Hey, guys!
Just a quick update on the Monojugs.  I decided to concentrate on the razorback since I have the decals for it.  I'm going to have to make decals for the bubbletop, so it will take a bit longer.  I hope to get the razorback completed before I start the Hollywood GB.  I don't need too many irons in the fire.

As you can see, there's still a lot of work to do on this one.  Looking at the photo, it appears as if I've already started weathering, but it's just the flash (I think).  The cowl is just stuck on for the pic, along with the struts.  I still need to finish the canopy windscreen, wing lights, radio aerial, pilot, wheels, and a host of other things.  They seem to multiply... discouragingly so.  I only hope I can finish the thing.

Anyway, thanks for looking!

Gary

GAF

Thanks, guys!  I may go for the Krylon sprays.  I saw some at Walmart today as I was shopping (picking up some lead sinkers).  We'll see.

Weather is heating up and there's a storm system approaching, so I've been masking for spray painting.  I think this weekend will be nice and I should get most of the colors on. 

Ken:  Probably won't do the "Beautiful Ds" GB, although it sounds interesting.  Yes, any aircraft with a "type D" would be eligible.  Maybe sometime in the future. I'm not the best choice to run a group build anyway.  I do have an idea for one I may start next year (if I'm still around) and that would be "The Sands of Iwo Jima Group Build - 70th Anniversary".  It would run for one year from 2014 to 2015 ending on the anniversary of when the battle was declared over (if it ever was).  Anything from the battle for Iwo would be eligible; naval, aircraft, ground forces.  Who knows if it will ever come to fruition.

As for the P-47 brakes, I'm not sure if they are hydraulic or not.  I believe they are, but they're not disc brakes.  These didn't become standard until after the war.  I got the idea from reading this thread.

http://p47.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=166373

(You will have to copy and paste this link.  Apparently linking to another modeling site is not allowed).

My own attempts at hose lines are probably too big, but it's what I had, so I went with it.  Who'll notice?  

Gary

I think  you should do the Beautiful Ds. My Hollywood GB doesn't seem to take up that much of my time. I was afraid that it would, but that didn't happen.

Thanks for the link. And good luck on your painting

GAF

My own attempts at hose lines are probably too big, but it's what I had, so I went with it.  Who'll notice?  

Thanks, guys!  I may go for the Krylon sprays.  I saw some at Walmart today as I was shopping (picking up some lead sinkers).  We'll see.

Weather is heating up and there's a storm system approaching, so I've been masking for spray painting.  I think this weekend will be nice and I should get most of the colors on. 

Ken:  Probably won't do the "Beautiful Ds" GB, although it sounds interesting.  Yes, any aircraft with a "type D" would be eligible.  Maybe sometime in the future. I'm not the best choice to run a group build anyway.  I do have an idea for one I may start next year (if I'm still around) and that would be "The Sands of Iwo Jima Group Build - 70th Anniversary".  It would run for one year from 2014 to 2015 ending on the anniversary of when the battle was declared over (if it ever was).  Anything from the battle for Iwo would be eligible; naval, aircraft, ground forces.  Who knows if it will ever come to fruition.

As for the P-47 brakes, I'm not sure if they are hydraulic or not.  I believe they are, but they're not disc brakes.  These didn't become standard until after the war.  I got the idea from reading this thread.

http://p47.kitmaker.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=166373

(You will have to copy and paste this link.  Apparently linking to another modeling site is not allowed).

My own attempts at hose lines are probably too big, but it's what I had, so I went with it.  Who'll notice?  

Gary

Yeah, the lacquer works fine if you mist it on, I have a... well a lead finger on my airbrush hand - I always start out misting and end up flooding it on!!!

With a spray can I always start a foot or so away and then get closer and closer until the mist turns into a friggin' monsoon! I kinda moved away from using them because I just can't seem to help myself. 

I tend to add a few drops of water to the MM gloss- it doesn't take a whole lot.

Gamera

Yeah, lol well you can use lacquer over acrylic if you're careful. If it works for you Joe great, I'm afraid I'll screw it up though!

I've been using Testor's Model Master Acrylic in my air brush. Krylon and a few other companies make acrylic gloss and matte in a spray can. I've used them a few times with good results. You should be able to find it at your local hardware or craft type store.  

Indeed you're right Cliff. Although it has worked for me in the past I don't make it a practice. I will be using MM Acryl Gloss for the first time on my current FW 190. I simply prefer to use enamel paints and oil washes. I've been informed to ensure that you thin the MM Acryl gloss though.

Gary, I was just looking at your brake lines. Are/were they hydraulic, like on a car? I've never been sure how to make them

Yeah, lol well you can use lacquer over acrylic if you're careful. If it works for you Joe great, I'm afraid I'll screw it up though!

