Official Natural Metal Finish Group Build

Vetteman, I slept on this idea and have decided that I'm going to start over with my foiling.  I'm getting ready to place an order from Squadron for the Microscale stuff you mention.  Now the question is, is it easy to remove already applied foil?  What type of clean up am I getting ready to suffer through?

My reasoning for this decision is that when I look at my photos compared to others on this GB, I readily see issues with my work.  I think I should be following panel lines when applying the foil, and cutting foil to shape around panels rather than just putting the foil on however I feel like.  I've been burnishing the edges of the foil but those edges are still visible.  I've read that rubbing the foil with 0000 strength steel wool will help make those edges go away but will also reduce the shine, something I don't want to do for this build. 

Aggieman I downloaded your pictures, blew them up and dont see much reason to pull what you have done so far, just a couple of oddly placed pieces of foil is all on the left side of the tail. The steel wool will take care of that for ya though. Oh and the steel wool doesnt really dull the shine in fact it increases the shine a bit. What it really does is if you look at the foil, the shiney side you will see a heavy grain in the foil, the steel wool hides that heavily grained look by removing it. The dull side doesnt have that heavy grain in it. The really cool thing I have found is turning the grain differant ways on differant panels,  as on real aircraft the grain of the aluminim runs in differant directions, by turning the grain of the foil in differant directions you can create the same look after burnishing with the steel wool. I found that trick by accident to be honest. I burnish with steel wool in the same direction all the time, with the air flow over the plane just easy to remember for me, thats where you get the look I am talking about on the pieces of foil with the grain in a differant direction. As far as removing what you have done to this point, as I said earlier I dont see any point in doing that as it would be a nightmare I think. I found that with the Micro Scale adhesive that I can remove it with in a few minutes of applying it with out much trouble, but once the glue has cured it has to be scraped or sanded off, then you have the glue residue to deal with. Hope this helps ya out Aggieman.

Have a great Fathers Day

Thought I would post a few WIP pictures so you all would know I am working on the P-38. I spent most of yesterday foiling the Radiator housings on the booms, and let me tell ya I am happy I foiled them before attaching the booms to the wings. I also found as I suspected that this model is a heavy tail sitter so will be adding some lead to the nose and engine bays. Have loads of filling yet to do as you can see.

Thanks for looking and comments are welcome

Looking good so far Randy. That is definetly a tough subject to foil. I build the same kit a while back as an F-5 Recon Lightning. There are alot of seems to fill.

                                                                                              Soulcrusher

Hi Aggie and all,

Re foil adhesives, you might like to check out the product review of the Microscale Micro Metal Foil Adhesive I just posted to my blog, at the address below.

I'm very eager to go the paint route and see what Talon can do, I should be receiving my F-84 research book in a couple of weeks, and by then Squadron may have shipped the canopy masks. If it works as advertised I foresee a number of NMF builds in the near future.

Cheers,

Mike

Thunderbolt379 Like your blog and the review, its come aways sence I was last there. I have found that Micro Foil Adhesive will clean up nicely with 91% alcohol, I didnt like the idea of cleaning it with paint thinner seemed to leave an oily film on my model that also needed cleaning up. I will start checking it more often now. Thanks for sharing it

Wow go away for a week and look at all the progress, I was at the Airforce Museum at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton oh. What a treat havent been there in a while. for all of you building B-58 here a few pictures.

hope this gives you some ideas

Stupendous, Sherman -- thankyou so much! I have GOT to visit this museum! One of these days I will indeed be building some 58s, the Italeri 1:72 and the Monogram 1:48 (after fully rescribing the latter, a job so prepossessing that I'm thinking I might just keep a few parts around and scribe a line or two when I have time, and maybe in a year or two she'll be ready to assemble...)

Speaking of Hustlers, I posted an article about the Aurora, Lindberg and Italeri kits on my blog a few days ago, at the address below.

Cheers,

Mike

I've been there several time myself.  It's only a 3 hour drive from my house.  In the late 80's my dad won the Wright Brothers Award with his Lancair 235.  The local EAA chapter treated us like kings.  He flew the plane in the air show, we toured the Wrights house, Hoffman Prairie, several museums around Dayton, and on Saturday night, they closed the museum except for the winners of this award.  We had the run of the place.  They served us dinner under the wing of the B-36.  It's one of those memories that is burned into my brain.  I took my dad back there last year for fathers day and we had a great time.  Here's a picture of him standing next to the B-36 Main Gear, a couple of pics I took of the B-58, and my favorite plane there, a skeleton F-86.  I really hate taking pictures there.

