Peterpools

Harv looking so good and all your hard work will be paying off. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Kai Eduard leads the class on suspect colors (I buy a lot of Eduard sets) and a number of their interior sets have a blue color rather then gray or black. Sometimes working from photos that have a lot of shadows, blue becomes the dominate color, which is a white balance issue. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Phil Might just be way too much pressure having three builds going on simultaneously. Why not just finish one of the two remaining on going builds and then hit the stash for your next project? Less confusing trying to remember where you are at on each build and more enjoyable to boot. Just my two cents Keep ‘em comin Peter

Phil I've run into the same more times then I care to admit. For me, the solutions seems to be to take a few days off, walk away and do nothing more then think about went went south, why and how to fix it. I've gone back and either have redone or fixed a lot of the work on the Mustang including the paint work. Two days ago, the NMF on the fuselage kept telling me something wasn't right and I couldn't figure it out but it just kept bothering me. The more I thought about it, the more I knew something wasn't right and then the light bulb turned on 💡: there were shade streaking in the finish on some panels. My plan was to polish out those panels using the Gravity Polishing System car modelers use and then I would re-shot those panels. I was a happy camper and while I had to back track for a few days, problem solved (which I missed when air brushing the first round) and now I'm moving ahead. Just took a bit of moxie to polished out the panels as there was a chance, I could mess it up and have top start over. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Gaz Completely agree - always a very gentle touch when wet sanding and smoothing any imperfections out. Keep 'em comin Peter

Phil Nice start on the wildcat Just take your time and go slow. I use to be a big advocate of washing everything in soapy water to remove the release agents but now, I tend to just wipe all the parts down with alcohol and that does the trick. For extra added insurance, I normally prime all the parts, as the primer will grip into the plastic. If finishing the JU88by Christmas is goal number one, just concentrate on her and when done, back to the Wildcat - less stress fore sure. Not knowing anything about Cricket, I'm totally lost Keep 'em comin Peter

John Nice start on the Wildcat and always thought your way of painting the small parts on the frets was the way to go. But for the life of me, I just never seem to do it. Good call on using bronze green for the interior, right on the button. Keep 'em comin Peter

Kai Nice to see you found some bench time and making nice progress on the Tornado's front office. I've often wondered why AM manufacturers do not spec out a color paint match or mix especially for the cockpit and interior areas, so everything will match, as I've often questioned their color choices. Looking forward to the first of the electronics being added. Keep 'em comin Peter

Harv Super progress - heater ducts are looking mighty good Keep 'em comin Peter

Rob Good call for holding off and waiting, as the SH kit looks tremendous. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Gus Some work and she sure has seen a lot of miles of miles over the years. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Bill Mysteries for sure. Of course, with both bottles shaken well and two different colors, I would fire off an email to Alclad asking: why. two nice kits and glad they ar48ve$ safe and sound Keep ‘em comin Pete4

Oliver Simply amazed as always - the details are brilliant Keep ‘em comin Peter

Thanks Kai Right with you - yellow some how always offers up a set of issues all of it’s own. Of course when I was just about ready to start shooting the tail, I asked myself: you couldn’t find a scheme that didn’t have a yellow tail? Luckily all worked out. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Thanks Harv Much appreciated. Getting there slowly but surely. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Hubert More then generous ... one incredible prize Keep 'em comin Peter

John That's the most important reason for building and the bobby: enjoyment, fun and relaxation, which keeps the juices flowing. I'm right with you in that when I just lose the erg to sit at the bench and work on a specific kit, time to switch gears and break out a different build. Down the road the erg will return for kits that were boxed up and then it's their time. Just enjoy and have fun. Keep 'em comin Peter

Amazing work Keep 'em comin Peter

John Now that's a plan and of course, that means switching seats but making sure I'm front and centered. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Gus and I completely agree, yellow is a bear to apply but I was lucky, that going over a NMF, it's light enough in color as to not effect the yellow's coverage a lot. Keep 'em comin Peter

Thanks Rob Making progress a bit each day, as masking has been taking up a good deal more time then I originally thought. It's been a very long time since I attempted a NMF, which necessitated a lot of go backs and redos. Slowly but surely I'm pushing ahead and in a week or so, I'm hoping the paint work to be finished for this stage of the build. Keep 'em comin Peter

NMF ... Moving Forward 12/10/21 Making some mighty nice progress on the painting front and after allowing the AK 479 Aluminum to dry for a good two days, it was time to apply the Alclad ALC 116 Semi Matte Aluminum and see how close it would come to replicating the Mustangs’ painted wings. Surely seems as if I used more then a boat load of Tamiya Masking tape on the wings and parts of the fuselage, which consumed hours of cutting and applying the tape. My basic plan was to use drawings done by J.R. Helig I found on various sites plus the same drawings posted by Jennings on LSP. This would show what parts of the wings were painted and which were not. I was hoping the Alclad would do a good job of representing the painted portions of the wings and after painting just the upper wings: success – the look was perfect. I gave the wings a good 24 hours to dry and then did a complete re-mask and shot the under sides of the wings. Gear doors were not painted and I only used them as a holding point when moving the P-51. When the model is ready for the gear to be installed, I’ll remove the gear doors, cut them apart and go through the NMF procedure on them as well. While letting the wings dry for a few hours, I decided to mask and paint the Mustangs’ tail with Tamiya XF3 Flat Yellow. The more I looked at the yellow tail, I should have used either MIG or Mr Color, as the yellow was just too flat for my tastes. Thinking of my options right now. Next Up: Wing ID bands and the Big Red Nose. Thanks for checking in Keep ‘em comin Peter Ammo Bay Doors: I looked a a boat load of WWII photos and from what I could tell, the ammo bay doors were painted with the wings and were the same color. Of course, loads of dirt, grime and wear would be seen around them but they were not left as unpainted aluminum. Gear doors will be removed, cut apart, stripped and a new NMF applied when I'm up to adding the landing gear.

Carl Pretty much what I I use and no complaints. Just thought some of the ewer Tamiya products might work a bit better on their LP range of paints. Peter

Phil Got ya! Shall do. Keep ‘em comin Peter