I've been using Testor's Model Master Acrylic in my air brush. Krylon and a few other companies make acrylic gloss and matte in a spray can. I've used them a few times with good results. You should be able to find it at your local hardware or craft type store.  

Gary - I say go for the Beautiful Ds GB. I'm in with the Bubble Top.

Would you include other aircraft D versions?

I have used Testors Dullcote and Glosscote over acrylics and enamel and I have personally never had any ill effects. Just my personal experience.

Thanks, guys!  I'll try to keep it entertaining,    Perhaps I should move this over to the "Aircraft" forum as its own build log.  Or start a new Group Build.  Call it "Beautiful Ds" and open it to any "D" type of aircraft, new starts or nearly finished. 

Anyway, I got the razorback cowl's yellow paint on this evening, and even did the bubbletop's more curvy pattern, though I accidentally covered over one of the points, so it's incomplete. I've left the mask on, so  I'll  decant some of the spray paint and carefully touch it up with a brush.  The Future trick with the mask worked well, though there are some minor raised edges I need to fix.  All in all, though, I'm happy.

Joe:  I did try pre-shading the bubbletop before painting, but the spray can aluminum is just too heavy for the shade to make a difference.  Looks like weathering is the way to go, and I think a wash will be just the ticket.  Well, I'm sure "Eight Nifties" will get finished some day. 

Now you've got me scared, talking about lacquers like that!  I used lacquer as a generic term for "finish", but then I noticed the Dullcote and Glosscote are all lacquers.  They say they're safe for use over model paint after it has dried sufficiently, but you never can tell.  So what sort of coating do you suggest?  It has to be in a spray can, remember (no airbrush).

Gary

Gary - 'll keep following your build.

cheers

Tony

Gamera

greentracker98

GAF

The Flat Olive Drab came out a bit dark to my eyes, but it  is what it is.  Maybe it will lighten up after I finish everything with a flat lacquer

Gary, I'll be around, I still have the bubble top to do. And Uhhhh, I don't know what kind of paint your olive drab is, but, you can't put laquer over acrylic or enamel. That really makes a mess of things. If you already know this please disreguard this.

Actually if I may disagree with you a little Ken, it should be ok if you spray the lacquer in light mist coats, if you flood it on, yes it will craze and discolour the acrylic.

Lol, don't ask how I found this out with a (formerly) perfectly good model and a can of Testor's DullCote...

Still as Ken said you're better off using an acrylic dull varnish over it.   

And not sure I'd worry too much about the OD - there wasn't any standard 'olive drab' in WWII. Some was very light, some almost black, some more greenish, some more brownish. It varied from company to company and in some cases from paint can to paint can. 

Gamera, I'd be afraid to try that. LOL I just know it would really get messed up.

I was just thinking. My Dad painted 1:1 cars for a living. I was wondering how he knew what paint he painting over. and  I know he used laquer sometimes. He had his own garage for a little while and I would help sometimes.

greentracker98

GAF

The Flat Olive Drab came out a bit dark to my eyes, but it  is what it is.  Maybe it will lighten up after I finish everything with a flat lacquer

Gary, I'll be around, I still have the bubble top to do. And Uhhhh, I don't know what kind of paint your olive drab is, but, you can't put laquer over acrylic or enamel. That really makes a mess of things. If you already know this please disreguard this.

Actually if I may disagree with you a little Ken, it should be ok if you spray the lacquer in light mist coats, if you flood it on, yes it will craze and discolour the acrylic.

Lol, don't ask how I found this out with a (formerly) perfectly good model and a can of Testor's DullCote...

Still as Ken said you're better off using an acrylic dull varnish over it.   

And not sure I'd worry too much about the OD - there wasn't any standard 'olive drab' in WWII. Some was very light, some almost black, some more greenish, some more brownish. It varied from company to company and in some cases from paint can to paint can. 

GAF

The Flat Olive Drab came out a bit dark to my eyes, but it  is what it is.  Maybe it will lighten up after I finish everything with a flat lacquer

Gary, I'll be around, I still have the bubble top to do. And Uhhhh, I don't know what kind of paint your olive drab is, but, you can't put laquer over acrylic or enamel. That really makes a mess of things. If you already know this please disreguard this.

Gary: Nice! I know what you mean about masking, somehow I always leave a place open here or there and get a bunch of overspray...

Don't worry Gary, I'll be stickin' with ya while your building. Appears to me you'll be done before I get back in here with "Eight Nifties". Looks like your doing great and moving right along. As far as alternating aluminum colors with Tamiya Aluminum I'm not totally sure. A couple of things you might try is paint the panels a different color i.e. black, brown, blue etc... then paint the aluminum over them. The other is to add a little of another color to the aluminum.

Time for a weekend update.

