5000 at the lowest (Dremel 8200)

What speed does your dremel run at, mine is too fast, eveything i do with it just melts the plastic.

Hey all - REALLY wish I could post up pics of the current project, but it's a commission build and I don't want to ruin that first look at the finished thing. But I just wrapped up the NMF on it, and tried out a new technique that worked out so amazingly well I just had to share it.

It involves getting that nice, smooth black undercoat for Alclad finishes.

Earlier in the build I'd had really great results with decanted Tamiya TS-14 gloss black, but spraying down the fuselage, it went down ridiculously grainy. So...out came the micromesh. Had to sand to the point where I was actually removing the black and would have to repaint, so I decided, screw it, and pulled out a cloth polishing wheel for the Dremel. 

I've tried these before on NMF (with Hawkeye's polishing powders) and had decent success. Never tried it on the black base coat though.

Oh. My. Word. Absolutely glass smooth, and so shiny you can see your reflection in the paint. The Alclad that went on top of it is the best I've ever laid down. I'll be using these things from now on...you can find them for sale pretty cheap on eBay, too!

Realised i wasnt doing anything because i was too scared of making a mess of it.(this is my first plane since primary school) finally sprayed the spine and tail and missiles. will touch it up and clearcoat wednesday, or maybe do the decal then clearcoat, not decided yet, or maybe decal weather clearcoat. oh i dont f"34in' know. ah, forgot , still have to do the gunports and antiglare patch first.

I know what you mean Talentless, but those look great!

Latest bit of time wasting. didnt like the kit ones so spent 3 hours doing this when i should be spraying.

DSC01919 by omgpainful, on Flickr

DSC01921 by omgpainful, on Flickr

At this rate ill never finish by christmas

I used Tamiya chrome silver enamel on the S-55. It actually gave me a very hard time as it might have been thinned to much at one stage and I kept rubbing it off exposing the orange as I handled it. Allot of fine touch up were called for  LOL!

Theuns

Well, I got a start on the cockpit and pilot. 

I test fit the fuselage, and it looks like there is going to be some putty work in my future.  Also, the rear wheel bay is empty.  I'm trying to figure out what to do about that without spending any money. 

CallSignOwl thanks I will update the front page shortly.

Talentless  well it sure looks good from where I sit

Alax Shaw your build is in and welcome to the group.

Vetteman. there are 5 different alclads on it. in hind sight i should have varied the undercoat to bring out the different shades using grey or white under the non polished finish paints. live and learn :-(

kermit

OWL,

Great finish!! I recognize the revell when i see it. Did it please you as much as i like this boxing? Wonder what they go for in the US btw...

Richard

thanks Kermit! The kit goes for about $8 here.

Hi guy's, i'd like to enter this Sabre if I can, might also do Airfix's 1/48 Lighning at a later date.

OWL,

Great finish!! I recognise the revell when i see it. Did it please you as much as i like this boxing? Wonder what they go for in the US btw...

Richard

vetteman42

CallSignOwl you always seem to have a way of blowing me away with your builds, always makes me want to go get one of those tiny, itty bitty, little 1/72 kits and try and make it look that good. I have no idea how you all get those small kits to look so good. The detail pops and you even managed to get some shading on it too. Well done young lady very well done Oh and what is the name of your ship I cant read it in the pictures ?

Owl and Theuns your finished build pictures are on the front page for all to see, I will have your badges ready for you this weekend and get those posted as soon as I finish them.

Thanks Vetteman!

the 'bolts' name is "Balls Out"

Lots goin on here I see My build is still gathering dust out in the mancave I have a decompression build going, a 1/48 Revell Stuka just an OOB fun relaxing build, really needed it after that sprint car. Then it on to the B-29.

Theuns that lil Sikorski came out great man ! I really like the dayglow red on it against the aluminum, nice simple, but eye catching too. What silver paint did you use on your build ?

CallSignOwl you always seem to have a way of blowing me away with your builds, always makes me want to go get one of those tiny, itty bitty, little 1/72 kits and try and make it look that good. I have no idea how you all get those small kits to look so good. The detail pops and you even managed to get some shading on it too. Well done young lady very well done Oh and what is the name of your ship I cant read it in the pictures ?

Talentless man that is a shiny finish and you have some shading going on there too it looks like in the 3rd picture. Just my 2 cents worth but I am think if it was my build I might play with both gloss and semi gloss on this build for the dull and shiny effect, say the semi gloss on the spine and sections that will see some heat, and maybe leading edges. then other places the high gloss. Just a thought for more variations. Don't use any flat clear coats on it though, makes the metal look chalky and well ugly as sin.

