OFFICAL NATURAL METAL FINISH GB V (2013-2014)

That's exactly the pic I was gonna post as well. =]  That's what I went by.  Accounts from the pilots and crew that worked on them have commented how the putty would wear out too after some time.  Not sure "how much".  I've left mine with some wear on the lines on top and bottom.   The next one I do might be cleaner.  We'll see.... =P

But Blue...in regards to the insignia I found what works best is to patiently make cuts with my exacto knife into the decal provided (mostly for scale consistency) as if you're gonna cut it out.  Next, I place a couple pieces of masking tape over it and carefully cut into the grooves I've just made.  It helps the blade find where it needs to be.  Make shallow cuts at first, continue until you've made deliberate and complete cuts, and when you're done you've got your mask. =D  Just be careful not to stretch the tape out and you wont warp your shape.  You can even use it on a sheet of something sturdier and spray it with something dark and cut that shape out to have a mask that will last you a bit longer.  =]

Just take your time and be patient.  I have steady hands, but if you don't feel comfortable trying it on something you're gonna need then try cutting on some circles you draw out with a stencil.

The stars and bars are actually going to be the decals.  I just cut them straight out the decal.  I make the cuts on the star from the center going away.  That way I don't cut into the star.  It was a much simpler idea  than having the star mask mis-register on the field.  It was harder to see what I was doing more precisely before.  This is a much simple way.

Try it out.

Thanks bvallot... you have certainly given me something to think about!

bvallot, Blue, it's a learning experience watching you guys produce these finishes. NMF's are not exactly a strong point for me, especially weathering 'em, so I'm making lots of notes for when I'm ready to apply the exterior painting. Awesome work!

Work has finally commenced on the Spitfire. Starting with the 'pit (man is this thing packed!), it'll still be a few days before there's anything photo-worthy.

Well, I appreciate the kind thoughts.  Would you believe this is my first one. =]  I'm still pretty new to modeling.  I have an art background though which I've noticed helps me move along through a new trick I'm trying to pull off.  But this is my first NMF.  Although I'm normally flying through these builds, on this one I've really taken my time.  I've been very slow and calculated through each step in the dance.  I feel that has made all the difference.

But I'm happy to share what I've picked up along the way.  After all, I learned by digging through forums and reading every piece of any tip and suggestion I could find.  So it's only fair to pay it forward! =]

Can't wait to see what you're doing with that spitfire.  Eduard has that new kit out that I'm really excited to do, but there are only so many hours in a day... lol

Well, don't know if this classifies but after finishing my 'Stang, I did a War of the Worlds model (Tom Cruise vintage) and it's painted in Dark Aluminum.  I built the lighting from scratch using LEDs (4 white and 4 blue) and it's powered by a 9 volt battery.  The top is painted grape on the inside and then frosted over the top triangles with dark aluminum as well.

certainly looks metal to me :-) its damn nice too.

Gunner, that's awesome!  Looks great.

Rudd, thanks for the nice thoughts.  If I can do it, so can you.  

Quick update (and boring pictures):

I have finished filling and sanding the panel lines on my wings using Mr. Surfacer 500 &1200.  For whatever reason, I was unable to make the lines disappear completely, even after 4 fillings and sandings.  It seems I just hit a point where Mr. Surfacer wasn't going to fill any further (or perhaps my sanding technique left something to be desired.)  That said, the lines are pretty subtle, and in keeping with the aging and loss of putty due to wear and tear (at least to my mind), so I'm ok with it.

I sprayed a coat of thinned Mr. Surfacer 1200 as a primer, and added some dark streaks and splotches a-la Lawdog for a bit of variety.  I then painted the wings with decanted Tamiya Silver Leaf spray paint  (TS-30) hoping it would look sufficiently different than the Alclad I will be using for the rest of the aircraft.  I am hoping for a contrast between the "natural metal" and the "painted" surfaces.  After giving it time to dry, I rubbed it down a bit with micro mesh to give it a little more of a worn appearance.