It's been a busy couple of days, and my spray painting has taken some steps forward.  I must admit, I envy you guys with air-brushes.  Rattle cans are okay, but there's nothing like being able to mix your own colors and spot paint.

First I got the Razorback primed, then had to wait a day for it to dry.

Meanwhile, I worked on a few other things like adding brake lines to the gear.  The lines for the bubbletop have been done for a long time, but I'm just starting the razorback's.  It's a combination of wire and rubber line.  They sell this rubber band type material for bead stringing, but it makes great tubing.  The women at Hobby Lobby just look at me strangely, buying stuff in the Beading Dept. 

Then after masking, the NMF and the OD went on smoothly, the weather was good for spray painting.  However, there's the inevitable dust particles and spots (even though I covered the models with a plastic bin.  Nothing too drastic.

The finishes sure show up how poorly I've managed to fill seams in some spots. I thought I had done a pretty good job, but the pictures and paint sure bring out the blemishes.  I'm not sure if I can fix some of this, and I'm afraid that I will just make it worse.  I will see what I can do to hide a lot of it.

I really like the color of the Tamiya "Gloss Aluminum".  It came out looking pretty good to me, but now I'm stuck on how to add some variation to the overall scheme.  I'll have to think on that.  The Flat Olive Drab came out a bit dark to my eyes, but it  is what it is.  Maybe it will lighten up after I finish everything with a flat lacquer.  The cowl is awaiting some yellow paint, and the tail on the razorback and the bubbletop will be painted white.  That Silly Putty trick really works!  Guess I neglected to mask the top of the stabilizer on the razor.     But I can fix that.

Meanwhile, I''ve found I didn't quite cover some of the lower fuselage on the razor, so I'll have to remask that section.  Oh, well...

That's a little TOO much feathering!

Gamera:  Thanks for the tip on Future.  The cowl came out much better even though I had to apply Future with a small brush around the masking tape edges.

It's going to be rather lonely in here now that Ken has his razorback finished.  I'm such a slow worker...

Thanks for reading!

Gary

Ken: Hey she looks good to me! I don't worry about grinding off some of the tire treads- I just call it wear!

Used Tech Mod decals before and liked them. I know what you mean about instant stick decals though, sometimes you can daub a lot of water or decal solvent onto the decal and work a soft paintbrush under it to break it loose- and sometimes the decal tears apart too...

Had to take a break from spray painting and cleaning to check the forums...

Ken:  Nice one.  She finished up pretty, even with the decal trouble.  And I wouldn't worry about the tires (says the guy who bought aftermarket resin wheels so he wouldn't have to deal with them on the razorback).  Looking at my two Jugs I can see things I already know are mistakes, but it's just too much trouble to correct.  It's a Revell model for cryin' out loud!  They're SUPPOSED to have mistakes!    I'm just glad I can still glue them together at my age.

And hope things go well at the club meeting!  Modelers can be a vicious bunch... 

Thank goodness I found some silly putty! (For masking... I don't play with the stuff... Honest!

PS>  Just put the first coat of Tamiya "Gloss Aluminum" onto the bubbletop and it looks pretty good over the grey primer, giving just that dull metal look I was hoping for.  The pre-shading pretty much disappears, however.  As an experiment, my pre-shading needs some work.  Probably would be better on something other than a NMF.

Gary

JOE RIX

Ken - Excellent job. You've done some really nice work. I hope you're OK with some pointers on your build. The most glaring thing that stuck out to me is that you neglected to take off the seam on your tires. On your next build you'll want to sand those smooth. Or maybe invest in some AM ones from True Details or Ultracast. Especially if there is a tread pattern involved as those are very difficult to sand the seam out on without ruining the detail. For me, a set of resin wheels is often one of the first AM parts I get. I find that realistic wheels that nicely detailed really make a model stand out. I tell you, if you want to find boo boos in your workmanship just take a photo of it and it will usually stick out like a sore thumb.

Sorry to hear about the Tech Mod decals. I have not personally used them. Hopefully they respond in some positive manner.

I Welcome any pointers that anyone cares to give me. I missed the seam on the tires because I was too concerned about they rest of it. Thank you. I Admit it, I am human and I mistakes like everyone else. But I'll try to take care of that tonight.

Now,. I'm off with my jug to my local model club meeting. I'll let you know if anyone says anything about it and the tires. If anyone says anything it will be Vince the Vice president LOL. but he's okay hes always making snide remarks about something. LOL I figure if he didn't he don't like me.

Ken - Excellent job. You've done some really nice work. I hope you're OK with some pointers on your build. The most glaring thing that stuck out to me is that you neglected to take off the seam on your tires. On your next build you'll want to sand those smooth. Or maybe invest in some AM ones from True Details or Ultracast. Especially if there is a tread pattern involved as those are very difficult to sand the seam out on without ruining the detail. For me, a set of resin wheels is often one of the first AM parts I get. I find that realistic wheels that nicely detailed really make a model stand out. I tell you, if you want to find boo boos in your workmanship just take a photo of it and it will usually stick out like a sore thumb.

