Vickers Valetta 1/72 build

[TheyJammedKenny!]

55 minutes ago, Team Aer Lingus said:

Taking shape very nicely Alex very well done 

 

I'm learning as you go along which is a great help

Thanks, Eamonn!  There are probably as many legit approaches to building this kit (and the Viking) as there are modelers.  I've used the different colors of primer before on other projects, and it works well, but it may not be everyone's cup o' tea.  Alex

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Here we are after several applications of white Stynylrez primer.  There are some imperfections, most notably a slight ridge along the fuselage top-side, but I'm pretty sure I can carefully sand this away.  There's also some stubborn dust particles to carefully remove.  I'm giving it 48 hours to fully dry before I work on it with 1500 grit wet sandpaper.  I think the overall shape looks good, especially in the slightly raised portion in the roof of the forward fuselage.  Based on close study of photos of the real thing, I may have installed the astrodome a mm or two too far back, but I'm not worried about it.  

 

I'm now debating whether, after sanding, to apply the final white coat (Polly-Scale) and trust that the masking job won't result in its stripping off, or mask the white primer, and apply the final paint after I apply the black gloss primer on the underside.  I would mask it only to protect it against the silver sprayed over the black areas.  I'm also thinking that the kit's Rebecca antennas are too fragile, and I'll substitute with a pair from an ESCI C-47 kit.

 

Edited January 16, 2021 by TheyJammedKenny!
minor corrections

[LaurieS]

Looking good Alex. Not sure how many coats of Stynylerez. I put on a mist then full. Start sanding after about 2 hours & not had any problems with curing..

 

Had same dilemma on the Dakota. White on top silver under. And I had stripping of silver. I use Vallejo Metal Color which is a bit fragile. However, I did find though it stripped in a couple of places it wet 7 dried on the edge of the strip very well. Blowing it back it was invisible. I did a day or so after curing the Metal Color repair apply Vallejo metal color varnish to all the Silver to strengthen which seemed to work

 

Same problem on the Bristol Freighter with a red line between the two. This is the first time in 20 years I have attempted airliners & they are pesky things to paint compared to military.

 

Love to find how you do it & results Alex.

 

Think I may try the Vickers Viking next  🤣🙃

 

Laurie

 

PS had my first Vaccination. 🤩

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Dear Laurie:  Congratulations on getting vaccinated!  Also, thanks so much for sharing your experiences.  I, too, plan to use Vallejo Metal Color in order to simulate the silver paint on this aircraft, and have found Vallejo Metal easy to repair in much the way you describe--even to the point of my sanding it all the way down to the primer, then gently re-applying with the airbrush, at low pressure, in a local area, and without noticeable differences in the look/color of the paint.  

 

White paint, however, is far more tricky to repair, which is why I'm more partial to repeated masking.  Fortunately, I've found that when I accidentally end up lifting the white Stynylrez, I can build it up again by applying it by paintbrush to the affected area, leaving a day to dry between layers, then sanding it to even it out.  It repairs without fuss or evidence of a struggle.

 

For narrow striping, I might have suggested clever use of decal as I've seen others do.  Fortunately, no need for that on this project.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Here we are with the masks removed.  I had to use a fresh hobby knife blade, gently applied along the tape edge, to ensure the masking would not remove the primer paint.  I then carefully evened things out, left and right, to ensure some amount of symmetry, using the sharp blade to cut away excess paint.  With wet 2000 grit sandpaper, I gently sanded away ridge lines that had formed along the masking tape.  Whew!  Next step is to carefully mask these white areas and apply the black gloss undercoat for the silver.  I'll try and ensure the masking is lower tack this time to insure against lifting.

 

 

I'm satisfied that the raised ridge along the dorsal spine is now completely gone--carefully sanded away.  But I had to re-scribe some of the panel lines--very carefully!

 

 

Profile looks pretty good, too:

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by TheyJammedKenny!
minor word changes

[LaurieS]

All looking very good & handsome Alex. All the trimming takes time but certainly pays dividends.

 

I use that technique on cockpit windows. Gives a nice clean edge. Plus any paint which has seeped under the masking is cut & easy to remove.

 

Very tricky masking around those window frames.

 

Think I will do Jersey's own Islander next with the Viking following.

