The Offical Natural Metal Finish Group Build III

Well one and all now that I am past the 2 trips to the cath lab and two imprisonments in CCU and some other sumpthin sumpthin U, the pump is working and I think I can climb back into the saddle again. I am feeling much much better and thank you for all your kind words and thoughts. They really do help out a bunch at those times. So now if you will allow me to get caught up a bit as you have been working hard in my absence I see.

DoogsATM I have to agree with you on the second IP looking much better than the first. Great progress so far my friend. I too use the tube trick for the guns on the Revell P-51s I build. The kit detail on those are really bad and I didnt know the Tamiya kits had the same trouble.

Redraider I know how over committing to GBs can go, so no problem on the Marauder, but I am sorry we wont get to see it built.

Jbrady your Mitchell is surely getting there and in style too I must say. Seems we are going to have some sweet B-25s in this group. Cant wait to see more of it sir.

Kermit looks like you, the Tallon, and that fancy new air brush are getting along in a stellar manner. That is one very nice smooth finish you have there, very smooth indeed.  Are you going to try the powder on it too ? I am sooooo tempted to ummmm acquire one of those kits for a build in the distant future.

CallSignOwl what can I say ? I really love seeing your builds. The knack you have for saving a boo boo is one to look up to I think, especially since you do it so well. I like the markings you came up with and the pictures. Gotta love your  BYAF (Back Yard Air Force) shots the most especially the one of the nose. Man thats a mean looking bird. I will get the front page updated as soon as I can, picking a picture will be a toughy let me tell ya. Very well done young lady

Casper The amount of detail in those 1/32 kits scares me but you are able to pull them off so well. Some very nice work on that pit man cant wait to see more.

MilitaryAircraft101 your builds are in and to the group.

After a bit of dry brushing and a light black oil wash, the cockpit really comes together. I don't want to weather it too much, I want to depict it as it may have looked after flying a couple of missions. Sometimes it's nice to build a new looking bird!

Cheers

aw, shucks vetteman....I guess I'm just stubborn!   I would like to do another shiny bird, but I've got a few more builds to take care of. I'll let you know when I have a NMF to submit, but until then, I'll be lurking!

wonderful cockpit detail casper!

Casper   that is one nice looking pit !!! The washes really made things pop and come to life.

CallSignOwl hehehehe yeah there is an up side to stubborn isnt there I finally made up my mind for the front page picture and posted your very well done B-25 as completed. Hope you will build another NMF for us, and I for one will be lookin forward to it.

Casper - nice job on the Lightning pit! Want to build one of those Cold War "tube jets" in 1/32 one day. Probably the F-8 Crusader. Your Lightning isn't giving me any patience!

Quick build update - main assembly on the P-51 is complete. Still have a few odds and ends...antennae and hardpoints and such. Also going to have to jack the teardrop tanks from another kit, since mine had a bad encounter with some solvents. But I need to touch up the main seams and throw some paint at it to make sure I got all the wing filling done right.

Also, regarding Alclad, has anybody ever done an Alclad "color chart"? I've heard using different colors - grays, reds, blues, etc instead of just black can change things up, but I have no idea how. I'm thinking about taking a sheet of styrene, gridding it off, and painting a handful of colors in columns, then spraying the rows with various Alclad shades. 

I'd be interested in seeing the results of that Doogs.

B17Pilot

I'd be interested in seeing the results of that Doogs.

Any suggestion for colors? I'm thinking:

Black

Gray

White

Silver

Blue

Red

I think yellow would be interesting as well, but considering how much of a PITA yellow can be, yeah no.

I'd skip both white and yellow just cause they're both a PITA.  Don't know how much the silver would affect the alunimum Alclad at all.

I'd say spray a line of each color big enough to see results compared to the black.

Doogs I too would like to see the test strips. Good idea sir

Doogs,

That would certainly be a very interesting experiment. From what i have read on swanny's models website on alclad you can get different hues of the same paint using colored undercoats. Might be very useful for panel shading or exhaust burn colors. looking forward to your findings

Vetteman,

So good to see you posting again! Hope the interior plumbing stays okay now my friend I bet the nurses were glad you were goin home

Popping by to show you my latest... Major paintwork has been sprayed and the coat of semigloss is now curing before i try to add some weathering on the panellines (regretfully the very subtle pre and post shading i have applied to the OD rear part of the plane has mysteriously dissapeared after applying the semi gloss....)

