Official Natural Metal Finish Group Build

Hi all,

Quick WIP, main construction is now done on the Tamiya 1:72 Thunderjet:

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I'm particularly impressed with the self-keying alignment of the wings and tail. No filler is needed, the joints are pretty much as close as if they were simply panel lines. Less precise is the nose end where everything needs to draw together around the internal structures, I found myself shaping with file and sandpaper to get things to line up as they should. Hopefully the 1:48 version of the same plane will be an easier alignment in this area.

Otherwise, it's a very sweet build. Next up is the gunsight and canopy structures, followed by the Express Masks, mask the intake, exhaust and wheel wells, then it's into the paint shop.

Cheers,

Mike

Here's my WIP progress.

I've finished the foiling, just have a few touchups to do on a couple of uncovered seams, and then give it a buff with the steel wool.

I'll put the landing wheel doors on after the whole thing has been sprayed with future.

Here's my 10c

Brett

Brett -- spectacular! I'm impressed, she looks good! I'm especially impressed with the fit you acheived around the removable engine-bay panels, they have rather put me off tackling the kit for many years. I can't wait to see her finished,

Mike

Boy go away for a while and there is a lot of good progress made, looking good guys.......

jd

Thunderbolt379 Am defiantly keepin an eye on your build. Are you planning to use paint ?

Dioramator Beautiful foil work you have done there, couldnt find a boo boo anywhere. Thats gonna be one fine looking Mustang !

Sherman1111 Glad to have you back JD how is your back doing ??

I'm calling this one done. After I took the pics I realized that I had forgotten the antenna post. I added that a few minutes ago.

Kermit- I went with the black after seeing pics of the real thing at the 361st FG website. The Aeromaster decal sheet showed olive drab but that was with only the rotor hub painted yellow. Every pic I found of a full yellow-nose showed the anti-glare as black.

As far as the decals, the invasion stripes are very thick. Like, soak for at least a minute thick. I probably used enough Micro-Sol to do a real 1:1 Mustang plus making small cuts and holes with a new #11 blade. That's as good as I can make them.

Enough stalling. Here she is.

Thanks for looking. As always, any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Regards,

Jeff

Hi Randy -- Yep, I'll be painting her. I meant to try Talon Acrylics but my test spray was very unfriendly, I find myself in unknown waters and might use old fashioned enamels for simplicity this time.

Jeff -- very metallic finish! She looks the part okay! I can sympathise on those stripes, my gut tells me to mask and spray them before applying the NMF, but stripes are a finish I have yet to get up the guts to take a shot at.

Cheers,

Mike

A bad Mustang will always look good, but I have yet to see a bad one here yet. As for the back Still no pain in the legs, but the lower back from L2 to S1 hurts all the time. I have yet to see an xray, but I have a feeling that my doctor completly redid all 4 operations. He wont say much right now. I start threepy next week with a MD this time instead of a theaperestWhen I see the X rays I willl know if he removed all the work from opereation 1 and he did tell me he removed the scar tissue on my spinal cord.He is also preping me for the fact that my working days are done. I spent 4 days in ICU with a spinal cord drain to keep preasure off of my spine so that it would heal.All the Human body is an amazing machine, it just blows my mind that the trama you can go through and recover so quickly. well sorry to kidnap the forum. I pickuped a 1:48 F-104 c I AM LOOKING FO THE AM parts and may try to do one more. I think we should run this build fo another year and try to get some more shinny planes on that front page. More later

jd

dioramator wrote:

Hi bondoman, welcome to the group. I was thinking that model would look spectacular in foil finish. although you would certainly have your work cut out.

Bill

Brett, fantastic looking foiling Sir. Ive always being frightened of working with that stuff but you guys are turning me round slowly. You all make it look easy. I know if i try it will bite me in the a$$. But maybe one day!!

Jeff, what a cracker of a build. Really a stunner. Beautifull.

Yey, Bondos here.

...Guy

I don't know about a tutorial, but I could give you a couple of tips if you are thinking of finishing your build in al-foil.

