It's fast! It's British! It's a Lightning!

[bbudde]

What's going wrong last night G.?

[giemme]

8 hours ago, perdu said:

Oh

2 hours ago, keefr22 said:

...dear...

1 hour ago, bbudde said:

What's going wrong last night G.?

 

A number of things, really - although I have to say, after tonight's repairing job, a lot less dramatic than what they looked like in the beginning

 

So let's see: the thrill started when I began unmasking, and felt the rudder going slightly wobbly. I thought I had broken it off mishandling the model, instead it turned out the whole back part of the fin got detached, like unglued sort of thing, and I have no idea how   Anyhow, no pics of that as I glued it back right away with TET (and a lot of caution, so as not to lift off the metallic finish).

 

Speaking of lifting off: large (for the scale) chunk of gloss black paint came off with the masking tape from the spine

 

 

 

Again, no idea what happened there   It occured to me already with Tamiya paints sometimes (I can remember on my Harrier build, for instance), but I thought it was down to poor prepping - this time I was quite fastidious about the surface preparation pre-black paint and afterwards, when I sprayed a good two Aqua Gloss protective coats and let them cure before masking...

 

Speaking of which, this also happened: tape residuals on top of the gloss clear coat, only at the base of the fin, starboard side

 

 

BTW, those marks were left by Tamiya Tape for Curves, which notoriously has a very mild bonding power, so the last thing I would expect to cause trouble to the underlying paint!

 

Port side of the fin also showed some poor masking 

 

 

More paint flaked off form the windshield

 

Well, anyway: as I mentioned, the repair went pretty well, after all. First off, I used some post-it notes to mask the base of the fin and the surroundings, and resprayed gloss aluminium

 

Then I masked with Tamiya Tape for Curves and post-it note to respray the spine and the bottom starboard side of the fin

 

And here's the end result

 

Tape marks gone too

 

Now, before I fix the windshield (and spray it and the anti-glare panel with flat black), I'll give the fixes a good 24 hours to cure, then I'll spray more Aqua Gloss and live that another 48 hours to cure completely. Don't want to take any more chances with this

 

In between all of this, there was some (meager) progress, not the one-step-forward-two-backward kind of progress shown so far - actual progress: I started working on the missiles.

First I drilled a hole in the back

 

Then I glued in the fins

 

 

Tricky, because they were all butt joints. I just brushed some TET on their intended location, posed and aligned, and waited for the glue to do its job. I'm gonna need to refine the joins with CA probably, but again, they first need to cure properly.

 

All in all, it looks like the setbacks turned out to be a waste of time, but nothing more than that.

 

All comments welcome

 

Ciao

 

 

 

 

[bbudde]

Oh good to see you working with the rockets again

Gut zu sehen, dass Du schon wieder mit den Raketen rum frickelst/friemelst

Nice recovery. Anyway.

Cheers and good night

Edited May 18, 2020 by bbudde

[John Laidlaw]

Great save, Giorgio!

[Terry1954]

Brilliant save there Giorgio. When these things happen it's very disheartening, but best to walk away, think things through, then patiently fix the problems.

 

She's looking very good at the moment.

 

Terry

[The Spadgent]

Phew!!! 

[keefr22]

Phew, nice saves G, had us worried for a while there! 👍

 

30 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

When these things happen it's very disheartening

 

Too true Terry, and what I personally find makes it worse is when we've used the same techniques before without issue and then things totally unexpected happen for absolutely no apparent reason....

 

Keith

[Cookenbacher]

Excellent save Giorgio!

[Biggles87]

Seconded!

I like the finish with the Tamiya Gloss Aluminium, I’ve only used their flat version so far. It doesn’t look too grainy to me.

 

John

[CedB]

Thirded! Great save Giorgio and a real pain after all your careful work  

[Spookytooth]

Nice rescue there G. It`s always a bugger when something like that happens.

It`s called "Sod`s Law"

 

Stay safe.

 

Simon.

[corsaircorp]

Hello Giorgio,

I just listened to a broadcasted interview of a superstar.

And the guy live in Bergamo !!

The incredible Giacommo Agostini !!

78 years old and still riding bikes !!

That's a champion !!

Sincerely.

