RAAF 20th anniversary hornet - the perils of polishing 23/12

[ClumsyDude]

Ok, another update ... last one before I head off on leave this week (week in Bali with my old university mates ... first time away from the family since my daughter was born seven and a half years ago!).

 

I was hoping to be able to show a couple of really slick, beautiful vertical tails. But, of course, the reality was a lot more difficult ... the intersection of an uneven surface on the tail, plus complex mask work, plus a couple of rookie mistakes on my part mean we are probably about half way there.

 

Let's start with the touch-ups on the inside of the tail. Here we are after laying down some red:

 

 

And the other side:

 

 

Looks good enough for now, although there are a couple of touch ups that I'll get right at the end. In any case I was itching to get on with the flags on the reverse side, and didn't need much of an excuse. Here's how I did the masks, it was not easy putting such a complex mask over such a big and lumpy area ... more than one person told me I was bonkers, and I think they were right. Fortunately, Randy's masks are nothing short of brilliant - anything less than that and I would have been tearing my hair out.

 

First, weed out the dark blue areas.

 

 

Then peel the mask off, ever so slowly and carefully ... it took me literally about 5 minutes to get the mask off the backing as there are so many little elements that need to be kept straight.

 

 

Mask down! It took me 2-3 goes on each side to get the mask positioned correctly ... fortunately I had anticipated this and had 9 copies of each mask, so the wastage didn't kill me.

 

 

Red down.

 

 

Grey down.

 

 

Blue down.

 

 

Then, with great trepidation, I peeled the mask up ... to reveal rookie error #1 (too-thick paint mix) and rookie error #2 (spray leaking under masks - should've got the hair dryer on them).

 

 

Same pattern repeated on the other side, not quite as bad.

 

 

More in a moment ...

[ClumsyDude]

And so the touch up process begins. I am now through 5-6 or my 9 masks on each side ... with probably another 4-5 touch up sessions to go on each tail.

 

First, a couple of sets of blue touch ups ...

 

 

Then touching up the red:

 

 

And this morning, the first touch up on the white. I have only done it on the one you can see on the right, and only on the words ... much more to go. But, starting to look like it should ... in another month I reckon I'll be there!

 

 

Thanks for following.

 

Jim

 

PS does it make me crazy that I think this is better than decals? I do have decals in the stash for this bird ...

Edited April 23, 2017 by ClumsyDude

[Mark Jackson]

There's a thin line between being a genius and round the bloom'n bend, superb!

[ClumsyDude]

Haha thanks Mark ... not sure which side of that line I'm on!

 

Cheers

Jim

[BloorwestSiR]

I think you're doing a great job there Jim! That looks like quite the complicated mask.

 

One suggestion I would make is if you have a solid sheet of the mask material, use that to transfer the entire design in one piece.

 

You stick the solid sheet over top of the complete mask, then peel the backing off the mask and this way it'll stay in one piece when you apply it to the surface. Then carefully remove the transfer piece of vinyl and everything should be in the right spot and fit together correctly.

 

If you have any questions about how that works, let me know and I'll see if I can find some pics.

 

Carl

[ClumsyDude]

I think you're doing a great job there Jim! That looks like quite the complicated mask.

 

One suggestion I would make is if you have a solid sheet of the mask material, use that to transfer the entire design in one piece.

 

You stick the solid sheet over top of the complete mask, then peel the backing off the mask and this way it'll stay in one piece when you apply it to the surface. Then carefully remove the transfer piece of vinyl and everything should be in the right spot and fit together correctly.

 

If you have any questions about how that works, let me know and I'll see if I can find some pics.

 

Carl

 

Hi Carl, thanks for dropping by ... I have been using the transfer method you describe, see here:

 

 

The alignment of the bits is great, it's the bumpiness of the surface (and, of course, my own clumsiness in mixing the paint too thick) which have caused me the problems.  But, because it's all in the right place, it's fairly easy to touch up ... had I not done that I'd be in all sorts of trouble!