 

Laurie

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Thanks, Laurie!  My plan is to remove / replace the cockpit masks before I apply the final coat of white paint and clear-coat.  The rationale is simple: excessive paint build-up can result in the acrylic paint tearing off in strips.  It's really delicate work to do this, but worthwhile.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Behold, the seldom-seen "night intruder" version of the Valetta!  Actually, all of the black you see here will eventually be covered over in what passes for "high speed silver," which must've applied tongue-in-cheek to these slow-movers.  The white areas are carefully masked, but expect some leakage , which is the reason for the fresh tape in places.  

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

And Murphey's Law dictates that there will always be problems.  This occurred when I applied the second coat of black gloss Stynylrez after allowing the first coat to dry 24 hours.  I think I was too hasty, and applied too many sweeps of the airbrush too quickly.  As I had mixed a little water in with the mixture to make it flow better, it formed pools that behaved badly as they dried particularly on the wing and horizontal stabilizer undersides.  You can see that here.  

 

 

The good news is that the wing-to-body and stabilizer-body joints are quite good and require no work to smooth over.  I expected the underside of the fuselage, particularly along the seam line, to require some sanding anyway, so my next move will be to let all this dry for a week or so, then carefully go over it with some fine grit sandpaper.  Lesson-learned! Even something as self-leveling as Stynylrez can bite back if applied too thin and under too much pressure.  Here's another view of the underside:

 

[Ruskin Air Services]

Looking good, way better than my effort that been consigned to its box! 

[LaurieS]

Ha ha Alex just been typing my little programme for the Bristol Freighter.

 

Sprayed the wings silver. then realised should have used the black primer. Vallejo paint.

 

So start again.

 

Nice progress there I wondered where you had been.

 

Do you airbrush the white last. If so my sad experience is complete the white as the white takes masking. Found on the Dakota I applied silver first & masked silver  which, at least with Vallejo Metal Color, really stripped in a number of area. Now apply silver last.

 

Nice to hear from you Alex.

 

Laurie

 

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by LaurieS

[TheyJammedKenny!]

1 hour ago, Ruskin Air Services said:

Looking good, way better than my effort that been consigned to its box!

Sorry to hear that.  If something is too frustrating to be fun, you put it aside.  So it's a good move on your part--work on something that gives you pleasure, rather than "obligates" you.

 

1 hour ago, LaurieS said:

Do you airbrush the white last. If so my sad experience is complete the white as the white takes masking. Found on the Dakota I applied silver first & masked silver  which, at least with Vallejo Metal Color, really stripped in a number of area. Now apply silver last.

 

Hey there, @LaurieS!  I'm glad to hear from you.  Yes, always use black or dark grey underneath Vallejo metallics.  Never use their own brand of gloss black undercoat, as it strips off in clumps at the least provocation. 

 

As you properly suggest, my plan is to airbrush the Vallejo silver-aluminum mix, designed to simulate HSS, absolutely last.  That means getting the black undercoat smooth first, cover all seam and scribing imperfections, and then masking over it to finish the white fuselage "crown" with Polly-S insignia white.  I'll then re-mask the white and apply silver.  Somewhere in all this hilarity, I'll re-mask the windows to avoid excessive paint build-up.  This process is time-consuming, but I think worth it. 

[LaurieS]

32 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Sorry to hear that.  If something is too frustrating to be fun, you put it aside.  So it's a good move on your part--work on something that gives you pleasure, rather than "obligates" you.

 

Hey there, @LaurieS!  I'm glad to hear from you.  Yes, always use black or dark grey underneath Vallejo metallics.  Never use their own brand of gloss black undercoat, as it strips off in clumps at the least provocation. 

 

As you properly suggest, my plan is to airbrush the Vallejo silver-aluminum mix, designed to simulate HSS, absolutely last.  That means getting the black undercoat smooth first, cover all seam and scribing imperfections, and then masking over it to finish the white fuselage "crown" with Polly-S insignia white.  I'll then re-mask the white and apply silver.  Somewhere in all this hilarity, I'll re-mask the windows to avoid excessive paint build-up.  This process is time-consuming, but I think worth it. 

Misunderstood Alex you & I are on the same wavelength.

 

On windows. Now mask cockpits so they only receive a minimum of paint.