After that some decal fun and little fiddly stuff

Richard

Woops,... i was wandering off so much i forgot the WIPS

Hope you guys like her sofar

Richard

Kermit thanks bud its good be be feeling human again leme tell ya. And yeah the nurses were very happy to see me go, they didnt have to hide the wheelchairs anymore Between me tryin to get wheelchair races goin and the guy next door trying to smoke in CCU they had their hands full. I have been doing a little building but still have those pesky plugs that are giving me trouble so I still have trouble sitting for very long. Been working on a Testers Bearcat race plane.

The 17 is looking great man!!!!!! I really like the almost invisible very suttle shading you have created in some of the panels. Cant wait to see her all dressed up with the decals and such.

Lots of PE! After the last two weekends of cutting and CA gluing PE I have emptied 3 sprues of the stuff! All (most of) pictured here apart from the inner landing bays on the wings.

Wings glued together as well. These wings are massive each one using over 30 pegs each!

Next I'll Future the canopies and prepare the intakes and exhausts.

Cheers

WOW CASPER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats a bunch of brass you have there man, how are your eyes and fingers feelin ??

Lookin good there bud

Apart from the tail which is black, the entire plane is NMF. To break up and create variation in the metal surfaces I'm planning to use a variety of different metal paints.

The landing gear insides, struts, doors and airbrakes have been primed and sprayed using the Mr Colour Aluminum metaliser. I can use the Flory pro modeller wash to help highlight the details.

I'm using Alclad Chrome for the intake ring and nose. For the main body I'll use the Alclad aluminum with a mostly black underneath with gray patterns to highlight various panels and hatches.

Cheers

Went to go lay down the gloss black base tonight (Krylon Fusion) and, well...INSERT STREAM OF EXPLETIVES

WTF? I've had Tamiya dust on me before, not as bad as this, but it has. But Krylon? Decanted and sprayed lovingly through an airbrush? 

yikes doogs!  That's no good. Maybe you can try buffing it with 0000 steel wool? I had something similar happen when my AB paint came out rough. The steel wool smoothed it out wonderfully.

Hi guys,

Been away for awhile and to make matters worse camera was out of action for a month. Finally getting it back today. During that period the B-47 was finished. Hope to post pics this weekend.

Doogs - I feel your pain. I had a mishap on the B-47. My suggestion is to use a Micro Mesh polishing kit. It contains sanding sheets from 3200 to 12000 grit. Start out with 3200 and work your way up through each grit. Always sand in the sam direction and it will come out glass smooth. Car modelers use this stuff all the time to polish out their paint to give it that deep wet shine look.

OWL - B-25 turned our great. Nice in-flight pics and a convincing NMF.

Kermit - That Revell kit looks great! I hope to snag one at our club raffle tomorrow night.

Casper - The Lightning is coming along. Love the front office.

Halfpint - Can't wait to see more on the F84. Love those early jets.

MMM, can i enter my connie? Its got NMF wings, tail and belly. Upper fuselage is white.

Revell 1:144 Super Constellation.

Doogs WOW !!!!!!!!! I haven't seen Krylon dust like that, man what a bummer. Maybe it was humid when you painted ?? I have seen where some had used very fine wet and dry sand paper to level that out then it was coated with a gloss clear coat. More then likely future if I remember correctly. I wouldn't try sanding then re coating with the Krylon though, it will more than likely crack on you. I have had that happen too many times in the past using it as a primer.

Scorpiomikey sure your Connie will fit in here and welcome. I will update the front page in short order.

Not the greatest shot but gives an idea of how the Alclad chrome looks on the intake ring.

Also did the nose cone which looks sensational but is upside down with glue and lead weights inside at the moment.

Cheers

Casper - lookin' good, man!

