Official Natural Metal Finish Group Build

Kermit Aww man what can I say very very well done indeed. Hope you arent still cross eyed from all those decals. Love the finish, the canopy is flawless, infact this time I cant find anything to critque at all. Did you use the kit canopy or vacuform ? I blew up the picture I put on the front page and wow the cockpit detail is there clear as a bell. A masterfull job.  Oh and I hope you dont mind Richard but I lightened the picture for the front page, it just looked too dark when I resized it.

PS I am still upset all the nice work you did on the engine is hidden from view.

Hey and thanks for your kind words on my build. Maybe one day we can share a beer. The canopy was to be truthful the easiest part of the build. I used foil for the frame by placing a strip over the canopy and only burnishing it down on the frames, then used an excato knife to cut the frames out,( use a new blade when cutting the canopy frames so the foil wont tear ), the excess just about falls off. I have even used foil for masking painted airplanes. The rivets are surface detail in the kit, I did lose a bunch of that cleaning up some of the fit issues. One bad thing about foil is any mistake you may make on your surface prep will show up like a sore thumb, unlike paint which will hide some imperfections. Gotta talk you into tryin foil Richard it isnt as hard as it sounds just different. Hey while you are here in the states stop in at the LHS and pick up some Microscale Metal Foil Adhesive

Dioramator and Smokinguns3 thank you for your kind words gentelman.

Brett Yes it feels great to have finished this build, was a battle all the way to the end. I dont think its one of my better builds but I learned alot, it came out well, and I beat a kit that was beating me big time. I am happy with it. I remember your build, and a sweet one it was, I have to say isnt it a great feeling to have someone appreciate your work so much, that they are proud to display it ? I gave my first one away not too long ago, an F4F Wildcat, to my heart Doctor. I have never seen anyone get so excited over one of my models. He wanted to know all about the plane, how I went about building it, LOL we forgot all about my appointment. Funny thing was he had never heard of the modeling hobby, so I told him all about it. Anyway I did feel 7 feet tall when I left his office, when I was last there it was displayed in the waiting room with a card under it saying Built by..............

I am doing a decompression build now but will be back very soon with my next build the F-104 Star Fighter by Testers in 1/48 scale. This kit has no cockpit detail at all !! So I guess I will be scratch building one. I have searched the net, Goggled it, and found nothing I could use in the way of cockpit pictures. So do any of you guys know where I could find some ?

 

 

Randy, thanks buddy. Always nice to get the attaboys after a completed build. Everything you see is straight out of the box, with exception of some decals wich were from aeromaster (tail, roundels and nose blazes). Cleaned the canopy before masking inside and outside and never handled the inside again to prevent greasy fingerprints.

GREAT to hear you will do a starfighter. It served in the royal dutch airforce too where it appearantly was referred to as "homesick angel" because it could climb very fast.

Found some pics for ya but i kinda lost your email after cleaning up my pc recently. Send me a PM with your email adress and ill send em over.

And thanks to all who commented on my build. Appreciate it boys.

Richard

Randy, Richard:

Seriously guys, stop putting the rest of us to shame; those are some beautiful models. They kinda illustrate how two different methods can produce some amazing results. The P-38 looks fantastic while the Sabre makes me want to build one in 72 now as well. You've convinced me to use the paint on stripes method Richard.

Randy: CMK makes a cockpit upgrade for Hasegawa starfighters... (found one here for you as an example) you might want to consider it as they tend to shimmy in quite well with a bit of effort.

Neu,

Thanks buddy Nice to hear one can inspire fellow modelers. But why not do a 1/48 sabre? There are a lot of VERY affordable kits outthere. Academy and Revell aren't expensive and are very representable to name but a few brands... Looking forward to see you "in action"

But now for something COMPLETELY different... My Skytrain!!!... lol (yay...)

While i was waiting inbetween spraying jobs and drying times for the sabre i did quite some work on the C47 already. So to get you guys up to speed i will post quite a few pics this time. My apologies for this...

Since the entire interior was mostly interior green i could start off with spraying almost half of the parts already making a quick start possible.

