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Sword 1:72nd Fairey Gannet AEW.3


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Sorry I keep going on about it, Al,  I don't want to kidnap you, but there's a lot about a pistol that can make a diff. Do you have a gravity feed or a suction/siphon version ? Gravity = the cup is on top of the pistol. Suction/siphon = the cup is under the pistol.

I started with a cup under the pistol and the cleaning was horrible. It was a day time job. The paint dries on the way to the pistol before it reaches the tip of the needle. Once I got a gravity feed a completely different world opened up for me, I really jumped for joy. There's no air between the paint and the needle, so it can't dry on the way out. Suction/siphon will always suck in relatively more air with the paint and clog up the feed.

Always clean your cup and spray some cleaner before using another colour on your wreck. I even take out the needle and clean it between colours. You'll be surprised how fast acrylics kling to the innards of your pistol. Not only on the tip, but also where the trigger meets the needle ! Once they've dried up there, they won't affect your colour, but they will interfere with the fine mechanics and airflow of your delicate, little machine. Because you are moving about and if you're not subtle enough the paint can go to the tail of the pistol and dry up there. Try to brush sideways, left to right or vice versa, not back and forth, you might push the paint back into the trigger or the air valve and you don't want the acrylics to dry there. Before I start again I like to spray some flow improver into a cloth or tissue before adding the paint, so that the needle and nozzle is saturated with it.  I know it's relatively time consuming, but it's worth your time, so take out the needle, wipe away any residu and be extra careful with the tip ! Once you damage the tip or leave a spec of tissue: game over. Blotches galore !

Once you get the drill you can do it with your eyes closed. Airbrushing does not go faster than brush painting -certainly not at first-, it needs a lot of attention, because there's way more factors to deal with vs a simple brush, but once you know the drill, you can finish your models way more delicately.

 

Edited by trikke11
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46 minutes ago, Plasticbasher said:

Klear sprays fine, no need to dilute but keep the air pressure low. In terms of cleaning, any brand of airbrush thinner will clean it out well in my experience. To stop the residue from the putty you could try a light coat of klear between colours, being glossy it is less likely to be affected than a matt finish. As you mentioned letting the surface dry properly is important. I’ve had issues with residue from white tac, much less so with the Mig stuff although it doesn’t stay in place as easily.

Thanks for that. I was surprised by how many coats of klear I had to spray to get the glossy effect I'm used to with painting.  Makes sense I suppose, it goes on a lot thinner with the airbrush.

 

Al

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On 24/03/2022 at 20:52, trikke11 said:

Sorry I keep going on about it, Al,  I don't want to kidnap you, but there's a lot about a pistol that can make a diff. Do you have a gravity feed or a suction/siphon version ? Gravity = the cup is on top of the pistol. Suction/siphon = the cup is under the pistol.

I started with a cup under the pistol and the cleaning was horrible. It was a day time job. The paint dries on the way to the pistol before it reaches the tip of the needle. Once I got a gravity feed a completely different world opened up for me, I really jumped for joy. There's no air between the paint and the needle, so it can't dry on the way out. Suction/siphon will always suck in relatively more air with the paint and clog up the feed.

Always clean your cup and spray some cleaner before using another colour on your wreck. I even take out the needle and clean it between colours. You'll be surprised how fast acrylics kling to the innards of your pistol. Not only on the tip, but also where the trigger meets the needle ! Once they've dried up there, they won't affect your colour, but they will interfere with the fine mechanics and airflow of your delicate, little machine. Because you are moving about and if you're not subtle enough the paint can go to the tail of the pistol and dry up there. Try to brush sideways, left to right or vice versa, not back and forth, you might push the paint back into the trigger or the air valve and you don't want the acrylics to dry there. Before I start again I like to spray some flow improver into a cloth or tissue before adding the paint, so that the needle and nozzle is saturated with it.  I know it's relatively time consuming, but it's worth your time, so take out the needle, wipe away any residu and be extra careful with the tip ! Once you damage the tip or leave a spec of tissue: game over. Blotches galore !

Once you get the drill you can do it with your eyes closed. Airbrushing does not go faster than brush painting -certainly not at first-, it needs a lot of attention, because there's way more factors to deal with vs a simple brush, but once you know the drill, you can finish your models way more delicately.

 

Thanks for the hints - they are much appreciated!  I have a gravity flow cup, I'm happy to say.  I have got into the habit of cleaning the needle every time I use the airbrush, I repeat until wiping it on some tissue paper comes back clean, also spray whatever I used to thin the paint until it comes out clear.  I have had the thing apart and cleaned down the bit where the trigger meets the air - got some enamel dark brown down there early on that I think I've cleaned up, but wouldn't be surprised to find there's still something down there..

