Official Natural Metal Finish Group Build

Thunderbolt379 Would you please let me know when you post it ? My 1/48s have been taking up a lot of room in fact I have had to give 2 of them away to make room for new ones. Maybe then I would have the nerve to try one and see if I can build in 1/72.

Hi Randy -- Thanks! Yep, it's my first time going down to 72 for a while, and the detail really is fiddly-small! It's good to know my eyes can still handle it, though I must agree I prefer 48. The good things about 72, they cost less and they take up less shelf space.

The scale difference is an interesting question -- my magnifying specs are the same power, my brushes and tweezers the same size, but the object is smaller. The procedures are very much alike but it feels like doing microsurgery without a microscope...

I have a blog essay on this topic, I must post it one of these days!

I'll be closing the fuselage today, and doing some jointline dressing,

Cheers,

Mike

Thunderbolt379 Your Thunderjet is looking good so far, but I gotta ask how do you work so well on such a small scale that looks like a 1/72. The 1/48 make me crosseyed at times.

You're right there, Kermit -- there are times you don't want to be bothered with the infernal spraying gear, you just want to trim and glue plastic! Some types of models demand to be painted first, motorcycles, for instance, and I believe Formula 1 cars must be put into colour 100% before assembly. Tanks are good, many of them you can assemble almost completely before getting to the paint, and, as you say, but for the visible interior, planes are the same.

Here's some progress on the Thunderjet. First the cockpit subassemblies, the three-part seat, two-part panel and the tub, sprayed up and drybrushed in acrylics, with the harness and instrument decals applied, and an Aussie 10c piece for scale:

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Next, the cockpit assembled:

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And the cockpit, intake/nose gear bay assembly and jetpipe assembly installed in the right fuselage half (note the crushed lead slug visible under the cockpit floor):

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My next job is to close up the fuselage. One sprue attachment point did not cut cleanly, and the plastic 'laminated away' on the surface. I've sealed it down with cya again and will file and polish it out after joining the halves. The wings are assembled and it looks at this point as if Tamiya have tooled the junctures with several degrees too much dihedral (odd sort of error for them to make!). I may try shimming the wingroots at the top with .010" stock to push the angle down, and close the joint up with putty.

Cheers,

Mike

After years of ships i have found out the same thing about both aircraft and armor. You can get a long way just cleaning and gluing parts (after the pit colouring ofcourse) before you have to take out the (air)brush. Great for a casual evening of modeling imho.

Looking forward to your progress pics stick

Richard

Quick progress report on the Tamiya 1:72 Thunderjet -

Interior painting is coming along nicely, I'm about half done the cockpit, the seat is done but for the harness decals, the tailpipe is done, and the gear bays are all sprayed chromate yellow. The intake is being put into NMF and the nose weights are installed, two above the gear bay, two superglued inside the fuselage under the level of the cockpit floor. The wings and auxilliary tanks are assembled, but the seams are not yet dressed.

This lil kit just about clicks together, it should be excellent. I've ordered up the Express Masks for the canopy, and will be using kit decals, a scheme from 1956 (thus a grey interior, not green, as the AF changed in 1953). I tried a quick squirt of the Talon Acrylics on some scrap plastic and at this point I'm not sure if I'll be using them, I might go with enamels and leave the Talons for experimental spraying at a later date. We'll see when I get closer to the job, though.

Cheers, photos before long,

Mike

EDIT: I managed some spraying thisafternoon, the rest of the interior gray and satin black. Unmasking, touchups as needed, drybrush the controls and apply the instrument and harness decals, and this one will be nearly ready to close up the fuselage.

Hi Brett -- yes indeed, I'm over in Adelaide.

Nice shots! I must get to the next Avalon and update my photo archives with digital stuff, I have five Avalon shoots all on film, plus video from the '03 event.

I do approve of the Boss 351! There's one just like it in an auto-detailers' shop here (even the same colour!). My fav is the Pontiac Trans Am, my fiance drives an '82. I've always said I wanted to take a photo like this of my prefered means of transport, a '79 Trans Am and a '45 Mustang!

You know, this makes me feel like dashing out another Stang, maybe in obscure Latin American markings, I have a great Guatemalan scheme of NMF and Mayan gods... Will need to rustle up a spare Tamiya D.

Cheers,

Mike

Hi Mike

wow, I didn't realise there was another Aussie in the group.

That's the plane, "Eclat". the photo posted above was one I picked up off the net. the photos that I am using (for reference) were taken by my wife at the Jamestown Fly-in in October 2000, but using a film camera, so I have just scanned a few of them in (so excuse the quality).

they let my brother-inlaw park his mustang on the tarmac to take some photos of the two Mustangs together.

how is your project coming along?

