probably not. But heres a couple of photos to show the conditions they lived in.

Dont be fooled by the river, its incredibly fast flowing.

And their hovels. Any food had to be brought in with them, they couldnt gown in the area because it was all rocks.

Wow that is a lot of snow Mike esp for it to be so warm.

And gee that's some beautiful scenery!

Hi Guys.  Still have Flu, but I'm a bit better.  Was wondering if anyone has used the Testors 1814 High Gloss ClearCote spray?  One of my ebay sellers has it cheap, but I've never used it and I'm wondering what the difference is from their regular glosscote spray.  Is it any better or really any glossier?

Thanks for any help.

Rich

Hi Everyone,

It has been a while since I posted my progress so I am going to play catch up tonight.

In this first picture I have painted the photo-etch landing gear control handle and attached it to the left side instrument panel:

 In this next picture I have just cut the resin rear cockpit's engine throtle controls from the resin mold base:

 In the next picture you can see where the engine throtle control will be attached (the two long slots closest to you):

 The next photo shows the engine throtle control in place:

The next picture shows the photo-etch of the arrestor hook control painted and attached to the right instrument panel:

 There has been a couple of requests on how I did the instrument panels.  Well I realized today that I needed to paint the photo-etch canopy emergency release handles yellow and black.  Since I will do this the very same way that I did the instrument panels, I will document it as I do them.

I must first give credit to Robert Kwikkel on this idea.  Here is a link to the web page where he describes how he does it:

http://www.arcair.com/tnt1/001-100/TNT033-PE-Painting-Kwikkel/00.shtm 

Here is a picture of the photo-etch handles.  They are numbered 7, 8, 9, and 10 right above the dime:

Now one thing about the handles is that the top of each of them will be right above the bottom of the canopy glass.  This means that you will be able to see both sides.  As it turns out, I happen to have two photo-etch sheets since I had to order a second cockpit after accidentally destroying the first one.

I also discovered that the handles are mirror images so I can glue them together to have a two sided photo-etch handle.

Another thing about the handles is that the emergency ones one the left side are yellow with black trim and the manual ones on the right side are black with yellow trim.  So I will be doing the colors in reverse order on the two sheets.

Here is the paint I will be using:

 First thing to do is clean the photo-etch.  I use lacquer thinner:

Just be sure to use plenty of ventilation when you use it.  Also be really careful not to spill any, it can destroy paint in a hurry.  Also you should wear latex gloves, in fact, just read the warning label!

 Next you will need to mask off the area that you are going to work with.  I like to use the Scotch brand "Safe-Release Painters" masking tape:

First thing is to seal the backside so there isn't any paint that comes up from underneath.  So I mask the entire backside:

 Next I mask off everything on the front except for what I am painting:

 The first color to paint is the color you want the "shiny" part of the metal to be when you are done, and not in the "etched" area.  Also you want this to be an acrylic paint.  Since I need both colors reversed, I will be doing each sheet reversed.  Here is the first one where I need the handles yellow with black trim:

And here is the sheet that will be the black handles with yellow trim:

 Model Master's acrylic takes 24 hours to completely dry.  So this is where I will leave off for tonight to wait for this to dry.

Ken

Bockscar

Ken:

Many thanks for the procedures!

Great lesson,

Dom

You are quite welcome Dom!  It is actually pretty straight forward and the results are really amazing.  Just takes patience and time.

Ken

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Everyone,

It has been a while since I posted my progress so I am going to play catch up tonight.

~~

Model Master's acrylic takes 24 hours to completely dry.  So this is where I will leave off for tonight to wait for this to dry.

Ken

 

Super, Ken! Thanks for taking the time to describe this process!

Russ

Striker8241

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Everyone,

It has been a while since I posted my progress so I am going to play catch up tonight.

~~

Model Master's acrylic takes 24 hours to completely dry.  So this is where I will leave off for tonight to wait for this to dry.

Ken

 

Super, Ken! Thanks for taking the time to describe this process!

Russ

You are quite welcome Russ!  I am glad to do it!

Ken

Greetings Everyone!