 

I am getting better and quicker at the prep and cleaning, which makes airbrushing less of an onerous task 🙂

 

Al.

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The last week or so has seen masking of the Gannet complete - I've gone overboard with the tape rather than rely on my airbrush control to keep the EDSG away from the sky.  Figured skimping on my usage of tape was probably a false economy 🙂

 

 

IMG_20220324_195552

 

IMG_20220326_172325

 

I was in the local hobby shop the other week and picked up some Mr Color EDSG.  I had previously bought Humbrol EDSG for this kit, but my experiences with trying to spray Humbrol have not been happy ones, so I opted to splash out on the Mr Color instead - I also have a decent mount of Mr Hoby thinner.  Turned out to be a wise decision.  Couple of coats in and its looking nice, and I'm finding it very pleasant to spray.

 

-vn6zzm

 

Meantime I have also been trying to get the stripes on the spinner.  Couldn't get my Tamiya curve tape to work so I splashed out on some Maketar masking set for nosecones.  A tad pricey but hoping it'll make that job a bit easier.

 

Getting there..

 

Al.

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While the hopefully final coat of EDSG dries in the garage, have been working on the stripes for the spinner and drop tanks. The Maketar making strips are frustrating cos there are literally hundreds of little yellow strips of different sizes and curves and you've got to somehow get the right one for the curvature of the thing you're making. I got lucky on the spinner and it fit nicely, found it a lot harder on the smaller drop tank..

 

IMG_20220329_231200__01

 

I'm happy with the spinners, but the stripes on the tank are more wobbly. Gonna sleep on it and see what I think, not sure there's much I could do without making it worse.. 🤔

 

Al.

 

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Once I was happy that the EDSG was covered nicely, couldn't wait to get the masking off 🙂

 

 

IMG_20220330_231751

 

Happy with the result.  A few bits need touching up, esp where the EDSG extends under the wing near the fuselage but that's not a big deal.  Very little seeping of paint through the edges of the tape when you spray, which is nice.  After the touch up, couple of coats of gloss and then it'll be decal time before doing the final assembly.

 

Al.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Quick progress update.  Have now got a Revell Corsair on the go as well as the Gannet and my Hurricane paint mule so things are getting a little crowded!  Took the Gannet back out to the garage to get some pledge on her prior to decals.  I'd sprayed this onto my Hurricane with no issues so was feeling confident.  However, I somehow ended up with a nasty orange peel finish to it, so it was out with the flory sanding sticks..

 

IMG_20220409_172242

 

That was a nervous time as I didn't know if it was going to take any paint off.  Happily it didn't, although I did break a couple of aerials in the process.  The finish now feels a lot better, although its not the lovely smooth finish that I had on the Hurricane.  As long as I don't spend my time stroking her it should be fine 🙂 

 

With that done, and a good wash, I decided to start decalling - yay!

 

 

IMG_20220409_225432_760

 

Def on the home straight now!

 

Al.

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Pressing on with the decals,  happy to report have had no problems with them - had read a few things saying the Sword decals were awful and fell to bits, not the case here 🙂   However, when I put the tail stripes on, it became apparent I had the demarcation line between the grey and the sky out of whack..

 

 

IMG_20220412_185238

 

In my defence, I used the panel lines on the box art to work out where the grey went, but on closer inspection it appears that the panel lines are in completely different places on the actual kit.  I've noticed this while putting a few of the decals on - the lines on the drawings bear little resemblance to those on the kit.  Hasn't been a major issue until now.  I'm going to have to carry on and get all the decals done, give her a coat of varnish and then mask up and redo that line.  Would have been challenging enough with a brush, but it really needs to be airbrushed so I can match the finish I've achieved so far 😬

 

Fun and games...

 

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Looks to me like the decal itself is too large, you never had a chance to get that decal placed like the diagram.  If you’re worried about masking in the decal, a safe way to do that is with Post It notes or even damp paper.  

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actually, looking at the artwork depicted on the back of the box it seems the decal is more or less correctly proportioned. i think the Extra Dark Sea Grey was extended too far aft on the fuselage spine.

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2 hours ago, David H said:

actually, looking at the artwork depicted on the back of the box it seems the decal is more or less correctly proportioned. i think the Extra Dark Sea Grey was extended too far aft on the fuselage spine.

 

We must be looking at a different rudder hinge line then 😉

 

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1 hour ago, mark.au said:

 

We must be looking at a different rudder hinge line then 😉

 

 

I think the decal is correctly aligned with the rudder line, but there's another line going down the rudder which is not on the box art and I initially mistook for the rudder hinge line.  I tried aligning with that, but it didn't look right.  The pointy bit of the fin decal ends up in roughly the right place in relation to the 'Royal Navy' titling so I think its more or less OK.  Thanks for the hints on masking it - that's going to be a nervous time.  Although thinking about it, I have another of these kits in the cupboard so have spare decals if required..

