Yeah these bloody Yellow Wings are getting to me, while i'm not much of a Wildcat fan i am eyeing of a Buffalo at the LHS with NMF fueselage and yellow wings, it also has those red/white tail feathers i like so mch...

CallSignOwl hope you arrive at collage with no troubles, let us know when you get there.

Kermit I comapired the Talon aluminum to MM aluminum plate metalizer and the shades are very close, so it has to be my expert photografy skills. I painted the belly scoop for a MiG -3 with the Talon and had to scrape some of the paint away for some PE detail, and let me tell ya it didnt scrape off easily at all. So I am thinking masking over Talon paint wont be much trouble with lifting. I finally had to resort to alcohol to get the paint off. We will see with the AT-6.

DoogsATX   ohhhh I can't wait for your builds. The kit or kits look to be very nice, Richard had a blast with his.

Gamera

Looking forward to seeing the F4F come together Doog. Don't think I mentioned that Richard go to me too. At a hobby show last week I picked up the HobbyBoss F4F-4. No idea when I'll be able to get to it though but yes it does look like a really nice quality kit.

Yeah, I definitely want to build their -4 or FM-1, but I'm not even going to think about it until I get around to the Eduard F6F-3 sulking in my stash. 

Looking forward to seeing the F4F come together Doog. Don't think I mentioned that Richard go to me too. At a hobby show last week I picked up the HobbyBoss F4F-4. No idea when I'll be able to get to it though but yes it does look like a really nice quality kit.

Thanks for the build tips, kermit! Always nice to know those sort of things going in. 

As for finishes, I'm going to do one in Talon Aluminum and the other in Alclad II something-or-other. Maybe aluminum, maybe airframe aluminum. I've got a couple different bottles on the shelf, so we'll see.

The rest of the finish is going to be a mix. Tamiya Lemon Yellow + a bit of orange for the wings and yellow fuselage bands. Tamiya or Vallejo gloss black for the letter markings and wing and fuselage stripe borders.

The tails, stabs and wing stripes are going to be different on each plane. The boy's is going to be Tamiya gloss blue, and the girl's is going to be pink darkened with a bit of red (since Tamiya's pink seems really light). Probably the first and last time I will ever buy a bottle of pink paint!

As an aside, when we were gearing up before our son was born, my wife was dead against blue anything. It was all greens and yellows since she didn't want to follow the traditional color/gender thing. But when our daughter came along, it was a like pink exploded in our house. Go figure...

Doog,

Yes, the hobby boss f4f's are real gems, i've built the FM1, F4F late and F4F early kits now and they are really easy to build, great result in the end kinda kits; especially considering their price. Gonna build their F5F kit for the Alley cat GB and pretty sure it will be just as nice to build...

One word of warning though:

You will find that the instructions want you to glue the pit to the bottom fuselage bit. Every single time i built it, the headrest bit wouldn't align with the top fuselage! Concentrate on that join and you'll be ok. After that you might find that the pit works will block the wings from sliding into the fuselage but a slice or two with your knife will solve that easily.

Also the bottom fuselage part might be a bit tricky to align with the two main fuselage parts. A tiny bit of filling and sanding might come your way there.

All in all one of the more fun kits i ever built and i am very sure you will love working with them. Any idea yet what finishes you will use?

Richard

So with the Dauntless stalled out thanks to the USPS taking its sweet time with my Mr Surfacer 1200 (and Talon Aluminum!), I went ahead and cracked open and cleaned the Wildcat kits last night. 

Have to say, I'm very impressed with the overall level of detail. The AM Dauntless has a pretty strong reputation for detail, but IMO it pales next to this. And after my experience with the Dauntless' ridiculous three-piece cowl, I'm loving that these use a single piece instead.

Vetteman,

Thank you for sharing your experiences with the talon paint. Looks great to me! Is it a bit of a darker shade NMF or is it the lighting? Whatever it is, it looks very lifelike. Hoping to order myself some alclads next week....

OWL,

Hope the moving goes smoothly You must have a great roommate too if he/ she is cool with you working on your hobby inthere. My own better half does support me although she hates the smell when i use enamels...

Richard

DoogsATX

Wow, talk about dedication! I couldn't begin to fathom building a model in a dorm room!

Best of luck moving back and kicking off the new academic year.

Looking forward to your next post letting us know you arrived safely!

CallSignOWL

Just giving you all a heads up that if you don't see me for a while, it is because I am moving back to College and getting ready for classes to begin. For those of you who saw my Fulcrum build...I will again be building in my dorm room! 

