Count me in on this build.

Scott

---

I am not very good with natural metal finishes but there are a couple of options available all with their supporters.

Alclad 2 seems to be accepted as the "best" finish, air brush only but it offers several shades to provide some contrast.

Testor's Model Master Metalizers are another air brush only paint option that seems to work pretty well.

SNJ has a variety of paints and metal buffing powders, again I've seen some good finishes with this. There was a post awhile back in the aircraft section using the powder alone which seemed to get pretty good results. I've used the SNJ aluminum powder over regular aluminum brushed on paint and it really picked up the appearance of the paint job.

Swanny's Complete Future article mentions using SNJ powder mixed with Future as an airbrushable metal finish.

Foil, BMF or thin foil. Seems to work well but having used foil on small parts I can imagine doing an entire airplane with BMF sounds like quite a job. Someone did a great job using a thin kitchen type aluminum foil last year with a brush on adhesive. I think it was Old Hooker that did it and it looked as good as anything I've seen done.   

Thanks for the info Aaron. I have used foil before on 1/72 and 1/48 and to me, what can look more real than the real thing, aluminum or aluminium depending where you are. There was an article in an FSM back in the 80's, my brother has the very first issue btw, of making your own foil adhesive. I tried it and it works very well. I did a testors 1/48 PT-20 shiny side out and it was a beautiful restored warbird polished look. I also did a testors 1/72 F-86 dull side out and it looked the part of the military finish. So i might stick to what I know and use some mettalizers aft and around the engine areas maybe.

As far as start date, nobody has mentioned one. I assume its just when evryone starts building.

Shouldda is there a start date, and could you please put a post in Aircraft as Aaron mentioned so we can get more members?

Cheers

cdclukey wrote:

Simpilot, how do you make that foil adhesive?

3M spray adhesive, and paint thinner. The spray adhesive had a blue label, and I had a can of testors airbrush thinner at the time, so I used that. The foil I used was a generic brand, the cheaper the better because its usually thinner. Tear off a sheet and place it on a flat surface. Pour a puddle of thinner into it. Spray the adhesive into the puddle. Mix it up with a piece of balsa sheet or scrap plastic as a spatula. Spread it out as thin as you can with even coverage. Let thinner evaporate, prolly around an hour or two. Then cut out, burnish with 1/8x1/4 balsa stick or Q-tip, trim and remove excess. It remains tacky for a few days afterwards so no rush to get it done in one evening. If it sets up, just make another batch. Experiment till your satisfied with the results.

Cheers

Hi guys,

I like your enthusiasm and it should be rewarded in kind. 

 I will also commit to another.  It may be a DeHav Beaver on floats, Canso ( PBY) in Flying Fireman colours or something else I used to work with, I will decide over the weekend.

 As a note, I've spent the last couple of years teaching my kids how to build and paint.  We even have a Friday night modeling club where the kids from all over come and build.  You should see the glue and paint we use!

 This club put together a show of kits they've built and poster boards explaining the significance of the specific plane, ship or car.  This was displayed in the trophy case at the local school.  Everyone, young and older, went "WOW, that's awesome".  And you know what, it is! 

Thanks again for joining this build.

 Shouldda

I'm wondering why Randie Coulter has not been a part of this. "Chopper Fan".

Is he ok? Do you know?

The S-58 looks great Aaron! I saw that kit and thought about buying it. How was the kit? Italeri is usually good quality. Excellent decals as well. i have the decal paper for our printer but haven't tried my hand at custom decals yet. I might have to when I build my Tanker 68. NICE WORK!

Cheers, Richie

Looks like I'll be in on this one after all. I messed up the paint job on my CV-118 so badly that I'm going to strip it and start over, so I figured I'll try to do a firebird. If already started kits are OK, please list my Minicraft 1/144 DC-6B in the build, and if started kits aren't accepted, I'll still share the pics.

Thanks, Richie. Actually, this bird won't be a tanker, she'll be for dropping smoke jumpers. She'll be as bright and beautiful as a tanker, though...I have a white, black and orange scheme desgned for it.

Yeah, when I looked around for pics to check my smoke jumper scheme against reality, I found a lot of pics of Shorts birds being used for that purpose, but few pics overall.

Here's a question you might be able to answer, since you have that book at hand: Do smoke jumper planes ever carry the prominent tanker-style numbers on the tail that tankers do?