 

Al.

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Instructions and decal clearly don't rhyme. The angle of the decal is wider than on the box if my eyes don't deceive me.
You can use tape to mask decals, but it's sweaty business. I use Tamiya and stick the tape on my hand first for a few times until most of the glue remains on my hand and the tape almost doesn't stick anymore. Just enough to keep it in place. When you've sealed the decal properly, that should work out just fine.

I hope next pictures will be of some comfort, Al: they weren't too particular about the position of the colours IRL.

 

PNBKO4q.jpg

 

2HqGYZY.jpg

 

Good luck with the repaint !

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4 minutes ago, trikke11 said:

Instructions and decal clearly don't rhyme. The angle of the decal is wider than on the box if my eyes don't deceive me.
You can use tape to mask decals, but it's sweaty business. I use Tamiya and stick the tape on my hand first for a few times until most of the glue remains on my hand and the tape almost doesn't stick anymore. Just enough to keep it in place. When you've sealed the decal properly, that should work out just fine.

I hope next pictures will be of some comfort, Al: they weren't too particular about the position of the colours IRL.

 

PNBKO4q.jpg

 

2HqGYZY.jpg

 

Good luck with the repaint !

 

Thanks for those pictures - very nice to see.  As you say, standardisation of the colour scheme was a bit lax 🙂  Now I look closer, I think the decal is too "fat" - it comes further down the fin that the pictures I've seen.  Not much I can do about that, just need to get the demarcation line of the grey to better line up with the tip of the arrow.  I might try and do the other side before I put any decals over there to give myself less grief.  Fun fun fun!

 

Al.

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Been thinking about this today and how I was going to fix up the grey. The decals aren't really the right size, but nota lot I can do about that so I need to make the line between the EDSG and the sky meet at the point of the arrow. By cutting around a 10p I've managed to get a nice curve to the line and it matches up nicely with where I want it to go.

 

IMG_20220413_223455

 

Lots of masking required so I don't overspray onto anything important. Need to seal that tail decal before I go anywhere near it with take (or maskol, perhaps?).   If I was brush painting this touch up would be way easier, but I'm not and there's no point in brush painting that bit and ruining the nice finish I've currently got.

 

Hoping this won't be a massive problem and actually I might end up with a nicer curve at the end of the day 😁

 

Al.

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All you need to do now is gently masktape the bottom line of the decal, if I understand correctly and Bob's your proverbial uncle. The tape in your picture has to go a tad lower according to my calculations though. It's not alligning properly.

Good luck !

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2 minutes ago, trikke11 said:

All you need to do now is gently masktape the bottom line of the decal, if I understand correctly and Bob's your proverbial uncle. The tape in your picture has to go a tad lower according to my calculations though. It's not alligning properly.

Good luck !

You're right, it does need to drop every so slightly so I don't get a step where it meets the straight line that's already there.

 

The only risky masking is the tape at the bottom of the decal, everything else will be liberally wrapped in kitchen roll! 🤞

 

Al

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Did you seal the decal with varnish ? If you use tape for the bottom of the decal, make sure there's virtually no more glue on it. I don't want to push this method, don't get me wrong. Also: try to save as much rather expensive tape as you can. I often cut out paper to stick to the tape that aligns with whatever part I want to overspray. Or cling film. Just a tape on the edge of the decal and cover the rest in cling film. It's stressy business, painstaking monk's work, I know. What exciting lives we lead ! 😀

Sometimes I wonder why we bother.

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3 hours ago, Planebuilder62 said:

Dear Al

 

Wet paper masks work really well on decals. Just use your regular A4 printer paper or the non sticky bit of a Post it. This worked for me on my NF-104 about a year ago over very fragile Alclad.

regards Toby

Thanks for that, I'll give it a go, anything that reduces the risk of me ripping up that decal! 🙂

 

Al.

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9 hours ago, trikke11 said:

Did you seal the decal with varnish ? If you use tape for the bottom of the decal, make sure there's virtually no more glue on it. I don't want to push this method, don't get me wrong. Also: try to save as much rather expensive tape as you can. I often cut out paper to stick to the tape that aligns with whatever part I want to overspray. Or cling film. Just a tape on the edge of the decal and cover the rest in cling film. It's stressy business, painstaking monk's work, I know. What exciting lives we lead ! 😀

Sometimes I wonder why we bother.

I haven't sealed it yet, waiting for some Mr Colour sating to arrive.  When it does I'll do the back end to seal it before anything else.  These are indeed exciting times! 🤣  At least I have a semblance of a plan that has half a chance of working...

 

Al.

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