Sorry to hear about the Tech Mod decals. I have not personally used them. Hopefully they respond in some positive manner.

Guys, The company that made the decals I just got is called Tech Mod, out of Poland. Now,I don't know if all their decals are like the ones I got, but I had a lot trouble them. I just sent an email to the people who sold them to me. Any way if they weren't in the right position within 5 seconds (literally) they would stick and not move without tearing them. I'll let you all know what happens. Just a word of warning here.

Here a few pics, I still need to touch it up and give it a clear coat, but its essentially done. When i get the clear coat, I'll take a couple more pics. I don't know what they will do about the decals. Maybe he will send new ones. We'll see Anyway here the pics

JOE RIX

Hey Ken and Gary, you guys are doing an excellent job on your Jugs. Really nice work.

Ken, As far as an NMF Alclad really is some amazing stuff despite my issues. You really should give it a try. Also Tamiya Aluminum works well also.

Joe - Thanks

 I'm looking into the alclad and I think I'm going to give it a try (again) I seen a video on You Tube once on the chrome and the guy said you only need 1 or 2 coats after that you loose the shine. Is all the alclad that way? I treid to do a chrome Pennzoil Tanker trailer and put too much on it and it only looks like a flat aluminin.

Gary - Okay, if I can help just say the word

Hey Ken and Gary, you guys are doing an excellent job on your Jugs. Really nice work.

Ken, As far as an NMF Alclad really is some amazing stuff despite my issues. You really should give it a try. Also Tamiya Aluminum works well also.

Ken:  Decals!  Yeah!  Sounds like you're on your way to "Get 'er Done!"  Waiting for the pics. 

The drop tanks are okay.  I robbed the Tamiya P-51D for a couple, so I'm set.  As for what I'm using for the NMF on the bubbletop, it appears to be Tamiya "Gloss Aluminum".  I have a couple of other Testor's spray cans (including an "Aluminum Plate (Buffing Metalizer)" that I am afraid to touch), but this one might be the best.  However, I don't know how glossy it will be after spraying over grey primer.  You have a much better selection than I do with an airbrush, so I can't advise you on what to try.

So both Ds are ready for their coats.  I think I will use the semi-gloss grey primer as the base on the razorback, and just over-spray the olive drab on it.  The color is so close to neutral gray that it won't be noticeable.  Meanwhile, I've Future coated my canopies, painted the aux tanks and got the tear-drop tanks together and ready to be primed.  This weekend should (I hope) see some real progress.

Take care!

Gary

Decals came today Thank God Pics later

Gamera - Thanks

Gary - Thanks, Yours are looking good too.

Now I'm just waiting on decals. If you can't find the tear - drop tanks, I didn't use the 2 that came with  the P 38 and there are 2 with the bubble top. Let me know. You can have them if you need them.

I started painting the little pieces for the bubbletop last night. I'll post some pics when I get more done. I think the "Bubble-Top" is going to spoil me. LOL Thanks again

What are you going to use for the NMF? Everyone says the P 38 looks good, but to me, it seems off and I'm not sure what to use. Right now, I'm thinking Bare Metal Foil Aluminin.

The "something new" for the club meeting is the razorback. I'll take it even if it isn't completley finished. He only shipped the decals yesterday the 9th.

Ken

I thought I had better check in, just to let you know I'm still working on the Double Ds.  I have to admit there doesn't seem to be much progress, but things have come together at last.  As you can see, the Razorback is finally together, the guns installed and all that's left is to prime her and then lay on the olive drab.  The bubbletop is ready for NMF, and I hope to get that done either Friday or this weekend (depending on the weather).  I hope it's smooth sailing from here on!  I am going to have to find some tear-drop tanks for the wings.  I think I have a pair for the old Hawk P-51 in the cardboard box.  Or maybe there's some in the Tamiya p-51D box.  I'll have to check.  Oh, and the silver oval on the wing is the air intake.  It will look better after I've primed and finished detailing.

I still need to do the decals for the bubbletop.  I have plenty of insignia, but the lettering for "My Baby" still needs to be done.  I haven't decided on what I'm going to do about the cowl. After the last episode of paint running under the masking tape, I'm leery of going that route again.  I can certainly produce a decal for the cowl if I have to.

Ken:  That Razorback is looking good!  Not much longer till she's done it appears.  Nice job!  And about those vents... you shouldn't have to open them on the Tamiya kit.  They should already be that way!  Oh, and good luck with getting something new for the club meeting.

Joe:  Hope that yard work clears up.