 

Laurie

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Thanks!  Yes, I think there's a way I can do that: I may need to apply a couple coats of white over the cockpit framing to get the color tone right, let it dry, then carefully mask it so it doesn't receive any more paint.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Here we are after some sanding the areas where the paint misbehaved (see above).  I went to work on it using wet 2000 grit sandpaper, and where the plastic or filler putty has been exposed, I'll go over it gently with some wet 3600 grit micro-mesh, just to smooth the transition between paint and plastic, before applying another coat of Stynylrez.

 

 

Yes, we do have some natural sunshine streaming in today:

 

[LaurieS]

4 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Here we are after some sanding the areas where the paint misbehaved (see above).  I went to work on it using wet 2000 grit sandpaper, and where the plastic or filler putty has been exposed, I'll go over it gently with some wet 3600 grit micro-mesh, just to smooth the transition between paint and plastic, before applying another coat of Stynylrez.

 

 

Yes, we do have some natural sunshine streaming in today:

 

Looking good Alex & very familiar. Going through the same process.

 

Laurie

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Here we are with all the masks removed from the primer coats.  I sanded, re-sprayed, sanded, and then polished the gloss black.  For the polish, I employed Novus 2 liquid plastic polish.  In the course of removing the masks, I managed to dislodge some of the primer paint, which I'm carefully reapplying with a brush in small areas, slowly building up, coat-by-coat, and with at least 24 hours drying time between coats.  I admit these aren't the best of photos, but they give some idea of what this will look like when silver replaces the black.

 

 

 

[LaurieS]

33 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Here we are with all the masks removed from the primer coats.  I sanded, re-sprayed, sanded, and then polished the gloss black.  For the polish, I employed Novus 2 liquid plastic polish.  In the course of removing the masks, I managed to dislodge some of the primer paint, which I'm carefully reapplying with a brush in small areas, slowly building up, coat-by-coat, and with at least 24 hours drying time between coats.  I admit these aren't the best of photos, but they give some idea of what this will look like when silver replaces the black.

Nice work Apex all looking good & sleek.

 

Will not be long before i am at the Viking.

 

Laurie

33 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LaurieS]

2 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Here we are with all the masks removed from the primer coats.  I sanded, re-sprayed, sanded, and then polished the gloss black.  For the polish, I employed Novus 2 liquid plastic polish.  In the course of removing the masks, I managed to dislodge some of the primer paint, which I'm carefully reapplying with a brush in small areas, slowly building up, coat-by-coat, and with at least 24 hours drying time between coats.  I admit these aren't the best of photos, but they give some idea of what this will look like when silver replaces the black.

Alex when did you change your name to Apex 🤣😀🤣

 

[perdu]

 

Apex?

 

Looking at the 'becoming silver', apex is pretty accurate

 

He's high on the pile with this Valetta, looking very fine Alex.

 

Very fine.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

8 hours ago, perdu said:

Apex?

 

Looking at the 'becoming silver', apex is pretty accurate

 

He's high on the pile with this Valetta, looking very fine Alex.

 

Very fine.

Thanks so much!  The paint phase is always the most dangerous part of this whole thing.  Shows many mistakes!

[TheyJammedKenny!]

18 hours ago, LaurieS said:

Will not be long before i am at the Viking.

Blasted spell-checker at work!  I'm hoping you enjoy the Viking.  One thing I would strongly recommend against is trying to reinforce the fuselage seams with strips of styrene, because the blasted things have different thicknesses of plastic.  You'll get varied results unless you can figure out a good way of going about it.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Here's the final white paint, a Polly-S flat that I gently wet-sanded with 3200 Micromesh sanding cloth to smooth out.  I then masked and airbrushed the antiglare panel, which though not perfectly symmetrical is certainly satisfactory.  At least it's centered!  The gloss black I polished with more liquid polish, and you can see the reflections on it.  Next step will be to carefully mask the white, touch up the black, and apply the silver.

 

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

As I get closer to the end-game, I'm working on the smaller, niggly details, such as the Rebecca and ADF aerials.  The Rebecca antennas that came with the kit seemed too delicate and flat to my taste, and I used a set from an ESCI C-47, even though it's slightly out-of-scale.  At least the yagi antennas are round.  

 

[LaurieS]

Looking good Alex. Closing in on a taxi date.

 

A hate feeling niggly bits.

 

Hope all is well out there to the west.

 

Laurie