Airfix Phantom 'Black Mike'

[Jimbobtheflimbob]

Second completed lockdown build and this one i'm pretty happy with. A nice kit which went together alright although there were a few fit issues with the top of the air intakes. Unfortunately the primer gave it a horrible grainy texture which is accentuated by the light in these pictures but it looks alright in person. I'm not sure if Black Mike ever actually carried armament, let along black drop tanks, after being repainted, but I just thought it looked good. 

 

[SAT69]

Very nice model. I have a model building friend who uses a paper towel to buff flat primer paint after it's dried. Says it smooths the surface so that gloss finishes can be applied and get the required shiny finish. Has no adverse affect on the ability of the gloss paint to adhere to the primer. 

[Rover420]

I have found that tea bag and coffee filter paper are great at smoothing primer down. And again does not affect the finished coat, or try a bit of denim. This is good at polishing canopies if used with very little pressure.

[trickydicky210]

Nice Phantom 

[Duncan B]

Nice to see a Black Mike built up, well done.

 

I usually give my primer a bit of a rub down with an old cotton T shirt to get the roughness off it before going for the top colours. In reality Black Mike never carried any external stores as it was very near the end of it's fatigue life by that stage but as you say it looks great all loaded for Bear.

 

Duncan B

[Max Headroom]

Lovely ‘room. As everyone has said, it looks nice all tooled up. A vanilla Phantom just looks wrong!

 

I’ll add to the buffing up primer too. I usually use ever finer grades of polishing pads and if there is anything which won’t flat down, for examples dribble from over enthusiastic spraying, I have a very worn down piece of wet and dry paper too.

 

Trevor

[Charliesausage]

Doubt I could do any better with the finish at 1/72 scale mate, but I had at to a V Hi polish when I went with it to Bournmouth International Air Tattoo in 1989. Took me HOURS 😞 

And no, I never saw it with anything fitted, except ballast. Not sure if they were black or blue??? Black probably.

 

Nice build though. Hope my OCU Jet turns out as nice!

[stever219]

I’ve found that the back of a very well-worn piece of fine went dry, especially if it’s been used wet quite a lot previously, makes quite a good polishing tool.

[Darren Rhodes]

Nice model.  I'd also recommend Alclad Micromesh polishing clothes to knocking back the primer coat before the main colour coat, the coarsest grades, 3,600 or 4,000 grit.  More expensive, but definitely worth it. 

 

Darren

[phildagreek]

Looks good!

[Telboy3510]

On 21/04/2020 at 21:02, SAT69 said:

Very nice model. I have a model building friend who uses a paper towel to buff flat primer paint after it's dried. Says it smooths the surface so that gloss finishes can be applied and get the required shiny finish. Has no adverse affect on the ability of the gloss paint to adhere to the primer. 

That is an absolutely brilliant tip, just tried it on a Flanker that has been fighting me all the way, uneven colour shading and gritty feeling. Gave it rub with a paper towel and it's as smooth as a baby's bottom. Hasn't done anything for the uneven colour though! 😂

[F-32]

Nicely done

 

I always use a very well worn piece of sand paper with barely any grit left on it to rub down primer, sometimes I add a second coat which tends to be nice and smooth, other times I just spray straight onto the rubbed down surface.