mitchem Posted August 29, 2022 Author Share Posted August 29, 2022 On 8/15/2022 at 8:46 AM, kev67 said: Great progress, how did you do the silver passenger window frames Hi @kev67 Apologies for the delay in responding. Some time ago, I bought a Silhouette cutter and some sheets of vinyl masking. After a bit lot of messing about on the computer, I taught myself how to design and make masks to meet specific needs. With regards to the window frames, I've started here by placing a window mask on a sheet of black plastic : The cheatline would then be airbrushed over this (red in this case) : Once the paint has dried, another mask is applied on top (Need to be very careful to try and ensure that the frame gap is the same width all the way around the window) : Airbrush silver over the masks : ...and when everything is dry, carefully remove both masks : Repeat as many times as you need 😁 : mike 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted August 29, 2022 Author Share Posted August 29, 2022 Well, a bit of a momentous occasion this weekend after a near disaster. To say that I struggled with the port "tail to cheatline" masking and painting, would be an understatement ! Let's just say that at one point, I had to sand portions of the coloured stripes back to the white base before re-masking and repainting - Not nice. Three days later, the symmetry was there, or thereabouts : I also blended in the tops of the engines into the wings, applied the wing tip lights after drilling them out and painting green and red, and painted a couple of door frames using my homemade masks : I think I can put the green, yellow and red paints away now 👍 mike 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 Looks great, whatever you think of your efforts thus far! As for the window outlines, I used the same technique on my Tu-134A, but employed a mix of commercially available circle masks because the windows were circular. Not so with the 737 and other designs, so you really had to jump to the challenge here. In the past I've used silver surround decals over empty cabin windows and filled them with Kristal Klear, but that also has limits. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 That is looking absolutely stunning Mike - even KEN will be impressed by that cheatline! Brilliant work on the window outlines too! 👍 K 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 That looks teriffic. Cant wait to see the finished result👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted August 30, 2022 Author Share Posted August 30, 2022 9 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said: Looks great, whatever you think of your efforts thus far! As for the window outlines, I used the same technique on my Tu-134A, but employed a mix of commercially available circle masks because the windows were circular. Not so with the 737 and other designs, so you really had to jump to the challenge here. In the past I've used silver surround decals over empty cabin windows and filled them with Kristal Klear, but that also has limits. Many thanks @TheyJammedKenny!. Worth remembering as I just happen to have one of these buried in the attic : 7 hours ago, keefr22 said: That is looking absolutely stunning Mike - even KEN will be impressed by that cheatline! Brilliant work on the window outlines too! 👍 K Cheers Keith. Just wish I could build them as fast as Ken (I'm sure he's using Superglue again in spite of doctor's orders... 😀) 7 hours ago, Alex1978 said: That looks teriffic. Cant wait to see the finished result👍 Thanks Alex - me too ! mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 1 hour ago, mitchem said: (I'm sure he's using Superglue again in spite of doctor's orders... 😀) We'll find out if he comes to the next meeting with a guide dog....!! 🤣 (although I won't as I can't make it tomorrow) K 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted September 10, 2022 Author Share Posted September 10, 2022 I'm afraid that progress on the 737 has slowed down after getting distracted with another build. (Stay tuned as I'm hoping to reveal both completed builds at the same time !) In the meantime, I have drilled out the door portholes and painted out the door surrounds The next step is to start painting the engines, and once they have been completed, it will be time to join the wings to the fuselage. Before that can happen, the cheatline and white components of the scheme are going to have to be buried under masking tape. It could be the last time you see these guys for some time I ended the day off by printing out four sets of decals to complete the markings. (My home-made decals are printed out using an inkjet printer, and based on past experiences, I know how fragile they can be - always good to have spares available 😀 ) Thanks for looking. mike 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 Nice! 1 hour ago, mitchem said: (Stay tuned as I'm hoping to reveal both completed builds at the same time !) Looking forward to that! K 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 Beautiful! I love the logic behind your assembly process. Easy does it with this one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winded Penguin Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 Very late to this topic. Like everyone I'm impressed by the outstanding results being achieved 👍 However, beyond all that, I'm struck by how indispensably useful a silhouette cutter obviously can be to achieving the final look for this project. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted September 25, 2022 Author Share Posted September 25, 2022 Minor setback when I realised that I didn't have enough metallic paint for the engines, and what I did have, looked like it was well past its shelf-life ! 🙄 Off to do some internet shopping and as I couldn't find a retailer that had all three of the colours that I wanted, I ended up buying some other stuff that I didn't really need. To top it all, the bottle of polished aluminium that I wanted to start with still hasn't arrived. 🥴 Anyway - time to focus on the tailplanes. I had previously inserted some brass tubing through the rear fuselage, with the intention of using slightly narrower tubing to strengthen the join. It's going take some adjusting but it looks like it could work, as long as I don't over-complicate things: Messing about with more masks: The kit does provide etched handles for the passenger doors, but these won't be fitted until later on. In the meantime, the indentations in the doors need to be painted so I designed some masks for these. As I'm planning on painting the wing escape route, I designed masks for those too If you look close enough, you'll see the mask that I made for the narrow white strip that runs below the curved part of the cheatline. This narrow strip will run around the front of the fuselage but not down the length to the tail. After a splash of paint and the addition of some dark grey panel liner: (I'm pretty sure that the black escape arrows won't survive the process of attaching the wing to the fuselage! 