anyone is curious, I used AK Interactive's Xtreme Metal enamel (gun metal) as the base color. I also added a bit of burnt metal and metallic smoke to the region behind the engine nozzle.

 

Landing gear and weapons bays were unmasked. A bit of touchup is needed, especially around the edges of the weapon bay.

 

 

 

Here's how the Deuce is looking now. Almost time to start adding decals!

 

 

 

And, lastly, the aftermarket engine nozzle for other half of this project arrived today, so I can get back to work on the F-16.

 

 

 

 

[Andwil]

First time I’ve seen a jet “noozle ” 

 

AW

[billn53]

2 hours ago, Andwil said:

First time I’ve seen a jet “noozle ” 

 

AW

Wait till you see it built!
 

(Kind of makes you wonder about “High Quality Cast Product”)

[billn53]

Got most of the Deuce's decals added today. 

 

 

 

 

 

Tidied up the cockpit area:

 

 

 

Added the dorsal anti-collision beacon:

 

 

 

and finished the speed brakes:

 

 

 

I haven't added decals to the fin yet. First, I need to make up some red strips for the rudder. I also need to make a gray background for the serial number. In both cases, my plan is to paint some blank decal paper in appropriate colors, and cut to the requisite size.

 

 

 

I also need to decal the wing tanks and weapons bay. After that, I'll do the canopy, fit the landing gear & wing tanks, and complete the weapons bay. Last item will be the nose probe. For that, I'll need to figure out how to paint the red and white barber pole. 

[LorenSharp]

*Picking jaw off of floor* Wow! on a scale of 1-10 I'd give this Deuce a 25 and 3/4 . Don't want to give you a swelled head for perfection. That paint job is purdier than an new set of snow tires. Most Excellent finish!

Edited January 31, 2020 by LorenSharp
spelling

[billn53]

1 minute ago, LorenSharp said:

 That paint job is purdier that an new set of snow tires. Most Excellent finish!

Thanks for the compliment. As I mentioned, the True North enamels are a pleasure to work with, most of the credit belongs there. 

[LorenSharp]

I'm going to have to see if I can find them Thank you for the info.

 

[billn53]

Well, I couldn't resist checking out my new resin engine nozzle for the F-16, and next thing I knew, it was attached to the fuselage!

 

 

 

 

All in all, I'm not terribly impressed with this piece of aftermarket. The fit isn't great, and externally, it looks just like the kit nozzle. The only difference is that the interior of the petals have more detail. The piece representing the rear of the engine, by the way, is from the kit.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

46 minutes ago, billn53 said:

Well, I couldn't resist checking out my new resin engine nozzle for the F-16,

Don't you mean Noozle ? 😉

 

22 hours ago, billn53 said:

 

Sorry couldn't help it... I’ll get me  

[Serkan Sen]

Deuce looks awesome Bill.

Serkan

[Andwil]

F-102 looks really good, those air brakes are fantastic.

 

Noozle is quite disappointing, you expect after market to be be a noticeable improvement over kit parts, otherwise what’s the point?

 

AW

[RidgeRunner]

You've been doing some great work, Bill. Great stuff!

 

Martin

 

[billn53]

This coming Monday is our local group's show-and-tell, and I'd dearly like to have the Deuce done by then. That's just two days away, so I'll have to hump if I'm going to make it.

 

Good news is, I've finished with the decaling!

 

One drawback of the Draw Decal decals is that they are relatively thick, and sometimes resist conforming to curves. This was most apparent when I applied the William Tell markings to the underwing tanks. The red apple just didn't want to sit properly on the compound curve at the nose of the fuel tank. I had to bring out my "big gun" of decal softening agents, the original SolvaSet solution:

 

 

 

Turning to the tail fin markings, I had to abandon my original plan for the rudder stripes (red-painted decal sheet). When I went to cut the stripes, the red paint flaked off of the decal sheet:

 

 

 

I had to resort to Plan B -- masking and painting the stripes directly on the rudder. As expected, some touch-up will be needed:

 

 

 

The rest of the fin decaling went smoothly. I do wish, however, that the white used by DrawDecal was more opaque. There's a little bit of the red background showing through on the "03" numerals and ANG logo  (more apparent to the naked eye than to my camera)

 

 

 

That's it for now!

 

[philp]

With Draw it wouldn't hurt for another copy of the 03 markings.  Then you could double up.

