Model Fleet: Update 9/27/08: STRAPPING IN for the Home Stretch

Update 9/27/08: STRAPPING IN for the Home Stretch

Posted by Matty on December 27, 2008, 22:10:53, in reply to "NELL: Nemesis of Force "Z""
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-- Originally Posted 9/27/08 --

OK, there were several problem areas of the paint job - so I can show them to you :

Click on Image to EnlargeHere the cheek (left; top) got a re-application of latex spattering, and note I followed my own earlier recommendation and (again, lightly) colored it this time with a tiny bit of bright red tempra (i.e., water-soluble) paint. It worked just fine on the cheek areas, but there were additional areas with too much flaking - generally extending too high, above the camouflage line - further back along the fuselage (left; middle and bottom).

To shorten a long story, for correcting two camo colors the bottom line, shown at right, is that you have to do a lot of hand-brushing of the maskoid; to isolate each color for treatment separately. In the case of the fixes to the rear fuselage, and also the dark green up on the nose, the same results could have been achieved more easily simply by hand-touchup painting as opposed to all the extra work to paint on all the latex - carefully following both the camo patterns and the canopy edges, don't forget.

A much simpler masking - which actually was required - applied to the engine nacelles:

Click on Image to EnlargeFlooding the engine inlets with latex (top) was far better - easier and more reliable masking - than stuffing with toilet tissue, as done earlier. On top of this masking, latex droplets were spattered to set up for paint-flaking around the inlet leading edges (see below).

Discovering I was out of gloss black paint (!) and not wanting to delay to obtain more, I mixed equal parts Testors® 1249 Flat Black with their (Lacquer Overcoat) Gloss - which I thought looked like a lot of gloss, at the time - and then of course proceeded to get a semi-gloss - half flat and half gloss - finish (bottom). The paint-flaking (bottom; insets) was successful, insofar as it went - the patterns seem quite believable - but overall they just didn't look right; which I decided resulted from two factors: 1) the sizes of the chips (i.e., latex spatters) were just a little too uniform; and 2) both the size and spacing of the chips happen to be on the same scale as the engine highlights - also in silver - so that the effects become confused. The latter problem I addressed - but only partially fixed - with a heavy Flat Black wash over the engines. I will probably dry-brush additional (Gloss Aluminum) flaking variation on the engine nacelles - but this will wait for final touchup work.

Meantime, I moved on to yet another first-ever experiment in this build:

Click on Image to EnlargeUsing actual aluminum (air conditioning) tape; cut in thin strips using an X-acto knife, to provide canopy framing. This worked magnificently; the knife cutting the tape, and the tape going on - and staying where stuck - all with equal reliability. I did find a big difference between my two brands of such tape; the better by far proving to be the lower-grade - i.e., thinner-guage - tape which I got at Home Depot. The Bad News is that this tape has a polished finish; not only too shiny for the desired finish, but also particularly highlighting every underlying surface fault, as shown.

But the Good News - no, the Great News - is that this tape accepts enamel paint beautifully! And - perhaps equally as great, as can be seen aft on the canopy here - it exhibits actual, miniscule paint-flaking along its edges; producing a true effect of paint-flaking off actual aluminum! Now I am proceeding to test it with the Tamiya Gloss Aluminum, in pursuit of the finish desired forward on the canopy.

Per the above - and also because all this framing should be (at least) 1/3 narrower - I intend to re-do all of it. A lot of work - and taking time, I know - but this technique using aluminum tape has monster implications for realistic straps and bars of all kinds; with thickness actually pretty accurate to scale, especially on aircraft canopies between this (1/72) scale and 1/48 scale, or thereabouts.

So, stay tuned...

Cheers,

-Matty