Tonight's continuation of painting the two colors on the photo-etch process is very simple and short.  For this step we need to paint the clear coat on top of the base color we applied last night.  This needs to be gloss acrylic clear.  I am using Model Master brand.  By the way, I did not mention this but I am using about 22 lbs pressure.  Also, I am not using any thinner as Model Master acrylic comes ready to be used in an air brush.

Here is a picture of the yellow photo-etch I painted yesterday with the clear gloss coat that I applied tonight:

 And this next photo shows the black photo-etch with the gloss acrylic clear.  The camera is not able to get a good shot of the pieces but one thing you can see is where the paper towel was blocking the clear as I was spraying it on the left side.

Once again this will need to dry for 24 hours before proceeding with the next step.  So I will continue tomorrow!

Ken 

Bockscar

Nice work Ken.

Does your air-brush splatter a bit when you start or stop spraying, or both?

Thanks,

Dom

Hi Dom,

It splatters because it is a dual action airbrush and I am using an incorrect triggering technique of stopping air flow (releasing downward trigger pressure) before turning off paint flow (sliding trigger/needle forward to close off paint tip).  By turning air flow off before paint flow, paint goes around the needle and "floods" the nozzle.  The result of this "flooding" is either one of two things.  1. As the needle returns forward upon releasing the trigger, it pushes the paint that has flooded the paint tip out in a burst or splatter of blotched dots.  2. If possibility 1 does not occur the "flooded" paint remains in the nozzle and is blown out in a burst or splatter of blotched dots when the trigger is depressed to resume airbrushing.

By the way, this was a direct quote from Badger's Troubleshooting Tips found here:

http://www.badgerairbrush.com/pdf/top10airbrushtroubleshootingtips.pdf 

Ken

Bockscar

Yeah, that's what it looked like.

I used to be an airbrush artist, one of the tools

in my bag, and my first

and almost only airbrush was/is a Badger dual action.

I used to paint figurative work and the like back in

the 80's, then found the brush came in handy for model

finishing. I never broke into painting vans or detailing motor bikes though.....

I hate unicorns and lost interest in Frank Frazetta back in the early 80's....lol

If I can find an old painting I'll post it. I stopped painting when

Photoshop came out.

One of the owners of an LHS asked me to teach airbrush classes, but by then

I was teaching full-time, and working weekends didn't make sense.

I can see you are very careful to establish the right flow and stroke before

your cone hits the subject, sometimes that's all a guy needs.

Man, did that clear coat ever project those colours.

Thanks for the link. Here are a couple of exercises you may find helpful, I used to do these to warm up,

kind of like a musician playing scales.

1) tape down a nice big sheet of scrap paper.

2) draw a target area on your paper with lots of room at either end zone

3) load up your cup/bottle with cheap paint you can afford to waste.

4) practice this before you even place your cup into your brush: place your brush over a safe end zone and begin by pressing down the trigger until desired airflow is reached.

5) Now start your even stroke at a steady rate and draw the imaginary cone over the target until

it is well past the target. Do not pull back on the trigger yet.

6) go back to the beginning end zone and repeat about 30 times. No I'm not kidding, i used to get drawing students to practice drawing straight lines pretty much the same way.

7) Place the loaded the cup into your brush.

8) go to an end zone and begin by pressing down the trigger until desired airflow is reached.

9) Gently pull back on the trigger until desired paint flow is established. That paint spot will get bigger and darker in the end zone, but don't be intimidated, just relax and waste some paint.

10) start a smooth steady stroke and draw it across your target until the other end zone.

11) Stop and let another paint spot build in the end zone, then gently push the trigger forward - do not release the downward pressure. Keep the airflow exactly the same.

12) the airbrush should no longer be delivering paint, and the airflow should be exactly what it was

when you started. Now release the downward pressure on the trigger. Done one evolution.

Repeat steps 4-12 a few dozen times, and remember, do not rush or become intimidated by the process.

Before you paint anything, run through a few practice dry runs then practice on a waste piece of paper with you paint to assure your flow and stroke.

I hope that helps, let me know if it does.