This is my first attempt at doing this, and this is what I have picked up so far.

I bought the tin of gold leaf adhesive from the art-shop, $20 (Au) for 8 fl oz.
Al-foil from the supermarket, the cheapo stuff is marginally thinner than the expensive brand, which makes it a little easier to form (and the embossing is shallower).

• I used a paper guillotine to cut the foil into various sizes and strips (makes a nice clean cut with a straight edge)
• It is important that the dull side of the foil is immaculately clean (untouched by skin) where the adhesive is to be applied to, wear cotton gloves when handling and cutting the foil prior to gluing (any contact with the skin will leave a residue that the adhesive will not stick to).
• Using a soft wide brush, apply the adhesive to the dull side of the foil. Make the layer as thin as humanly possible, (you will find you can get it so thin there are no brush strokes). *brush strokes if left in the adhesive will show up on the finished product. And strictly use only one coat of adhesive.
• If you find the adhesive backing away in an area, the foil has been touched and will not adhere (to that area) properly, ditch that piece of foil.
• I applied adhesive toabout 10 - 15 pieces of foil at a time, by the time I finished the last piece, the first ones were dry enough to use. The foil is now pressure sensitive.
• The model surface must also be immaculately clean, I wiped it down with alcohol, then dried it with a lint free rag.
• "The best way to show up a defect in a model is to paint it silver"... or cover it in foil. Be very particular to seams, gaps and runner tabs.
• Covering a group of, or individual panels; line up two of the foil edges with the rows of rivets, top and side (just past the panel edge), the rivet line will mask the edge line of the foil. Using a cotton tip slowly work the foil down. Then burnish the foil down with the edge of a toothpick (not the tip)
• Work across the center and then out to the edges of the panel, then the end of the panel, and finally into the panel line.
• Trim/ score the foil along the panel line, and remove excess foil by peeling away. (Don't burnish past the panel edge).
• When you get to the edge of the wings, pull tension on the foil, and trim it with a sharp blade, allow a little overlap. Burnish down using a finger or a cotton tip to about 2/3 the arc of the lead edge. Use a fine file to trim across the foil at the edge of the wing... and remove excess.
• On the other side of the wing overlap the existing foil (2/3 the arc of the lead edge) and trim to size with a blade and burnish down with a toothpick. (This foil edge will burnish down in a later step.)
• Curves, "a two dimensional medium being applied to a three dimensional object". Always start working the foil from the highest part of the surface when possible.
• Never allow the foil to burst from overstretching (the edge will crinkle), cut it to release pressure. A patch is easier to deal with than a crinkle edge.
• If hills start forming while pushing down the foil, push along into them (to flatten them out) with a toothpick
• Shallow depressions should be rolled from the outer edge toward the center with a cotton tip. (stretch the foil down)
• air trapped under the foil should be evacuated by piercing the foil, and working the air out of the hole.
• I found it easy to fill gaps in panels fitted after they had been foiled, by filling with water based fine wood filler, it can be shaped with your finger, and rubbed back with a damp cotton tip. Then apply a strip patch of foil over it once it has totally dried.
• Burnish with superfine steel wool 0000, (not the regular household stuff), in the direction of travel. Use it to blend any edge lines.
• When it's all together, give an all over buff with steelwool (wearing cotton gloves), and wipe it down with alcohol to get rid of any fingerprints and residue adhesive.

And that's all I am up to at this point in time.

Next step is to apply a coat of future, and lay down some decals, but that's another story.

Brett

Firesmacker Your build is on the front page, man I gotta tell ya we are devoloping a nice herd of Mustangs Can you let me know how you finished it I cant tell from the pictures if it was paint or foil.

Thunderbolt379 if memory serves me there is a trick to using Talon Paints. I think it wants to spray on at a low airpressure and misted on in several coats. Is that what you did or............. cause I was thinking of trying it also. I know there is a tutoral on hawkeyehobbies website or maybe you could ask him what went wrong.