[billn53]

Just now, philp said:

With Draw it wouldn't hurt for another copy of the 03 markings.  Then you could double up.

I actually have a second set, and have been considering exactly what you suggest. 

[rob Lyttle]

4 hours ago, billn53 said:

When I went to cut the stripes, the red paint flaked off of the decal sheet:

I've had better results by spraying some clear decal paper with a rattle can. 

But that leaves you with a colour matching issue in this situation. 

I wouldn't necessarily give up on the idea for future use. Different paints will behave differently. 

You can even try cutting the paper to size before painting? 

The numbers and logo look OK in the picture as you say. Probably helped by the background being uniform. I had a problem with a star n bar that was half over a dayglo red tail panel, while the other half was on nmf. 

Now that really DID show!! 

[billn53]

1 hour ago, rob Lyttle said:

I've had better results by spraying some clear decal paper with a rattle can. 

But that leaves you with a colour matching issue in this situation. 

I wouldn't necessarily give up on the idea for future use. Different paints will behave differently. 

You can even try cutting the paper to size before painting? 

The numbers and logo look OK in the picture as you say. Probably helped by the background being uniform. I had a problem with a star n bar that was half over a dayglo red tail panel, while the other half was on nmf. 

Now that really DID show!! 

About the flaking paint, I guess it depends on what the paint is. The red that flaked on me is an acrylic. I also used painted decal paper for the gray rectangle behind the tail number -- that paint is an enamel, and I had no problems with it.

 

I didn't think about cutting beforehand until too late. But, considering how fragile the red paint was on the decal paper, I have my doubts.

 

Finally, I sacrificed the "03" and ANG logo from my extra DrawDecal sheet and doubled-up, as Philip suggested. Much better! See the "before" and "after" below:

 

   

 

Again, the camera doesn't pick up the difference as well as the naked eye does.

 

I also masked and painted the cockpit pieces (sorry, no photo yet). Meng's transparent parts are amazingly clear. Usually I go through the polish & dip procedure with clear parts. I felt no need for that in this case. While reviewing photos of the actual aircraft's canopy, I realized that I needed to paint the "step" that the kit windscreen sits on in ADC gray (instead of black). So, here it is:

 

 

 

I've also done a bit more work on the F-16 nozzle (or noozle, if you prefer). I faired the resin piece into the fuselage with Bondo

 

 

 

Which, admittedly, doesn't look too great. But it's actually better than it appears, as evidenced by how it now looks with a coat of Mr Surfacer 1500:

 

 

 

The proof is in the primer! 😁

[Serkan Sen]

6 hours ago, billn53 said:

When I went to cut the stripes, the red paint flaked off of the decal sheet

The solution would be first cutting the decal transfer film (even without detaching from carrying back paper) and then spray over the decal paper. 🤔

Or maybe sealing with clear coat before cutting strips would have helped.

Serkan

[billn53]

1 hour ago, Serkan Sen said:

maybe sealing with clear coat before cutting strips would have helped.

That I did. I believe the core problem is that the red paint I used isn’t flexible. 

[Jackson Duvalier]

8 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

The solution would be first cutting the decal transfer film (even without detaching from carrying back paper) and then spray over the decal paper. 🤔

Or maybe sealing with clear coat before cutting strips would have helped.

Serkan

My first thought.  

 

As an aside and perhaps too much insight to my own dissolute modelling life, I'm getting more and more used to applying markings with flawed paint corrected with flawed decals corrected with yet another go at flawed paint, lather, rinse, repeat until either the model or myself JDGAFNM.  Serkan's suggestion seems more... tidy?  But paint that doesn't flex when dry on decal paper will flex over whatever you spray it on out of an airbrush.  Stir, mix, thin, strain, spray, clean, consult references, repeat....

 

The Deuce is looking great, Bill, regardless of the chippy stripes.  The doubled up markings seem a good idea, via my monitor the second photo doesn't look any whiter in the 03 and Wisconsin ANG areas, but the red looks substantially deeper in the second photo-- camera artifact, mebbe?  

 

I'm a bit disappointed for you in the noozle but I'm sure it'll look great when you're done.  I've a growing disenchantment with certain resin bit peddlers, some of their bits are splendid and worthwhile and others make me wonder why they bothered, or why I paid for it.