Shes looking good owl. sorry for my small leave of absence (again)  My partner crashed her car on thursday evening. total write off. Shes ok, if a little bruised up from the seatbelt. Still waiting on the police report to see whos fault it was (im picking his because he ran a red light but refuses to admit thats what he did)  Get the new car wednesday hopefully.

Hopefully my life will actually settle down and the gods of misery will leave me alone for a few months lol.

Also forgot to mention. The F-100 is looking good. Put the big decal on the tail using microsol and it all curled up. I should have put some future or something down first. Oh well. learning curve. Im hoping to fix it tonight. then its the fiddly bits and i should be home and hosed.

Yeah the forums have been a little quiet these past few days...

well, then I guess it is up to me to keep things rolling!

More foil pics, Im slowly inching closer to completion!

OWL

Just out of curiosity, what kinda foil are you using? Is if the brand name BMF self adhesive stuff? Or is it just foil using the microscale foil adhesive like i did?

Scorpiomikey

Just out of curiosity, what kinda foil are you using? Is if the brand name BMF self adhesive stuff? Or is it just foil using the microscale foil adhesive like i did?

I'm using the store brand "Great Value Aluminum Foil" that came in a 75 SqFt roll for about $3---with the Microscale adhesive.

OWL

Sweet, same way as me, how are you finding it? i found it was hard to get the very corners to stick properly. especially during handling. they tend to pull up a little if you handle it too much.

yeah, same here...I just began to burnish them down a bunch. I think the Future helps a bit too.  But I'm not gonna be picking at the plane, that's for sure! 

OWL

I was thinking about trying foil on a NMF, but with ya'll issues, I might hold off on that idea

Wow so much great progress going on here and I have been missing it.

DoogsATX those are some beautiful Wildcats, your surface prep was spot on as I cant find anything wrong with the NMF finish. I really like the comparison of the two different paints too although the differences are subtle.  The pink tail has a slightly glossier sheen to it making it look more real to my eye. The color schemes are really eye catching, I think your kids are gonna love them. The front page has been updated, hope I got your info right.

Scorpiomikey you do have to future the foil before you decal or paint over it. I do that right after I burnish it with steelwool. BTW for me I find that brushing the future on works much better than spraying it on with my airbrush. Also if you plan to do any masking over the foil you need 2 fairly heavy coats of future so it wont lift the foil, and mask using very low tack tape. Sorry to hear about your loss of the decal.

CallSignOwl I see you really have the hang of this foiling thing, looking good. I can see a few very small mistakes that you can fix where the plastic wasn't covered with foil. Just cut some small pieces of foil after applying the glue to it and and places them over the bad spots. After you burnish the model you wont be able to see the patches. You just have to remember not to apply much pressure when you do burnish the foil.

B17pilot I gotta say these builds are looking much better than my first attempt at foiling, and I don't really call the problems issues as much as they are learning curves. It learning an different method of finishing a model. Go for it B17 would love to see a foiled build from you.

B17Pilot

I was thinking about trying foil on a NMF, but with ya'll issues, I might hold off on that idea

I'm not really having issues, I'm just learning and experimenting. Honestly, the foil is giving me a much easier time than the paint ever did.  I like it!

Vetteman: yeah, I am aware of the bald patches...and I have little foil-toupees ready!

Im not gonna get too much done today...the cold-bug bit me really hard.   I've pretty much just napped all day.

OWL

CallSignOWL

 

 

Vetteman: yeah, I am aware of the bald patches...and I have little foil-toupees ready

 

OWL

Owl sorry to hear about your cold, hope you are feelin better soon

Ahh, the wonders of antihistamines a Sudofed!  I'm back ad no longer feeling like my head is about to explode!

Here is some further foiling work, not much, but Ive gotten most of the tail-fin finished.

OWL

Owl, happy to hear your feeling a little better..Your making very good time with that foiling

Owl,

I concur with Julez: You are just flying through the foiling! Very impressive indeed.

It has been ages since my last update altough i kept in contact with our always charming host. I developed a true love/ hate relationship with the foiling of my own Mig15. I simply adore the finish it has but it takes time and patience....

Sometimes i work on it for an evening, only to abandon it for a couple of days. Apart from the ships i have built in the past, this Mig is turning out to be one of my longer term ones.

Anyways.... After my very first attempts i have stripped it and started over like i said. This time over, altough progress is slow, it is going alot better IMHO. See for yourselves:

It WILL be finished, just going veeeeeeeeeeryyyyyy slooooooooooooow LOL

Richard

Woops, added the wrong pic. It has been corrected now

Richard

Owl and Kermit - solid jobs on the foiling! 

Vetteman - Glad you like the Wildcats! 

I've actually got two more kits I'd like to add as crossovers, too. Both should be kicking off in early November or whenever I'm done with these two Commie bastards.

• 1/48 Monogram P-38J Lightning (it's actually the current Revell reissue...but it's really a Monogram at heart)
• 1/48 Monogram P-47D bubbletop (the early '90s release with included PE)

The P-38's going to be almost entirely NMF and I'm planning to use Talon acrylics, this time with polishing powders.