First of all, the box and sprues. Really nice molding, almost no flash whatsoever and a GREAT set of decals too. Even more impressive if you realise this mold is from the seventies:

Like i said, ALOT of parts were interior green so here are a bunch of pics from them after spraying and weathering them a bit with aluminum paint i dotted on and drybrushing them with flat white. After that i applied a black wash to age things even more (it's a cargoplane so i wanted it to be scratched worn and used):

After all that paintwork it was time to attach everything to the fuselage and adding clear part windows before sealing it all up:

Theres even a little latrine and sink inthere. Cute innit?:

And after all that it was time to close up the fuselage. Because of the sheer size and number of parts that took a bit of fiddling but i managed in the end. Seams are not too bad at all and nothing i can't handle later on.

For fun purposes and to give you an impression of the size of my model i took a pic of it sitting on my (messy) workbench. Don't be alarmed, i can actually find things back in that jungle:

Again, apologies for the large amount of pics this time. Hope you like my work and see you guys back soon

Richard

Ah because I'm a scale purist, I build everything in 72 and can't bring myself to build anything else. There are some pretty good sabres out there in this scale so maybe I'll get to one in the new year. Thats a really nice skytrain there too.. I like the metal waring effect.

I'm almost done my seafang so I've restarted some work on the VF-11... pictures coming soon.

Tonight's update will be slightly different...

There will, again, be alot of pics but i kept them small so it will be less of a impact on your internet downloads...

I have been having quite a few remarks about weathering lately and thought it would be interesting for you guys how i try to achieve the results you have been seeing. Call it a "kermiefying 101" if you will.

Now,.... by no means i consider myself to be an expert on the subject and i have seen much better results by other modelers outthere, but i will show you how i do it and how you can get interesting results with a little bit more effort.

For my little tut i will be trying to weather the engine housings of my C47 as it is the next step of my build. When i think engine housing i think dirt, oil and scratched paint,....right?

Heres how i progressed:

First of all, what do we need...

In this pic you can see different brushes, cotton swabs, paints, a teacup holder, piece of cloth and various other things i will need during the "kermiefying":

The interior green is already in place and cured so next step will be accentuating the edges using a drybrush with flat white, this example being with courtesy of humbrol enamel:

Dip a small but flat brush into your paint and try to get off as much as you can, then wipe it over a piece of cloth untill you can see no more paint coming off. Wipe even more at this stage.... Takes a bit of practice to discern when your brush is "ready". In general there will likely be a place where you can "test" your brush in this stage on the part you will be drybrushing. I am still learning myself to be honest...

 

You will see i took off slightly too little myself this time, but in the end result it will be hardly seen. Now use your almost dry brush to wipe over all the edges and things sticking out on your subject part:

In this case i have treated all surfaces likewise, redipping my brush and wiping it clean for every new part:

After i left this for a while (it was enamel so it needs a few) it was time for the next stage: applying a wash to create dirt around the edges. Normally i use a tealight holder and add a drop of paint. In this case i have opted for the easiest way: Watercolors in a tube. Very easily to come by, easily handled and darn cheap on top of it:

I am fortunate to have a family member into nursing so it is easy for me to get ahold of syringes for mixing up my paints. This is not neccessary but makes life easier and helps you be precise in mixing paints exacly like you did before. I use it this time to add tap water to the paint. For this size of drop you can add 3 or 4 ml of water for a basic wash...

Add a drop of dishwashing agent, shower cream or any other kind of household detergent for breaking up the waters surface tension (it will flow better) and mix it up. You end up with a kind of a coloured water rather than dilluted paint:

At this point i take a long pointy brush and apply my mixture over the edges of the part. The mixture should find its own way around all edges, recesses and things by itself. Be generous:

Leave this to dry for a few... (i generally wait untill the shine of the water wears off, telling me it is dry enough)

At this stage you can consider getting either one of these while you wait. In my case i took both and also had a chat with the Mrs.....(isn't she cute....):

Showtime!...

Take a q-tip/ cotton swab and dip it into water. You want it to be moist not wet... Wipe it over your part on places where you see no edges. The swab will get black and make your surface dirty again quickly, just take a new one and repeat the process untill you are happy with what you see. You want clean surfaces and dirty recesses/ edges.