Luftwoller hey jump in the water is great !!! Foiling isnt hard to do its just different and takes more time than painting, personally I find the end result worth the extra effort. I would make 2 sugestions though, first pick a simple airframe like a P-47 or maybe a Saber, something along those lines. Second, I havent personally used gold leaf adhesive but from what I have seen in the group, if its available to you I would recomend Microscale foil adhesive as it seems much more forgiving and easier to use. Just MHO. And besides you may just find you like getting bite on the backside

Dioramator Great tutoral !!!!! Thank you for taking the time to write it. 

Sherman1111 If there is still interest I would would be more than happy to extend the build.

Brett-That is indeed a great tutorial. Hopefully someday I will grow a pair and give it a shot

Randy- I used Alclad II Polished Aluminum for the whole thing minus the pit, wheel wells, and what you see on the fuse'.

Regards,

Jeff

Brett- thank you very much for responding, I really appreciate it. So of course my natural inclination is to jump off the deep end and do BMF on this build, but a more reasonable approach would be a smaller subject. Thank you again, and I'll probably do a little 1/72 fighter first.

Is it possible to trim the foil once on the model to final size, or do you need to get it right the first time. My assumption would be that you start at a corner and get the top and one side aligned, then trim the bottom and other side? Also, can you glue the shiny side on in order to have dull panels?

Cheers, Bill

Hi Bill

"My assumption would be that you start at a corner and get the top and one side aligned, then trim the bottom and other side?"
you don't have to trim the excess until you have stuck down as much as you wish to stick down, there will be excess, but this is trimmed after you have stuck the foil down to the panel(s). I found it easier to line up the two panels, but alternately you may apply the foil, burnish to the panel edges, and then trim all four sides.

"can you glue the shiny side on in order to have dull panels?"
I had a little trouble with the glue not taking to the shiny side of the foil. Originally I wanted to finish the upper surfaces with dull side out, and the underneath shiny, to replicate the weathering and oxidation that is depicted in the photos I am working from. but in the end I found it easier to work with the shiny side out. It all looks pretty much the same once it is buffed anyway.

hope this is some help

Brett

Hi Randy -- re the Talons, basically I just tried a quick test shot and found there was no real way to tell whether the paint was properly stirred or not as the mixture was visibly opaque and stirring created a considerable amount of froth in the bottle. I decanted some paint and tried some light mist passes on some styrene stock, and found the plastic virtually repelled the paint -- it was as if there was no pigment in the carrier at all... My pressure might have been too high, the air may have been moving the paint on the surface rather than letting it stick.

To be fair, I've not read the tutorial yet! I'll do so and take another shot, the paint looks fabulous on the models at Hawkeye's site, so I'm sure it's just a matter of developing the knack. Still, the necessity of using the buffing powders while the paint is still faintly damp offers up some wrinkles it'll take thought to work around -- and planning too, for which shades to develop in what order on what parts of the skin, and allowing for what hand-holds on the job at any particular time.

For simplicity I might go with enamels on the F-84. She was supposed to be the Talon test piece, but it's more a case of needing to get some projects off the bench at the moment. I have rather a lot in progress and several more impending!

Cheers,

Mike

Hi all,

Made some progress on the F-84:

Gunsight glass installed:

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Windscreen installed:

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Canopy installed:

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Express Masks underway:

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And express Masks completed:

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The masks are good but not easy to line up, I think I'll have to use some Tamiya tape as well to even up the lines here and there, which will be tricky. Another point to watch out for, there's so much 'going on' in the forward fuselage of this kit that the tolerances are very close and the canopy took some pressure to get it to line up with everything. Clear Parts Cement was useless with either section, they simply fell off at first contact, so I fixed these in place with superglue. I've not noticed any fogging of the plastic so far, and the painted areas will lap up over the parts that would fog anyway.

The cockpit details are incompletely painted but frankly you can see a lot more in these photographs then through the canopy for real, and the 1:72nd scale parts are pretty much as small as my sight can make out with any certainty. The speckle of black on the gunsight base was virtually invisible to me until I saw the pictures (it was overspray from a black part sprayed further along the sprue -- I'll mask next time!)

