big matt Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 That looks real slick Phil! You are not helping me reduce the size of my stash with this build... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted June 10, 2010 Share Posted June 10, 2010 Great work Phil (I really love the F-5E, it's such a lovely little aircraft with bags of character). I like the colour scheme as well (I intend to do a 'Ghost' scheme version at some point). Brilliant Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted June 11, 2010 Author Share Posted June 11, 2010 That looks real slick Phil! You are not helping me reduce the size of my stash with this build... Go on Matt, you know you really want one! The Two Bobs sheet has two other versions in blue and brown with soviet stars, you really should do it!!!!!! (tempt tempt!) Teach you for winding me up about research! Derek, Thanks for the reply, the more you look at this aircraft, the more you realise what an elegant, good looking design it is. Hakan, Thanks for the sympathy! Its a pretty quick fix and I suppose considering the speed I have been painting it(normally leave each enamel coat a couple of days to fully harden off) its a small price to pay! Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 Painted the white tail fin and black nose this morning. Spent a while over the weekend polishing the paint ready for decals. When you consider the darkest and lightest of the three grays were matt finishes, its come up pretty well, got a nice sheen as can be seen here on the fuse. I also repaired the couple of places where my "low tack" masking tape previously removed some paint. Going to leave her for a couple of days to harden off (bit like what it takes me nowadays!) then on with the decals. Later, Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azgaron Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Loking great Phil! Love to see it with decals! Cheers, Håkan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Spent a while over the weekend polishing the paint ready for decals. Polishing the paint to take decals...So simple, yet I never ever thought of trying that before! I would be worried about polishing away the freshly applied paint, so how do you do it Phil? (I would much rather polish the paint than try to apply a gloss coat every time I want to apply decals). Thanks Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 looking better all the time, phil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Hells yeah! That looks killer Phil. I do the same thing. Polishing seems to be something simple like Derek mentioned that you can to without having to add another layer of detail eating clear... Im not sure what your technique is, but I usually just use a very soft (new or new-er so the fibers dont get loose and go everywhere) all cotton t-shirt or flannel shirt. Lookin great phil, keep the pics comin! Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted June 15, 2010 Author Share Posted June 15, 2010 Polishing the paint to take decals...So simple, yet I never ever thought of trying that before! I would be worried about polishing away the freshly applied paint, so how do you do it Phil? (I would much rather polish the paint than try to apply a gloss coat every time I want to apply decals). Thanks Derek Firstly thanks Karl and Hakan. Brian, that's a great idea using cotton cloth, haven't tried it yet but I will. Well Derek, I will try and be as brief and to the point as I can but as always on these forums you find new ways of doing things such as Brian has suggested. This is what I do at the moment. I almost exclusively use enamels. I try to use White Ensign as much as possible as they spray beautifully and leave a very good satin finish. However, their range is limited so a lot of time its back to good old Humbrol. If like me you have spent many a time stirring the pots for ages trying to get the matts and satins mixed cos Humbrol always settles in the tins then you know how frustrating it can be. There may be many people who can get a lovely smooth finish straight from the airbrush but I am not one of them! especially when you have to spray a matt colour. Even if you use White Ensign then when dry and using the best smoothness measuring device available (mark one finger tip) I often feel it to be not really smooth. If you think about car sprayers, they would always rub down coats of paint and in this scale a bit of fluff or rough area would be the equivalent of leaving a dead mouse on a car body! Net result I always give it a rub over to varying degrees. I know your concerns about sanding off paint but the trick is not to be too aggressive and use the right sanding materials. This is my "armoury" at the moment: On the left are the foam sanding pads I get from Halfords. They keep them with all the sanding materials in the car body repair section. I am sure similar stuff is available outside the UK. These are 180 and 240 grit. The next one in is one of the 240 pads after a fair bit of use. Its smaller as I often cut strips off to use a bit like dental floss in those hard to reach places. The (knackered) blue and white sticks are from the Mastercasters range. I always try to have two sets of the sticks on the go. Once they are well worn in they are ideal for sanding paint (and these ones are!). The Oakey pads are pretty aggressive when new so I tend to use them just on primer until they have worn in. To smooth a fairly good surface I give it JUST 2-3 light passes with the well worn grey 240 grit pad. You can also use the blue stick, again once its well worn. Matt finishes I will use the grey pad initially then the blue until almost smooth. I then use my old half inch paint brush to remove the dust. The worn white stick is the smoothest of the Mastercasters set. I use this finally to get a good sheen. You will know when you have got the finish as it will start to squeak (I kid you not!) when its pretty shiny. One thing worth remembering, is that if your model is going to have a satin finish in the end then there is no need to polish the whole thing to a high sheen. I concentrate only on those areas where the decals are going to be. If you have misted on very light coats of colour and are worried about removing them then I would only use the white stick as it hardly removes any paint at all. The final thing to consider when polishing is to be careful to not build up any heat. A chemist would probably tell you that enamels don't harden fully for several days so you may be dealing with a finish that could be vulnerable to any heat build up. I think overall the trick is to take it steady, not be aggressive with the materials and keep using the mark one finger tip! Hope this helps. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Phil, Thank you for the extremely comprehensive explanation on how you achieve your paint finish...I shall heed your advice and try this on my next build. Many thanks Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted June 16, 2010 Share Posted June 16, 2010 Superb cammo job Phil and thanks for the sanding/polishing explanation, most informative. I've tended to use Future but with patchy success. I think I'll give this polishing gig a try. Looking forward to seeing the Shark mouth and sun beams on now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted June 20, 2010 Author Share Posted June 20, 2010 Looking forward to seeing the Shark mouth and sun beams on now. Here you are then: I used the Two Bobs decals as the kit decals were rather yellow on the white areas. The kit sunset was a complete decal covering the whole of the fin whereas the Two Bobs required painting the fin white then adding just the red areas. The sharkmouth didn't fit very well, needed to cut it in half and overlap it to stop it covering the black bulges on the nose. Hope to unmask her tomorrow, paint the black portion at the top of the fin and get her up on her gear. Nearly Done! Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big matt Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 YES!!! That looks awesome. What a neat scheme and you have nailed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted June 20, 2010 Author Share Posted June 20, 2010 YES!!! That looks awesome. What a neat scheme and you have nailed it. Thanks big fella! Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 SHWWWWWEEEEEET!! Man Phil, Ive passed by this kit many, many times @ my LHS, and it kinda blended into the rest of their selection of 1/32 kits....until I saw this build! You really made it come alive mate...........brilliant job! It really is turning out awesome! Cheers, Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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