BleedingBlue Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 This is my first jet in quite a while. My 8 yr. old son wanted to go shopping and pick out a model for my birthday, and he chose this kit. The Thunderbirds scheme looked interesting and fun. This is the one of the old school kits with raised panel lines, but since I wasn’t planning to do any weathering it wasn’t a concern. This is the first natural metal finish I have attempted. Sadly, it didn’t turn out like I had hoped. I used Mission Models aluminum for the paint. I black based the model but it still looked dull. I managed to get a shine by spraying heavy with future. I had been having good luck with future, but on this build it melted away and the paint started to get messed up very quickly when applying the decals. Consequently, I had lots of touchups and for whatever reason the touchups weren’t same color as the base paint so they are obvious. I would avoid the metallic colors from MM (I really like their other colors). I’ve ordered some Vallejo metal colors for my next attempt. As for the decals, they set down to the texture fantastic. Large decals on curves surfaces are a big challenge and the nose decal was impossible to get applied wrinkle free. Consequently, there were areas that I had to cut and it left spots that needed touched up. When I applied future over the red touchup paint it changed color. Finally, the canopy seam looks pretty rough (I should have given it more attention before painting). On a more positive note, reference photos showed that sometimes the air brakes were high polished so I tried to simulate this by gluing some aluminum foil to the airbrakes. I think it turned out pretty well. Overall, I enjoyed the build other than the paint and decal issues and my son thinks it looks cool so I’m happy with that. Enjoy the photos. 37 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 Oh yes, very nice indeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serkan Sen Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 Looks very beautiful and shiny 😎 Serkan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantherhawk27263 Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 It is always nice to see a well done Thunderbirds aircraft, it's a beauty!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire31 Posted January 23, 2023 Share Posted January 23, 2023 The Thunderbirds is heads and shoulders above most other display teams, IMHO, and it looks great on your model! In fact, (and again, IMHO) I think that fine raised lines look really convincing at a normal viewing distance, and especially under a NM finish. Very nice T-bird! Kind regards, Joachim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loloskymaster Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 Very nice colorful Thunderstreak! Lolo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwinism Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 Sorry to hear about the NMF dramas although I wouldn’t have known if you said - it looks great to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 I think your assessment of the model is a little harsh. It looks good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleedingBlue Posted January 24, 2023 Author Share Posted January 24, 2023 4 hours ago, loloskymaster said: Very nice colorful Thunderstreak! Lolo 4 hours ago, loloskymaster said: Very nice colorful Thunderstreak! Lolo 14 hours ago, Spitfire31 said: The Thunderbirds is heads and shoulders above most other display teams, IMHO, and it looks great on your model! In fact, (and again, IMHO) I think that fine raised lines look really convincing at a normal viewing distance, and especially under a NM finish. Very nice T-bird! Kind regards, Joachim 17 hours ago, Pantherhawk27263 said: It is always nice to see a well done Thunderbirds aircraft, it's a beauty!! 20 hours ago, Serkan Sen said: Looks very beautiful and shiny 😎 Serkan 20 hours ago, F-32 said: Oh yes, very nice indeed Thank you very much. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleedingBlue Posted January 24, 2023 Author Share Posted January 24, 2023 4 hours ago, Darwinism said: Sorry to hear about the NMF dramas although I wouldn’t have known if you said - it looks great to me. 2 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said: I think your assessment of the model is a little harsh. It looks good to me. Thank you. To me the errors stand out like sore thumbs, but I'm glad to hear that they aren't as obvious to others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 4 minutes ago, BleedingBlue said: Thank you. To me the errors stand out like sore thumbs, but I'm glad to hear that they aren't as obvious to others. That is always the way. Try listing all the bits that went well instead of (or at least as well as) all those which you considered errors. Your text as it stands is just miserable. Like the worst annual appraisal ever. 😆 Would you judge the work of anyone else as harshly as that? Probably not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 Very nice job. When you have a few minutes, would you like to give me a hand? It's not going back into Thunderbirds colours though. Incidentally the cockpit should be grey, and the fuel tank behind the seat is black. The speed brakes have a stainless steel outer skin, hence the shine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleedingBlue Posted January 24, 2023 Author Share Posted January 24, 2023 46 minutes ago, Bertie McBoatface said: That is always the way. Try listing all the bits that went well instead of (or at least as well as) all those which you considered errors. Your text as it stands is just miserable. Like the worst annual appraisal ever. 😆 Would you judge the work of anyone else as harshly as that? Probably not. Point taken. You are always the worst critic of your own work. I'll try to sound less miserable in the future. 😄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky Keg Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 Despite your own criticisms, it looks pretty darn good from my view. I like it and you did a great job especially with those pesky decals. Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleedingBlue Posted January 24, 2023 Author Share Posted January 24, 2023 1 hour ago, bentwaters81tfw said: Very nice job. When you have a few minutes, would you like to give me a hand? It's not going back into Thunderbirds colours though. Incidentally the cockpit should be grey, and the fuel tank behind the seat is black. The speed brakes have a stainless steel outer skin, hence the shine. That's going to take a while with my airbrush😁. Thanks for cockpit the details. I found reference photos in both green and gray. I'm pretty sure that the instructions had the cockpit in green. Good luck with the restoration. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 Thanks, I think I need a bigger brush! I have seen restorations with a green cockpit - makes me cringe. The pit on this is stripped but original in grey paint. She is ex direct sale to the Belgian airforce in 1954, demobbed in 1973. What is more interesting, the nether regions are primed in 2 shades of yellow, and 2 shades of green. Makes an interesting point when discussing factory finishes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted January 24, 2023 Share Posted January 24, 2023 Had you not mentioned the difficulties I'd have not known to see any. As it is, the model looks splendid! I'd have no reluctance to display it in my collection; it'd outclass all of my builds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UberDaveToo Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 On 1/23/2023 at 11:22 AM, BleedingBlue said: This is the one of the old school kits with raised panel lines, but since I wasn’t planning to do any weathering it wasn’t a concern. There's not a single Thunderbird maintenance NCO who ever lived who allowed a stain or smudge on one of their jets to last longer than about 30 seconds, remember that if you ever contemplate doing another... ...You're Thunder-hog looks the part to me. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in a shed Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 I agree with everyone else, that is a lovely rendition of the Thunderbirds Scheme. Super build. Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BleedingBlue Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 On 1/30/2023 at 6:41 PM, UberDaveToo said: There's not a single Thunderbird maintenance NCO who ever lived who allowed a stain or smudge on one of their jets to last longer than about 30 seconds, remember that if you ever contemplate doing another... ...You're Thunder-hog looks the part to me. Dave Thanks. I'm sure they would die of shame if the jet wasn't immaculate. Any perceived dirt on the model is due to paint performance and/or my lack of skill with natural metal finish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UberDaveToo Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 I'm a big fan of 1950s jets. I'm just back into the game with only one completion so far, but about ten years ago I built the Anigrand 1/144 XB-46 as an experiment in bare metal paint jobs. Long before I'd discovered it's easy to paint a model silver, but making it appear metallic, not so much. I learned to paint it gloss black first, then dust on the silver. I used a combination of Floquil Old Silver and Testors buffable paints. I just discovered I still have a couple of bottle of the OOP Old Silver after spending a small fortune on new water based metal paints😃 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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