Dom

Hi Dom,

I didn't see this "edit" to your post until just now since it doesn't get sent out in an email.

First of all, I have painted many, many, many cars in my life time.  I know how to paint.  I only have used the dual action airbrush a few times after I first purchased it and had no problems learning how to use it.  But it has been literally nearly a year since the last time I used it and I had simply forgotten how the trigger worked.  Since the splatter was at the end of my strokes I was not concerned about it for what I was working on.  I also was pretty sure it was because I was not using the trigger correctly and needed to get the instructions back out to refresh myself on how it worked.

But thank you for offering your advice.  Maybe someone else who wants advice on how to use a dual action airbrush will benefit from your instructions.   

Ken

Hi all. Sorry I was such a downer last week. I knew the pooch was very sick and I was hoping nature would take it's course. Unfortunately, she was becoming a burden and the vet who performed the service was certain that with her overall condition and the seizures she was having constantly,  it was likely she had cancer and/or a brain tumor. It was just tough as I had never had to do that myself before, plus her being Mom's little baby and all. Now it's over and in a way, it's a bit less weight on my shoulders to not have to worry about that.

On to other things and back on track. I have been working a bit here and there on the 7, pin washing the panel lines and even applying the flat finish to some areas.

Plus the F-15E sort of fell out of the box and some parts are kind of finding their way together...

I ran into a few issues here: the Eduard FE parts were actually intended for the original kit supplied parts and not the 'updated' parts supplied with the new kit. I dug the older version instrument panels from one of the original "Strike Eagle" kit I have. Plus, the new panel for the rear cockpit would not fit under the cowling. The other problem is the color: you can see the original color I had painted the interior.

A little experimentation with white, a dab of Dark Ghost Gray, and a hint of blue gave me a closer match.

Oops! Sorry no picture, I forgot to pull it from the camera before I put it away!

I need to pick up a few extra mixing bottles so I can make enough to repaint the rest of the cockpit.

The cockpit tub was also that dark color, so it was into a bath of Simple Green for a few days to get that paint off.

I mention before that the Eduard set included no panels for the sides, so I will have to hand paint those. Shouldn't be too difficult as the information I found showed black with white knobs and buttons.

Simple Green is great for stripping. If you use Floquil EZ lift off, you get a melted cockpit!

Later!

Hi Jim,

Please accept my heartfelt condolences on the loss of your dog.  Even though you know it is the right decision, it still does not make it any easier.

Your A-7D is looking incredible Jim!  Great job on the wash!  Those panel lines really pop!

You have more patience and skill than I do when it comes to matching paint colors.  I tried that once and never could get it to my satisfaction.  I think it must be more of an art than a skill!

And thank you for the tip on using Simple Green for stripping paint off of plastic!  I will store that bit of knowledge for a time when I am sure I will need it!

Ken

And back to work.

Didnt manage to get anything done over the break, started a paint rack, never finished it. Havent even looked at the skyhawk since the last update. My partner moved into the office to do her craft stuff, now the office is a pigsty and i cant get in there. Woo.

Scorpiomikey

And back to work.

Didnt manage to get anything done over the break, started a paint rack, never finished it. Havent even looked at the skyhawk since the last update. My partner moved into the office to do her craft stuff, now the office is a pigsty and i cant get in there. Woo.

Ouch Scorpio Mike, that is a bummer.  After all your hard work.  That must be frustrating.

Ken

Hi Everyone,

Here is another episode of how to paint two colors on photo-etch.  Tonight is a little more work than last night since we have to use two colors again.  This is of course because I am painting two different photo-etch sheets.  If you were only doing one sheet, you would only be painting one color.

Tonight we use the opposite color on each sheet that we used as the first color, and the paint has to be gloss enamel.  I also use Model Master brand for the enamel, and I thin it with a 1 to 1 ratio.  This is because I want to be sure the paint gets down into all of the etched areas of the metal completely.  Once again I am using about 22 lbs of pressure.

