CallSignOWL

I almost didnt catch the stamp on the horizontal stabilizer...

I hate it when companies put that on the outside of the model!

All - I found the Tamiya Extra Thin Cement at my local HobbyTownUSA. Thanks for the suggestions. While I was there, I noticed they had a 1/48 Tamiya Me262 A-1a @ 30% off. I've been wanting to add a 262 to my stash but hadn't had time to research the best kits. I hope this was one of them!?

Now I need to locate some clamps for the fuselage assembly. i went to the hardware store and Home Depot but the clamps they offered had "the strength of Hercules". These clamps were so strong they would have certainly mis-aligned the fuselage halves or, worse yet, crushed them. I see that MicroMark sells clamps but they look very similar to the ones I saw in the stores. The articles says not to use rubber bands (or tape, I assume). Clothespins don't open wide enough for the fuselage. What do you all use and where can I get them?

Thanks too for the compliments on my A-6 Texan front office work.

Owl - Thanks for cluing us in on your gender. I can honestly say that you're only the second female I know of that builds/built models. A rare bird indeed. Best of luck with your Revell P-51D and keep posting!

thank you nicefit!

I am at a friends house for a few days but my laptop cannot connect to their internet, and seeing as that is where all my pictures are.....

I have a question....how bright is the MM Chrome silver? the aluminum shade does not have quite the luster I am looking for on my Mustang.

OWL

Hi Owl -- and first may I say how terrific it is to meet a woman in the hobby! I know they're around but they're so rare! (I have a sister in law who builds, and a lady friend currently building a flying balsa Hurricane fighter, and that's truly rare!)

Re MM Chrome silver, I've used it for many years. Applied smoothly, it has a very bright finish indeed. The only drawback is that it's delicate -- even allowing a couple of days curing time I'm still hesitant to mask over it, so always make sure it's the last paint to be applied. Also, to get a metal finish rather than a silver, I came up with the trick of mixing in a small amount of aluminium. Yes, it reduces the shine, but I find it toughens the paint so that it will stand both masking and handling. I did a Mustang last year and added 10% aluminium to the bright silver, and got a weathered metal look (it was for a Korean era plane, and the weather beat them up badly there) which has been surprisingly resistant to the dreaded thumb-prints that straight silver is so susceptible to.

Hope this helps,

Cheers, Mike/TB379

thanks Thunderbolt, that helped a lot. Would adding future or applying a coat of it help the paints fragility at all?

OWL

Hi again,

I'm not sure! You can't get future down here in Aus, and I've not had good luck with clearcoats so far (been too chicken to try, really...) Also, I've always wondered about this -- a metallic is supposed to look metallic, not glossy! There's a fine line of distinction, but the finishes are different. Future is an acrylic, MM is an enamel range -- I've added Humbrol Glosscoat to flat enamels to bring up their lustre very effectively, but never tried it with a metallic. I recently tried the same things with Tamiya acrylics and while the lustre did come up there was a certain 'spottiness' to the finish which wasn't so good -- that might have been because my AB was in need of cleaning.

Cheers, M (who's off to the university palaeo lab to paint reproductions of fossil bones again today...)

Hey peeps,

Time to pick up the pieces. And i hate to start off with negative stuff but..... my Korean war F51 isn't doing that well

Just before i left for my six week holiday i decanted the chrome paint from a spraycan and applied it through my AB. After curing i sprayed enamels on top of that for the red and semigloss anti glare black parts.

The day before i left i took the masking off and most of the paint along with it! And to make matters worse i just found out that the chrome paint has started orange peeling and "bubbling" during my holiday. So much for chrome paint... Must admit i am a bit overwhelmed, not sure if this is a write off or salvageable...

Look for yourselves:

Richard

Hi Kermit -- the bright bits are bright, the rest... I see your point. But structurally she's fine, so my tip would be strip her and start again. I have always put the metallic on last to avoid peel-up issues, if the production sequence allows for it at all (under the tail of a Phantom can be particularly fiddly to do last and I tend to do it along with other detail painting like the radome, and edge-mask with tape, then tape on paper to protect the bulk of it). But it looks like that's exactly what you did, and it was the antiglare panel that peeled off... Hmmm -- you might selectively strip, getting rid of the bad bits and saving the good?

