Cap'n Wannabe

Once again, I spoke with my mate TOR and talked about how best to tackle the cheatline issue. In the end, I decided to paint the airframe burgundy (actually, SMS Wine Red), then mask the cheatlines and paint the other colours. But I needed to make masks...enter AutoCAD again With a little measuring and tweaking, and plenty of printouts onto paper I came up with masks that are *almost* the right size. I say "almost" because I need to extend the curved area by about 0.75mm. Which I've now done...just need to cut them on my Cameo cutter..(I've been through almost a metre of Oramask today, playing around and getting things just right! These are the first "useful" masks cut on the Cameo.. Here's a set applied to the model. I applied Tamiya tape along the masks to hold everything together while I transferred them to the model. Once it was in position, the Tamiya tape came off, as did the middle section of the mask. And that's where I'm at so far... Edit: Almost forgot, a huge thanks to you, LSP_Kev, for your advice regarding the Cameo!

Oh yeah, the stuff up.. I tried masking the cheatlines with Tamiya tape, using cutouts from a photocopy of the decal sheet as a guide. However, I had positioned the cutout too high, so the tape ended up in the wrong place. The position of the lower cheatline doesn't allow for making a decent tape mask over the wing root, so I had to come up with a different idea. The next two pics are masking attempt #1.. And masking attempt #2. On this attempt, I laid tape along the fuselage with the idea that I'd trace along the bottom of the cheatline with a #11 blade. Kinda didn't really work...

Here's where I stuffed up. The lower section of the aircraft is white, and the top section is gold. It has burgundy cheat lines, tailfin and nose. So initially I was going to paint the white, then do the burgundy, then the gold. However, the lower cheatline proved too difficult to mask properly, so a different approach was required. The other issue is the doorframes. They have alternating burgundy/gold (gold over the cheatline, burgundy over the gold), BUT the decal sheet only has the burgundy sections. So I would have to do some very fiddly painting to get the gold part.....unless, of course, one's been a draftsman for 25 years and has one's own CAD software... Initial drawing of the door surrounds, which will be made into decals..

G'day all.. Here's another project I've been slowly working on - Roden's 1/144 Boeing 720 "Starship One". This will be in the gold/burgundy scheme, and more than likely will wear Deep Purple on the sides. I could have gone with Led Zeppelin, but I have another kit for that. The fuselage assembled, after I'd removed and repositioned the cockpit glass.. And the aforementioned cockpit glass.. On the advice of a mate (thanks TOR!) I filled in the windows along the sides, going with decals instead. I had heard - but not verified - that the kit has too many windows, so opted for decals. Which brings it's own issues, but more on that later. Here she is after a second round of filler. A few of the windows didn't fill properly initially.. All primed now. I cut a piece of sheet plastic to allow me to hold the fuselage when painting - didn't want the wings on at the moment. Initially I glued it in with white glue, but I've found it has a nice friction fit, so I can put it in and out at will..

Today I finished sanding the upper corners of the door frames. The doors fit a treat now! So out to the paint shop for a coat of primer. I'm not sure whether to give it a light sanding or not - the striations are not very visible..

Actually, it *is* available in rattle can...(but I just checked - it was actually 1000 I used!)

Over primer. Mr Surfacer 500, to be precise..

SMS is acrylic lacquer. It comes airbrush-ready right out of the bottle.

G'day folks.. A question or two for the airbrush experten here.. I sprayed some SMS paint on this model. 15psi, cleaned airbrush, everything good, or so I thought. Thing is, I get this orange peel type finish in places. Other places it's quite glossy. What could be causing this, and how can I prevent it from happening again?? Note, I have rubbed certain areas back with 15000 grit..

I've got 5 of the land-based C180's by Monogram....they keep finding their way into my stash somehow! Not much to report on the XMC....started designing the decals for it - I have to go from scratch as there's nothing provided with the kit.

After another polish with 20000 grit. Still needs one or two more coats of primer..

So here's the canopy plug after 2 coats of primer, a sanding with 15000 grit, another coat of primer, and sanding with 15000 and 20000 grit. Still gonna need at least one more coat and more sanding/polishing..

Dayum! Back in 2001 I started working for the ADF as a civilian....in the drawing office. Had access to all the factory drawings for the M113, M548, and ASLAV, among other things. I even did a 3D model of the M113 and M548 for a couple of projects I was working on at the time..

I've been doing a little playing around with the kit, dry fitting odd bits and pieces, and checking parts fit. Have to say, the fit is excellent! First thing I did was check the door/fuselage fit. There's a small web in the upper corner of the door frame...I guess this was put there to assist in printing or something. Anyhow, it has to be removed. So I placed some Tamiya tape across the opening, held the door in place, and marked out the material to be removed. And she's not a tail-sitter, so no need for nose weight! Woohoo!

I was very excited to find this in kit form, simply because it's different. Maybe also because I'm the first and only numbnuts in the world to actually buy one (got it from Shapeways...it cost a small fortune!). The kit is 3D printed. Shapeways weren't even sure they could print it when I placed the order.. The windows are supplied as a plug which needs to be vac formed. So I lashed out and got myself a dental vac form machine. Now I need to find some 0.1mm clear thermoform plastic, but that's another story.. Today I primed it twice with Mr Surfacer 1000 out of a rattle can. There are some striations from the printing process still visible, but I'll be sanding it back before I add another coat.

It's a 1/72 kit I bought from Shapeways (and it cost a small fortune - may have to sell my son into slavery..).

We have a winner!

Bzzzt! Try again...

Some hints: It was built in 1971 by a well-known aircraft manufacturer. There was only one ever built. It was a demonstrator aircraft. I think the tails will at least give away the manufacturer..

Wow. Just......wow.

That looks awesome! I wonder how difficult it would be to convert one of those to a Cessna 170B...guess one would have to come up with a whole new fuselage at least..

A civil L-19....this'll be interesting!

So I got off my butt and did some more painting. I used Mr Colour Phthalo Cyanne Blue and SMS Aluminium. Masking it was a bit of a pain....took me three goes to get it right (ish). It's almost at the point where I can run around my lounge making BRRRRRRMMMMMM noises..

Just curious, but does anyone have factory drawings of the Tiger Moth? Or can point me in a direction where I might find them?

....more specifically, on Hasegawa's 1/16 Sopwith Camel. I've never painted a wood finish, and I'm looking for tips and tricks on how to accomplish this. What's a good base colour, what type of paints should I use....that kind of thing. Yes, I've been on youtube and had a bit of a look, but most videos I've seen relate to painting props, not ribs and stringers. I'm guessing these might be a bit different.. Cheers!