Here is the sheet that had the black painted first and now has the gloss enamel yellow sprayed on top:

You can see how the yellow has settled down into the etched areas and since yellow is a little transparent to begin with, is showing the black through on the non etched areas.  This is giving you a hint of what this is going to look like when we are done.

Here is a shot of the sheet originally painted yellow with the gloss black enamel painted over it:

Once again you can see a hint of what this is going to look like when we are finished.

Model Master enamel takes 72 hours to harden completely, and we need it to be completey set before the next step.  So it will be Wednesday night before we can move to the next step.

Ken

Hey all!

I use a double action airbrush sort of like a single action. I adjust the needle back just enough to get the spray I want, then use the air as on or off. It also gives me the option to pull back a bit for a shot of extra paint. I can also pull it back all the way if I need to clear the nozzle. I still use ise it as a double action if I'm trying to detail something.

As far as mixing paint, it's not really a skill as an experiment. I picked up my empty bottles, but my first attempt I ended up adding too much blue and ended up with almost a baby blue. You can always add more of the colorant to you base but you can't remove it. It also takes a c*** load of white to bring it back down. I ended up using what was left of my flat white bottle and started again. I ended up close this time, though I thought it could have been just a tad more blue to match the PE parts. Rather than risk it, i called it "darn close enough for me!"

You can see the buried part of me that wants to be organized even labeled the bottle with the Kroy machine.

Here is a shot of the old F-105 cockpit tub after the Testors EZ Lift-off was done with it.

It actually came apart in pieces that I made a vain attempt to put it back together:

I wish I had saved some photos of the rebuilt cockpit tub but I didn't. Learned a lot about scratch building the hard way with a few false starts.

I only have this one of the tub with PE parts installed before closing up the fuselage.

Here is the F-15 cockpit after stripping with Simple Green. It had several layers of paint, and I even tried Testors Clear Coat to see if it might be easier to hand paint- it just ended up a mess. Looked like new after a day or two in the SG, and a bit of scrubbing:

It does take a little more work if the plastic was sanded before painting. As we know, paint stick better if it has something to "bite" into.

Ken: Really nice work there, looking forward to your Wed update.

Jim: Looks more like EZ Plastic Melt, ouch! I use a lot of Simple Green too, seems less toxic than oven cleaner for taking off paint. Though I learned the hard way, don't soak your airbrush in it for cleaning- it dissolved the rubber seals!!! BTW: You could just paint a little blue tinted paint in the nooks of the cockpit to give a pre-shaded look to the shadows.

I swear by simple green. But get the concentrate rather than the regular stuff.

Any good online sources for it?  I've never seen it in any stores around Toledo.

Scorpiomikey

I swear by simple green. But get the concentrate rather than the regular stuff.

Is this the stuff you are talking about?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Simple-Green-Clean-Building-All-Purpose-Cleaner-Concentrate-SPG11001-/180805090259?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a18d2bbd3

or this stuff?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Simple-Green-Industrial-Degreaser-Cleaner-1-Gallon-EA-/260854987764?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cbc2b3bf4

?

Rich

Scorpiomikey

I swear by simple green. But get the concentrate rather than the regular stuff.

The first one. I get my partner to pick it up for me at her work at Mitre 10. (Hardware store) Most hardware stores should stock it.

Being a concentrate you can water it down a little and its still effective, but i use it straight, leavei t overnight then take to it with a toothbrush.

This is the stuff i use.

http://www.simplegreen.com/products_all_purpose_cleaner.php

And this is a list of where yo can get it in the states.

http://www.simplegreen.com/shopping_where_to_buy.php

Hi Everyone,

Jim:  I remember the episode you had with the cockpit and having to scratch build it.  I thought it turned out really nice!  Nice points about how you use the dual action airbrush.  I am in no way close to being proficient at using mine yet.  But so far all I have needed to do with it is standard spraying.  In the future I am sure I will come across a project in which I will take full advantage of it's potential.  Then I will need to take the time and practice learning those techniques.

Cliff:  Thank you for the compliment.  The hard part now is waiting for the paint to harden!

Dom:  Now what on earth could you possibly be doing with that new software suite?   

Ken

And whats the software suite you got?