Official Natural Metal Finish Group Build II

Thanks for the compliments everyone!!!

OWL - Kermit is right, the NMF is usually so smooth that you can lay the decals right on it. I've never had a problem with the Alclad lifting off with masking tape though... tuff stuff! I did put a flat coat over the Airacomet as an experiment to see if it would work. Think I got the idea from Julez. I usually just decal over the Alclad and leave it alone but I didn't want the decals to be too shiny on this one. I went a little heavy on the flat coat but it looks nice and aged I think.

Randy - I gave her a panel wash with black acrylic thinned with water and dish soap. Some streaking across the wings too but it's hard to see after the flat coat. No shine = Testors Dullcoat Lacquer.

Doogs - Thanks! Your builds are freakin' awesome so I'm glad you like this one. The canopy has recessed panel lines like the rest if the kit. Super easy to mask, just lay tape over it and run a sharp Xacto in the groove. Can't mess it up if you try. Nicest feature about this kit! 

Kermit - Thanks buddy! I might try for the gallery but the competition is fierce!

Thanks again!

Richard...geez. I've managed to get the cockpit of my Lightning done, and you're already gearing up for paint! 

You are welcome Owl Were all here to learn and i am no exception. Every model i see on here learns a lesson, big or small.

Just wanted to show you the progress sofar... Wings and fuselage are fitted and sanded. Tonight i have added the tail wing and the nose section. Still needs filling and sanding. Almost done constructing. I have to say that there is minor seamwork but sofar i haven't had the slightest hint of misalignment and the likes

Oh and btw, this bird really likes weight in the nose. I added more than the instructed 20 grams in the nose and it is juuuuust sitting right on the front wheel. Got lucky there....

Richard

thanks for clearing that up for me Kermit!

Owl,

Usually a good NMF paintjob will give a babybutt smooth finish like gloss so you can decal over that. The real problem is the subsequent paint layers like the anti glare panels for instance. Without some kind of coat i noticed that alot of people suffer from the alclad peeling off after tearing the masking off.

So yes, i would advise a gloss coat. Personally i use future. One bottle will last you for years to come. Alot cheaper than the varnishes the paint brands sell. Not that they are bad....

Jmabx,

What can i say. Your builds always seem to come out flawless... I envy you sir... Great work!! I would strongly suggest applying for the gallery with this build. Seriously.

Richard

jmabx - LOVE IT! Great job all around. I'm particularly impressed with your canopy masking. Top notch! 

Jmabx wow thats a top notch build  A beautiful finish, a very nicely detailed cockpit, love the markings you chose too. And no glare in any of the pictures, not an easy thing to do either. Did you use a wash to bring out the panel lines or is that how the alclad brings them out. The only thing I can find wrong with your build is, it isnt sitting on my shelf, very well done indeed.

Now for the really tough part picking out which pic to put on the front page.

Oooh! that looks nice!! great job.

one question for you Alcad users...how do you get the decals over that? do you apply a gloss coat? but then your plane is flat and I thought you could not apply a flat coat on NMF without ruining it? Or do you apply decals directly to the paint??

Thanks!

OWL

Casper - I used Alclad which I really love!

I stayed home sick today so I decided to finish her instead of laying on the couch.

Have a few pics!

Sorry for the wierd purple color. One of my lights blew out and all I had left was one of those "reveal" lights. 

Thanks Vetteman, I had a look at the fuselage and it look like the louvres run parallel to the port side of the front wheel bay.

There is also another small louvre towards the tail fin on the upper fuselage as well. Nothing behind the wheel bay at all they didn't even try. The Eduard sets are pretty complete but it is odd they didn't at least inlcude one louvre.

BTW thanks for the ref shot of the airflow stains, I will definitely include that

Jmabx like the bird, nice metals. What did you use?

Cheers

Casper those are actually louvers not screening behind and along one side of the nose gear bay, here are a couple of pictures for ya.

I remember seeing PE louvers a while back I think for car but cant remember who made them. In the second picture I remember Dad saying that air flowed over the 104 in a strange way, so I found the stains interesting. I also thought you would find the panel coloring under the ejection seat useful. Looking forward to this big build for sure and hope this helps you out.

Julez72 its hard to see whats wrong from the picture, but to me the surface looks a tad rough ? But not bad I dont think. maybe a light wet sanding to smooth it out and a coat or 2 of Alclad would fix it ? I hate to see it go unfinished, lotsa nice work you did on the model ya know.

Jmabx oh man thats a sweet finish, smooth as silk it looks to be. Cant wait to see her finished and yes I really like the nose art you have chosen

Nice work on the Texan Randy!  

Sorry I haven't been around much lately but I have a little bit of progress to report. The sleek little Airacomet has been decaled and given a dark wash so far. On the home stretch now!

Closeup of the nose art... pretty cool!

Julez - Sucks about the P-38! A few years ago, I built a beautiful Mb-336 in Australian colors, orange and white with a silver underside. I did the same thing and didn't let the undercoat fully cure before spraying the silver over it.   At least it was on the underside so it's well hidden!

CallSignOWL

whats wrong with it?

With all this P-38 talk, I thought for a second I was viewing the P-38 GB

Randy - Great job on the Texan!  You forced me to go buy one of these kits

whats wrong with it?

You guys are killing me with all this P-38 lightning talk......I boxed mine after this little mishap

Tis what happens when you don't give the undercoat time to cure

Can anyone tell me what the technical name for the grills I have circled in red? Out of all the AM I seem to have collected for the 1/32 F-104 there is no PE or resin replacement for this part. It seems a shame to leave the plastic part form the kit for such a potentially detailed part. Trouble is I don't know the name of the part to search for an AM solution.

