PT-17 Red Bull

I didnt know that they made a “Red Bull” version of their Steerman. That’s too cool. 

A unique WIP!  I’ll be following!

Your friend, Toshi

I have the kit of the cowled Stearman, and also intend to build it in Red Bull livery, but a different, older livery.  I will be following your build.  What do you intend for decals?

Don I’m debating whether to print my own decals or paint it using masks. I ordered the mask material but it’s so small I’m not sure about being able to cut them out cleanly. Any thoughts based on your experience?

Made some more progress today in between home projects on my vacation day, here’s the almost completed fuselage. I’m going as far as putting the lower wing on and then I have to wait on paint.

I’m really liking these Revell kits lately! Check out these wings, no gaps at the edges anywhere. Excuse the excess plastic, I hadn’t cleaned this upyet. I like to wait till the glue dries to make sure i don lose any of the profile.

TheMongoose

Don I’m debating whether to print my own decals or paint it using masks. I ordered the mask material but it’s so small I’m not sure about being able to cut them out cleanly. Any thoughts based on your experience?

 

I found some great side views at a ninety degree angle to the fuselage.  Now, this is their older livery, with the red color, but it will work fine to make inkjet decals from.  I am worried about wing decals, though.  I have been doing inkjet decals for over ten years, so the thought of doing it doesn't bother me, but I need to find the art work to use. I can do pretty good things with my photo editor, but it is not total magic.  And since that red livery is an older one, continued google image searches may not yield any more images.

They have an rc plane with all the decals on it. Grabbed these shots for the wing decals. Do you think they will work?

Nice start, good luck in the decals.

Your friend, Toshi

Do you intend to do the flames by decal or by painting?  The silver color may be hard to do with decals unless you have an Alps printer and the proper cartridge.

hmmmm, I’ve never done decals before so didn’t know it would be that hard. Fortunately it’s a bit of a flat silver, but that may not help in the printing process i guess? I had picked up some decal paper and the spray for it to set them on the paper. I haven’t tried it yet and was thinking I’d do it here. I’ll do some test prints of course on plain paper to see what i get. i have to find my photoshop disk now and see if it will install. On windoews 10. I hope so because i hate photoshops new monthly online plan.

any suggestions for a free program that i can use to do the artwork?

TheMongoose

hmmmm, I’ve never done decals before so didn’t know it would be that hard. Fortunately it’s a bit of a flat silver, but that may not help in the printing process i guess? I had picked up some decal paper and the spray for it to set them on the paper. I haven’t tried it yet and was thinking I’d do it here. I’ll do some test prints of course on plain paper to see what i get. i have to find my photoshop disk now and see if it will install. On windoews 10. I hope so because i hate photoshops new monthly online plan.

any suggestions for a free program that i can use to do the artwork?

 

There are only two that I am familiar with for free are the Paint that comes with Windows, and GIMP.  Paint is quite basic- not sure if it is good enough for your job.  GIMP is free, but the help stuff is really basic, and it is not the easiest to use.  However, if you have used Photoshop you may be okay with it, or there is a book on GIMP.

I use Corel's Paint Shop Pro. It is very powerful, better than GIMP, and much cheaper than Photoshop, typically around seventy to eighty bucks (it is frequently on sale).  Adobe has a cheaper alternative, for about the same price as PSP, Photoshop Elements.  Not quite as powerful as PSP, but close.

Here is a shot of the older RB livery that I intend to use

Love the red Baron! Ive never seen that one before. Should be sweet looking in paint.

Oh Man what a great looking aircraft and well chosen. I can't wait until you ply your excellent skills on this baby. I'll be following for sure.

Learmech I bet that was worth it! How hard was the engine to change? 4 bolts and a hoist? LOL

learmech

I help change an engine in one of these. Got a free ride for my efforts

 

Not to brag or anything....

My ride was free!!! Just for being at the airport, and knowing a guy, who know's a guy! Even got just enough stick time to put it in my logbook! Sadly, the owner crashed his Fouga Magister (structural failure) at Osh Kosh back in the early 2000's and is no longer with us.

Also got a ride and stick time in a T-6 (my avatar)...just for building a model of the guys plane.

Free rides in the Yankee Air Forces B-25 and B-17, because I happened to be working at the airport on the days that they came around.

I've been working some angles on another. The guy has an L-39...I do the seal coating and crackfill on his driveway and the ramp in front of his hanger...and I've got a few L-39's in the stash...one will be his...and oh yes...I will get a ride in that sucker!!!

I got many a ride in a Stearman when I was a kid.  My dad was in the CAP.  I was too young to be a cadet, so I became sort of a mascot of the squadron.  The squadron received a surplus Stearman from the AAF.  Dad took me up in it many times, including doing aerobatics, which he loved.

Making more progress. I have the first coat of primer on. Found the bad spots and did some patch work with my perfect plastic putty, love the stuff! Wet sanded it and purposely sanded it down over the ribs to see if i can get some suttle shading there when i put the blue on.

Looking really good.  I’ve heard a lot about PPP.  I gotta try it, wired.  One wire at a time.  lol!  

Good luck my friend, Toshi

Red Bull Is gloss blue now! 

Decals are finalized now to. I worked with MAV Decals to get them done. I have to do the flames in silver paint so I’ll work on those while i wait on decals to print and ship.

A quick mock-up to see what it looks like...

Edit-corrected sideways pic

Well i can only hope the final silver paint comes out as good as the mask looks!

This is one of those reverse images of the old lady or a princess depending on your perspective i printed a picture out and then resized it to match the scale of the plane. Then i cut out the flames and used the pattern to trace out on my Maketar paint mask. I used the glue stick to tack it down. Once i did one side I reversed it and glued the other side down to make a mask that goes around 360. Quite proud of that. 

Cut sections strategically to get it around in one piece. I’ve burnished it all down with a toothpick. before i knew it an hour and a half had gone by. Dinner time now then I’ll work on the wings next.

Here’s another teaser...almost ready to paint the flames. might be tomorrow though as the kids want to go out for dinner and so itll be family night.

Hello!

Nice work on the masks! Way to go! Looking forward to seeing how the paint goes down here. Good luck and have a nice day

Paweł

Just ripped the tape off I really love using this kabuki mask. Now i have to not touch it and let everything dry.

Boy, that is looking great!  This thread has got me going on my Red Baron version.  I will post in the Airliners and Civil Aircraft forum.

That's one heck of a masking job! Really is turning out great!

Hooray, I found the missing part! Somehow I lost the radial exhaust and ring for this last month and had to put it on hold, which really  Me. Beautiful custom decals from Zane at MAVDecals in hand, and a plane missing the most iconic part. Crawling around behind the workbench I found it tonight. I still have some clean up to do and some touchup in a few places after looking over the pics. It’s been too long between updates though so here she is...