A bit more progress. I found out the hard way it is a pain in the butt to do a model in half NMF and paint. It is tough separating both halves of the model because they are both being treated completly separatly. The painted bottom needed a coat of future and then a dullcoat for the decals. With the upper NMF I am applying the decals directly to the finish because of its smooth surface and I do not want and dullcoat overspray on it either. Here is a pic where I am at so far.

                                                                              Soulcrusher 

Outstanding work Soulcrusher.  Love the color contrast.  Cant wait to see her completed.

I should be able to post some updated pictures of my 1/48 B-58 Hustler tomorrow.  The undercarriage is complete but not attached, and a bunch of foiling is completed.  I forgot how monotonous this is.  I thought I learned my lesson after the B-24.  I'll never learn.

Sherman1111 Nice pictures of the B-58 thank you for sharing them with us. But you have gone an dun a dangerous thing and given me an idea or two that I am going to have to think on for a few days.

Lancair IV thanks for the pictures those kind of memories are priceless.

Soulcrusher Oh I like it very nice work ! That Talon stuff really works well and the contrast with color really pops. Chompin at the bit to see it finished.

 Hello again all, the work is lookin great, by everyone. I just couldn't let you guys have all the fun. I finally did it!!! I broke out ProMods, F-86D Sabredog. Finished up the pit and a few misc. bits today, and about to get back at it. Another late night, tomorrow is another day off. It's only been about 2 months (since building), but it feels like a lot longer. Feels good to be back at it.

 Dayton is terrible for pics. I took 2 rolls, and was quite disappointed.

Undercarriage is complete less a few lines i want to run.  They are not attached yet so I can finish the foiling.

Thanks for looking

Cheers

Thank you Rob Rob and Randy.Rob that B-58 is looking good. The foil work is quite impressive.

I managed to place most of the decals last night. I still have to put all of the fueling stencils and such on. Of course the stripe that runs down the side of the cowl and underneath the cockpit gave me trouble. I was expecting it to as every review of this kit stated how hard it was to get in place because it goes over the very sharply curved bulges in the cowl and over the exhaust openings. I should be able to touch them up a bit with paint. The white rudder decal was a bit of a disapointment as it looks a little blochy up close but I can live with it. I mean its only a $15.. dollar kit and Academy decals are known for being a bit on the thick side. I will post some more pics later after I get the rest of the decals on. Hopefully tomorrow I will be adding all of the fiddly bits. I liked the Talon paints so much I think I am going to do another subject for this GB because there is still so much time left in this GB.

                                                                                        Soulcrusher

Lancair IV - Looking good so far!!  Everyone's builds are looking to be moving along well.

I have completed the foiling on my sabre, and was completely sure that I read that you could decal right over the foil without the need for a gloss coat, so that is what I did.  Either Academy's decals are the thickest that I have ever seen or something else is wrong.  On one of the wing decals it simply will not comform to the leading edge, I have tried everything, future, solvaset good ol' pressure and still i have a good 1/4 inch that will not sit down.  All in all none of the decals that I have applied have reacted at all to the solvaset, which normally has the tendency to destroy decals if used too much, and I have used 4 or more applications on each decal.

 So my next question is this, how does one remove decals without destroying the model.  I thought of sanding them off (would work well with paint) but am not sure what that would do to the foil.  I have already ordered new decals from Greatmodels and am searching fo some help in getting rid of the old decals.

Matt

Lancair IV Lookin good man ! That plane.......... err jet is gonna look awesome when finished.

Soulcrusher Come on man now you are just teasing us sheesh. Wanna see those finished Pictures

Blkhwkmatt Sorry to hear that Matt. I always clear coat with future right after I burnish the foil with steel wool because any finger prints will turn black on bear aluminum, also decals wont stick to the foil very well. Only thing I can think of if the solvent wont work is maybe lacquer thinner but I dont have any idea what that would do to the foil. Sanding would work and if you damage the foil you could just lay another piece over the damaged spot. Thats all I can think of hopefully someone here will have a better idea.

Got a bit more work done on my build today, the booms are glued on, now I have to add the weights so it wont sit on its tail and do the filling and sanding around the wing roots. Actually I wont have to do as much filling as I thought I would. thats a good thing

AHH disaster today, painting primer on my TU-128 and I dropped it on the garage floor. broke the front landing gear and nose cone off. nice setback... but a  little CA and back to work.

