P-47 Thunderbolt GB

Do you think it would help fight the clogging of pollyscale paint? That is one of the many banes of my existance . Maybe I'll check one out (at least research a little on it)

Leon

Leon whilst I'm not an expert on the subject of airbrushing a crown cap is a small device that fits on to the front of your airbrush in place of the needle cap and is shaped like a king’s crown.  The principle behind it is that it still protects the airbrush needle while decreasing the chance of paint build-up in the nozzle by allowing an increased airflow.  Does it work, well I have no idea but I use one every time I use my AB.

Cheers

OK, I'll bite - what is a crown cap? what does it do? do I need one? :-)

Leon

Mike - looking forward to pics!  What I've so far looks dang good!  Can't wait to see it finished...

Darren - yeah I am probably going to stick with the CR for broader coverage but I *am* going to get the crown cap... using acrylics myself it my come in handy, especially for close in work.

tho9900 wrote:

Darren - I got a Iwata HP-CS... and love it!  It really atomizes much better than my HP-CR... I've only sprayed a few things with it so far but am in love with it!!!  In fact I had to sit down with the wife yesterday and admit to her I have been having an affair the last few nights... she said as long as I don't name the airbrush she is ok with it and can live with it haha...

Excellent choice there Tom that's my AB and I love it.  I was going to suggest that you get yourself the following additional parts to allow the AB to spray .5mm broad coverage: 6021 Nozzle Cap, 6041 Nozzle and 6171 Needle. You probably don't need these as you've already got an HP-CR, but if want to these parts really increase the versatility of the Eclipse for about $23.

Oh yeah there is nothing strange about naming your AB

Cheers

Darren - I got a Iwata HP-CS... and love it!  It really atomizes much better than my HP-CR... I've only sprayed a few things with it so far but am in love with it!!!  In fact I had to sit down with the wife yesterday and admit to her I have been having an affair the last few nights... she said as long as I don't name the airbrush she is ok with it and can live with it haha...

-=edit=-

the coffee filter trick is nice.. I was able to achieve a nice gloss future coat in two passes... usually it takes about 4+ to get it... I didn't want to go TOO gloss on this one though as it was a hard worked plane in a very hostile environment...  I wanted it to "glow" but not have too much lustre..

Tom you finally settled on a new AB, but you didn't tell us what you have decided on.  I gotta know.

Also thanks for the heads up on that technique with the coffee filters, I will certainly put that to good use.

Cheers

Later on I'll break out the camera and do a in the box review of it in case anyone else wants to try them at some time...

Interesting.. I just took the decals out and they even have the graffiti from the period you'd see on the ordnance.  "Hell from above"  "Kilroy was here" (complete with the little face and hands from that saying) etc... They even have the yellow stripes I hate to paint so much haha..

-=edit=-

Scott... must have seemed like Xmas when it came!  I just ordered me a new airbrush and when I noticed it was routed well north of my location, and it was supposed to be second day air, I was on pins and needles checking the site on the hour to make sure it wasn't going to TimBukTwo by mistake... I almost took off of work early when I saw the "delivered" status on the website... it was worth the wait though!!

John - get better!  We need ya back to building soon! 

Well - tons of progress today... got all the bomb racks and all ready to go for painting, ordnance is assembled (I bought the AccMin US WII Armament set with the ammo tractor... a nice set with some nice stenciling that you don't see with kit decals!, it also showed some of the nice added things you can do like the wiring to the 5.5 rockets etc..) 

Prop is futured and ready for Alclad, cowl flaps the same... Cowl is painted a nice white and futured and drying... I sanded and polished the body today which took most of my time.  I started with 2000 grit in some of the rougher looking areas, went to a shaping nail stick all over the body, then a cleaning stick, and the after that a polishing one.. Then came the Piece de Resistance... all over final polishing with a coffee filter (poor man's micro mesh!)... I learned that in the auto forum and now it looks like it is already futured... theory is since the plastic is already like glass, the future will level better and give a better shine without building up too many coats... Tomorrow will be Future and I forecast Tuesday as my first night with the Aclad. 

I started cleaning up the Ultracast wheels tonight and will future them before bed, and speaking of future I almost forgot the canopy!!!

Sorry to hear that John, I hope you get back on your feet soon and I'll be looking forward to those pics.

Cheers

Darren

Mike - sorry for not commenting but I was on the way to work when I checked this, looking good! I am looking forward to later pics!!

As far as my build I am about to join the wings to the body and then comes the Future.  I plan to use coffee filters to polish the plane first (saw that in the auto thread as an alternative to micromesh, it works!!) then some polishing nail sticks I bought that are even finer... then the future..

I should be ready to start the Alclad by Sun. 

United States. I'm still trying to decide between "Fightin' Gator" and "Georgia Peach",  but it will definately be an NMF.

Oh, by the way, how do I get the '06 P-47 GB logo?

gedenke wrote:

Where's the best place online to buy Alclad II products?

It really depends on where you are located.  I have a couple of different suppliers/online stores I can recommend to you but it would help if I knew what country you are located in.

Cheers

She's looking good Mike .  I know from the last T-Bolt I built that those fuselage stripes can be a bit of a challenge to mask but you look like you nailed it.

Cheers

Joshua great looking progress, your Alclad finish has come up very nicely.

Tom I am definitely looking at some sort of satin or semi-gloss finish over the NMF on my kit.  I am going to do a couple of practice runs on a scrap fuselage with different combos of Alclad and finish to see how it comes out, but I want the aircraft to look like it's been used and weathered.  I agree with you though, a flat coat over Alclad is not that great, I tried it before and it wasn't exactly the result I was looking for.

Cheers

Jabbe - looks wonderful!  a really crisp paint job there...  looks like it is going to be a keeper!

word of warning though, putting a flat coat over the Alclad can cause a whitish "haze" over your NMF.  I'd stick to just the Alclad, maybe a mist shot of future on top after the decals to protect them and give a decent shine to the metal..  if you want to portray any "flatness" to the NMF I would do it very carefully, not in an overall coat..(and not use future beforehand)  Maybe you should consider an acrylic "satin" or "Semi-gloss" sheen instead?

If you stick the decals straight on top of the Alclad they settle in wonderful since it is a slick surface, Microsol and Microset don't affect the Alclad at all... once they dry you will see it all blends together without the future/decal/future/dull, maybe try decaling it then sitting back and looking at it a day or two.. just to see if it is where ya wanna go or if you're already there. 

BTW:  Here's a movie of P-47's kicking butt in Europe:

http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/movies/thunderbolt2

Click on the "Flash file" link on the page...

Yay! I finally got the last color on. I applied a light white coat before I sprayed the red, and I think that helped a whole bunch. I have a little overspray in a couple of places, but I'm thinking I'll mask off the red and dab a q-tip in thinner to take care of that. I might have to use some Alclad to touch up the wing root when I glue the wing back on, but I doubt that will any problem. Now comes the future, declals, future, wash/weather, and flat coat.

Jean, Joy Boy is looking excellent and there is nothing like a paint color controversy to liven up a build, keep on posting those updates.

Cheers