The In My Stash GB : Redux

Great work Tony! That looks like a really fun model: I love it when they have working parts.  Your decal work is outstanding on that bird.  It looks very big!  Congratulations on dodging the Turtle award this year!

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Considering that Kenny is on an extended hiatus, I supposed that I might be the Turtle this year!!!  LOL, I'm not sure, but I certainly feel like a turtle on this build.  Aside from the white nose, you might not think that I have worked on this kit at all in the last two weeks.   In fact, I've worked on it almost every day for at least an hour, usually more.  Mostly I have been trying to blend the seams where the engine nacelles meet the wing.  That was quite tedious and challenging, but it's finally done to my satisfaction.

Today I surpassed what I have long anticipated would be the final big hurdle in my build: painting the canopy section.  Now that it's all one color (primer), I can finally fully see the results of my scratchbuilding efforts in this area.  I was relieved by the results actually, because I thought the primer would reveal lots of problem areas that would further prolong my build.  On the contrary, things look pretty good and I should be able to move right along now.

Strangely, I've found it advantageous to paint this aircraft in sections.  The engine nacelles, for example, will now be entirely masked off during the main-body paint, as will large parts of the lower wing.  I'll try to provide a photo of this next time.  I cannot remember ever painting a model in sections before that was predominantly one color, but I think it might be something I try again in the future.  I just make sure that when I mask off these individual "paint sections", I line the tape up to panel lines so that there is no noticeable discontinuities in the final paint finish.  Hopefully I described that well.

With the exception of the leading edges, all of the upper wing surfaces are yet unpainted.  Same for the fuselage.  I expect that painting all of the different colored metal panels will be time consuming, however it should be simple and enjoyable.  Seems like things are all downhill from here.  I sure hope so!  It's been a fun project but I'm ready to see it completed.

LOL, all that trouble for those two little triangle windows on top!  I'm really not sure if it was worth it, but I know that I would have regretted not doing it.

By the way, I've added a third color to the engine nacelles: magnesium (darkest, besides exhaust).  It adds another layer of contrast that gives the model more texture.

Well done Tony she looks GREAT  Arki's bang on as to the position of the ailerons on a wire controled sys as well as a hydraulic controled sys.

Sir IL2 looks good  I like what your doing with the various metal finishes a lot of work now but it will definitly pay off in the end

Cheers

Bear

Thank you, thank you

Sir IL your paint job is going to render mine looking like a 2" brush and some cheap latex paint. Keep up the great work.

Tony.

How do you add the badge? I forgot how.

Way to go Tony, really nice job on the Mustang. It turned out very nice and I like the clean look of it.

IL2, she is comming along nicely and all you extra work is going to be payed off in the final product. I like all the different shades of metallic and they all blend well together

Steve

Thanks for the encouraging words, guys.
Here's another update, just for the heck of it.

This first shot shows where I had to rework some of my crappy scribe lines.

I learned a new trick tonight!  Somehow it has eluded me all this time that taimya tape is semi-transparent.  Making canopy masks is a snap after you've designated the panel lines.  I just put the tape on, trace the outline, then pull it off and cut along the lines.  Then just put it back in place!  So simple, I dunno how I missed this technique for so long.

The entire fuselage has primer!  Whoo hoo!  Tommorrow I will inspect the panel lines on aft sections and rework where necessary.  Some paint-testing was performed on the centerline tank, which taught me that the Testor's metallizers buff differently when applied to bare plastic than over primer.  I might try to sand off the primer on a few of the fuselage panels to give the aluminum layer more variations between panels.  Also, I tested a few gloss-coats and found that Future seemed to preserve the metallizer shine the best.  I'm not very experienced with Future for a gloss-coat: any tips?

The build is coming right along now.  If I can just avoid dropping it or breaking something off, I might just finish this baby into a nice model.

Cheers

Sir IL,

Lookin' sharp!  I'm gonna have to file that Tamiya Tape tidbit away for future reference!

By the way, according to the log, you posted this at 4:30 am...  Do you sleep??

I was up until 2:30am working on it   My modelling time starts after my family has gone to bed.    Sometimes I stretch myself into the wee hours, especially if things are going well.  That's why God gave us coffee: for mornings like today.

Il2. looking good! Looking forward to seeing her with decals! Just something magical about that plane, kinda mysterious.

Tony, awesome Stang you got there! One of my fav's and you did her justice!

Kenny? Wonder how he's doin?

IL2, good looking progress. Call me crazy but I like the white colour on the fuselage. It would look good in overall white. Keep working on it, cant wait to see it finished.

Steve

Finally back from holidays.  I must be turning into a homebody.  I was ready to come home after only a couple of days. 