DJinFlorida your mustang is in and welcome to the group. That is a sweet kit you have chosen too, mine went together very well other than the normal Revell canopy fit. But even that wasn't all that bad.

Owl and Theuns your finished build pictures are on the front page for all to see, I will have your badges ready for you this weekend and get those posted as soon as I finish them.

If it's ok, I would like to join with the Revell P-51C Lucky Leaky II:

This will be my first NMF, so I'm not sure how it is going to turn out.  But I'm going to give it my best shot and have some fun. 

Cool, you might test them out on an old model or piece of plastic first. I've been using Alclad for years but odd I've never used their own clearcoat. Hope you'll post photos, I'm still learning my way around NM finishes myself.

Hmm.. well i have a selection of cleacoats including alclads own. the spine needs to be a semi matt finish so i may as well do it all like it apart form the chrome bits. damn i do like the shine tho' , but its gotta go.

TL: Oh when you said shiny I didn't think you meant that shiny! 

If you want to dull 'er down a little an overcoat will take some of the shine off, gloss will take it down a little, dull matte will take it down a lot.

Since the surface is already smooth you can apply decals straight down on top of the NM, so far I've never had decal setting solutions disturb the finish. You might want to be careful cleaning off any extra solution or glue from the decal when it's dry though.

I hit the model with a little gloss varnish when I'm done, takes off some of the shine as I said but I don't like leaving the decals unprotected. Not sure if you can get it but I really like Testor's Metalizer Sealer - it's made for their Metalizer line of course but it works great on Alclad or anything else. Gives a nice protective coat over the decals without knocking off much shininess. 

Hope that helps some.

Cliff

Owl did you use any clearcoats for the decals? I'm undecided if i should or not (new to this) would clearcoating tone down the shineyness or just ruin the metalic finish?

Black

DSC01902 by omgpainful, on Flickr

Silver

DSC01914 by omgpainful, on Flickr

DSC01908 by omgpainful, on Flickr

DSC01906 by omgpainful, on Flickr

Looks better today after a nights drying and a rub with a cloth to remove the dusty overspray. much happier now. So shiny its hard to tell the diff between the chrome and polished aluminium, duralumin and white aluminium. gonna take some careful work to tone it down without ruining it

How i wish mine was looking thatgood.

Really nice.

Finito!

Same here that dayglo look really neat. i dont think ive ever seen one like it.

Finally got the alclad on mine. bit dissapointed looks slightly patchy and too damn shiney. May have to go over some of it with a duller aluminium to tone it down. suely lightnings didnt look so reflective all over did they?

Theuns: Congrads, great job!!! Super job on the NM but I'm still even more impressed by the perfect day-glow stripes!

Here is my SAAF "NMF"  Sikorski S-55 (H13-b)

Hope there is enough silver in there for you guys LOL!

Theuns

vetteman42

Talantless I generaly paint the bottom of all my models first, holding them in my hand, latex gloves help with this. Set it on a box to hold it flat and let dry. Once the bottom dries and after masking for over spray if needed, same thing for the top. I made a paint stand once and found it a major PITA especially for soft lines between upper and lower camo, that I tossed it in the trash can.

Vette i pretty much paint mine the same way as you....I also add a coat of future inbetween coats for some added protection against tape pull off....

thnaks for the advice, I've had to delay painting.i bought a resin intake ring, got carried away and decided to spray it up and install it at the end. then i realised the pitot tube blends into both the riong and body so it has been glued on and im sanding it in as i type

CallSignOwl wow you are both fast and good, great finish and, well, looks like you spent a week on it. I cant get rattle can paint to work for love nor money.

Talantless I generaly paint the bottom of all my models first, holding them in my hand, latex gloves help with this. Set it on a box to hold it flat and let dry. Once the bottom dries and after masking for over spray if needed, same thing for the top. I made a paint stand once and found it a major PITA especially for soft lines between upper and lower camo, that I tossed it in the trash can.

talentless

Owl - regarding the question i asked a couple of posts back. how did you hold and spray your plane? did you do it in one go or a couple of goes?

I sprayed it in one session, but since I used a rattle can it dried quickly. I set it down in my (cardboard) spray box and gave it a couple light coats....waited a couple minutes until that was dry, then flipped the plane over. To get the corners I held the kit in my hand and tried not to get too much spray on my hand! I then lightly buffed the paint with a cotton ball to smooth out any graininess.

Owl - regarding the question i asked a couple of posts back. how did you hold and spray your plane? did you do it in one go or a couple of goes?