Nice and dirty recesses and worn off paint kinda edges... starting to get there....

Next and final stage will be dirtying up the places you just wiped clean. You can use a whole lot of things for this,... maybe another wash but this time a brown one... but you can also use what i do: my tamyia weathering set (couldnt live without it) and some basic chalks i picked up at the local art stroke hobby store. I believe the ladies use it for their artful greeting card hobbies... Anyways..it was cheap and easy to work with.

Most of these kind of "make up" boxes come with a kind of applicator makeup kind of swab. It will do nicely.

In this case i used the "rust" of my tamyia weathering set B and the dark brown chalk in the other box and ended up with this result:

Here we have one very dirty (slightly overdone for tutorial purposes) engine housing, ready for assembly and taking in the actual engine.

Hope you peeps liked my little "hell, i've got nothing better to do" tutorial thingy and see you guys next update. Happy to answer any and all comments and questions you might have...

Richard

Kermit WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant believe the amount of work you have gotten done in such a short time ! Looks great too ! Thats a huge build judging from the pictures I am impressed. Ok you have convinced me to get some water colors from the local craft store, I have been making my washes from the tamiya paints I use. The water colors look like they clean up better than the acrylics do. Now for some questions LOL

Do you clear coat before you weather with the water colors and the Tamiya pigments, then seal it with a second clear coat ? I have to learn not to be so tenitive with my weathering me thinks.

Last question : How do you build em so fast ?????? would have taken me 2 weeks to get to the point you are at now.

I will try your method on my next build Richard a beat up war torn F4F-4 Wildcat. Better see if I can find some of those Tamiya Pigments too, havent seen them at the LHS.

All in all a good build you have in progress and thanks for taking the time to write and photograph the Tutorial for us.

 

Do you clear coat before you weather with the water colors and the Tamiya pigments, then seal it with a second clear coat ? I have to learn not to be so tenitive with my weathering me thinks. Last question : How do you build em so fast ?????? would have taken me 2 weeks to get to the point you are at now.

About the futuring... Yes, it would be advisable to have some kind of coat on your paintwork. It protects your paint but also makes the wash flow in better. I did not future my engine housing as i made em so dirty a lot of the paintwork isnt visible anymore. But on a visible place, for instance some panellines on the outside i would definately be more careful and coat it first.

You can put another coat on top of all the weathering but do give it at least a full day to cure to prevent bleeding and try to spray stuff on as opposed to brushing, just in case

About your second question... it DID take me two weeks.... I just started the moment my sabre went into the booth. Had to wait anyways so might as well spend my time useful LOL.

Thanks for the compliment. You will be weathering and "Randyfying" in no time at all

Richard

Kermit thanks I will be trying your weathering methods on an F4F in the Guadelcanal GB, I did pick up some water colors today. I think the color choices will be perfect for weathering, the only color missing from my set would be black but I can pick that up later. Now all I have to remember is to be more agressive with weathering.

 

Ok Randy, glad i could persuade you to try it. You will find it it very forgiving and easy to work with the watercolors.

Just a last minute tip:

1. You will find your q tip will pick up the watercolor fairly fast so you will start to notice you are dispersing the paint rather than remove it. DONT worry, you can either use the other end and start with a fresh tip or either you are able to remove or move stuff with a cloth or your fingers just as long as your surface is moist.

DONT use alcohol to do this. It will totally ruin your future coat and the (acrylic) paint underneath. Stick to water! Your surface will be ready for q-tipping as soon as the water looses it's shine and starts to dry.

Richard

Thats a great tutorial Richard. Lately I've been saving snippets of information on an wordfile so I can easily reference back to them. Yours definitely gets to be saved on it. Also I want to build a dakota in the future so I'm watching your build with interest.