Next I need to mask the wheel wells, intake, exhaust, pylon stubs and the locators for the landing lights in all the tank tips, plus mount the gear bay doors on card and tape, and I can start laying on some color.

Cheers,

Mike

Thunderbolt379 lookin good my friend that is gonna be one sweet F-84 when finished. Have you decided what finish you are going to use yet ?

Sorry I havent been around much, the flu I had went into my chest and its been pretty bad, but so far I have been very lucky as it put my younger brother and if you can believe this my Doc in the hospital. Of course the fires around here arent helping either, but I am feeling better and breathing a lot better now, and will be here more.

Sounds bad Randy, hope you'll fully recover soon and get back inthere

Been watching over your shoulders here at the NMF corner and must say i am impressed with all the goodies on the workbenches. Makes me look at my unfinished sabre a lot more lately...

Richard

Kermit thanks for the good wishes, this being sick is getting old I am tellin ya. I am hoping you will look at your Saber more and more then maybe start in on it again very soon. I always like seeing your work.

My 38 has been comming along slowly of late, finally got the canopy glued on and its waiting for the final bits of foil, props, wheels and such. Just havent felt up to working on it. Hopefully I will get back to it very soon.

Randy Waaay ahead of you there Is this soon enough for ya?

Ok, been away from the group (and my sabre) for a while primarily trying my hands on a few armor builds with varying succes... But this model never left my thoughts for long and two days ago i picked it up again at a casual pace...

Next in line was the engine/ exhaust assembly and painting. Did a bit of an exploded view pic along with the pit i already worked on. These will be assembled together later on:

Nice detail on there, lots of painting to do:

And one Kermit, two evenings, some spraying, drybrushing and a black wash later it looks like this:

On that first pic you can see a bit of aluminum paint has flaked off but i don't really mind it that much because, and here's the fun part: Almost nothing of this bit of work will be visible once it goes into the fuselage. Ah well... it's a hobby

See you guys on my next update: the fuselage insides

Richard

Kermit that engine came out great !!! Beautiful work there. You have got to be kidding me you wont be able to see the engine and all the fine detail once the fuse is closed up. What silver paint did you use for the base and what color wash did you use. The mag and aluminum parts really look real.  

Neu I have not used any of the Alclad paints yet so I really cant offer any advise there, hopefully some of the guys here can answer your question and mine too for that matter. I am planning on using alclad on the turbo chargers on my P-38 build for this group, then some washes. I have used future on Tamiya silver paints and didnt find it degraded the color or shine of those paints, in fact it improved the shine so much that I had to go over it again with a semi gloss to tone it down a bit.

You are very welcome to join the group, just let me know when you want your build listed on the front page, and if you would let me know what kit and scale so I can list that also. I look forward to seeing your build.

Hi All

Thought I'd do a WIP update

I've now laid down the future, and applied the decals.

Someone forgot to print the carrier film behind the white centres under the circles on two of the decals.

Since these photos were taken, I have airbrushed the anti glare black. I used Tamiya XF69 Nato Black. It is a touch softer than straight matt black, and the effect is excellent.

Brett

Vetteman Thanks buddy! I was quite pleased with the outcome myself

I basically applied everything i did on my 1:72 Thunderbolt: The aluminum is sprayed on with a spraycan from the local DIY market (always do that with large surfaces or parts that need the same colour). Then i continued with gunmetal on the engine and insides of the exhausts (humbrol 53). Once that dried i painted the tubing and wiring with revells aluminum paint (99), the various boxes and things flat black (revell 8) and drybrushed the whole lot with flat white (humbrol 34). Humbrols being enamel and the revells being acrylic.

The wash is a very thinned down plain black watercolor, like i did on the t-bolt too. I considered going over the top and doing a rusty wash too but i could stop myself just in time. Maybe it's some residue armor building fever

Neu I never used alclad myself either but from what i have experienced with other brands and methods myself the future will make it even shinier. I have to concur with Vetteman there.

Dioramator Nice work there! Pity about the decals though but thats not your fault

Kermit thanks for telling us how you made that engine look so good. I did take the liberty of writing it down in my new little modeling note book for future use. Found I cant remember all I learn here with out writing it down somewhere.