😁) ...and just because I'm impatient, I needed to mock the thing up for motivational purposes (Don't panic - none of the horizontal bits have been glued to the fuselage) ...All I need now is for the polished aluminium to turn up.... mike 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 Coming along nicely Mike - get a wriggle on and it'll be ready for Wednesday....!! 🤣 17 hours ago, mitchem said: ...All I need now is for the polished aluminium to turn up.... OK, excuse ready for it not to be!! Keith (who just might have two, yes two, things ready! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted September 26, 2022 Author Share Posted September 26, 2022 6 hours ago, keefr22 said: Keith (who just might have two, yes two, things ready! ) ...I may have to borrow one of your "things" Keith.... My KUTA build backfired big time, but on the plus side, I now have six things on the go for our next KUTA Competition! 🤣 mike 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted September 26, 2022 Share Posted September 26, 2022 3 hours ago, mitchem said: I now have six things Only 6? I've got about 30...!! 🤣 K 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted September 27, 2022 Share Posted September 27, 2022 On 9/10/2022 at 8:45 PM, mitchem said: I'm afraid that progress on the 737 has slowed down after getting distracted with another build. (Stay tuned as I'm hoping to reveal both completed builds at the same time !) In the meantime, I have drilled out the door portholes and painted out the door surrounds The next step is to start painting the engines, and once they have been completed, it will be time to join the wings to the fuselage. Before that can happen, the cheatline and white components of the scheme are going to have to be buried under masking tape. It could be the last time you see these guys for some time I ended the day off by printing out four sets of decals to complete the markings. (My home-made decals are printed out using an inkjet printer, and based on past experiences, I know how fragile they can be - always good to have spares available 😀 ) Thanks for looking. mike Loving the work you are putting into this, my favourite 737 version! I've found spraying home made decals with car lacquer strengthens them up considerably. Apply a misting coat first and let it dry a few minutes then another 2 to 3 light coats and they are ready to use with an hour. From printing to applying, I've done in less than 1hr. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted October 15, 2022 Author Share Posted October 15, 2022 ...so the 737 and I had a pretty serious falling out, inasmuch as the fuselage fell out of my hands and hit the floor. The tail snapped off (not where it was joined to the fuselage) and broke into four pieces; one of which is still missing. Cue blue mushroom cloud above my head 🤯 Nearly three weeks later and I have managed to repair the damage. This involved making a new part from plastic card, gluing the fragments together, rescribing the panel lines, gluing the tail back on, blending it in, and then repainting the tail stripes from scratch. And when I mean "from scratch", I mean that I had to sand the paint back to plastic and start with a gloss white base. (Useless tip if you weren't already aware - self-levelling thinners is pretty good at blending colours togeether and spraying more and more paint on top doesn't help. I realised this when the yellow portion of the tail stripes looked more orange than yellow, while the red on the other side of the demarcation started looking more orange than red! 😱) Anyway, I got there in the end, and while all the repair work was going on, I managed to get the engines painted too. I also took the opportunity to tweak some of the paintwork, and this included reducing the diameter of the door port holes by gently sanding the silver surrounds off After temporarily attaching the horizontal tail surfaces, this is where we are now : ...and from a lower angle (The location of the Pratt and Whitney engine logos were masked on both sides of each engine, and while the registration decal has been applied to the back of the fuselage, it will be removed before being replaced with a thinner version as the varnish layer is a bit thick). Next step is to mask the fuselage up completely before joining the wings permanently. Thanks for looking mike 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 Excellent save Mike - when you told me of the crash I had visions of it taking a final flight into the bin! Honestly can't see the join(s), looks as good as new! K PS Clivey says he has a spare ICM P-51D that he grabbed from the builder's bag if you want it for the comp.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moggy Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 For shown fortitude and determination - hat's off to you 👍 Cheers, Moggy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 Good save Mike, it’s an invisible repair! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted October 22, 2022 Author Share Posted October 22, 2022 On 10/15/2022 at 1:47 PM, keefr22 said: Excellent save Mike - when you told me of the crash I had visions of it taking a final flight into the bin! Honestly can't see the join(s), looks as good as new! K PS Clivey says he has a spare ICM P-51D that he grabbed from the builder's bag if you want it for the comp.. Thanks Keith. I think the bin would have been safe as the air was too blue to see it 🤣 (ICM P-51D? Now searching for any scheme without stripes ! 😁 On 10/15/2022 at 4:45 PM, Moggy said: For shown fortitude and determination - hat's off to you 👍 Cheers, Moggy Thanks Moggy, More like blind obsession and pig-headedness On 10/15/2022 at 9:39 PM, Back in the Saddle said: Good save Mike, it’s an invisible repair! Thanks Matt. You should see the other side 😁 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted October 22, 2022 Author Share Posted October 22, 2022 Been building models for more years than I care to remember, so why on earth did I decide to jump the gun and apply decals to the fuselage before joining the wings? I guess I needed the motivation 😁 It looks like "Great Zimbabwe" is coming to life 👍 mike 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted October 22, 2022 Share Posted October 22, 2022 Looks stunning Mike! Have you left yourself a tricky masking job before painting the wings? K 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted October 22, 2022 Author Share Posted October 22, 2022 15 minutes ago, keefr22 said: Looks stunning Mike! Have you left yourself a tricky masking job before painting the wings? K Thanks Keith. Loads of cunning plans ahead revolving around masking, spraying, masking, spraying, etc. I can see it in my head - it's just a case of making it happen in the correct sequence. 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted October 22, 2022 Share Posted October 22, 2022 Good luck! K 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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