Brett

Dioramator Thanks for posting the picture of the RAAF Mustang, I am ashamed to admit I havent before now seen a picture of one of them. I did know they were built there though. Now I am chompin at the bit to see your build of a very nice looking pony.

Hi Brett -- Wow, Eclat! I photographed her several times at Avalon Airshow. She was (still is?) the personal mount of "Traps," the one-time leader of the RAAF Roulettes. Excellent reference, we do have some beautiful Mustangs Down Under.

Mike

Hi Guys

vetteman, the fit issues are mainly confined to the fuslage halves, (which will look very obvious if not addressed) I had to put it together on join at a time, luckily I was able to get clamps and bolsters to most of the joins. the really bad one was between the cockpit and the tail. so I got it looking pretty good, but it was at the expense of a couple of rivets.

Kermit. the model is the Airfix 1/24 North American Mustang. I have some photos of one that visited our local airport, that I am using for reference for the build. (that is an Australian built Mustang, built in Fishermans Bend in Melbourne)

Brett

Dioramator,

Looking very good mate. You seem to have the foil method in your fingers I might have read over it, but what brand of stang are you doing? Looking forward to your final assembly results.

On the side: Been away from the group for a few days (bit of an armor phase: /forums/1174760/ShowPost.aspx) and all of the sudden half the community is doing foilwork. Are you guys doing stuff behind my back here??

Might have to do a flak panzer to slow you guys down...

I haven't forgotten the aircraft department but i have done so many AC models lately i wanted to do something else to keep "fresh". Learning lots of stuff and plan to get back on here to apply learned techniques and improve with every new model. Ofcourse i will keep you guys posted

Richard

Dioramator Thanks for the heads up on the fit issues I have the bit kits I have the Revell 1/32 P-51B I am waiting to start on. Hope you have more pictures soon.

I have been making progress on the P-38 I should have used paint instead of foil on this build, but being a stuborne type I had to finish with the foil. I just have to finish the tails and will be ready for the canopy and final details. I will try and get some pictures posted this evening.

vetteman42 wrote:

Dioramator WOW thats a bigun, how many rolls of foil did you have to use ? A great start I must say, cant wait to see this one finished !!!

I started with a 10 meter roll of foil ($0.99 at the supermarket) and still have most of it left. I'm using my paper guilotine to cut it, and am not wasting very much.

I'm joining the fuselage thisafternoon, I can honostly say I've put kits together that fit a hell of a lot better than this one, clamps and tape everywhere. So finally it is starting to look like a plane.

Brett

Here it is

I foiled what I could before final assembly, because it is easier to handle the kit that way.

It is now ready to join the fuslage halves, so I can foil around the top and bottom.

(I put a paint bottle in to give some idea of the size of the kit).

thanks for that Vetteman

I am using shiny side out with the foil, I tried using the dull side to replicate the upper surfaces (oxidised), but was having trouble with the adhesive not taking to the shiny surface, so it is all shiny.

I dont think the steel wool I am using is fine enough, there is no grading on the packet, so I shall have to go out searching for some OOOO. I haven't had too much trouble with seams, as I have been trying to match the existing panel lines and using 'post it notes' as masks, but I have some complex curves coming up, and may have to expose some edges.

I plan to airbrush the future over the kit, with such large panels, I don't have a paint brush soft enough and wide enought to get good coverage

I must say I am enjoying the foiling experience, years ago I worked with computerised signage, so laying down pressure sensitive material is no stranger to me. It's amazing how much give this material has.

If I get a chance, I will take some WIP photos, and post them some time today.

Brett 

Dioramator Hey seems like you are really moving along with your build. If you look at the surface on the foil you will see that it has a heavy grain to it, just like wood does. The steel will will do three things for you, it wont turn the foil grey. 1) It will remove that grainy look which IMHO is way out of scale for our models. 2) It will soften and hide the seams in the foil, dont know about your build but I always end up with some of those. 3) It will polish the foil to a shine. Hope you are using 0000 wool on it. You will want to be a bit gentle with the steel wool so you dont pick up any corners of the foil as you polish, and it doesnt take a lot of rubbing either, just enough to remove that grainy surface.  I also like to polish the model in the direction of flight looks better I think. A word of warning here after you use the steel wool on it handle it with gloves on and clean it I use alcohol and an old t-shirt, your finger prints will turn the bare aluminum black. Then as soon as you can clear coat it to prevent corossian, I like to brush future on with a soft wide brush. I let it cure 2 days before doing anymore work, then finish her up. If you wish to dull the shine I have had good results useing a semi gloss but do not use a dull or flat coat !! Really makes the foil look bad gives it kind of a gravely look.

Hope this helps you out if I can answer any more questions will be happy to.

PS are you using the shiny side of the foil or the dull side ?

Hi guys

I have a question for you.