So I took a slight break from my seafang to start work on the VF-11. I made a slight change in my plans for it: its no longer going to carry its space fast packs and its going to be a clean atmospheric version. The parts were just a little small anyway so I decided to do away with them completely. Nevertheless, its going to be a bit of a slog with this one. I've Been working on the wing roots, which the sculptor took some liberties with. This is what its supposed to look like at the back;


Notice that the wing root is almost flush and there is little space at the end of the root... only enough for the wing to swing in at high speed. With the model, none of this exists wing isn't flush with the root and whole assembly just ends flatly. So this is the view of the right side been sanded down quite a bit, and the left not at all.



And this is what it looks like when it starts to be sanded down.



Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to finish most of the main sculpting so I can give it a base coat and start on the cockpit by next week.

Neu Looks like you do have your work cut out for you, I dont think I could sit down and do all that sanding and shaping. The right wing looks good to me I must say. Do you use the same kind of putty we plastic guys use for filling or is it a silicone type putty. I havent messed with much resin in my building other than wheels and small details like that, so I will more than likely be asking some bonehead questions as I follow your build.

Hi guys, sorry been gone for so long haveing more back problems and have to go on perminate disability. Remember in the begining i did a Su-15 , but didnt have any build pictures. I was in a hurry for the Orange county fair. I won 2nd place im my division. Here are some pictures

 

Sherman congrats! that flagon looks amazing. Those early 60s and 70s fighters always catch my eye.

vetteman42 wrote:

Neu Looks like you do have your work cut out for you, I dont think I could sit down and do all that sanding and shaping. The right wing looks good to me I must say. Do you use the same kind of putty we plastic guys use for filling or is it a silicone type putty. I havent messed with much resin in my building other than wheels and small details like that, so I will more than likely be asking some bonehead questions as I follow your build.

Don't worry about it...
Resin really is a different medium altogether. It takes alot more patience and forethought as pieces invariably aren't perfect and usually require reshaping to make it look right. That means sanding and lots of it.

Putty is important, and I use two. The first is for everyday stuff and thats Tamiya's normal stuff. Good, but it isn't that strong, so I can't use it to connect stuff. I think its designed to be used on styrene so that it gives it some strength, and since it doesn't react at all to the resin its not the best. The other stuff I use is this japanese poly putty called Mori Mori. The stuff is famous and there is no equivalent product. Its a two part resin which has just the right hardness so that it will hold a panel line when you score it without chipping. I can't not rave about it, the only problem is that it tends to require big batches to be made, and it cures somewhat slowly. On this model I used it to fill the landing gear bays.

Sherman1111 Glad to see you back my friend ! Congradulations on your second place win at the fair too. I am tellin ya when I saw your build the first time I knew it was a winner. I can't tell you how much I hated having to DQ it from the build along with a couple of others. I am very sorry to hear about your back, was really pullin for ya. But just think about all the models you can build now Maybe even 2 a day now lol. PM on the way to ya Sherman.

Neu Thanks for the info, I did take the liberty of adding it to my lil notebook that I keep for referance.

Wow nice work guys! too bad I didnt come back to the forums sooner, I wouldve joined this GB.  Maybe next time.

I have been gone for a couple of months with work and come back to see some amazing builds completed here.

I have completed both the F-86 and the Mig-17 however I havent taken any pictures of either yet.  I should be able to do that later on tonight or sometime this weekend.

Matt

Blkhwkmatt have been wanderin what happened to you welcome back Cant wait to see your finished pictures so dont make us wait too long Matt.

Hey Randy,nice build, P-38 is one of my favorites. Looks pretty shiney

 Well, V-man, here's another award for the front page!!! 1st place!!!

 I don't think I'd have built it(yet), if not for this GB.

  PM me your particulars (t-6 is holding short awaiting a destination!!!)

Fermis WOW! Congradulations on your win ! You are a prize winning machine my friend, thats what 3 now ? This picture will be on the front page in short order.  Well done Now Mr. Fermis, I was gonna start my 104 next week but now after looking at yours I dunno Nah I gotta build it.

PM is on short final to ya

Raptordriver Good to see you back and thank you for the complement.

congrats on the wins.

Well as promised here are some pics of the two kits that I completed for this GB!!

