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Bill, those markings do look a bit large nevermind their lack of adhesion. I've heard folks using Future to stick on decals but have never tried it myself. Probably because you can't get Future in Canada.

I would have been 4 and slowly realizing that my life as an only child was coming to an end (my sister was born in April '76).

The wing shape is off but the work to fix it is beyond what I wanted out of the build. Iain on LSP is working on a fix but it's quite involved and I'm not up to it.

Peter, I just added a thread to the Hints & Tips section on using masks. Hope it answers your questions. Carl

Here's the underside roundel in place. Note that it doesn't completely conform to the surface details. Vinyl masks aren't as flexible as the kabuki ones but are more durable. The best thing to do is right before you airbrush, press down on the mask and make it as tight as possible. Some touch ups may be needed afterwards but they're easy compared to trying to get a decal around the same detail. Here's the fin flash and fuselage roundel mask. An overall view of the model almost ready for paint. To avoid overspray, I'll put tape around the masks. Time for some colour. I'm starting with the red portions of everything. Once the paint is dry, re-apply the mask segment that you removed. With that segment in place, remove the next segment. Paint the next colour. This could vary depending on the marking so make sure you've got the right one. For example, the upper wings get blue next while the underside and fuselage get white. Then repeat until everything is painted and you end up with something like this. Here's a bit of overspray that needs fixing. I don't have pics of it but I'll cut apart the relevant mask and stick it in place and touch up the overspray. Some other general tips. - Some folks will put a base coat of white or other light colour below the mask to help improve the coverage. The risk with that is when you apply the segments that there will be a slight overlap and the base coat will show through between elements. - Markings before camo. For me, this depends on the subject and the overall paint scheme. There's no right or wrong. I've done before camo and after camo. Sometimes, it's part of the camo. Like this pair of CF-18 and F-16 tails. - Vinyl masks over time (after about a year or so) will start to creep or deform a bit. This is due to the backing paper not expanding/shrinking at the same rate as the vinyl itself. They're still usable but require more care, especially with alignment. It's best to use them as soon as you can from person experience. This doesn't affect masks made from kabuki tape. - If you're careful, vinyl masks are re-usable. I've used some several times before finally getting rid of them. I hope you find this helpful. Let me know if you have any further questions. Carl

Every so often folks ask how to use paint masks so I thought I'd best creat a separate thread for this. A couple quick caveats. This is the approach that works for me. There are several other ways to do them and I will often mix up my approach when needed, based on either the subject, the complexity of the mask or the colours involved. I'm using masks cut from vinyl but kabuki masks would be done in the same way. Onwards, here's the masking sheet. Freshly cut masks are very sharp and the cut lines are hard to see. I will often remove the excess material from around the individual mask elements. This is called weeding. It just helps to define each individual mask. For roundels and other multiple piece mask, I'll draw some alignment marks on the masks. I'll also number them so I don't mix up element from two different masks. Time to apply the mask. You can either apply them segment by segment, making sure to line things up as you go, using the alignment marks you made. Or you transfer the mask as a complete assembly. To do the latter, you apply a piece of transfer film to hold everything together. Here, I'm using a spare piece of the masking film itself. I do have a roll of transfer film and you can get that from various places. It's basically a very low tack film, like frisket. You want something that will release and not stick too hard to the mask. It may take a bit of effort to get the mask off the backing in one piece. Stick the transfer film on, and slowly peel it away from the backing paper. You will most likely still have it separate a bit so just stick it back to the transfer film as you go. Hope that makes sense. Now the tricky part. Time to get the mask onto the model in the right spot. Start with one corner/area of the mask. Check that it's in the right spot and aligned correctly. Then press down on the rest of the mask. Sometimes, things won't go perfectly and it'll be a bit wavy. That's ok. Just remember that with vinyl masks they can stretch a bit so pull them off carefully to minimize any chance of that. The alignment marks will help get it in place correctly. Here's both wing roundels on and in place. Now remove the segment that you're going to paint. Put those back on the backing sheet and save for later.

Phil, the Tomcat was Tamiya's first 1/32 kit and is from the early '80s when Tamiya would print separate instructions and boxes in Japanese and English. So not quite the paradigm of plastic modelling we know today.