Wow, talk about dedication! I couldn't begin to fathom building a model in a dorm room!

Best of luck moving back and kicking off the new academic year.

Just giving you all a heads up that if you don't see me for a while, it is because I am moving back to College and getting ready for classes to begin. For those of you who saw my Fulcrum build...I will again be building in my dorm room! 

So thank you all for your support and helpful comments. I will be lurking around, never fear! I hope to have things settled down quickly  so I can start on my first foiling project!

OWL

Hi Owl -- $5?! You got a bargain! When it shows up on eBay, as it does from time to time (infrequently!), it usually commands about four times that!

My huge resin bomber is starting to come together -- as it happens, it'll mostly be NMF too!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thunderbolt379: It is good to hear that this MIG-21 kit has a positive review. I got it at a vendors table for 5$!!   

OWL

Randy, very interesting watching how well these talon paints work, keep the pics coming I'm also trying out a new paint on Mustang 3, MM aluminum plate buffing metalizer...I've tested it out on my test model and it looks very nice so hopefully it will come out nice on the Pony...

Owl -- may I say how well your Mustang came out! NMF plus invasion stripes is widely recognised as a technically challenging paintjob and it was very ambitious to attempt. I've been in the hobby more than 40 years and never attempted it yet! Well done!

I'll be most interested to see the OEZ MiG-21 go together, I've had its stablemate, their Su-7 in my stash for many years, and remember reviewers saying the -21 was the first quarter-scale kit that properly captured the -21's 'aggressive stance.'  She should be a good build!

Cheers from Down Under, Mike/TB379

PS: Randy, you're whetting my appetite to try Talons again, I have the paint and powder but never got around to trying them on more than a single experiment whose experience was so radically unlike anything I'd used before that I shelved them and never got round to trying them again...

kermit

Vetteman, can't wait to see the results you get with the Talon paints! You sure know how to get a dutch froggy on the edge of his seat But seriously...... citrus smell??

Richard

Kermit I aint kidding ya one bit buddy  it does have a citrus smell to it, rather pleasant really. I thought it quite funny when my sister asked why I had been using the air freshener in the mancave . Also when I cleaned out the paint cup and air brush, the stuff cleaned up so fast and easily that it kind scared me, thought I missed something.

Anyway here is a picture of my little paint test, errr paint play  tests arent fun ya know.

These are gear doors for a Testors F-5. If you will notice the second door from the right I polished a bit with the powder applied and buffed with a q-tip. It polished up really quickly too less than 30 seconds is all that took. Also as you can see I wasn't all that careful in the surface prep on these parts, any boo boos show up like a sore thumb.

Julez72 your P-51 #3 build will be posted on the front page shortly, cant wait to see this one. Oh and yeah I think NMF can be somewhat addicting. Glad to have you back with us.

CallSignOwl I will be correcting your builds and info shortly thanks for giving me the info.

Oh Oh and someone said something about being close to finished with a big ole 4 motor bomber and went and got me all excited when I saw my email an an I rushed in here and no pictures geeze

I got the Peacemaker largely completed with all the wing parts attached and the stabilizers attached as well.  When I put on the outboard jet engine pylons, there was a huge gap at the attaching point - ack!  I spent an hour or so last night dealing with those gaps and I think I did a decent job of blending my filler to make it appear to be continuous part.  In the next day or so I'll begin dealing with the seams along that huge leading edge on the wings, as well as the fairly minimal gap along the underside wing root connections.  Then it's on to the canopy frames.  Still not sure how I'm going to attack that, but have considered putting foil over the framing. 

Owl- your pony looks fantastic! I love the white trim on the spinner, wing-tips, etc. It really sets off the invasion stripes.

sorry, Vetteman

For the mustang I used a combination of MM Acrylics and  MM Enamel for the NMF.

The MiG-21, will be an OEZ (?) kit in 1/48 scale.  

OWL

CallSignOwl  I have updated the front page with you build, but I am not really sure what paint you used for the NMF. Could you let me know what they were please.

Also I couldn't be happier you are going to do another build with us and foil too Just let me know what scale and kit the MiG is so I can post the right info on the builders roster. Looking forward to your MiG

Guys I havent been able to get into the mancave these last couple of days, actually it was way too hot out there today. So in the morning I will get some pictures of my Talon paint trials for you to take a look at. Gotta get that AT-6 going I want to paint it now

Thanks everybody!  That mustang was fighting me all throughout he painting stages. Im glad she came out so nice!

vetteman: I would like to try out this foil business I keep hearing about.   I am moving back to the dorms Friday evening, so I wont be having a lot of sustained-building time.  But I think I can do a little bit everyday... I ordered the foil adhesive yesterday.

