DocRob Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 The Tomcat is coming together nice and quick Bill, your solution for the pitot tube is simple and effective, love it. I have also successfully used Future on non sticking decals, but have bought a bottle of Tamiya's decal adhesive softener, which I haven't tried yet. No decals on wooden sailing boats . Cheers Rob 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted June 24, 2022 Author Share Posted June 24, 2022 Back after my camping trip... some minor masking. Nearly done with the missiles. Lots of decals. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted June 25, 2022 Share Posted June 25, 2022 Bill Some mighty nice work on the masking and decals - missiles are looking so good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted June 25, 2022 Share Posted June 25, 2022 Nice progress Bill….. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted June 25, 2022 Share Posted June 25, 2022 Bri;liant missiles! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted June 29, 2022 Author Share Posted June 29, 2022 One of the last seams to be filled. I think. I had one area that I should have sanded prior to installing the intakes. I had to fashion a sanding tool out of Evergreen strip. There are a few small panel lines that I missed while scribing. Once I take care of those, I'll need to do some final surface prep and off to the spray booth. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 Luvvin the progress, Bill 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 Bill Looking good and maybe using Mr Surfacer for that hard to reach seam/gap might have been a bit easier in cleaning it up. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnB Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 Coming along nicely Bill. Going to be a beauty for sure! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted July 1, 2022 Author Share Posted July 1, 2022 Those screw holes on the bottom of the fuselage bother me. I cut some sheet plastic, and chucked it into a dremel bit. I don't have a lathe, so I use what I have. Glued in place, with some 0.060' (1.5 mm) rod to fill the hole. A little sanding, and I've got this. Thankfully, I only had to do three of them - it was pretty time consuming. And some white... 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark31 Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 Great work Mark 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaireckstadt Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 Great work and interesting surgery technique! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 Bill Nice bit of open field running and looks mighty good. Tamiya should have thought of it on their own. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 In the past, I've occasionally run out of steam once the airframe is complete. I spent some time on the gear doors. Most of the ejector pin marks were raised and only required sanding. A coat of Insignia white. I'll add a flat coat once they've received a wash. Tail planes are done. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted August 3, 2022 Author Share Posted August 3, 2022 A good wipe down, and she'll be ready for primer... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted August 22, 2022 Author Share Posted August 22, 2022 At last. A couple of minor seams to fill. Got that damned seam on the canopy removed, too. It still needs a Future dip. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted August 23, 2022 Share Posted August 23, 2022 Bill Nice progress on the Big Cat and what a perfect solution to the underwing screw hole. hard to believe back in those days, Tamiya had yet learned how to deal with all the injector pin marks - nice going on cleaning them up. Looking good in primer, which I am assuming is Mr Surfacer 1500 Black (Going to be giving it a go on the Whilrwind). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted August 30, 2022 Author Share Posted August 30, 2022 Major update: I sprayed the bottom with FS17875 (Insignia White), which should provide a gloss finish. I don't know if the pressure was too high or what - but the finished coat had a definite rough feel to it. Almost as if I got a batch of flat paint. Out came the sandpaper, followed by a good rubbing with #0000 steel wool. I thinned the next coat heavily with Mr. Leveling Thinner and achieved the result I was after (same bottle of paint). I forgot to grab a photo at this stage. Next comes the Light Gull Gray (also glossy). I saw Peter's post on the rolled up tape to provide a feather edge; I'm too lazy and my results would be too inconsistent, so I grabbed a couple of lengths of floral wire... Tough to see in the picture, but the tape just covers the wire and sits a bit above the surface. These were long runs along the fuselage; the wire was plenty long enough. For masking the forward fuselage, I tried something different. That's good old-fashioned pipe cleaner. The end result in both instances was acceptable. I'll let the paint cure for a couple of days, then on to the next step. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 Bill - HolIy Cow, the results look fantastic and you are surely onto a new technique that looks mighty good. 'm going to do some testing. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 3, 2022 Author Share Posted September 3, 2022 Nearing the finish line on this one. Canopy is masked; ejector pin divots are filled and drying. I started laying down some decals from the data stencil sheet. Am I going to have to glue down every single stencil? Never again, Milspec! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 3, 2022 Share Posted September 3, 2022 Bill Looking good and you're in the home stretch now. Did the wing walk decals peel or are you using them as masks? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 3, 2022 Author Share Posted September 3, 2022 10 minutes ago, Peterpools said: Bill Looking good and you're in the home stretch now. Did the wing walk decals peel or are you using them as masks? They peeled, Peter. I don't thing there is any glue on the back side of their decals. I has the same thing happen on another of their sheets. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 3, 2022 Share Posted September 3, 2022 Bill Same on them ... Are you going to use them as a mask or go for a AM set of decals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 3, 2022 Author Share Posted September 3, 2022 2 hours ago, Peterpools said: Bill Same on them ... Are you going to use them as a mask or go for a AM set of decals? Peter, I could mask the walkways - easy enough. These ARE AM decals, purchased direct from the source. My main issue is that there a s***load of small stencils... Tamiya provides decals for a low-viz version, and this is to be a brightly colored bird. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 3, 2022 Share Posted September 3, 2022 Bill Got ya, so if I understand it correctly, the AM decals are NG and need to be replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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