Model Fleet: Update 12/22/08: Polishing Off, at last!

Update 12/22/08: Polishing Off, at last!

Posted by Matty on December 27, 2008, 22:13:32, in reply to "NELL: Nemesis of Force "Z""
4.235.207.144

-- Originally Posted 12/22/08 --

So close (after so long); I finally completed the last, niggling items - most of them do-overs or repairs of delicate items, damaged inevitably over the long build history of this model. A key do-over, which allowed proceeding on to finishing this build, was the canopy strapping:

Click on Image to EnlargeThe problem is shown close-up, at top-left. The real aluminum, air conditioning tape is simply too shiny - and would not grip aluminum-colored paint sufficiently. The solution (probably to both problems), I realized, was to roughen the surface of the tape - but only enough to dull it somewhat; without reducing its finish to flat gray, which is easily possible. At bottom-left you can see the result I ultimately achieved; with a piece of the original, untreated tape laid across the top for comparison. Note also the green and tan paint, which now also stuck to the tape far better than before.

Getting the right finish on this tape took some experimentation. Wet-sanding, even with paper as fine as 1200 grit, was far too much; the tape was very soon reduced to a flat-gray finish and - again, even when sanded wet - highly susceptible to very prominent scratches. Turning to finer abrasives, the typical "white-formula" auto polish, at top-right - with equivalent grit rating of probably around 5,000 or so - was found to be far too fine; leaving the aluminum surface just about as shiny as before. Probably the ideally abrasive cream polish would be auto "buffing compound" - the red-formula stuff - but I didn't have any of that handy. Instead, on a hunch I tried "wet-polishing" with Squadron White Putty (bottom-right), thinned with liberal amounts of lacquer thinner. The putty quickly dries while buffing, after which any residue is cleaned by thorough scrubbing with clean lacquer thinner. What I believe happens is that the putty abrades the surface just right - and then leaves microscopic deposits of (dull white) residue in the roughened surface. At any rate, it leaves the aluminum looking just exactly as desired: clearly metallic, yet not mirror-shiny.

All the canopy straps were re-done, and the build finished with the repair of a few delicate appendages - and the addition of the scratchbuilt torpedo - then "scratch-bashing" of some custom markings from my decal stash, followed by final touchup painting - the last of which I finished only this morning. In the process, the appearance once again "popped" - and did so in an unexpected "direction"; the red Hinomarus, next to (especially) the green camouflage and extensive silvery and spidery canopy straps as well as bright markings, all combined to make this bird look rather like a Christmas ornament - quite appropriate for the season!

Will shoot and upload a bunch of pics, and post 'em ASAP

Cheers,

-Matty