What a great start to your build Bill and thanks for the back story. The Tomcat is my favourite jet hands down, mostly due to The Final Countdown. I've got 3 of the Tamiya Tomcats in the stash. They're all the original release. Peter, Trumpeter has a more recent release of the Tomcat out. The biggest issue with it is the intakes. The shape is off. Zacto do a correction set for it but it's a bit pricy and needs a fair bit of work to use. They also have replacement wing bladders to replace the kit's vinyl ones. You do get the option of dropped flaps and slats and it's fully engraved and be able to build a (more) accurate B or D Tomcat. Carl

Martin, it sort of does look like a winglet doesn't it? To me, I think they tried to mould that bit with the cowl flaps in the open position rather than closed which is what they supplied. Just one more little (or not) mistake. The engineering of the kit really makes me suspect it was to be offered assembled.

Very, very nice GT there Peter.

Peter, try the following. https://shop.maketar.com/ You have the choice of Kabuki or vinyl for the masking material. The vinyl is the grey one that most folks like. They often use the discount code Maketar so give that a try when you check out. Edit: if you do place an order with them, check out their Utility masks. I've found the sheet they do of circles to be very handy for masking small circles. https://shop.maketar.com/?product=yellow-kabuki-masking-circles Carl

Peter, the Montex masks are fine for the Tamiya kit. As Dennis mentioned, the XVI denoted the Packard Merlin versus the RR one. So you could have both high- and low-back XVIs. One thing with the masks. Montex use a very thick and not very flexible material for the canopy masks. I've found on curved areas they tend to lift very easily. So use with caution. The Lifelike decals are very nice. They do several sheets but some may be sold out. Carl

That's a very nice IP there John and like Peter said, too bad you had to resort to AM to do it. Carl

Thanks Gary! It's definitely helped being able to paint the wings separately. Would you believe I've only used just 1 bottle of white, 1/2 bottle of Extra Dark Sea Grey and 1/2 bottle of the Slate grey? All of it has been straight from the bottle without thinning. My LHS had complained that they don't sell much Mission Models paint as it goes a long way. I believe them now after painting this model. Thanks Peter, I may just leave them removable until I can find a permanent place to display it.

Wing camo is all done now. I masked off and painted the de-icer boots. Here they are l test fit in place. Here's the wing/fuselage join. No glue yet but the fit is decent. I will most likely leave it alone.

Resin2Detail is very impressive stuff. I've got their Lancaster seats and the detail is incredible.

Just catching up on this Phil. Nice to see it's together, even if it was a struggle. I'm 0 for 3 when it comes to Trumpeter 1/32 kits myself. MiG-15, P-40B, and the F4U-1D. Probably a collection of their worst kits. Didn't finish any of them. And yet I still have a couple in the stash. But ones that at least I've heard good things about. Carl

Happy birthday Rob! Glad to see you had a great time and another nice ship kit. Even better that your wife got it for you.

From there, I then masked off the fuselage so I could align the camo scheme between the wing and fuselage. I did a quick outline so that I made the camo aligned. Then I took the wing off and continued on the camo. Here's the finished wing dry fit on the fuselage. Looks to have worked out. The other wing is much easier so that will be next.

Time for an update. I started fitting the cowl flaps to the nacelles. The railing edge looks a bit thick so I shaved it down a bit to make it thinner. Before: After: Then I masked off the lower side as needed. I started the camo with the Extra Dark Sea Grey.

I'm not sure yet Peter. Sue says not in the living room. I think I'm still going with my plan to empty a shelf and replace it with a hopefully big enough display case. Thanks Gus! Definitely no hiding it.

You don't see many of these getting built so it'll be nice to see one given your special touch. Carl

Martin, it's definitely hard. She has bad arthritis in both her back legs so getting up and down isn't easy for her. She can't do stairs any more, at least not going up. Last Dec, right before we got Jimmy she picked up vertigo so loses her balance from time to time. But she still wants to go out, if briefly and hang out with us. We'll have to see and also consider what the vet says.

Took Zoe for a walk and when we got back it was time for dinner. She didn't have the strength to stand and eat and lay down with her bowl between her legs. Not sure if we're approaching the end or if she was just a bit more tired than usual. Hoping for the latter.

Okay, this plane is going to be big when done. For size comparison, here's my Tamiya Corsair next to it. To paraphrase Richard Dreyfus in Jaws, "I'm going to need a bigger shelf".