Any help would be most welcome!

Cheers

Got a small parcel of AM goodies fro the postman today!

I got my 4th AM add on for my Hasegawa 1/32 Starfighter F-104G, the Eduard exterior PE set. Now this has a couple of double ups on the Aries exhaust set, and more than likely some double ups on my soon to be delivered Verlinden cannon and cockpit set (the 5th and final piece of the AM puzzle!) but I should have a crazy AM build. Perhaps I should run it in a parallel AM Madness GB!

I was looking for some detailed wheel bays but this set has some nice features for the front wheel, including PE doors and electrical wiring.

Cheers

Raptordriver hey buddy you know you are welcome in this group anytime, would love to see another of your builds here.

Randy! Wow this has turned out to be an outstanding GB! Great work, I would like to build another shiny plane( no promises). Great work! Amazing success rate! I have my sunglasses on!

Thanks guys for all the kind words, its this kind of encouragement that makes us all better modelers.

Julez72 sorry buddy, I will be keeping this build, I have a PT-20 to park next to it Course I have to build it first.

Kermit !! hey our lil green buddy is back with us and has survived the madness You do have a good start on the P-38 cant wait to see what fun you have with it.

DoogsATX those belts are very nice indeed Did you make them with tape and PE buckles ? I think you would really like the AT-6 kit it is a nice one and fun to build. Hey ya know it would fit right into a yellow wing group build too

Not much progress on the Jug the past few days. A bit of sanding, a bit of priming...still have a more filling and sanding before I can even think about paint.

But...things are moving forward on the Lightning. Got the cockpit all glued up and I'm trying to figure out where to move on to next! Here are some pics from the other night before assembly. Not a lot to work with in the pit, and I wasn't feeling like diving hardcore into adding scratchbuilt detail (outside levers for the throttle quadrant), but I think these may be my best seatbelts yet!

Randy - LOVE the Texan! Think I may have to pick one or two up for the stash...hmm...

Richard - I must've missed up-thread, is this P-38 a 48th? I've got Academy's P-38F in the stash now, in addition to the Revellogram on the bench, so I'll be watching this one with interest!

Hey everybody,

Been away for a couple of weeks but i am back and eager to continue on my Academy P38 I already joined the pit to the lower wing and just now i have completed the nacelles:

While i can still easily handle them, i think it is best to do some seam filling and sanding on them before i try to close up the fuselage and wings. Wip pics soon gents!

Richard

That turned out really nice Randy. PROPS!

I have 5 of these and I really want to build one soon in the yellow scheme. Maybe this will motivate me to start.

Nice work, Vetteman!

I see a lot of Harvards in my area- and the airport I fly out of always have a couple that come by for breakfast on the week-ends (the pilots, that is).

Rob

kermit

Randy,

Now,.... what to challenge you with now....

Richard

Hey take it easy Richard I cant build a 1/32 B-25 in a week geeze

Thanks guys for your comments. The kit is really a nice one with few fit issues that Revell is known to have. I would recommend the vacuformed canopy though, just because the kit one is so thick if you want an open cockpit.  I would encourage anyone to get one, I am planning on getting another to build some time next year.

Now to start planning my F-15 build, Oh and Richard I will be painting the F-15 .

Richard.... 

Randy, Very cool build buddy, you have my postal address so you know where to send it

Randy,

Great job on the texan!!!. You took up the challenge and completed an awesome model from where i am sitting buddy! The yellow color looks just right to me (thank god revell has a color that doesnt need tinkering LOL), your pit looks very well painted and like i have already said before that Talon paint payed off big time for you.

The prop is a very nice touch too, just love this build and makes me wanna get one for myself

Now,.... what to challenge you with now....

Congrats my friend!

Richard

Nice work vetteman, think I'll go with the Talon paints when I get to my Starfighter!

Kermit back !! We have missed the froggy twist on the forum since you have been gone. Yeah Richard I dont know if my salvation was a characteristic of the Talon paint or if I was ate up with lucky, guess I will find out next time I use it. Yes there will be a next time .  to see pictures of your P-38, have been toying with the idea of doing another my self. Good luck on the weekend madness build too.

Ok the AT-6 Texan is finished. This was a build with a number of firsts for me, I have not done a painted NMF before, and this one came about due to a challange Richard ( Kermit ) and I came up with, Richard finished his so I had to finish mine. It was also my first yellow wing build. I found as the build progressed that the finished picture in my head kept changing, may have been 5 or 6 paint schemes and marking combinations that came to mind, but I finally settled on this one. Many moons ago I spent a lot of time at Van Nuys Airport and got to see the Condor Squadron up close. The Condor Squadron consists of 15 or so AT-6 and SNJ aircraft and they participate in air search and rescue, and of course airshows. My build  is done in the markings and style of one of them, a plain jane sort of scheme I was always impressed with. It wasn't a shiney NMF T-6 but was kept simple and very very clean. I saw the pilot at a few airshows around here wiping exhaust stains off at each show keeping oil cleaned off, even had drip pans under the aircraft he would change quite often. Right down to dressing the tires so they were clean and black. I hope you all like her.

For this next picture I added my own twist to the model, I had seen this done on a plane in Reno one year, done remember which one it was, but because of the date I finished this build I figured it would be appropriate for my build. Oh the red, white and blue look really cool when he fired the engine too.

You cant see it in the previous pictures, but I added a few drops of red paint to the yellow to tone down the brightness a bit, also the yellow wings I remember seeing had a hint of red to the yellow it always seemed to me. I also forgot to paint the fuel caps red, in this picture you can see that I have taken care of that last bit of work. I took these in natural light.

I hope you like and thanks for looking. Richard thank you sir for the challenge, I had a lot of fun with it.