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Tamiya Mosquito FB VI - 3/22 - Figure painting completed


Bstarr3

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Well, I got some littlework done this morning, and then disaster struck.

 

First, the work.

 

First time masking the inside of a canopy, but since it's such a big canopy with lots of framing, I thought I'd give it a try.

 

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Interior cockpit framing. Detail painting on the flare gun and IFF transmitter (?)

 

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Picked up this beauty at a local artist shop. It's a 0 angled spotter, and it's awesome for detail painting in tight spots like cockpits.

 

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Also have the propellers assembled and primered. I plan to do these in an off black - I have MRP AMT6 black - with some salt weathering and chipping.

 

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Anyway, on to the misfortune. I've never gotten to the bottom of a bottle of Tamiya extra thin before. But when you do, you find that the brush doesn't reach all the way to the bottom. I've found myself sloshing the bottle around to get the brush wet. I sat down at my desk, preparing to affix the interior cockpit framing. I reached over, grabbed my bottle of Tamiya extra thin, and gave it an absent-minded shake.

 

It was then that I realized that the cap was loose on the bottle, as the entire contents of a 1/4 bottle of cement sloshed all over me and the port wing of my model. I blotted up as much of the excess as I could, but the damage is done. I also got a big thumb print on the starboard fuselage trying to handle it.

 

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At this point, the workshop was reeking of cement, and I was furious with myself, so I decided to walk away. The plastic is all soft anyway, so I'll have to wait for it to settle out. Hopefully it will all be fixable without terrible pitting. Best case scenario is a ton of sanding and rescribing. I'm pretty upset.

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I definitely said a few choice words, John! I checked on it an hour or so later. The plastic had all hardened up so it didn't get glopped on there too bad. There are a couple of spots that may need filler to smooth out. I guess thank God there aren't many panel lines or rivets on the wing, but it's still going to be a huge PITA

Edited by Bstarr3
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Well, when everything is all said and done, it could have been much worse. I once splashed CA all over a painted and decal covered model. One last piece to apply and I created hours and hours of repair work. Luckily you weren't that far and you didn't spill the glue in to the open cockpit.

 

It's lookin' really good Brian.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

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I feel for you looking at that, you did the right thing in walking away, think up a plan when you are nice and calm and set to.

I can well remember that sick feeling when I dropped a model when I was applying the final matt varnish coat, but it turned out well in the end.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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The same thing happened to me last week, in my case the victim is a cockpit of Tempest mk.II. Paul Budzik is securing those pesky squared bottles by inserting them in to a base made of some lid that is filled with resin. Initially I was't too sure about it, but after several glue cleanings I have to reconsider my approach.

Good luck with the recovery, your Mossie looks fantastic.

PS: Brengun makes mesh with frames for British planes.

Cheers

Martin

brengun-brl72022-intake-guards-raf-air-i

Edited by Martinnfb
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I don't often spill the glue. Have once or twice, the worst incident melted half the model and stuck my phone, various bits of plastic strip, a couple of plastic paint brushes and my architects ruler to the desk varnish. Whole bottle of Tennax. Binned that one, chipped the rest loose and refinished the desk. But paint? Usually contrasting colors, on delicate parts.

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Yikes! The damage as bad as it is, at least is repairable. Good thing to step away and calm down.

 

Back in 1985, I was bringing back from Asia a 1/48 F-4EJ kit and my first ever bottle of regular Tamiya cement. In flight the bottle must have leaked a bit as there was a hole through the wing of the Phantom. Nevermind that my suitcase stunk of cement. Good thing they didnt have sniffer dogs at the airport or they would've been high.

 

Carl

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Well, when everything is all said and done, it could have been much worse. I once splashed CA all over a painted and decal covered model. One last piece to apply and I created hours and hours of repair work. Luckily you weren't that far and you didn't spill the glue in to the open cockpit.

 

It's lookin' really good Brian.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

Yikes! Yes, thank goodness it happened before painting.

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FYI for those facing an almost empty bottle of Tamiya cement: Take off the cap/brush. Grab the brush just above the bristles with pliers. Twist/pull. The brush extends to reach the bottom of the bottle.

Thanks for the tip! I have a new bottle on order and will have to try that

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Wow, lots of work done last night. Construction is complete, and it is completely masked, with a guide coat of primer on the top side!

 

First I finished up the propellers. Taking a guide from another modeller on this site (sorry I can't remember who) I decided to skip salt weathering for a different technique. I blotted liquid mask onto the base coat of AMT6 black (it's similar to NATO black) with some leftover sponge from Aires. Then I sprayed a light coat of medium sea grey, just because that's what I already had in the airbrush. This created the mottling effect I was after, but the contrast, as you might expect, was too high. I blended it back in with another light coat of black. If I were trying it again, I'd use a color closer to the base color, or just expect to have to blend it. I didn't get many pictures from the bench last night because I was on a roll, so no shotsof the in between, but here's the final look - nice subtle variation like I was going for.

 

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The only other pics I have are some overall shots. I initially tried masking the bomb bay with layers of masking tape. But it wouldn't stick strongly enough to the edges of the doors, so I reconsidered and masked it all off with sponge. The edges were touched up with liquid mask. The identification lights were painted silver and masked with liquid mask. I'll add the colored clear lenses at the end. I also made an error in my planned order of operations, installing the gun barrels in the nose before painting. By the way, between the chemical treatment of the burnishing fluid, and sanding them to get all the stuff off, they did okay without primer. Just put down a coat of model master gun metal acrylic. But, since I had now affixed them and the nose cone, I had to figure out how to protect them for paint. I decided to try liquid mask - just painted it all over, in two coats just to be sure. Did the same to the cannon barrels. Hope it works!

 

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Also did the detail painting and tried to put down the wet transfers for the inside of the door. The hinge part is all that's different from the open to the closed version of the door. I'm going to leave that off and tack it in place with clear parts glue for the painting. The wet transfers continue to be a bit difficult to work with. As you can see, the warning placard has inadvertently turned into a "beware of VD" posters

 

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And finally, here is a light coat of black Stynelrez over the whole top side. The sanding on the port wing doesn't show any mars or scratches, the rivet detail seems adequately preserved, and as you see in the last detail shot, there is just a slight depression left after filling and sanding on that flap.

 

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I'm going away with my wife for the weekend, so it's going to stay at this point for a few days. I also ordered a JH models stand from UMM, so I'm going to get that put together and ready before I proceed with more painting.

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