Builds looking Great!

blkhwkmatt wrote:

Lancair IV - Looking good so far!!  Everyone's builds are looking to be moving along well. I have completed the foiling on my sabre, and was completely sure that I read that you could decal right over the foil without the need for a gloss coat, so that is what I did.  Either Academy's decals are the thickest that I have ever seen or something else is wrong.  On one of the wing decals it simply will not comform to the leading edge, I have tried everything, future, solvaset good ol' pressure and still i have a good 1/4 inch that will not sit down.  All in all none of the decals that I have applied have reacted at all to the solvaset, which normally has the tendency to destroy decals if used too much, and I have used 4 or more applications on each decal.  So my next question is this, how does one remove decals without destroying the model.  I thought of sanding them off (would work well with paint) but am not sure what that would do to the foil.  I have already ordered new decals from Greatmodels and am searching fo some help in getting rid of the old decals. Matt

Matt yes Academy decals suck and are extremly thick and I have not found any setting solution yet that will soften them. I have read somewhere that someone does make a decal removal solution that might pull them up without damaging the foil. Good luck.

                                                                                              Soulcrusher

Hi Guys

I may have a solution to your decal problem

(I have never tried this method over foil, but it should work)

wet the decal down with a mild solution of water and detergent, cover it with cling film, and let it sit overnight.
the cling film will keep the moisture in the decal and (hopefully) soften the glue.

the decal should just peel/ rinse off.

Good Luck

 BLKHKMAT, try a bit of masking tape, it'll lift that decal right up. It even works if you've clear coated over the decal, I found that out the hard way! I don't believe it'll cause any problems with your foil.

 I'm back to the F-86d, completely O-O-B, except for a bulkhead in front of the pit to hide the weights. She'll be ready for paint and some pics tomorrow!!!

                         FERMIS

soulcrusher wrote:

[ Matt yes Academy decals suck and are extremly thick and I have not found any setting solution yet that will soften them. I have read somewhere that someone does make a decal removal solution that might pull them up without damaging the foil. Good luck.                                                                                               Soulcrusher

Success!!!  I found that the decals could mostly be peeled off of the foil with little to no effort.  The few that managed to stick were promptly removed with Tamiya Lacquer thinner!  So now I am back to where I should have been a few days ago and will apply a good solid coating of future and let that cure while I wait for the decals that I ordered to arrive.  In the mean time I intend to use MM Metalizer paints and get a good foundation on the MiG-17.  I have foiled the Canopy(way easier than trying to paint it) and a few panels for some contrast.  We shall see how it turns out.

Thanks for all the hints and suggestions concerning the decal problems. If I wasnt trying to rush myself I would have never learned!

Matt

Glad it worked out Matt so you did not have to ruin the foil. Looking foward to seeing the Mig.

                                                                                       Soulcrusher

Made a little progress today, finished primer on the TU-128 and started the M-50A Bounder.

Neat kit, Fiberglass, resin and plastic, and not a bad fit for an Amodel kit

Big sucker, wont fit in my cabnet. going to shoot the TU-128 with Alclad next, think I will use polished aluminum.

Fermis Glad to see you are back and building ! Hope you have picx of the Saber soon.

Blkhwkmatt Whew !!! Glad to see a happy ending with you little set back. I was to be honest worried that the lacquer thinner would do bad things to the foil adhesive, so I tried it here and worked out fine didnt hurt anything.

Sherman1111 Lookin good there Matt. Glad you were able to save your slight miss hap, I would have been cussin for a week over that I tell ya. That thing is a monster and will look awesome in NMF.

So all is well in the NMF group build again

Havent had a chance to do any work on the 38 today, I hope to add lead to the nose and do some filling tonight.

A couple of work in progress pics. This kit is proving to be a real PIA. Not one piece fits on the airframe without major sanding. The gun tubes do not fit on the wing leading edges the wing fences do'nt fit the contour of the wing properly the wheels fit so sloppy on the legs I will probally have to superglue them to keep them from sagging. The hole in the propeller backing plate is way smaller than the spinning peg provided in the kit and the prop doesn't fit on it either. All these things are making this model take forever to finish. Very poorly done kit. No wonder you do'nt see to many build.

                                                                                 Soulcrusher