We'll see how it looks next to the Alclad, but I have to say the Silver Leaf appears more metallic than I was expecting.

I used Krylon Fusion decanted and airbrushed for the black undercoat when I painted my P-47.  It sprays very nicely, and seems to provide a decent base for the Alclad, but it took 4 or  5 days for the paint to cure enough for me to continue painting.  With that in mind, I wanted to get that coat on my P-51 before I head off for a few days with my in-laws over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Here is a final shot with the wings masked off, and the Krylon sprayed over the rest of the aircraft:

To all those here in the States, Happy Thanksgiving.  To the rest, be well.

Blue.

Looks good Blue, and informative. I hope to have my first go at Natural Metal in a very long time tonight.

It's a 1/72 F-86, primed with Mr Surfacer 1000, then polished with Megular polish. If I get the opportunity, I'll hit it with some Alclad tonight.

Cheers

Tony

Here is a couple of progress photos for my F-86. I've used a variety of Alclad II aluminium shades on it, and Stainless Steel for the gun panel. It's not perfect, this is my first use of this paint on an aircraft and I'm still learning about it, but I think it looks ok. I'll shade a few more of the smaller panels too. I used Duraluminum for the centre wing panels, which I think is OK.

How about decalling over Alclad ? I would use a coat of Future over a  camouflaged aircraft, then decl, Future and flat coat. What approach works best in this case ? I'm a bit reluctant to spray clear over it, in case it changes the nature of the finish.

Cheers

Tony

It looks great, Tony/Taxtp. The contrasting panels work well.

I'm not an expert, but on my P-47, I applied decals directly to the Alclad with no problems.  I eventually added a coat or two of Alclad Light Sheen to protect everything.  It did change the finish somewhat, but not so much that I wouldn't use it again.  I have not tried Future over Alclad, but have read mixed opinions about it reducing the realism of the NMF.  

Nice looking Sabre there.

I have also applied all decals straight over the top of alclad without ANY carrier film showing! These were even Academy decals!!!

I didn't use any setting solution atall either.

Theuns

Well. the first one is done. This is the Academy MiG-21PF. None of the resin or PE used was actually designed for this kit so a bit of squeezing and chopping was needed to shoehorn it all in. The pics are a bit stark, I'll maybe do a few more outside if we get a bit of sun this week. This is a ground trainer. I have no idea if it was a decommissioned airframe, or if it was airworthy, so it is what it is.

I will eventually finish the OEZ MF, but i need a break and start something new. it probably will have to leak over to the new year. these are reduced size pics, clicking them should open my Flikr account where full size ones can be seen, along with a few more pics, if you want.

Super stunning!

She's looking damn great, Talent! Your NMF looks awesome and I really like the amount of detail you put into this one! Is there any particular pic you'd liek to see at the front page?

Blue: Looking very nice!

Tony: I like her! All those different metal colors add a lot of interest to the model!

Thanksspartan, could i use the third one plz?

That looks absolutely fantastic, talentless.  Inspirational!

Taxtp:  As far as painting with Alclad II goes, it does not require any future to seal the paint.  It's quite a durable surface.  There is a series of clear coats from Alclad II that range from light sheen to matte that you can apply after any weathering you've done.  Apply it in light coats to minimize any reduction in the finish you have and see what you like.  As far as the decals go, the high-shine Alclads shouldn't have any kind of decal setter solution or you risk ruining the surface.  However, I've read and found out for myself that MicroSol will not ruin the high shine surface for Polished Aluminum.  Still, apply it carefully and take care of any runs quickly.  =]

Talent:  Damn nice looking MiG.  You've really done a wonderful job on it.  I kept forgetting to ask you about it.  When you first started decaling it I noticed the word on the nose below the cockpit said "trainer" so i was curious if you knew anything about the history of the jet that stood out or if it was just a scheme you picked out for another reason.  Also, do you know if there is any difference in the cockpit or instrument panel layout for trainers?  I plan on doing a MiG sooner or later here...just looking for a heads up between all the Fs, PFs, S/Ms, MF variants.