I'm using household foil for my NMF, how much do I rub it with the steel wool?
do I just lightly scuff over the surface, or do I buff it until the steel wool bites (so it all turns brushed grey)?

any help would be much appreciated.

Brett

Got some more work done. I need to touch up a few areas where the paint bled under the tape and one spot where I screwed up with my masking.

This one will be done as "Ferocious Frankie".

The yellow along the wing tips is just a reflection.

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

Regards,

Jeff

Got some more work done. This is my first time using Polished Aluminum and it is very unforgiving/a pain to spray. I ended up with a lot of grainy areas right next to areas that look fine. And a lot of weird looking spray patterns.

I am seriously considering hitting the problem areas with some 600 grit and doing it all in Duraluminum. I am doing a Yellow Nose with Aero-Master decals and this just looks too unrealistic to me. What do you guys think?

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

Regards,

Jeff

kermit wrote:

Thank you Fermis, that was so so cool to see! Consider yourself privileged Actually found myself at the website of the local airport here (tiny grass strip, 5 hangars and a tiny tower and that pretty much sums it up LOL) and such a "introduction lesson" is not that expensive...who knows... Richard

Fermis we are gonna talk Kermit into trying a demo flight and hes gonna hate us for it LOL. Nice pictures by the way thanks for sharing them with us. You get a whole differant outlook on life from that cockpit I am tellin ya. Yes I have looked into the light sport category and even looked into ultralights problem is I am a large man 6'3", meds and inactivity sent my weight up from 210 to 280 so I dont fit or put the aircraft over gross with just a splash of fuel. So I guess you could say I grounded myself in a way.

Kermit You are coming to the states ??? Hey make it an even more memorable vacation guy and find an airport here for that Discovery Flight could be a lot cheaper than back home. BTW would you be coming thru LAX on your way to Seattle ?? May I sugest for your first foil build a 1/48 kit Kermit ??  I think 1/72 scale would be quite difficult to work with due to its size. Also a simple airframe like a P-47 or a AT-6 would be best because there arent many compound curves to deal with. Once you learn how to bend and streach the foil on your first build the sky is the limit.

Dioramator Sorry to hear your dio isnt gonna make the show, but I am quite happy your P-51 build is back on the bench.

Thank you Fermis, that was so so cool to see! Consider yourself privileged

Actually found myself at the website of the local airport here (tiny grass strip, 5 hangars and a tiny tower and that pretty much sums it up LOL) and such a "introduction lesson" is not that expensive...who knows...

Richard

vetteman42 wrote:

Kermit Have you decided to try using foil now ??? I dont know how it works in your country but here most larger airports have flight schools. I went to one here and took a demonstration ride for like half price of a regular schooling flight, was 30 bucks for an hour flight. It was just on a whim that I did that. I now call them "GOTCHA FLIGHTS" because once the instructer gave me the controls I was hooked. If you can do that in your country Kermit give it a shot, but I caution you, once you are hooked its both worse and much more rewarding than any illicet drug this world has to offer. I will look and see if I still have some pictures Kermit and will be happy to share them with you. I flew alone most of the time so I didnt have that many pictures to begin with. I did lose my medical, so cant fly anymore, 2 heart attacks and meds ended my flying days.

 Demo flights are great for someone who just wants hold the stick for a while, and quite affordable. Oh, and yes, you will be hooked!!!

 Randy, have you looked into the "light sport" catagory, no medical required, just a drivers lisence!!! (or have you "grounded" yourself, as well?) I'd ship you some backstraps, but I think they'll go bad. Come on over, I'll grill ya up some!!!

 Here's a few pics Kermit.

This one's from a cessna 152, headed toward my house, just across the lake from that big white eye sore, just above the nose.

this one's just after passing my commercial/multi-engine/instrument check ride(final exam).

this is my favorite, my first flight in a twin, without my instructor.

 Go find yourself a local airport, and take a discovery flight. You will NOT be disappointed!!!

Hi All

yes I'm still here, lurking in the background.

Kermit, I say give it a try. when I joined the build I originaly going to paint the Mustang, but was swayed by the the others to try the foil, and I must say I'm glad I did (am/ are). It takes a little longer than painting, but I am finding it much more enjoyable.
It is quite easy to pick up a panel, and put down some foil 'when there is a bit of spare time', not having to worry about charging the compressor, prepare the airbrush, mix the paints, and then clean up everything after, and there is no overspray to worry about either. I never imagined I could get a result like that just from regular household aluminium foil.

My Mustang kind of got put on hold for the last couple of months, as I have been concerntrating on other projects, but I have now realised that there is no way the diorama I am working on for this years model show is going to be completed in time, so that is now on the slow burner, and the Mustang has moved back into the center of the bench. (I'm glad this is a 1 year GB).

I will try to post some WIP pics in the near future (when I reach another milestone).

I must say, all the builds so far are looking excellent. Keep up the good work.

Brett