Hobby Boss Easy Assembly 1/48 P-51-D, ''Yellow Nose'' - Work in progress

Hi gents,

After reading and researching, the answer probably lies in the fact that I didn't wait long enough between coats and had them too thick, trapping coats which haven't fully dried underneath. I found it tricky to visually judge the amount sprayed over the metallics (due to reflection) in comparison to spraying over regular paints. Lesson learned.

However, in my first attempt on the first kit (the one with which I started this topic) I used Gunze gloss clear in a similar manner and it dried normally, despite the fact that incompatible chemistry made Vallejo metallics underneath crack.

I guess that I will have to wait it out however long it takes, if it ever dries. 

Any suggestions for fixing this quicker?

Thanks in advance.

Best,

Nikola

Hi guys,

I noticed that the anti-glare OD, yellow nose and black tail stripes (Tamiya acryilics) are not tacky, but the metallic paint still is slightly. The white aluminium which was sprayed a couple of days after aluminium is less tacky than the aluminium which had more than a week to dry before I applied the metal varnish.

The varnish is applied over all the above mentioned colours in the exacly same time and manner.

Could I coat it with clear gloss even though the metallics are still a bit tacky?

I can handle it no problem without leaving any marks but still not sure about the gloss clear.

I have no idea what's going on.

Any clues?

Best,

Nikola

mustang1989

Really sorry to hear about the paint mishap after spending all that time on this but it looks as though your attitude is really good about it and that you are progressing very well on round 2 of this build venture. 

 

Thanks for the support Mustang! Appreciated! :)

Really sorry to hear about the paint mishap after spending all that time on this but it looks as though your attitude is really good about it and that you are progressing very well on round 2 of this build venture. 

Hi guys,

A little update - masking and painting done. She received a number of coats of Vallejo Metal Varnish, as this time I didn't want to mess with incompatible chemistry and wanted to test this varnish specifically. So far so good.

As with other Vallejo varnishes, I thin them 50/50 and they spray ok, but are somehow trickier to control, for me at least, so I have to be very careful not to create puddling. 

One thing which I have noticed is that even after 48h of drying, the varnish is still slightly tacky, so I am reluctant to start decals as yet. Plus, I thought it would be glossier for some reason. I am tempted to give it one or two coats of gloss clear before decals but I am not sure as I don't want to screw up the panel lines before washes.

Did anyone else have the same experience? Any tips? 

Best,

Nikola

lawdog114

Looking great Nikola. Just an FYI, you can decal right onto natural metal without a gloss coat, at least with Alclad and AK Extreme. I have no experience with Vallejo unfortunately. Perhaps try X-22 with Mr. Leveling Thinner 50/50. Best gloss I've found yet. Dries smooth hard, as a rock, and has yet to react with anything.

 

Thanks for the tip LD! Appreciated.

I'll give that a try that on my second NMF build where I will try Gunze metallics.

Vallejo metallics are not bad, but slightly grainy as they are water based. And they are very fragile! A good thing is that they are not as poisonous as the others. :)

Best,

Nikola

Well gents, since my Badger 150 does not have the cup cover and since I am stupid, I managed to spill the clear coat over one of the wings and that was that.

Luckily, I had one more in the stash so I salvaged the cockpit, the prop, hub, and the landing gear with wheels, and gave it another go. I used this opportunity to try Vallejo's gloss black primer as well. Not bad.

The first one just didn't want to get built. This is take two. 

It might even be a better build as I did not over-sand the tail, don't have paint crazing and damage as I did on the first one.

But, there is still time to spill things and screw up.  

Anyway, this is where I'm at this time.

Best,

Nikola

Hi gents,

Decals on followed by another gloss clear. Ready for washes...

I've definitely learned my lesson not to mix certain types of paint and to wait longer for metallics to dry, as I've had crazing and lost some of the effects which I had prior to the first gloss clear.

I hope that I can fix some of the crazing and that I can achieve the effects again in steps to follow. 

Best,

Nikola

Hi gents,

It turns out that probably two factors contributed to this - the first being using different brands of paint and clear, and the second being that I have only waited three days for Vallejo metallics to dry where in fact, from what I've been told, I should've waited at least seven.

How much each factor contributed, that I am not sure of though.

Well, lesson learned! That's why I chose the Easy Assembly kit for my first NMF.

Best,

Nikola

Oy. That's a neat effect, if you were looking for it. Unfortunately you weren't.

Just a note, but I haven't had a weird reaction with Vallejo matte or gloss over the Metal Series yet. I've also tried Dupli-color clear.

Well gents,

Something somewhere went terribly wrong... 

I sprayed a clear coat, Mr. Color GX UV Cut Gloss Super Clear, over the well dried Vallejo metallics and some sort of reaction happened resulting in what appears to be cracking/waves/rippling of the color.

Does anyone have a clue as to what might have happened?

I am starting to really get frustrated with Vellejo as I have this sort of problems only with their stuff.

Am I doing something essentially wrong by mixing them with other products?

Thanks in advance.

Best,

Nikola  

Looking good!  I like the way the marbling worked.

Mike

M. Brindos

Nice thinking with swapping the locator pins I stead of cutting the scissors off. That's ingenious.

 

Cutting the scissors would've been way too much work for this kind of a model. :)

If I didn't have an option of rotating the pins I would've just left them as they were. 