=]

I assume as its a ground trainer the instruments are identical to an in service plane. I have no history on ground trainers, im afraid, i would think it was used for familiarisation with a single seat for pilots,  and maybe for ground crew practise. I had to get new decals, and it was one of the russian schemes provided. it had to be russian as i had russian stencils. I would be interested if anyone else knows anything aboutvit too :-) . If you need any advice on variants i have plenty of reference material on them

Back after some time away for the Thanksgiving holidays.  I'm almost ready to lay down some future to seal my acrylic painted surfaces.  I have just one more spot to deal with before that though.  Certain P-51s that I believe may have been limited to long range escorts had angle lines painted on which I think was to maintain course headings over great distances.  I've seen AM decals that provide them but I wanted to try my own hand at painting these on myself.  After some study of these planes, I've found that the lines converge right at the head rest of the seat (which makes perfect sense, right).  There's a 20, 35, 50, 70, and 80 degree radian along the most forward part of the wings.  So I prepped some Flat Black and brought out the masking tape and my protractor.  So far I'm pretty pleased with the outcome:

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

image by brittvallot, on Flickr

Here you can see I've already scratched away very carefully where I presume hoses and maintenance would have beaten up these lines.  I'll repeat this on the other side and hand paint the numbers since this is too small for a stencil.

Looking good bvallot!  I love the angle lines.  

I got back from our Thanksgiving travel yesterday, and sprayed a coat of Alclad Airframe Aluminum over the black Krylon I had laid down before we left.  I am trying for a different look than the P-47 I just completed, so I gave it a more complete coating than I did on the Thunderbolt.  I expect that this will result in less of a weathered look (wow shiny) , so I will need to try some different techniques to make it look battle-used.  

Next step is to hit some panels with a few different shades of Alclad.  

Here's another quickie.  Making some progress with the decaling now.  I did have a problem with one of my stars breaking on me (which virtually never happens!) but cut one more out and place it back on.  I will have to touch it up some.  I also finished the other side of the angle lines...aaaaaaaaaand just realized I still haven't painted the damn numbers that go along with them. =P

Here it is...starting to come together.

Close up of the nude nose art.

You can see how bright it stays.  I'm hoping to weather these decals down some to take away some of this contrast.

It's gettin' there! =]

Wow, thats starting to really lovely :-)

Looks great bv!  I've made some progress finishing off spraying the Alclad, and will post pictures once I get all the tape off.

Hey Spartan. Is it possible to submit another entry still. I've seen all these recent add ons so I wanted to maybe do one more as I'm nearing the end of this one. I just found a 1:48 Academy P-38J Lightning that I think will look great as a NMF. =]

do i make my own GB badge?

bvallot: She's looking awesome! Nice work with those decals! You can build as many models for this GB as you want! Do you want me to put that Lightning on the build list?

talentless: Sorry, I created all the personal badges (I think you were referring to them) already, but i completely forgot to upload them. Shame on me...

All the personal badges are at the front page now. Feel free to put them in your signature instead of the normal GB badge.

Cheers Shatten, and thanx to Randy, awesome badge, Ill wear it with pride :-)

SchattenSpartan

bvallot: She's looking awesome! Nice work with those decals! You can build as many models for this GB as you want! Do you want me to put that Lightning on the build list?

Yes sir, if you could please.  I feel I'm getting the hang of this NMF scheme and now I want some more. =D

She's on the list! I love the look of the Lightning!

Hi,

I'm a newbie on here but would love to join this group build. Is it too late for that?

I'm about to start - next day or so - a Trumpeter F100D and enjoy doing metal finishes. I'd certainly like to be part of this. This would be the first time I have participated in anything like this.

Your input on whether this would be okay at this late hour would be appreciated and if so what do I have to do

Regards - Tug