F-86F Sabre - 50FBW

[Zero77]

Hi,

 

This is already an old build, but i've just decided to take it off the Shelf of Doom, where it has lasted for too long.

 

Most F-86 builds represent Sabre from Korea war. So i just want to make something different and to build a Sabre in Europe. So it will be an aircraft from the 50th FBW, and i still have not decided if it will be from 81st FBS (yellow/black stripes) or 417th FBS (red stripes). Both were based at Hahn AFB in Germany :

 

417th FBS :

 

81st FBS :

 

 

 

 

 

But it will definitely have the highly polished finish of peace time rather than the pretty dull aspect seen on aircraft flying over Korea.

 

The build has been started about 2 years ago if i remember correctly. It is the Kinetic kit, with several aftermarket addition : AMS cockpit, AMS corrected nose and gun plates, Aires wheel bays and Aires airbrakes. The airbrakes were installed after gluing the rear fuselage, and it was a real pain to do so ! (i had to use my dremel). But the result looked good, even if i cant show them at the moment because they are still masked for the fuselage paint job (and same for the cockpit).

 

The cockpit was painted grey, which was initially a mistake when i wanted to build a Korean war Sabre. But now i think it may be more coherent for a late F-30, in Europe, even if i am not really sure about this color detail.

 

The fuselage and wings are now done, and i've already almost finished the highly polished aluminium finish. Here is where i am :

 

 

The stripes will be all painted, and the Wing and Squadron insigna will be custom decals.

[Daywalker]

Love that sheen to the aluminum, is it foil or paint?  Damned fine work.

[Zero77]

Yesterday, i've made a few test about rub-n-buff finish, to see how it behaves with various types of masking, painting, gloss coating and so on....

 

Here are the result :

 

First i've taken an old 1/48 "POS" model, which is my Guinea-pig for various tests, and sanded clean both wings :

 

Then a coat of spraycan tamiya primer :

 

And a good amount of fine sanding and polishing with micromesh (4000 to 12000) :

 

 

Then a coat of thinned Rub-n-buff (thinned in mineral spirit). It can easily be laid with a brush or even with the finger, but i thought it was better to have an even and homogenous coat on both wings :

 

The result is pretty rough, but it's normal.

After a slight buff with a kitchen towel :

 

And after a heavy rubbing with 12000 micromesh and kitchen towel, you have a high shine with a nice mirror effect :

[Zero77]

Love that sheen to the aluminum, is it foil or paint?  Damned fine work.

 

That's Rub-n-Buff, a kind of metallic wax. Great result for high shine, but not easy to use if you have to mask it, or use dry transfer decals ! (i'll show you later...)

[phantomdriver]

Try the new AK metallic stuff...

[Zero77]

Try the new AK metallic stuff...

 

 

I did !

It is very similar to Rub-n-buff, and i've ordered a few tubes to add some variations in the panels shade. The product behaves well, dries a bit faster than rub-n-buff and then gives a very matt surface than can be highly polished. Pretty good.

The downside is that there is not a very noticeable difference between the shade. I've got aliminium, silver, dark aluminium and steel, and the result is almost the same for all. But i still have a few other test to do, especially on a blank surface (i've tried on an already "rub-n-buffed" surface.

[Zero77]

Now the masking and coating tests.

 

First, i tried to mask with tamiya masking tape, and spraying a coat of alclad aqua gloss :

The masking tape takes off the rub-n-buff, but it doesn't really peel off, so it can still be polished and you retreive your initial finish :

 

Then the comparison with and without the coating. The coating is on the wingroot side, and on the wingtip side this is natural RNB (you can see how the tape takes off the RNB) :

 

 

 

And how it acts on the shine / miror effect :

 

Indeed, the coating makes it a bit less shiny, and i lost most of the mirror effect.

[Out2gtcha]

Please do let us know on the results of the rub-n-buff and the AK metallics!  I would love to try them out, but am very wary of using it under decals or having to mask around it.

 

Great work so far!!

[Out2gtcha]

Hrmmm.

