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P-51D old Crow


Neo

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Hi guys

 

this thread id my current project.

Couple of weeks ago i started a lots of firts for me :

-My first Hasegawa model.

-My first 1/32 scale

-My first Hole Bare Metal Foil finish plane

 

here is some work in progress

 

 

p1010777y.jpg

 

p1010775u.jpg

 

p1010774gu.jpg

 

p1010769g.jpg

 

p1010763ee.jpg

 

p1010766.jpg

 

p1010765.jpg

 

Hope you like it

 

 

Feel free to comment

 

Cheers

 

Neo

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I have used Bare Metal on chrome trim for cars and it can be a pain.

 

Yeah that's why I stopped using it on all my foiled aircraft projects long ago. :P

BMF doesn't stick for sh#$ and tends not to conform to any compound curves....or it will just outright tear.

 

I started using various thicknesses and types of kitchen foils with 3 or 4 different graining techniques, and 2 discoloration techniques.....and havnt looked back since. It turns out so much more realistic ( to me anyway) than absolutely ANY metalizer, power, or Alcad II that I have ever used, Ill never go back to painting a natural metal finish ever again...............foil is forgiving in almost every way possible and in the end is no more so called "tedious" than a stellar paint job.

 

In fact, for me, foiling has gotten SO addictive, that I haven't even had the desire to a subject NOT in natural aluminum!

 

Plane looks great! :blowup:

 

Cheers,

Brian

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Hey Brian

 

yeah i thought about doing it with normal foil but i find BMF to work great. the only challenge ive had so far is going around the 3 50cal's.. took me 3 tries on the left and 2 on the right to get it looking nice (there are still little rincles but i can live with them)

 

1 question when you overlap the foild how do you manage so that you don't see the other 1 underneath?? if you look at the second wing picture you can see a diagonal line on the left side on the gun bay.. i dont what that to happen again but don't know how to prevent it

 

 

Cheers

 

Neo

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The technique I use I leared from Buckey Sheftall.

 

You should sand down the first seam so there is little or no step left. Once you overlap the second piece, simply do the same there and your seams will be MUCH less noticable.

 

Use a sanding stick, or very fine grain paper, start with 1000 or so and see how it feels. You can always go with a taller grain once you get the hang of it, but start light so you don't scar the foil too badly.

 

HTH~

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I found the best way for me to deal with that was to not overlap at all. I cut the foil so it matches a set of panels and then burnish it down. Once thats done I roll a #10 blade along the panel line and remove the excess. By doing the cut in the panel line I avoid any overlaps at all. By rolling the curved blade, you shear the foil rather than trying to slice it with a sideways pressure and the foil will not tear.

 

Sabre

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I found the best way for me to deal with that was to not overlap at all. I cut the foil so it matches a set of panels and then burnish it down. Once thats done I roll a #10 blade along the panel line and remove the excess. By doing the cut in the panel line I avoid any overlaps at all.

 

I use a very similar technique. When I foil, I only use real panel lines of the aircraft itself, and burnish from there with a variety of tools from shaped balsa pieces, to Q tips to toothpicks for the panel outlines, depending on the size and shape of the panel and its placement. I never ever put a foil demark in any place other than where 2 panel lines meet, and if necessary where there is an odd angle foil/paint demark line, as in the rear of my thai bearcat.

 

When it is necessary to have a foil line demark (such as when foiling drop tanks or intakes with lots of compound curves) try graining the foil after you apply the foil in the same direction as the demark line itself, thus hiding the demark line a bit, and making it much less noticeable.

 

As Chris mentioned you can sand down the edge of the foil seam, but again BMF being as thin as it is does not lend itself to this very well, and you will need to be extremely careful not to rip the foil or bring up the edge of seam, as the BMF glue is not super sticky and may peel up on you if it gets too thin, or something gets under the seam joint.

 

I have just found that the glue on BMF tends to not be as strong as the foil glue and does not lend itself to painting over the foil for anti glare strips, and insignias where as kitchen foil, if you apply it right, will stay burnished down even when masking mediums are used like low tack masking tape, frisket paper or the more flexible clear hobby mask.

 

Another disadvantage I have found personally to BMF is it doesn't lend itself very well to graining, which in my mind is KEY to getting a realistic look of a natural aluminum aircraft, as all panels on natural aluminum birds have some sort of graining pattern to them, giving them that characteristic look.

 

I use several different graining techniques to get the real look of varying panels which also has the added benefit of not only making the panels look realistic and different from each other prior to applying the foil panels, but it also gives paint a great surface to bite into for primer and/or paint.

 

Using this method I have done many many models in foil and applied paint over the foil with great results; never having the paint chip.

 

Foil also can create a great effect for weathering.

 

Using kosher salt or preferably sea salt from a grinder (like a pepper grinder for salt) and applying a bit of water on the foil where you want chips to appear, then laying the odd shaped salt crystals on that water, letting it dry over night, then knocking off what ever excess you want, and painting over that, then once the paint is dry, knocking off the crystals underneath, you can acheive extremely realistic paint chipping.

 

 

Cheers,

Brian

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Looking good Neo, I too am in the process of my first foiling job (P51) with BMF and have been dreading when I get to the gun ports.

 

Hey Brian, you might consider doing a write-up in 'tips and techniques' for the foiling beginners among us. I want to try the kitchen stuff next, and it would be great to have some sort of step-by-step instruction from someone with the considerable experiance you obviously have.

 

Fred

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Hey Brian, you might consider doing a write-up in 'tips and techniques' for the foiling beginners among us. I want to try the kitchen stuff next, and it would be great to have some sort of step-by-step instruction from someone with the considerable experiance you obviously have.

 

I could do that...............Im no writer and definatly no expert as Im sure there are people more capable than I when i comes to foiling. Most of what I have learned is simply T&E, with a lot of crying, cursing and cussing involved! :BANGHEAD2: LOL

 

Id say the ONE most surprising revolation Ive had is that the thinner the foil medium (AKA BMF, and the cheapie dollar store brand foils) act exactly opposite how one wold expect them to act.

 

What I mean is, I always thought that the more severe the curve or angle of the piece you want to foil, the thinner you would want the foil to be covering that piece.

 

I learned my techniques from my Jedi foiling master Ken Friend. As I quickly learned the more severe or odd the angle or piece (also AKA P-51 gun ports :) ), the THICKER you want the foil to be.

 

Most times the thicker foil like Renalds Wrap heavy duty, conforms, stretches, and lays down great and does not tend to tear. Also if you DO happen to get a wrinkle, (I get em still) if you use the heavy duty stuff you can sometimes actually sand the wrinkles right out of the foil with a sanding stick, as the thickness of the heavy duty foil compensates for the sanding.

 

If you have issues with trying to get a foil panel to conform like you would want, 9 times out of 10 it does not have enough tack to conform correctly or your burnishing tool is creating too much friction.

 

When I have those issues I will sometimes switch burnishing tools to an exacto handle (minus the blade of course) coated with a little Vasiline to eliminate the friction that tends to rip the foil.

 

Ill try to work on putting something together as far as a techniques write up. I just recently acquired (with MANY thanks to Mario AKA Saburo :lol: ) a 1/32 Ki-61 that I am going to foil, then paint over the top of that, using most all the afor mentioned techniques, that I will be putting in the Works in Progress thread, and I will be covering the "how to" part of my personal foiling methods during that build as well.

 

Cheers,

Brian

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Brian,

 

If you're going to have a 'how-to' in your KI-61 build thread, that will fill the bill for tips & techniques far as I'm concerned, plus it's always nice to have photo's to aid in the learning process. :shrug:

 

Looking forward to it.

 

Fred

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