CANicoll Posted March 12, 2023 Author Share Posted March 12, 2023 Gary and Rob, thanks! I used a TON of CA on that resin tail, but now you got me thinking about gravity over time. Hmmm.. Oh, well - I should live that long! Rob, I also can't wait to peel off the masks, just hope not to be too disappointed. The windshield wipers have me a bit worried tho. The waist will be interesting to see and I get to do some detail work on the machine guns. Still to come is masking and painting the markings. I've seen where national insignia is painted with a light/medium gray instead of white. Will be my first-time using masks for those markings. I have some Maketar insignia masks which I originally bought for a 1/32 Mustang build but the sizing is pretty close here. And figuring out the weathering. The pictures perfectly capture the heavy weathering on the top of the wing. Usually if I'm going that way, I start with weathered paint colors so this build may be of a newer aircraft. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 Chris Amazing progress and the Big Cat surely is BIG❗ The wing sits every so nicely and solidly on the center section and all does look so good. I do see what you mean about the horizontal stabilizers having a bit too much dihedral and removing them isn't going to be the easiest operation to perform. Maybe the best way of reattaching them is to use a brass tube running through vertical stabilizer adding both strength and the correct dihedral. Just my less then two cents. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 12, 2023 Author Share Posted March 12, 2023 Averting Disaster? There are some sounds you just don't want to hear when you are working on your model. CRACK! is one of them... When trying to gently pry the elevators from the resin tail, seems like the CA bond was strong than the resin tail. A line appeared about here: I was unhappy with myself for not scribing into the seam first to clear out as much of the CA as possible, so immediately hit the crack with Ultra-Thin CA which wicked into the crack pretty thoroughly. That did fix the weakness but at that point decided to just let the elevators have a bit of dihedral and live with it. Was so frustrated that I went ahead and filled the (existing) gap/seam between the tail and the elevator with some Vallejo putty. The right side was pretty tight, the left side is the one with the problem. That did smooth out the gap pretty well and it looks much better. Also took the opportunity to hit the markings area with clear gloss to get ready for the masks, and do a bit of touch up with the black paint. Going to put this down for the day to let everything set. "Patience, grasshopper, patience..." 2 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 Chris Oh I know that sound so well especially after the stress crack on the Kingfisher appeared. Mine was in 30 year old crunchy, hard plastic and needed stop holes and lots of extra thin and then let dry for days. Resin seems different and the CCA hopefully will do the trick Couldn't hurt to drill a small stop hole on each end but don't fill them in or the stop holes will not work. Yup, good call on the horizontal stabilizers - sometimes the best course of action, is no action and finishing is the most important action of all. . . 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 12, 2023 Author Share Posted March 12, 2023 Peter, I had visions of your earlier problems and what it took to stop the crack. I think mine was just me pressing too hard. Oh well! At least it didn't fracture completely. Can you imagine putting the Styrene tail BACK on in that case?!? Chris 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 Chris Now that would be a nightmare for sure. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted March 13, 2023 Share Posted March 13, 2023 Oh yeah... Hate the 'crack'! For me it usually comes while I'm sanding the wings letting me know my glue joint has failed due to my heavy handedness. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 14, 2023 Author Share Posted March 14, 2023 18 hours ago, GazzaS said: Oh yeah... Hate the 'crack'! For me it usually comes while I'm sanding the wings letting me know my glue joint has failed due to my heavy handedness. So you've seen me sanding wings before! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted March 15, 2023 Share Posted March 15, 2023 Chris Just seems it's one step ahead and sometimes two steps back to the rear. Hang in there, as once the tail is fixed and behind you, it should be full speed ahead. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 16, 2023 Author Share Posted March 16, 2023 Thanks Peter! Getting there. The fix is really seamless and painted over you can't tell anything was amiss. yay! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 16, 2023 Author Share Posted March 16, 2023 Today was going to be painting the masked insignias. WAS... Somehow or another, I can't remember left from right. I sprayed the gloss coat getting ready to use the masks for the markings. Got the nose and the wing done. The nose was easy, but I did the wrong side of the wing. So had to redo the wing tip. Arrgh. Went ahead and applied the masks. Also masked around the mask. (Is that a thing? LOL) Sprayed the base gray for the nose insignia, used Medium Sea Gray as the color, mixed with some gloss clear to give a nice smooth surface for the next mask. Will see what I'll be using for the Insignia Blue. This will be interesting. Will let this dry for a day and then will apply the blue and hopefully will have reasonable looking insignia! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 Chris Looking mighty good and so glad the tail issue are done and successfully over with. Nice work on the masks and please keep the detailed photos coming. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 I will add another sound to your CRACK Chris. It's BANG, which I had yesterday handling the long hull of my Arizona and hit my desk lamp. Luckily the damage was not too excessive, some bent PE parts and a bit of unwanted chipping. For the insignia masking or larger masking in general, which require multiple masking, there was a god tip in the 1ManArmy manual, to get the masks align perfectly. Before removing them from the backing paper, apply some transparent frisket film on top. That makes placement easier and hinders deformation of the masks. Cheers Rob 3 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 Ron Almost another Oh No! Glad the Bang didn't cause a lot of damage and extra work. Tanks for the tip about using frisket film. As time passes, I become more and more of a clutz and somehow manage to always knock the Spitfires wingtip into mu magnifying lamp. Just so preoccupied and forget it's there. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 16, 2023 Author Share Posted March 16, 2023 Rob, Good time, thanks! Now if I only had frisket paper... 