Very much like the results I have had w/Rub-n-buff: Looks fanTASTIC going on, and really polishes out to a wonderful mirror shine.......................until you mask it, and it comes off, or you clear-coat it, and it turns back into looking like aluminum paint.

[Zero77]

Then another test with adhesive vinyl (the same than the one used for cut out masks) and a coat of Future / Klear :

 

Same issue with the RNB (maybe even worse than with the tamiya tape, but it doen't really peel off either) :

 

 

 

And the Future coating ( Future on the wingtip side, natural RNB on the wingroot side ):

 

 

The result is better than with the alclad aqua gloss, certainly because the coat is thinner.

 

But there is another big problem (very big) : It becomes impossible to mask with the Future coat :

 

The Alclad aqua gloss coat was also a bit fragile, but it was able to bear masking (though it seems a bit risky in my opinion), even if i have not picture to show it. However, i tried to make it more shiny and reflective with a heavy rubbing of 12000 micromesh, and it peeled off when the plastic began to be warm. I think that when you rub it too much, the Rub-n-buff, which is a wax, start to go away.

[Zero77]

Hrmmm.

Very much like the results I have had w/Rub-n-buff: Looks fanTASTIC going on, and really polishes out to a wonderful mirror shine.......................until you mask it, and it comes off, or you clear-coat it, and it turns back into looking like aluminum paint.

 

 

That's also what i think. So i think that i wont coat this model and just let it with the RNB finish.

The big problem will be to mask it to paint the stripes. However, there are 2 points to know :

-1st : i've made those tests not a very long time after the Rub-n-buff application, so maybe with a 24h drying time it may have a better adhesion.

-2nd : i've also tried masking with post-it paper and with frisket, and it seems to be better, with less RNB taking off with the masks.

 

 

 

But i dont really worry for the decals. Only the stencils will be a problem because of the carrier film. I've got a set of dry transfers, but my tests were not very good either (more to come).

Edited December 17, 2014 by Zero77

[Out2gtcha]

Sounds like it might work...................could you reduce the tape stickiness of the masking tape, then tape the strips off, paint them, then once dry, just mask off the stripes and re-apply the RNB and polish it out again?

 

Im thinking if one wanted to use RNB or the AK metallics (which Im assuming will act VERY similar to RNB) on a regular basis, you might have to start masking backwards.........................what I mean is, one might have to mask off and paint things like strips, or tail colors, nose colors, ect, ect first, then let them dry, and mask them off, and apply the RNB.

[Zero77]

Sounds like it might work...................could you reduce the tape stickiness of the masking tape, then tape the strips off, paint them, then once dry, just mask off the stripes and re-apply the RNB and polish it out again?

 

Im thinking if one wanted to use RNB or the AK metallics (which Im assuming will act VERY similar to RNB) on a regular basis, you might have to start masking backwards.........................what I mean is, one might have to mask off and paint things like strips, or tail colors, nose colors, ect, ect first, then let them dry, and mask them off, and apply the RNB.

 

 

Yes that's the way i should have proceeded. Priming the model, painting all markings, and only then applying the RNB. But i've started with the RNB finish about more than 1 year ago without any test !

I will try to do so, The biggest risk is to have the markings masks peeling off the paint. That's why i will try to get the less sticky masks possible in order to be able (if possible !) to paint the markings without any need to touch up the RNB afterward. But anyway i will need to mask the paint at a time to paint the black lines on the sides of the yellow stripes (except if i use black decals).

[Zero77]

Paint test :

(this test is made on the wing which received the alclad gloss coat, but this coat has been removed, so the RNB finish is a bit gone away on the wingroot side)

 

Masking + a coat of yellow :

 

+Masking the yellow stripe in the middle to paint the black lines :

Yeah ! The paint has not peeled off !

 

Then masking all and redoing the rub-n-buff coat on the wing-root side, the result is pretty good ! However, the paint dont like the buffing and tend to peel off when rubbed with extra fine micromesh. So one have to be very gentle.

Edited December 17, 2014 by Zero77

[Out2gtcha]

Lovely!!!

 

 

I really like that. I think the process of painting detail (stripes, color blocks nose/tail ect, ect) stuff first, then applying the RNB/AK metallics is the way to go!