AFV Club F-5 WIP

Sunday I started decals, and ran into a big problem.  When applying water to the surface of the kit, it acted like a solvent, and went right through to the primer below.  This happened to me once before, and I started a thread about it.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/18/t/153025.aspx

It makes no sense whatsoever, but it did happen.  The gray that can be seen in the photo is the rattle-can primer I applied before painting.  Both times I was using Tamiya thinned with alcohol, and Aqua Gloss, thinned a little with water.  I touched up the affected areas Sunday, let it cure until today, and gave it a coat of Future, and I will let that cure 2 days before attempting decals again.

I went back over the area around the canopy, primed it again and airbrushed the Wooden Deck Tan again.  It looks better, but still not great.  Hopefully I can disguise some of it with weathering.

Here it is with bays and exhausts masked. I have never been able to paint the bays and then fill them with tissue paper or the like and get good results, so here I painted the fuselage and then masked for the bays.

I've also read in numerous places about using a very fine-tipped pencil to highlight panel lines. Just keep it as sharp as possible at all times, and lightly run the pencil through all your panel lines.

Looks very nice so far. Leave it to FSM to give out amateurish tips though. The best way to highlight panel lines by far is with washes...whether pin washes or sludge. If you're having trouble with the traditional oil pin wash I'd recommend trying some Promodeler Wash by Flory. It's a clay based product. You sludge it over a gloss surface..allow it to dry a bit and then just wipe away with a damp cloth.