Tony, great work on the doll.  Glad you were able to get the replacement canopy piece to finish it off properly.

Il2, she's coming along nicely.  Keep the pictures coming.

Finally finally finally....
I have metallized the B-58.  I was beginning to think might never happen!

Before applying the aluminum metallizer, I applied primer to some panels and removed it from others.

The result was varying textures between the panels.  Where the plastic was bare looks like the most grainy texture right now, but my previous tests have shown that these panels will in fact be the shiniest after I buff the metallizer.  I will find out tommorrow hopefully.

Very, very nice work on the NMF. It looks great and all the shades blend very nice. Good work my man.

Steve.

P.S. Dont know why but I still like the white paint on it.

Thanks for the compliments fellas. 
It is especially rewarding for me to see this difficult build finally bear fruit.

Here are some photos that I think are interesting.  They show the transformation that happens when you buff the Testor's Metalizers.

The first image shows the difference between buffed and non-buffed.  The right wing-panels have been buffed, but notice that the corresponding wing-panels on the left side are still grainy.

Here is where I starting buffing the left wing.

This is after buffing, and applying stainless steel to some panels. I'm about half-way through painting the steel panels.

Sir IL2  Well done on the BMF it looks great

Cheers

Bear

great work fellas glad to see you all still around and building .

still no news on my side been out of the house 4 months now so things arent looking to well .

i hope you are all doing ok .

see you all soon .

kenny 

Good to see ya Kenny. We still here churning away. Hope all is well and keep in touch when ya can.

Steve

Kenny Nice to see you around, sorry to hear things are'nt going as planned keep thinking positive (I know easier said than done).

Cheers

Bear

Hiya Kenny.
Thanks for stopping in to say hi.  We're all pulling for you.  Good luck with it all.

Well guys,
This B-58 is finally getting close to being finished.  All that is really left is to do is apply decals and the weathering layer.  And that's where I'm kind-of stuck: 

To apply decals (and even more-so to apply weathering) I calculate that I will need a clear-coat layer over the NMF.  But unfortunately, I've read that most clear-coats completely diminish the metalic appearance of NMF.  Apparently the only choice is Future, but even then I've read conflicting reports that is does / does-not negatively impact the NMF sheen.  This is all new territory for me, so I'm hoping for the best!  I'm just not sure what I will do!  I would probably just leave the NMF unsealed, but I've read that decal application (even using just water) can damage the metalizer surface.  Plus, I've seen unsealed decals come off models I made after 2-3 years, so that's another reason to Futurize.  I just hope that I don't spoil the NMF because I'm quite pleased with how it looks as of now.

I have also cut, sanded, and stained the base.  For the stain application, I learned this time to super-glue a balsa mast to the bottom of the base.  This has made it much easier than trying to handle the wet-stained base by itself.

I am no longer modelling "Rapid Rabbit".  Here is the aircraft I am modelling.  Her name is "Super Sue", and she is a better match for the centerline tank that my kit came with.  Plus I love the black canopy frames!

Sir IL2 you did an outstanding job on the BMF.  I hope sealing it won't affect the finish, can't wait to see her decaled

Cheers

Bear

great to see you guys too , just stinks i have no where to do any modeling right now :(

sir il she is looking great keep up the outstanding work .

IL, if it helps I futured the Alclad on my P-51 before applying the decals.  And then applied a semi-gloss coat over that to seal the decals. 

I'm not convinced the Future or semi-gloss substantially changed the sheen of the NMF on my build, for what it's worth.

Hi Kenny, good to see ya.  I finished my build a couple of pages back.  If you have time to update the first page great, if not no worries mate.

Sir Il2.  That is looking awesome!  All the different shades on the metal and the black windscreen is just over the top.  Can't wait to see more. 

Disaster!
I've officially tried it, but it's quite clear to me now that I am not a man of "The Future".

My gloss coating is full of blemishes (bubbles, bumbs, ridges) and worst of all it is way too thick!  I initally tried to airbrush it on, but it was really grainy so I applied more with the intent of letting it "self-level" as I've read about.  Instead, it ran like crazy and I started attacking it with a brush.  It just went downhill from there.

The result is that my model looks like it is "candy coated".  The metallic sheen is gone, and it looks more like a toy now than a model.

This is one sad and discouraged modeller.  I considered just plowing ahead and finishing the darn thing, but after all the extra work I've put into this kit, I just can't do that.  So I figure that my only path forward is to use windex to strip the future entirely.  I'm expecting it to completely destroy the delicate metallizer layer, and I'll be lucky if the primer remains.  Looks like I'm back to where I was a few weeks ago

That's what i get for not testing the technique on a scrapper first.  Doh!  Very stupid.
Oh well - time to go get the windex!   Onward ho!