I’m Finally Building a Sea Balliol........slowly ticking over

[bentwaters81tfw]

Lots of piccies in the Walkaround section Trevor. Coming along nicely. Scratch build of the 1/24 scale next?

[Max Headroom]

4 hours ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

Scratch build of the 1/24 scale next?

 

Somehow I don’t think so! Thanks for the ego boost though.

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Hello again.

 

I have a small peeve to get off my chest. It appears that Special Hobby gave the Sea Balliol folding wings because it’s a naval aircraft. Looking at sprue shots I see that the T.2 has fixed wings. The Balliol/Sea Balliol was designed from the outset to have folding wings. Personally, I’d far rather have the fixed wings but with a groove on the inside for a cut. As it is, I’ve spent far too much time on this trying to get level wing parts with no step at the break. Despite my best intentions, the upper wings failed this test and a modicum of filler was needed.

 

 

Masking tape was laid down chord wise at the joint and at a line forward of the airbrake at the rear (another gripe - these should have been etched IMHO). Very light sanding got me to the state of affairs above. Polishing up and delicate scribing resulted in the desired smooth surface and panel line detail.

 

I also had to run superglue along the fold line too. That was sanded down and the wing break reinstated.

 

To pull all this together I decided on a coat of primer.

 

There that’s better.

 

Next up, attach the wing glazing and another undercoat, this time black as a base for the silver. I think I’ll use the Lifecolor black from my Finnish Air Force set. It’s dense and thin. Of course I won’t use the black for those areas that’ll be yellow and orange. For that, I will use white. I have heard that yellow can also be used as an undercoat for the orange - I’ll have an experiment beforehand!
 

Afterwards, I can what we in the modelling fraternity call ‘plonking the cockpit canopy on’. That will allow me to finish the canopy runners at the rear of the glazing.

 

Last lap. Not the final bend but still progress.

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

No I hadn’t forgotten about this one, I was concentrating on my other BP product, the Defiant, for the BoB group build. Then I got unfurloughed (is that a word?), so my modelling time shrunk rather a lot.

 

Bit of a sit rep. I was rummaging through my paint box and realised that my Dayglo Orange has set solid. If I remember rightly, it was always a dubious pot of paint in the first place. So that means I have to change my marking option. It will instead be one in standard silver/natural metal and yellow. Not sure which one yet.

 

Here is where I am at the moment

 

 

It looks a bit rough - don’t worry, it’s getting a rub back to remove the worst excesses of brush marks. I’ve been way over generous with the areas of yellow, but it should make masking off easier. Since this picture was taken, it’s had a further rub and another coat of yellow. The cockpit coating has also had a splash of black.

 

More soonish!

 

Trevor

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Trevor: please explain your "rub-back process" for brush-coats, if it's suitable for all audiences, including those of a prurient bent!!!

[Max Headroom]

Being a brush painter, I have to be careful when painting, otherwise I will end up with ridges. Acrylics normally require more than one coat, so more layers of paint would result in ridges on some of the thicker paints, leaving brush mark and the like. To counter this, I have an old and worn piece of wet and dry paper (used dry), which I rub very gently over the paint in order to remove the worse excesses. I then use polishing pads before laying down another layer. It may look a bit rough during the process, but usually results in an acceptable finish.

 

Usually!

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Still here and very slowly moving down the production line🙄

 

More sanding etc etc but today I decided to mask off the yellow training bands.

 

 

The wings were ok, but the fuselage took longer than I thought. S’pose it’s the compound curves. Anyway, this is as good as it’s going to get.

 

Im delaying, because I’ve got to hand brush the silver and I hate that almost as much as brushing yellow.......

 

Time to ask the Britmodeller hive mind. I have several pots of ‘silver’ in stock. These are:

 

Humbrol 56 aluminium 

Humbrol 2701 aluminium

Humbrol 2702 polished aluminium 

Revell 91 steel

Revell 99 aluminium 

 

All the above are enamels. I also have Revell’s 36199 aluminium (acrylic).

 

Which is best? The only one I have used properly is the acrylic silver by Revell. However it doesn’t look like natural metal.

 

Tips and advice welcomed 😁👍🏻

 

Trevor

 

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Hi 

Great work,  never seen one of these built before, nice looking machine, great extra work on your part with the extra details. 

I am a brush painter too and Humbrol 56 brushes very well when thinned a bit, not to much and you will need at least two coats.  I have done several silver machines a Firefly T2, Oxford T2 and a Seahawk T20 using the Humbrol and they turned out very well, well in my opinion anyway.  

Thanks for the info re the Revell zcontacta and hhe resin bits, never heard of that before and will also try this out. 

Chris

[bentwaters81tfw]

Late to the party on this Trevor.

Have you seen the comprehensive reference in our Walkaround section?

 

Good practice for your 1/24 scale scratchbuild.

[Max Headroom]

@bigbadbadge thanks for dropping in. Just remember that Contacta Clear has zero adhesive qualities when a liquid, so anything you ‘glue’ using it needs to be anchored until set!

 

@bentwaters81tfw I’ve seen the pix and it makes me even more desperate for Airfix To Do The Right Thing. Sure, they can do it in 1/24.

 

Saves me the bother.......

 

Trevor

[bentwaters81tfw]

40 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

 

 I’ve seen the pix and it makes me even more desperate for Airfix To Do The Right Thing.

 

Trevor

I thought of you when I took them