Grumman Avenger - Italeri/A.M. 1/48 - Emerged from a car polish

[Rob K.]

Please find my latest completion Italeri's Grumman Avenger in 1/48 Scale.

 

The kit was nearly built out of the box apart from a P.E. seat harness and decals by Print Scale for the insignia and markings plus a Techmod sheet for the stencilling since most of the original decals were not usable anymore from this ebay purchase. (Which was made clear to me prior the purchase which was at a reasonable price)

 

Had some trouble with the windows, which required a few polishes with Tamiya polishing compound after which there were still some blemishes apparent. 

I once came across an article or video where they did some "after" polishing with car wax (Carnuba wax).

So I thought I would give that a try and it did have some effect on these windows.

 

Unwittingly I then used  my polishing cloth to wipe some dirt of the wing........................... which resulted in wax on the wing, which I was unable to remove. Since The wings were meant to be specular sea blue.

So I thought...............Why not wax the wings?

 

Subsequently I accidentally got some wax on the fuselage as well......😬

 

So decided to apply the wax on the entire model in a last ditch effort to save the model.

 

I am curious to know how you think it worked out.

 

I would not repeat this method, but one pleasant side effect was that the gritty-like sprayed paint on the wings (Should have thinned the paint a little more) and some orange peel effect was totally eliminated. Turned super smooth. So something to keep in the back of the mind.

Paints: Mr Color and AK real paints coated and polished in Simoniz Car wax!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did use an Eduard mask for the windows as well............

 

That's all, thanks for watching.

 

Regards,

 

Rob

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Werdna]

Mr Miyagi would be proud of that  (karate kid joke, for those that remember "wax on-wax off").  Seriously though, whatever it did seems to have worked really well, as the finish looks excellent.  Congrats on a great job..

[Britman]

Looks like you got away with it Rob.

 

Keith

[Gary Brantley]

Hey, it looks great to me!   No problems with how that turned out, great looking Avenger Rob!  

[Jeff G]

Great model and a great story!

[janneman36]

Nicely waxed😉 looks great despite the accident👍
 

cheers, Jan

[At Sea]

Is that the wax trapped in the panel lines?  If so it's a nice effect for a seagoing bird.

 

I'd be proud to have it in my cabinet!

 

Note to self, wax a plane...

 

 

[jhutchi]

Looks good to me 

[SleeperService]

What you have achieved is an excellent representation of an aircraft given a quick wipe over with an oily rag ready for some senior officer to barely glance at on his way to the drinks cabinet.

 

A very nice model indeed.

[Rob K.]

3 hours ago, At Sea said:

Is that the wax trapped in the panel lines?  If so it's a nice effect for a seagoing bird.

 

I'd be proud to have it in my cabinet!

 

Note to self, wax a plane...

 

 

Hi, the panel wash is diluted Humbrol grey👍

 

rgds

 

Rob

[IanC]

You've every right to wax lyrical about that one.

 

A superb build. 

 

 

[Rob K.]

Hi,

 

This is not a plug, but this was the product I used if anyone wants to give it a try. Forgot to mention that I had already laid down a coat of Alclad matt varnish over the entire model before I spilled the wax on the wing. (Not the Alclad aqua, but the solvent based type coating). Not sure how it would react straight on the paint. It is anyway good stuff for transparent plastic as it gives a glass like effect I find. 

 

 

Regards,

 

Rob