The P-47 is going to be done up as Col. Schilling's "Hairless Joe" of the 56th FG. Ocean grey and RAF dark green up top with bare metal undersides. There's extensive debate as to whether the undersides were really bare metal or just light grey, but I think NMF would look cooler, so that's what I'm doing.

Richard, Looks like you have the whole foiling thing figured, slow and steady eh, looking good

Its Fall Break here for UNL, so I have a bit of time to get some foiling done:

OWL

Finally a day where I am feelin good and even got some bench time in No pictures yet but soon if this keeps up.

Scorpiomikey man I hope the dust settles for you soon and you can get back to normal life, and of course modeling.

CallSignOwl yes indeedy the MiG is coming along splendidly. I really like the last picture you posted of the bottom, the work you did on the gear bays really stands out. And your foil work is getting better in fact it looks much better than my first attempt at it. 

Kermit wow taking your time is paying off big time, I do love the different shades I am seeing on your foiling. You are using both sides of the foil and turning it in different directions from what I can see, takes some careful planning to pull that off well. I can see a Kermified masterpiece in your future my friend.

DoogsATX After the Wildcats I can not wait to see your next works. I will get the front page updated this evening with them. You will like the Talon polishing powders too. I had the chance to play with them a bit and you can really create some fine effects with them.

Alright I can say my 757 is done!  Squeezed some time in to finish up the engines.  I also gave the airliner a small amount of weathering (not noticeable in the pics, but its there).  So with out any more delay:

B-17, man now that is nice....a handsome addition to anyones collection...well done

Randy, good to hear your feeling a little better

Wow, B17 she looks fantastic! Love the different coloured centers of the wings and great job on getting the decals curved around the pointy portion of the nose (I hate decaling stuff like that).

Gamera

great job on getting the decals curved around the pointy portion of the nose

I actually had to fill in a small gap in the front with paint, has the decal didn't meet in the front, but at least it laid down flat around the curvature of the nose

B17 that thing looks fantastic! Seriously well done!

Also, while not for this GB, I sprayed the exhaust plates on my La-5 last night and thought y'all might be interested.

All the painting guides call for steel, so I loaded up Alclad Steel and went to work...

Seemed WAAAY to dark to me. The tint actually reminded me a lot of Alclad's Exhaust Manifold, but less brown.

Not happy with that, I switched to Dark Aluminum. 

Much better and closer to the look I'm going for.

So yeah, word of warning that Alclad's Steel is DARK.

Randy, Julez and Doogs,

Thanks alot my friends. This foiling is pretty easy to do but very tricky to do well. Honesty demands me to say that i did not really plan all the different shades on the panels but i guess since i tried to apply the foil panel by panel i guess with my limited foiling experience it was inevitable LOL. But after all the foiling is done i must say i kinda like it myself

Yes, Randy.... it took months to do but i have just finished the foiling!!

Alas, i could not avoid some wrinkles here and there so yes this plane is far from perfect... some panels took me three or four tries to get it as wrinkle-LESS as i could. At least i can say i gave it my very best. This foil still is the best finish IMHO but very hard to do well, takes a long time and well......takes a long time I am very confident i will try to do another one but only when i really have the time for it... Too bad i can't retire before 2042....

Anyways..... back on the road with this one and hope to squeeze in a WIP soon again Hope you guys are gentle lol

Richard

DoogsATX the front page has been updated with your new builds, cant wait to see how you handle the P-38, mine almost drove me to drinking and cussing. Hey thanks for sharing the color problem with the alclad steel paint I have to agree with you strongly the steel is way too dark, the picture makes it look like a metallic black. The dark aluminum looks much better IMHO.

B17Pilot oh yes that is a fine looking example of the American Airlines 757. Curving that decal around the nose must have been a nightmare but you pulled it of very well. I really like the color variations on the panels. A sweet build to be sure  I need to ask what kit you used for this one so I can post it on the front page.

Mr Kermit what can I say, can't wait to see this one finished my friend, beautiful foil work. You really put your heart into this one, the color contrasts between panels are perfect, I can pick out each and everyone. Man I hope my painted one comes out close to as good as your build is

I used the Minicraft 1/144 757-200.  MM Alunimum metalizer, contrails winglets and the decals where supplied by the kit (though I stole an extra OneWorld logo for the door from the Qantas A380 I'm doing).

B17Pilot I have corrected the front page. Cant have the wrong information on such a nice build.

Well,....

24 hours and lots of bench time later (day off) i can finally put my first foiling job on the shelf! Markings are generic and taken from a decalsheet by high decal line. It was really meant for a camouflaged mig15 but oh well.... red stars....russian number.... works for me

By no means is this bird flawless but i made a promise to do it, gave it my very best shot at it and kept going even when i wanted to make it "conveniently dissapear, hitting my wall in a rather mysterious agressive accident". So yes, i take pride in it.

And the little reward i gave myself for when i finished it: the next one is gonna be my first foray into the world of Alclad Bought a bottle more than a month ago and i am dying to start using it! Will let our charming host know what build exactly ASAP.

Thanks for watching along boys 'n girl! Boy did this one take me a long time......

Richard

   Looks great Kermit!  I realy like all the different shades on the panels. How did you achieve that again, by turning the foil in different directions?

OWL