radial

The orange and brown example ( recent restoration?) really makes for a very attractive aircraft. Your choice of scale for this project is excellent given the small size of the A/C. Sooo....many questions about the 3D process. Look forward to your future posts!

Glad the future/decal thing worked for you. The Finish looks great! However, you will kill the shine if you clear coat it. Why bother? No markings to blend in are there? As good as it looks now maybe a light polish with an old T - shirt might be in order. Signed Radial...the fearful

Cling wrap! Had the exact same problem.as you know it leaves a glue like residue that is impossible to remove. I ended up wet sanding and repainting. You probably used the wings as handles to paint the fuse. IMHO the heat from fingers activate this residue. Whatever, will never use this method again! Keep pushing you'll get it.

Not a new idea. Picked it up from somebody along the way and sounded so logical that I had to try it. I've since refined the technique to eliminate the use of Future. Now I float the decal in good old testors decal set or even plain water; let dry and apply as many coats of Microsol as it takes to settle it into the surface. Some offshoot advantages are the decals conform to curved surfaces easier and that faint decal line is minimized. See small decals on cowl fairings pictured below.

Nick, Actually, the idea of the skeleton was to have it placed in the glider's cockpit as an il fated pilot. The scene/base would be desert terrain. Perhaps the pilot had a fatal medical condition in flight and the glider flew itself and landed miles into the desert. A brass plaque could be on the base stating "Found.....April 1, 2114".

Cut off all the clear decal carrier and lay decal in a pool of future. Soak up excess future with edges of paper towel. No clear carrier film, no silvering.

How about a skeleton pilot? Now where do you get a 5" tall skeleton? BTW very nice work on the airframe.

Wasn't going to say anything but why didn't you cut out the decals by letter and number individually to eliminate the clear decal film? Still a fantastic build. Much respect!

Excellent idea. I particularly like that its raised. Probably be able to make one out of plywood and aluminum window channel.

Joe, Wood props are not that difficult to carve. I whittle them out of basswood using a pattern glued to the square stock. See the prop below. It ended up I did use it and machined an aluminum prop out of bar stock.

Overall a very good build! As far as your decals splitting; I've had this happen with too heavy a coat of lacquer based clear coats. What kind of "varnish" did you use?

Big fan of your builds ie Corsair racer. Strega paint looks great. So...What is your assessment of Zero paint?

Has anyone considered pre-filling vac fuselages and wings with expandable foam or similar material? Floppy thin plastic is my biggest problem with vac models. Or is this just another stupid idea?

Evergreen plastics sell hexagonal strips. There are also brass bolts used by the automotive modellers. I have done smash molding and for what you want it probably would be easier to source bolts in the aftermarket.

Between the wars civil aircraft USA!

Uh and your doing this with spray cans?....amazing!

I just caught up with your fantastic build. I have particularly followed with interest your processes for forming the canopy. You've gone down a similar path as I have. You are right to use a solid mold and I see you are considering vac forming. Good show. What you may have already found out is that pop bottle plastic is wildly inconsistent i.e. temperature, thickness and formation. Suggest you buy a few sheets of Vivak(trade name) PETG from Micromark. It comes in .020-.030 thickness and is crystal clear. Cheers

The best show in the Midwest IMHO. A big plus is the area is so rich in historical aviation. Oh yeah, I'll be there.

I use krylon all the time. Do not use the fusion line. The krylon clear I use is their gloss lacquer for furniture. I decant the paint for airbrush use. No problem with decals if done in light coats. I don't use it cause its cheap but because I hate acrylics and laquer based paints are getting harder to find. Also look into Duplicolor.

Really sorry to see the Stearman near the bottom of the list!

Want a low wing Waco Here is my Waco YMF5 without the topwing lol How bout a conversion

Very very good job on what is a horrid kit!

Thanks a bunch Tomek. The wing photos are exactly what I'm trying to do! My experiments have been similar yours. I'm using bare metal foil and headlight lenses from 1/32 die cast cars. Douse it with future and it should work. Experiment

Tomek Outstanding work! Very convincing headlights. How'd you do that? Need some for a 30s a/c landing lights.

Amazed that you foiled the build in such an early stage. Wonderful!