CC

[giemme]

On 18/05/2020 at 23:11, bbudde said:

Oh good to see you working with the rockets again

Gut zu sehen, dass Du schon wieder mit den Raketen rum frickelst/friemelst

Nice recovery. Anyway.

Cheers and good night

Danke viel mals, Benedikt  

On 18/05/2020 at 23:30, John Laidlaw said:

Great save, Giorgio!

Thanks john

On 18/05/2020 at 23:40, Terry1954 said:

Brilliant save there Giorgio. When these things happen it's very disheartening, but best to walk away, think things through, then patiently fix the problems.

 

She's looking very good at the moment.

 

Terry

Thanks Terry - as I said, the fix was easier than I thought. It just put a bit of delay in the plans, that's all  

On 19/05/2020 at 00:11, The Spadgent said:

Phew!!! 

Indeed!    

On 19/05/2020 at 00:13, keefr22 said:

Phew, nice saves G, had us worried for a while there! 👍

 

 

Too true Terry, and what I personally find makes it worse is when we've used the same techniques before without issue and then things totally unexpected happen for absolutely no apparent reason....

 

Keith

Cheers Keith, thanks  I didn't bother too much about understanding what caused the problem, in the end it was fixable. But I'll be very careful with Tamiya Gloss Black next time  

On 19/05/2020 at 02:08, Cookenbacher said:

Excellent save Giorgio!

Thanks Cookie, much appreciated

On 19/05/2020 at 07:07, Biggles87 said:

Seconded!

I like the finish with the Tamiya Gloss Aluminium, I’ve only used their flat version so far. It doesn’t look too grainy to me.

 

John

Thanks John   These rattle can Tamiya paints provide an excellent finish and are very forgiving - you just need to go through the hassle of decanting them if you want a better control and spray them through your airbrush, but it's totally worth it  

On 19/05/2020 at 09:19, CedB said:

Thirded! Great save Giorgio and a real pain after all your careful work  

Thank you Ced - I'm glad it all went well in the end

On 19/05/2020 at 11:30, Spookytooth said:

Nice rescue there G. It`s always a bugger when something like that happens.

It`s called "Sod`s Law"

 

Stay safe.

 

Simon.

I thought it was called Murphy's law, but there, you might have a better point ...   Thanks mate

On 23/05/2020 at 20:36, corsaircorp said:

Hello Giorgio,

I just listened to a broadcasted interview of a superstar.

And the guy live in Bergamo !!

The incredible Giacommo Agostini !!

78 years old and still riding bikes !!

That's a champion !!

Sincerely.

CC

Giacomo Agostini, nonetheless! He and Felice Gimondi (different kind of bike champion) are the local heroes, and great achievers because they both became great worldwide! Gimondi passed away not long ago, they had the same age.

 

Time for an update, everybody   So the fix to the black spine has put some delay in the works, as I said, especially because I had to do a series of thigns that included protective clear coats in between, with consequent curing time.

 

Anyway, I did spray some Tamiya Flat Black on some sparse bits

 

 

and the airbrushed the missiles with Mission Models White, all the other bits with decanted Tamiya Gloss Aluminium but for one side of the main wheels rim, which was sprayed Tamiya Sky Grey.

 

After curing, they all received a protective Aqua Gloss coat.

 

Back to the main airframe: I airbrushed AK Extreme Metal Chrome on the intake ring, and Tamiya Flat Black on the windshield and anti-glare panel - you may not notice much of a difference with the gloss black spine, because next pics show it after again an Aqua Gloss coat (as an aside, I let the chrome bit cure for 24 hours before spraying Aqua Gloss, which also cured for another 24 hours)

 

 

I also resprayed with AK Extreme Metal Steel this panel on the fuselage side, because I wasn't 100% happy with the repair after the overzealous polishing

 

So again, after an overall Aqua Gloss coat, here's how she sits now

 

I'll do some test fitting of the main struts with their actuators when it's all cured, then I'l have to decide what to do with decals. The plan is to apply all stencils and decals for the tail fin and see how they behave. Based on that, I'll see if I want to cut out some painting masks or not. Regardless, I'm thinking of masking and spraying the walkway lines, because I really don't like to deal with long and narrow decal strips.