Cheers, M/TB379

Gamera the orangle peel effect is usally only something you will only experience when spraying enamals. The main cause is usaly the paint curing to fast  and not laying flat or improperly thinned paint. Another reason I stay away from enamels. I have never seen this happen with acrylics. As far as spraying a seimgloss or flat undercoat I would not recomened it. If you are using any of the metalizer type paints you must paint over a gloss surface otherwise it will dull the finish.

Owl thank you for letting us know there is a lady in the room. We all tend to assume it's all guys in hear. Glad I have not made any off color comments here! Not that I engage in that type of behavoir of course.

Future should be avalible in the land down under. I believe it is sold under the brand name Johnson's Clear if I am not mistaken.

Dobby the Tamiya kit is a sweet build. You will enjoy it. Did you get the fighter bomber version with the tow vehicle and figures? There are only a couple of things to llok out for. The first is the windscreen has the surronding panels molded with it and iot is undersized for the fuselage. The second is the gun access door on the nose to not fit well. I posed mine open so I did not have to do major work to fit them to the model. Other than that it is an awesome kit!

Soulcrusher

OWL my apologies for assuming hehe I too am glad to see another female modeler in our midst!!! Nice progress btw!!!

back Richard, hope your stay in my homeland was a nice one!!! You made it to a HobbyTownusa so that was a bonus!!!!

Owl – nice start, you are already ahead of me lol.  I am doing a green nose variant, using Aeromaster’s Green Nose Mustangs of East Wretham  Pt III decal sheet. They are tailored for the Tamiya kit but I hope they fit the Revell one.  You must have one of the old OLD Revell’s, has the 1977 copyright stamp! That takes me back many years ago and a galaxy far far away….

NiceFit – One trick to preserve detail before sanding is to cover it up with tape. I use Tenax (welder type of glue); if done properly, seams should be minimal. Of course, I don’t do it properly so have a lot of fixing to do lol.  The problem with those fuel tanks is that the corrugated folds on both sides do not match with each other. I took a thin chisel type of tool (the MicroMark one) and literally carved some of those folds back onto the fuel tank. Ill post some pics once I get the dig cam away from my daughter!

If I ever did this again, I would either get resin external tanks from True Details or just get the Tamiya P51D :)

I have a small tapered brush I use to apply Tenax; I did not have much success with the touch-n-flow method. Just make sure your brush is camel hair and not nylon, or the Tenax will attack the bristles.

Swannys models (Matt Swan) has a comprehensive article on Future uses:

http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

From the article: “In Australia the Future’s past is long and convoluted. Originally it went under the name “Stride Right” or “Super Stride” then the name was changed to “Shine Magic” or "Super Shine”. Then, in January 2002 the product was discontinued! Through inquiries to the S.C. Johnson distributor in N.S.W. I have learned of another product that is very similar to Future called “Pledge One Go”. Peter Johnstone (a helpful Aussie modeler) has tested this product and reports that it works very well on clear parts and seems to be compatible with model paints and acrylics. He also reports that it demonstrates the wonderful self leveling properties that we see in Future and dries fairly quickly. Another option in Australia is “Pascoe’s Long Life” which is an ammonia based produce that behaves in a similar fashion to Future. "Pascoe's" was originally marketed under the name "Rekkit's" and can still be found under this name in the country areas. This product can cause acrylic paints to run if applied too heavily so it will be important to keep this in mind while reading the rest of this article.

Hey Kermit! Glad to see you back on the boards. I feel your pain! I had some paint peeling off on my Revell P-51 and the P-47 last week. I didn't have the patience for stripping and starting anew. I just sanded the area, reapplied the black gloss in several coats then repainted the Alclad. It came out well, but on very close inspection, I can still see where the paint came away. I can live with that, though. Good luck!

Rob

JMart - Thanks for your input on those Revell P-51D fuel tanks. Considering the work to fix them and  cost of parts/shipping on the resin tanks, your suggestion to simply buy the Tamiya kit makes sense. I take it the external fuel tanks in that kit are one piece?

I saw both the Tennax and the Tamiya Extra Thin at my LHS. Since the later included an applicator and was also recommended by fellow GBers, I decided to go with it. I remember someone telling me about Tennax a while back (perhaps it was you) but I didn't recall how it was applied. At some point I will try the Tennax - thanks for letting me know what to use to apply it.

Kermit - I'm sorry to hear about the paint lifting. A similar thing happened to me. Your kit is definitely salvageable. It hardly takes any time to completely strip it using Mr. Color Leveling Thinner. Believe me, I had to strip my Mustang several times!