Nice thinking with swapping the locator pins I stead of cutting the scissors off. That's ingenious.

A little surgery to correct HB's mistake and bring the torque scissors to the back where they belong. 

I shouldn't be doing this Hobby Boss!!!

Best,

Nikola

Before surgery:

The cut:

The result - the patient survived and the doc is happy:

Hi gents,

She's all metalized! 

Vellejo Metal Colors - Aluminium for the most part - fuselage, ailerons, flaps, vertical stabiliser, rudder, mg housing panels...; White Aluminium for the filled and painted parts of the wings; Duraluminium for the panels at the exhaust.

These metallics are very difficult to photograph! :)

Thanks for looking!

Best,

Nikola

M. Brindos

I've been using the Vallejo Metal Series and I have had the same issue with a slight grainy effect. I suspect it's a pressure problem. Low and slow is how I'll try it next, but so far I haven't lost too much of the sheen after a clear cote with Vallejo clear. But then, I'm still learning how best to use the gloss. I've mastered the flat.

 

Hi Mike, 

Thanks for the reply! Appreciated. 

I will try a gloss primer next time. I used Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 thinking that it's gloss without actually checking. It turns out that it is somewhat satin...

Also, I will try and thin the paint down a bit and spray light coats, letting them dry in between, as a felow modeler suggested. 

I am generally thinking of ditching Vellejo for spraying and using them only for brushwork. They do behave better with a flow improver, but since there are other great options out there... 

Best, 

Nikola

I've been using the Vallejo Metal Series and I have had the same issue with a slight grainy effect. I suspect it's a pressure problem. Low and slow is how I'll try it next, but so far I haven't lost too much of the sheen after a clear cote with Vallejo clear. But then, I'm still learning how best to use the gloss. I've mastered the flat.

Hi gents,

Well, the marbling technique worked like a charm. I got exactly what I expected. Very happy about that. I think that Nato Black is a good choice for marbling over pure black as anything lighter that that would give too much contrast.

One thing which I am not happy about though is how Vallejo Metal Color behaves. It also clogs the airbrush a lot (although I haven't used their flow improver which I probably should have) and it is somehow too grainy.

It might be something to do with the primer underneath or my poor technique as an NMF beginner.  As we all know metallics are very sensitive to sanding and buffing, but I have one thing in mind that might fix that although I am not sure that it will work. We'll see when this is dry completely.

Anybody else had similar experience with Vallejo metallic? Any other suggestions for improving the finish?

And yes, it is true what they say, this stuff shows every single imperfection!!!

Anyway, here is the result.

Best,

Nikola

B-17 Guy

What is supposed to be the point of the marbleized texture?

 

Hi B-17 Guy,

Like Shipwreck said, keep watching and you will see that it will create variance in reflection properties of the aluminium top coat. It should anyway. :) 

Best, 

Nikola

Shipwreck

Nikola, I Saw your Uschi Trinity Splatter Template; and I had to have one! I have spent hours trying to achieve that effect. The best Could do is $20 shipped from the Ukrain.

 

Hi Shipwreck, 

This is the first time I am using it. I've used salt technique until now. I will also try freehand marbling at some point. We'll see how this turns out once the topcoat is on.

Best,

Nikola

B-17 Guy

What is supposed to be the point of the marbleized texture?

 

Hi guys,

Finished priming with Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 and marbled using Uschi Triniti Splatter template with Tamiya Nato Black.

Next step is the moment of truth - the metal coat. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for looking.

Best,

Nikola

M. Brindos

I do have one suggestion for filling cracks, seams, sinks marks, or panel lines for scribing; melted sprue.

Thanks Mike! Excellent suggestion. I'll give it a try.

Best,

Nikola

I do have one suggestion for filling cracks, seams, sinks marks, or panel lines for scribing; melted sprue.

I've been using it more since I started my Corsair and I've come to seriously appreciate the fact that I can scribe it like fresh plastic. 

It sometimes takes a while to set and that depends on how thick you apply it.

 It's a simple solution of extra sprue and either Tamiya Extra Thin cement or at one place I worked at, acetone. I have some melted in an extra bottle of Tamiya Extra Thin. For a few years now I've simply used stretched sprue to fill small lines and just melted it in place with glue, but having enough if it ready as filler is becoming most convenient.

 Give that try. The results are quite satisfying without so much putty.

Oh, and I've got an HB P-47 that's of similar simplicity. A touch of scratch building works wonders. 

Nice work so far.

Hi guys,

One of the biggest lies in BJJ sparring is saying ''let's roll light''. It never ends that way.

Same here. This is supposed to be a very quick build but I just couldn't let some details not get addressed.

I had to fill in the side seams between the front fixed canopy and the fuselage as HB has for some reason left about 0.5mm of unnecessary plastic above the proper seam line.

Also had to rescribe some panel lines including the one running along the center of the cowling top side, as HB does not show them in the completed aircraft drawing in the painting instructions.

The seam is obviously there in the photos of the real thing.

I hate rescribing over filler putty as I can not yet achieve a perfectly strait line. I also went too deep in some spots and I hope that extra primer and paint fill fix those areas. Does anyone have a suggestion regarding this issue?

Thanks for looking!

Best,

Nikola