 

All comments welcome

 

Ciao

 

[The Spadgent]

10 minutes ago, giemme said:

I'm thinking of masking and spraying the walkway lines,

😯😯😯😯 ok. 
 

Seriously though, brilliant and steady work Giorgio.  Love it.

 

Johnny.

[phantom61]

I really like Giorgio ...
do you think to put the decals by putting a glossy transparent also on the natural metal parts ???

 

👏👏👏👏

 

ciao 

Silvano

[Cookenbacher]

Beautiful work Giorgio!

[giemme]

11 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

😯😯😯😯 ok. 
 

Seriously though, brilliant and steady work Giorgio.  Love it.

 

Johnny.

You don't like the idea of painted walkway lines?    I feel like that about decals, so ...     And thanks for the praise, much appreciated  

11 hours ago, phantom61 said:

I really like Giorgio ...
do you think to put the decals by putting a glossy transparent also on the natural metal parts ???

 

👏👏👏👏

 

ciao 

Silvano

Thanks Silvano   Yes, as I said I sprayed Aqua Gloss all over the airframe; on its bottle it says it was specifically designed as a protective coat for hi-shine Alclad paints, so I figured it would be good for Tamiya and AK too. Besides, if I only had sprayed decanted Gloss Alu, it would not have been necessary, because it's a very tough paint and could have handled setting fluid and all. AK Extreme Metal not so much, so I decided I wasn't taking any risks  

11 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Beautiful work Giorgio!

Cheers Cookie, thanks  - glad you like it!  

 

Ciao

[Massimo]

I admire your skill when it comes to painting - sanding - masking - painting again.......

She's coming along nicely!

Well done Giorgio!!!!

[CedB]

Gorgeous Giorgio, especially that Chrome. Great work  

[giemme]

19 minutes ago, Massimo said:

I admire your skill when it comes to painting - sanding - masking - painting again.......

She's coming along nicely!

Well done Giorgio!!!!

Thanks Massimo, you're very kind   I'd rather have the skill to do things right at the first attempt, though - but I suppose you can't have all, can you?     

4 minutes ago, CedB said:

Gorgeous Giorgio, especially that Chrome. Great work  

Cheers Ced, glad you like it  It is actually much shinier in real life, but it's hard to photograph properly  - for my skills and my phone camera, at least  

 

Ciao

[Spookytooth]

Looks good from here G.

It`s a pain having to seal between coats, time consuming too but necessary.

 

Simon. 

[PlaStix]

Fantastic progress Giorgio and well done on the save after the masking/paint issues.

I hope you and yours are all keeping well.

Kind regards,

Stix

[giemme]

12 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

Looks good from here G.

It`s a pain having to seal between coats, time consuming too but necessary.

 

Simon. 

Yes, absolutely necessary, as you say. Thanks Simon!

6 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Fantastic progress Giorgio and well done on the save after the masking/paint issues.

I hope you and yours are all keeping well.

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks Stix  We are keeping well actually, thanks for asking - stay safe you and yours!

 

Ciao

[giemme]

Alright everybody, time for an update  

 

There has been some (meager) progress during the week; once the Aqua Gloss coat had cured on the airframe and the sparse bits, I test fitted one of the main struts with its actuator arms

 

 

These are just laid down without any holding stuff - looks OK to me.

 

Then I decided to test the decals on the fin, and I have to say they went down pretty well

 

 

They are quite thin and tend to settle quickly, especially if preparing the surface with setting solution. So I changed my mind about the walkway lines, also because they are way too thin to get a decent result with masking and spraying at this scale; here they are, in decals form

 

They confirmed all my hatred for this kind of stuff, and I already regret I used them, but the roundels should take most of the attention out of them ... hopefully  

 

Also, I don't think their layout is entirely correct, especially the line running closer to the wing trailing edge: the decal there stops at a few millimetres from the wing to fuselage join, and it just seems odd. Any idea anyone?

 

I went on putting some more stencils on port side

 

 

Then I stopped to preserve my sanity   There still are many stencils to put on, plus the markings, so I'll break down this job in more rounds.

 

Meanwhile, I started working on a base, but nothing worth a pic yet.

 

All comments welcome

 

Ciao

 

[Spookytooth]

All looking good there G.

Those walkway decals looked a pain.

 

Stay safe.

 

Simon.