Dioramator only one word comes to mind to discribe your work on the Mustang SWEET!!!!!!!!!!! You did a beautiful job on the nose, those cowling panals can be a nightmare to fit closed, especially on a model as large as yours. Are the prop and spinner kit parts or AM ? They look really good too, that is one thing that really makes a Mustang stand out for me The finish is flawless IMHO, is it alclad ? I am sorry abouyt the decals on the lower wing surfaces what a bummer. Maybe you can fix them with some white paint ?

Randy,

If you want any details cleared out for you you are very welcome to ask or send me a PM. Happy to help you out with the limited knowledge at my disposal

Dioramator,

Wouldn't do anything about those decals myself as extra painting will always show i think, turning things from bad to worse. It's the underside so no harm done standing on a shelf after finishing. Are you planning on any kind of weathering? It's ofcourse a matter of opinion and personal taste but i like mine dirty and used Just out of curiosity...

Ok, time for the kermie sabre update...

Like i said, next in line was the inside of the fuselage and subsequent closing it all up. First i airbrushed the inside of the fuselage in the appropriate colours: Dark grey for the pit, gunmetal for the exhaust area's showing after finishing and interior green for everything else (all was done using enamels from humbrol and revell). Ofcourse the whole lot received a white drybrush and the black wash too:

Then came the hard work: Fitting the pit-and-engine assembly into the hull. This required lots of patience, cutting away pins and fiddling around, accompanied by some colourful language referring to bodily parts and nasty diseases, not appropriate for a decent and civilised forum. Think i managed it though...:

Once that was done i sat back for a minute, earning myself another morning coffee and a cigarette. Modeling, at times, can be hard work...

The instructions called for adding 15 grams of weight into the nose. Luckily i had some fishing lead in my tackle box from a long gone hobby. Glued it down with CA:

Time for the closing up the fuselage milestone! Fit could have been worse, even though it took some fiddling around again. I used less colourful language than usual here...:

(The masked area with interior green is the airbrake area, will be getting into that on a later stage as i will build this one with the brakes deployed)

Fitting the wings was a breeze afterwards. Things that may look like gaps are really residue black paint from the washes i have applied. The leftover seams will ofcourse be filled and sanded. Planning on using a black coat of primer before the NMF layer (thanks to Lufty for the inspiration on that) so i left it like this:

Last news i can share is the fact that i ordered some aftermarket decals from Aeromaster decals called "sabres over korea pt. 1". It contains the same markings for McConnel's aircraft. Using Academy decals sofar has always been a pain in the you know what sofar, hence these AMD decals...

Enough talk and back to the bench for the next stage: the gunbay. Hope you guys enjoyed my update and see you back soon.

Richard

Kermit: that build looks like it is going together well. Pity about all that hidden detail. One point of constant amusement to myself is how much time should I spend on detail that will never be seen.
I'm not going to bother with the centers of the decals, the plane will be displayed on a shelf, and the underside will not be seen (see previous paragraph). At one point I was going to cut circles in blank white decal sheet, but after fitting  the home made decals on the tail I decided not to. I had a bit of trouble with the material curling up as the final coat of Future was drying, and decided it was just going to create another headache. (however I didn't use microsol on these in case it caused the colour to run).
I do plan on doing some weathering, just a light wash with oil paints to make the detail pop, and a dusting with pastel chalk around the landing gear, to take the starkness of those horrible rubber tyres. (It ain't no WWII tank), just something suttle.

Randy: the engine cowlings were a little warped, and the fit was not perfect, but a few clamps, a couple of rubber bands, and a bit of glue (and filler) straightened everything out.
The prop and spinner are kit parts, the whole thing is built straight out of the box, with no extra detalil from yours truly (except a few custom made decals).
The finish is common household grade aluminium foil. I was impressed with the finish considering it is the first time I have used this technique, although there are one or two visible creases (it was a learning process), so it is not perfect, but all the same is quite an impressive looking build.

Brett