Take off the B-47 please. I dont think I can build such a large plane right now (we are going to be moving sometime later this year)  But can you add a MiG-21?  

OWL

Owl,

Congrats mylady! You have chosen a very interesting paintscheme. Loved it Oh and does my eye spot the decals for Miss MarilynII on there? *wink wink*. Great job all around. My first planes looked far FAR worse LOL.

Aggieman,

Great scratching and good solution!

Simpilot,

Youre welcome my friend. A few months ago i was very in to custom decals for awhile and remembered that the flightsim people had the exact same problems regarding insignia and markings with their skin painting that we modellers have. Some subsequent googling revealed that website. A gem innit?

Richard

OWL, What an awesome finish!!!!! Lovely work!!!! Well Done!!!

Richard, THANK YOU!!!!! That link is great!!!!! I quickly downloaded several of the files hehe!!!

Steve, nice work on the voids!! I feel the same way bout them.

Owl, very cool scheme... The invasion stripes are well done, congrats on your first NMF

Aggieman, looking forward to seein the finished product BTW luv the Arado in your sig

CallSignOwl congradulations on your first NMF build, and if memory serves me your first group build completion You have done a fine job of it and came out on top of a difficult finish to pull off  with this build.  My hat goes off to you young lady.

 I love the color scheme and markings, the stripes came out to perfection. I like her name too thats a cool one. I do hope you attempt another NMF build because the improvement I have seen with this build has been no less than amazing. OH OH and love the backdrop you chose, I spent a few minutes trying to read it and figure out what chart it is, actually I am suprised I still know how to read one. I will get your build on the front page tomorrow because when my computer died I lost my builders spread sheet so I will have to go back and find your info. My apoliges for having to take that time.

Aggieman thats a nice touch on the Peacemaker, closing those naugicles up with plasticard will improve the looks of it a bunch. I too hate seeing nothing where something should be on my  models

Wow, Callsign!  That's a gorgeous 'stang!

I've been kinda slow progress on my Peacemaker lately.  Still some issues with the mis-carriage + my dad needing to get in for some neurologic procedures last week + I'm simply exhausted and have little energy to spend at the bench.  Until tonight at least.

My first effort at masking the canopy appears to be a total failure - I used Tamiya tape to cover the entire canopy with the intent of scribbling over the raised framing but so far I can't seem to get the framing to transfer to the tape.  I'll keep trying a bit more but probably will end up using a combination of small tape pieces and liquid mask.

Then there are the engines, or lack thereof, in this kit.  It's not so much the engines but rather the big open space that is somewhat visible behind the rear-mounted props.  I think I mentioned earlier that I have a disdain for open space where none should exist.  Short of scratching engines for this bad boy - not going to do that, I elected to install some sheet styrene to block off the opening behind the prop mounts.  I took a picture of one wing with a prop installed but I don't think it really shows the opening that clearly.  The next picture is of the styrene mounted.

Drum roll please!  Presenting...my finished P-51D Mustang!!

No specific Mustang represented here, just my own markings! 

OWL

Thanks for the ideas, gents! I'm really digging the stick-on-letters-as-masks idea! I think my wife might even have some lying around in her various scrapbooking supplies. Just need to make sure they aren't some fancy, loopy font, otherwise the Wildcats might be mistaken for Soviet planes...

At some point I'm going to have to sit down and develop a masking plan for these kits. Yellow wings, colored tails, fuselage and cowl rings with black borders, wing stripes, now maybe the lettering...fast-on, fast-off methodology isn't gonna work here.

Arrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhh ya'll are getting me to the point of being sorely tempted to try out the Talon paints as well! I love the Alclad but hate the fumes. Please post any results you guys get showing the difference between the two brands.

Doogs- Richard has a great idea there. Another way to go about it if you don't have a good quality printer is to pick up some press-on stickers you like at a general hobby/art store to serve as masks. Paint the model the colour you want the letters to be and then after pressing the stickers to your hand to lose some the tack put them on the model where you want them. Then paint it as you normally would. When finished peel off the stickers and you should have perfect letters.

Maybe not what you're looking for but if you have an inkjet printer you could make custom decals? A great website for custom letters and insignia's is this one:

http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/forums/downloads.php?do=cat&id=3

Just a thought and maybe a last line of defense solution if you can't find aftermarket stuff.

Richard