 

Looking beautiful. I know the frustration of using masks, but the results can't be beaten. This will be a show stopping F-18 when all finished.

 

Thanks ... I agree, it's both frustrating and awesome when you finally get it done!

 

Cheers

Jim

[MarioS]

That's looking good Jim,

 

How appropriate you got your flags down just in time for Anzac day tomorrow I must say 10 out of 10 this Aussie Hornet is really going to look good when you've finished it!

[sluggo]

Splendid work Jim!

 

By the time you are done you will be an expert at masking.

 

Looking forward to the next update.

[Jim Barry]

Nice work. This a most difficult thing you have on your hands. Bravo

[BloorwestSiR]

Hi Jim,

 

I saw that pic and I kept thinking how impressed I was that you had gotten the whole mask off in one piece. I hadn't noticed the transfer bit behind it.

 

I think you'll get the hang of it soon enough.

 

Carl

Edited April 25, 2017 by BloorwestSiR

[ClumsyDude]

That's looking good Jim,

 

How appropriate you got your flags down just in time for Anzac day tomorrow I must say 10 out of 10 this Aussie Hornet is really going to look good when you've finished it!

 

Thanks Mario.  At the rate I'm going they'll be finished by next Anzac Day!

 

Splendid work Jim!

 

By the time you are done you will be an expert at masking.

 

Looking forward to the next update.

 

Thanks Randy ... the expert magic was mostly done before I opened the box of masks

 

Nice work. This a most difficult thing you have on your hands. Bravo

 

Thanks Jim ... it certainly feels difficult, although it's a heap less complicated than a scratch build project ... when I grow up I'll do something like that.

 

Hi Jim,

 

I saw that pic and I kept thinking how impressed I was that you had gotten the whole mask off in one piece. I hadn't noticed the transfer bit behind it.

 

I think you'll get the hang of it soon enough.

 

Carl

 

Thanks Carl!

 

Cheers

Jim

[Mark M]

       

[themongoose]

This is really looking super. Love the gloss finish for sure. Thanks for posting everything about your trials and tribulations. I have been thinking about doing this same thing for my Phantom in Thunderbirds colors because I can't see the decals laying down well over all the bumpy surfaces without hiding the details in the surfaces. I've read every post in detail to learn the best practices you've shared. Call me bonkers too but I think I will follow your lead ðŸƒ

[ClumsyDude]

Thanks Mark!

 

This is really looking super. Love the gloss finish for sure. Thanks for posting everything about your trials and tribulations. I have been thinking about doing this same thing for my Phantom in Thunderbirds colors because I can't see the decals laying down well over all the bumpy surfaces without hiding the details in the surfaces. I've read every post in detail to learn the best practices you've shared. Call me bonkers too but I think I will follow your lead

 

Haha good luck! Having done what I've done for the last few months I'd have to say, I think decals (with lots of setting solution) perform better over bumpy surfaces than masks, but I guess it depends how bumpy.  For example - trying to mask roundels over the vortex generators on an A-4 would be really tough (although Eric Galliers - ericg - did it on his Skyhawk, and it came out pretty good, you can find it on here if you look back far enough). For a Thunderbirds scheme on an F-4 it would absolutely rock to do it with masks, so good luck, and I'll be watching!

 

Cheers
Jim

[ClumsyDude]

Ok, not much to show for the latest update ... but (as so often happens) a mountain of work has gone into it. Just one photo this time, as I haven't taken progress shots of the 10-15 hours of masking and airbrushing that have gone into it.

 

Most of this, to be fair, is the result of my own mistakes - be it spraying paint at the wrong viscosity, or getting overspray around the bumpy bits, or other stuff like that. Few things I'd do differently if I had it to do over. Anyway, here we are - more or less done with neat markings, with just some evening out to do on the blue as there have been so many spray sessions that the colours look uneven. Here you go ...

 

 

Hope to have some clear down in the next week or two.

 

Jim