The poor Mustang's probably ended up having more sanding work done on it than every other kit I've built combined. Sanded down the Krylon black. Repainted with Alclad's microfiller primer, which also went on a tad dusty (but nowhere near as bad). Tonight I knocked that down with some micro mesh polishing clothes I picked up recently. How have I never used these things before? Very, very impressed with them...the cloth backing makes them much more pliable and less prone to forming sharp edges that wear through the paint.

After calming down the Alclad primer to a nice, smooth sheen, I painted the whole Mustang with 3:1 Tamiya X-1 Black and X-22 Clear, thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner. Again, very slight dusting (I'm starting to assume it's just the heat/humidity of Texas in the summer). Still, MUCH better than where I was before!

Up next...micromeshing the black to baby-smooth, and then Alclad time!

Doogs,the 'stang is turning out awesome.I'm guessin the humidity as well.I painted some today and had the same problem.Tho my parts are on a Sprint car and will be mostly hidden so I'm not worrying about them.

I hope to get back on my F84 soon.I've got a commision build of a '57 chevy I've got to have done by december so I'm going to have to get it finished first.Then on to my NMF build

Weird how when it came to gluing everything into place the cockpit didn't quite fit as well as the test fits! Anyways got the intakes, cockpit and the fuselage sewn up.

Cheers

Doogs,

Aww mannn..... Don't it just suck when stuff like that happens? You plan stuff carefully....mixing up just right and WOOF....the Texas weather kicks in 

Alas,... such is the life of a modeller. But i can tell you are resourceful enough to overcome any and all problem my friend Then again, isn't each and every new model a new miniature challenge with a bunch of puzzles and problems to solve? Can't wait to see the Alclad on there!

Casper,

Excellent work sofar! I can imagine tyhings getting a bit tight inthere when you cram a model full of aftermarket goodies Good thing to see is that you are appearantly proficient in the use of our friend Mr. Clamp

Great stuff going on sir!

My own fortress has been decalled, masks removed, props added... Just needs some last minute paintwork (gun barrels and exhausts) and some modest weathering. Pics coming soon!

Richard

kermit

Can't wait to see the Alclad on there!

First pass tonight! Semi-matte aluminum to represent the aluminum lacquer paint on the wings. 

Gonna let this cure overnight, mask tomorrow and spray the fuselage with Aluminum to start. Got plenty of panel picking to do, so it may be a multi-night affair. So far, though, happy with the results. 

Doogs,

Lovely wings. I like how the underlying krylon shines through all "streaky" like that. You used different shades during the preshading? Must try that out... (*note to self*)

Well ladies and gentlemen. Little Miss Mischief is ready to go bomb some german factories Took me far longer than suspected but that was not the kits fault in any way. This is currently and with conviction the best B17 in 1/72 scale and might i add very gently priced as well.

Some pics:

Closer in:

And one for added athmosphere in sepia tone:

This is without any doubt one of those kits where you decide on doing another one someday after you just finished it. Thank each and everyone of you for your comments and support during my build. It was every bit the painting/ masking challenge i expected it to be but BOY was it fun

Richard

lovey fortress kermit!!! 

Richard - lovely Fort! If I built 1/72nd I'd be all about that kit, especially seeing the job you've done on it!

kermit

Doogs,

Lovely wings. I like how the underlying krylon shines through all "streaky" like that. You used different shades during the preshading? Must try that out... (*note to self*)

Well, I stripped the Krylon and went with Alclad primer, then Tamiya gloss black. I used the same mix I used for the port wing on my P-47 - 3 parts X-1, 1 part X-22 (gloss clear), thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner. 

I think the streaks came both from my polishing with the micro-mesh pads and the way I airbrushed the aluminum. I sprayed in the direction of airflow, and took a light touch, and when I noticed the streaking I just kind of went with it. Will save me a lot of time later on, that's for sure!

Still have to mask and spray Magnesium for the darker panels near the exhaust stacks, but other than that, the metal finish is done!

The fuselage is Alclad II Airframe Aluminum, with Aluminum and Duraluminum used on top, sprayed in the center of the panels. Since the AA is semi-transparent and over black, this basically acts like shading. I'd read about the technique, but have never been able to try it. So far, so good!