🙂 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 18, 2023 Author Share Posted March 18, 2023 Masking underway! After my faux pas of glossing the wrong side of the wing, got that settled and working on my second attempt with the masks. A lesson learned here - maybe start on the UNDERSIDE of the wing where lessons learned are a bit less noticable. NOT the right side of the fuselage nose! Too late I remembered a tip from Maketar about marking lines on the mask before removing to the aircraft to line things up later. Too late I remembered to make the lines long enough that I don't paint over them, making the lines useless. Like I said, lessons learned! Lines on the masking sheet. These are for the wing markings and show the position of the star and the bars. What I SHOULD have done was extended the lines across the mask once on the aircraft. I've already covered up most of the lines here. Lines, what lines?? Sprayed this the same gray as the fuselage, but as they say in the Movies - Back to the Fuselage! (Or something like that). Applied the masks for the stars and bars and yes, the right side bar is a little off. The problem is the star. IT is a little off (you can see from the rivet line that it is just a bit higher than the other side) but tried as I may, pulling it up without damaging it was not in the works. So I just left it. I did better on the left side: There was some wrinkling of the masks on the sheet, but to be fair, these masks could easily be 10-12 years old. However, on the aircraft, they seemed to perform just fine. The tricky part was picking out a deep blue for the surround. However, in the immortal words of Hollywood, "He chose poorly". The blue is much brighter than it appeared when I tested it out. Crap. This side looks pretty dark and that is what I was going for. And under a different light, the other side. Same color paint. I thought maybe it would still be dark enough but the 'True Colors' (another movie reference - no clue where this is coming from this morning. I'm looking for a pill that will make it stop) came out after I pulled the masks. Maybe the out-of-place Hell's Angels on the nose will distract viewers from the incorrect colors. My story is this aircraft is paying homage to the AVG and that is my story and I'm sticking to it. After sealing with a clear coat, I may try and dirty the insignia up a bit to tone down that blue. Definitely will darken the blue for the wing markings. This blue annoys me. The stars and bars are super easy to mask. Once the decals dry and I finish the wing markings, then a gloss coat followed by a satin/matte coat will follow. Not a lot of weathering, but may try to vary the finish a bit with the flat over satin in places. Props are waiting for their yellow tips and decals, the exhausts need to be painted. The machine gun shields are painted and ready to place, along with the waist machine guns themselves. Then the waist crew looking out the blisters and finally all of those fragile antennas on the wings. The finish line is near, and it's not even towards the end of the GB! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 Well besides the color Chris they came out great any blue pastels? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 Chris, Looks great! Might be able to weather some dark areas onto that blue and give it a semi-faded look. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 19, 2023 Author Share Posted March 19, 2023 Thanks Gary and Kevin - Still working on a fix! But made a bit more progress today. Followed Gary's example and instead of using a thick Styrene loop for an antenna, went into my stores for some appropriate wire. Here we go! CA is joining the loop. Will add a bit more to smooth out the join, then will see if it needs some silver paint. This is for the top of the wing, between the engines. Hit the fuselage with some Satin coats, so time to peel off the masks, and hope everything came out ok. Fingers crossed! The tools for the unmasking and the result. The toothpick doesn't scratch the plastic as it lifts a corner of the mask, while the pincers pull off the mask, but often times the clear needs a bit of future touch-up from the toothpick rubbing. The Blister was first, and the clarity is really nice. Can actually see through the entire fuselage which is kind of cool. Lots of windows in these blisters, but the masks worked really well. Still very surprised at how clear this old plastic is. The canopy came clean as well. Check out the windshield wipers!! Love that you can actually see the pilots. What you can't see are the painted engine controls hanging from the top of the center of the canopy. Because I forgot to attach the part before gluing the canopy! The turret is masked completely wrong. Oops! But look at those Hell's Angels! The wing insignias are painted now so tomorrow's job is to work on the antennas and get the wing together. Getting there! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 Chris, it always look great when the masks come off. You could say the insignia have faded in the sun. Wouldn't be completely implausible. Maybe give them some chipping to sell the weathered look. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 Chris The Star and Bars masking looks mighty good and the blue, well I've had decals that were even lighter ... tropical fading and with a few tones of blue 'faded in' ... they will look fine. OMG, the blister and canopy masking came out great - the glass is crystal clear. You're absolutely in the home stretch and your GB is getting so close to crossing the line. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 That looks awesome, Chris. The masking came off great and all the interior view will really add to the kit. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 Wow, the big Cat is shaping up nicely, Chris. Removing the masks is always a moment of truth, as you look at the plane for the first time in a near ready state. I really like the buy look of the cat, with the pilots and the open blisters. The markings, hmm, it's always good to have a storyline in mind for your model and work it out through building and painting. I'd go with faded for the stars and bars, but would lighten them even more on the top of the wings to create a believable frame. 'Errors' half corrected are the worst to my eye. Cheers Rob 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 19, 2023 Author Share Posted March 19, 2023 8 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said: Chris, it always look great when the masks come off. You could say the insignia have faded in the sun. Wouldn't be completely implausible. Maybe give them some chipping to sell the weathered look. Thanks Carl - I definitely need to get on the weathering. I'm seriously considering duplicating that one picture showing the wear on the underside of the leading edge - I've never seen that before. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted March 19, 2023 Author Share Posted March 19, 2023 6 hours ago, Peterpools said: Chris The Star and Bars masking looks mighty good and the blue, well I've had decals that were even lighter ... tropical fading and with a few tones of blue 'faded in' ... they will look fine. OMG, the blister and canopy masking came out great - the glass is crystal clear. You're absolutely in the home stretch and your GB is getting so close to crossing the line. Thanks Peter. Seems like this has been a long build, but mostly just dealing with the fit issues - some expected, and some unexpected. Whew! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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