It looks to me like the NMF did not adhere well to the black base and therefore your enamels did not adhere either. I had this problem with my plane. A coat of Future over the black base (in my case, Alclad Gloss Black Base) solved the problem - the NMF adhered solidly.

ok, bit of a noob question here, but how do you get the GB badge onto your signature?

OWL

CallSignOWL

ok, bit of a noob question here, but how do you get the GB badge onto your signature?

OWL

First of all, upload the badge to your "photobucket". Then go to Edit Your Profile and add the image to your signature just as you would add an image to your posts. It's simple.

ahhhhh, got it! thank you.

OWL

soulcrusher

Gamera the orangle peel effect is usally only something you will only experience when spraying enamals. The main cause is usaly the paint curing to fast  and not laying flat or improperly thinned paint. Another reason I stay away from enamels. I have never seen this happen with acrylics. As far as spraying a seimgloss or flat undercoat I would not recomened it. If you are using any of the metalizer type paints you must paint over a gloss surface otherwise it will dull the finish.

SC: thanks for your help. The weird thing is almost all the paint I use is acylic anymore. I've gotten orange peel with Tamiya gloss and Future as well. I've tried thinning it and applying retarder to get the paint to dry more slowly. Most of this was done with a Paashe Millinium (sp?) with the pressure around 10-15 PSI although I've tried it higher as well. Still whatever I do I get orange peel. An auto guy at our club helped me with using fine mesh sandpaper to sand and buff it down but I always end up going though the paint. The only thing I can figure is that I may be trying to lay the paint down too fast but still it seems to me that would make it dry more slowly.

Spray cans haven't been much better. I think the pitting is coming from tiny air bubbles in the paint that leave holes in the finish as it dries.

I'm looking for a slightly dull oxidized finish so the matt or semigloss undercoat might be usable. I'm going to keep experimenting with it but I keep getting frustrated, shoving the kit back in the box and walking away for a month or two.

I've been re-reading through teh GB thread, and I came across a discussion about  chrome paint...

I am using the MM enamel Chrome Aluminum--do I need to paint a gloss black under coat for it , is bare plastic ok? or would a coat of future over  whatever be acceptable?

also, does paint thinner have an expiration date? I found a large jug in the garage from who-knows-when

Thanks, OWL

OWL,

Using the bare plastic you will get great results too. Used ordinary revell aluminum paints all through NMFI with satisfying results. The gloss grey/ black undercoats will give you that tiny bit of extra shine you might be searching for but without it youll do great too (IMHO).

About the ex piration dates... I couldn't tell you really. You might wanna try enamels on a scrap piece of plastic and see if a demakeup pad drenched in your thinner will remove it after curing. If yes, you could use it (i think).

Tried to remove the chrome paint today using demakeup pads soaked in white spirit and much to my dismay it didn't really take any effort at all. Shiny as it may be, the canned chrome paint is not that effective as i hoped it would be. It even attacked the acrylic gloss black undercoat at places.

Plan for now is to sand down the orange peel/ bubble area's and reapply a black gloss coat before using my trusty revell aluminum paint. Sadly enough i have to admit defeat on this one... I am just glad i did not use it on the B17....

Richard

man, kermit, is a darn shame that you paint job didnt work out. I cant show you guys yet (laptop w/ all the pics cant connect to the web here) but I had to strip a couple of my first efforts on the mustang too. its a real buzz kill...  

but that b-17 would have a lot more paint on it than a little 'stang would!! silver lining to every cloud, right?

OWL

Gamera I have had the same troubles with Tamiya paints coming out very rough I call it orange peeling. Someone told me to thin my paints with a few drops of future to act as a retarder. What I do is thin my paint by the bottle ( I dont brush paint with acrylics so by the bottle works for me ) 50/50 with distilled water then add 5 or 6 drops of future to it. The paint goes on nice and smooth now but takes a bit longer to dry, oh and I use the future on both flat and gloss paints.

Hey thanks for the Streak Eagle decals buddy they arrived today and will work perfectly Cant wait to get started on that build.

RICHARD !! back my modeling buddy. Man what a bummer about your P-5, but I know you will make it look better than it did before your mishap. Now you have me a bit afraid of the chrome Krylon paint I was planning to use on a build.

Nicefit I tried your spinner painting trick from page19 on a P-51B I was building and let me tell you all it worked perfectly. Thank you for sharing it with us. Heres a picture of it a bit off topic but hey someone else might make use of the idea.