First is the 1/72nd Academy F-86 finished with Bare Metal Foil (my first attempt)

I think that it turned out OK, but I know that I need to improve on how to finish the edges of surfaces.  I had a bit of a problem with the top of the vertical fin.

Next is the 1/72nd scale DML Jian J15 ( J-6 Mig17) finished with Model Master Metalizers.  The preshading was completed with burnt metal color metalizer and then the promary colors were applied.  Used Kit decals on this one and finished it as a Polish Mig-17.

I packed as much weight into the nose as I could and it is still a tail dragger, also note the MM Metalizer jar for some size reference.

Here is the same Jar sitting next to the F-86

Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome.  This was an enjoyable GB, I just hope to one day have some shiny birds that look as good as the ones I have seen here

Matt

 

Blkhwkmatt Well done on both builds ! They are on the front page, man I love adding finished builds there.

The F-86 looks great for a first attempt at foiling, must have been a task trying to get foil on a 1/72 scale build. Gotta say your foil looks better than my first try, I made a bunch of mistakes let me tell ya and my build was in 1/48 scale. My only cratque' would be the graininess of the foil, especially in that scale. I dont know if you can burnish Bare Metal Foil with steel wool to remove that grain or not. Your edges look good, and follow the panels lines very well, but again the burnishing would have softened those too. Over all I would say very well done. Hope you try the foil again you will find it much easier next time.

I love the MiG17 ! The weathering you did truely makes it look very heavly used and abused.

I tell ya my hat goes off to anyone who can build this well in 1/72.

 

Thanks for the complements - I used micromesh polishing cloths instead of the steel wool.  When I am looking closely at the foil, the "graininess" looks more like the adhesive on the back side than anything else. But I could be way wrong on that as well.

Dont think that I'll be attempting the lightning kit that I had listed, but I will check in and keep up with the rest of the builds.

Matt

Hey Matt, those models look fantastic... especially the Mig-17; weathering adds so much character to a model. Given that quantities of Alclad are scarce in Canada I might go and buy metalizer as a substitute... what did you think of it?

I've been slowly working on my two projects the Meteor 8 and the VF-11. Actually most of my time has been devoted to the VF-11 as its been problematic. I decided to build it as a clean atmospheric aircraft, and loose what are known as a space fast packs. I came up with the scheme based on this CF-100 which was at a museum I once frequented.

I should have taken more photos (particularly of the masking of the "legs" or engine nacelles) but I didn't have my camera handy. Anyway the meteor has only its cockpit partially built (which I didn't take a photo of, so I'm just showing the VF-11).

If you're wondering why the rear has been finished and nothing else, its because the construction required this part to be painted before its attached; there are some visible areas underneath that I wouldn't get a good paint job on otherwise. Last night I finished some black coating, but didn't have a mask coat on some parts so thats why there are sections without paint. Hope you like it.

Blkhwkmatt yeah now that you mention it we have talked about that graining in the past.  I think you may be right about the adhesive on the back being the trouble. I still call it a job well done Matt, and hope you will give foil another try, maybe this time applying the adhesive to household foil yourself.

Neu Lookin good so far and the stripes look great wish we could have seen the masking.

-Neu- wrote:

...I might go and buy metalizer as a substitute... what did you think of it?

As far as price goes you there is a huge difference.  Alcad is way more expensive.  The trick to the metalizer paints is to take your time and if you have to mask off an area let the paint dry for a day or so and then use the lowest tack masking material that you have.  If you prime the model the metalizer might adhear better, I'm not sure about that since I havent primed any of the ones that I have used metalizer on. 

There are both buffing and non-buffing tones, right now metalizers are my NMF product of choice (but then again, thanks to the cost of alcad I havent tried it).

 Hope that helps

here is a P-47 that is painted with Metalizers ( think it is the aluminium plate tone)

the bare metal areas on the lower wing of the Fw-190D-9 are also metalizer

Matt

Great builds there my modeling friends! You gotta love a P47 anytime you see one

Came home from my holiday in the states on the 15th and kinda started working again today after the jetlag bothered me a bit less....

Weathered the other engine housings and assembled the wing parts this evening. From the pic you can see just how beefy and large this 1:48 C47 is...:

Richard