I also picked up some shrink tubing for future use thanks Jmabx

NIce Mustang Randy! What scale is it?

I would love to take credit for the shrink tubing but I think that idea came from Jmart. 

Nice work Owl and everyone else! Good to see you back Kermit! Hope you enjoyed the trip. Hopefully I can join in again soon.

Hey Vetteman, I'm glad my spinner trick worked well for you. In my case, it was not perfectly crisp, but it was a perfectly circular shape and SO much easier than masking with tape. The shrink tube looks the best way to go. Let us know. Beautiful P-51B! 

Thank's to everybody for welcoming me back.  This certainly wasn't the last time i will be in washington. God i love it there... Oh and on my visit to Kennewick i was introduced to the heavenly place you guys call ihop. I am now officially addicted to the "stackers" (the pancakes with cheesecake inbetween) LOL. Yumm......

Anyways... just dropped by to say i have sanded down the yucky spots and will respray a coat of black gloss tonight or tomorrow. Haven't touched the B17 yet as it needs more attention but she's not forgotten

Richard

jmabx

 

I would love to take credit for the shrink tubing but I think that idea came from Jmart. 

 

Jmabx  you are right the shrink tubing idea came from Jmart back on page 25. My apologies to Jmart for getting that wrong .

The P-51B was the newly tooled Revell 1/48 kit it is far better than the old kit leme tell ya, I have built a number of the old kits. It has more detail over all and much more in the cockpit and gear bays, and most of the fits are much improved. It also has recessed panel lines and rivets. The only fit problems I had were the canopy which I think is a Revell trade mark and the belly scoop. Other than that is was a sweet easy build, so for 12 bucks you just cant go wrong. The kit number is 85-5256 I plan to get a few more of them.

Thank you for the kind words guys and again it was off topic but I wanted to thank Nicefit for the spinner idea.

I have an air racer to get finished up then I am planning to start a build so try the Talon paints on before I take on the Streak Eagle. Yes Kermit I am going to use paint for a NMF  Anyway that build will be a 1/48 Revell AT-6/SNJ Texan that Fermis was kind enough to send me some time ago.

vetteman42

The P-51B was the newly tooled Revell 1/48 kit it is far better than the old kit leme tell ya, I have built a number of the old kits. It has more detail over all and much more in the cockpit and gear bays, and most of the fits are much improved. It also has recessed panel lines and rivets. The only fit problems I had were the canopy which I think is a Revell trade mark and the belly scoop. Other than that is was a sweet easy build, so for 12 bucks you just cant go wrong. The kit number is 85-5256 I plan to get a few more of them.

Vetteman - Thanks for telling us about this kit. i was looking at the instruction sheets for both kits at Revell's website and (as you noted) it looks like quite a number of things were added/changed for the better versus kit 85-5241. Those currently building the P-51D might want to take a peek.

P-51B/C Instructions

P-51D Instructions

I don't recall seeing the P-51B/C (re-tooled kit) in the stores, but I will keep an eye out for it. Does the box art look like the photo shown on p. 1 of the instructions?

Nicefit yes the box art is the same as the picture on page 1 of the instruction sheet. I havent seen this kit in the stores yet either, but had the LHS order it for me. I hope Michaels starts carrying it soon so I can use the 40% coupon for it. Then again I really cant complain about paying 12 bucks for it, I think its worth it. The P-51D kit # 5241hasnt been retooled as far as I know, but if they ever do retool it similar to what they did with the B/C model it would be a great seller I think, althou I have 3 of those ( the D model ) in my stash and really enjoy building them.

Second attempt at NMF, this time i referred back to my revell paint. Easy, quick and pretty much failsafe...

Richard

Richard she looks good mate!!! Hope this go round is successful!!!

hey, all. I sprayed the chrome aluminum on yesterday and the shine is much improved! (even if the paint is a little thick in areas...  some of the raised details disappeared and I have a couple of "runny" spots.... 

but i am learning more each time! that's what this all about, no?

Question: how long do the MM enamels take to cure? I still have some masking to do and would like to apply a shielding coat of future over the chrome. ( i applied the paint at about 7-ish pm yesterday and it sat over night) 

also, would it be safe then to sand down the runny spots?

Thanks, OWL

p.s. if there is a D missing somewhere, it is because the key sticks on this keyboard. sorry!