foiler Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 (edited) One of the most frequent questions asked about NMF foiling is "how can I foil irregular shapes?" Brian has provided a myriad of excellent information on foiling, and I am in awe of his skills. I originally posted this article some time ago, but the images had been removed with some of the Photobucket reorganizations. I thought those who still have questions might be able to get some ideas from another foiler (no pun intended) so I resurrected the images of the process as applied to a 1/32 Kinetic F-86F wing tip. Please keep in mind that this is not the ONLY way; it is simply the way I did this one.First, the tools: single edged razor blade(s), X-Acto knife aluminum handle, a medium grit nail board, my favorite "smoothing" stick of hard balsa, and another balsa stick wrapped with 600 grit wet-or-dry. Not shown is the Microscale Metal Foil Adhesive. The first thought when doing complex contours is to use the thinnest foil. Yes, it will conform very readily, but it has little to no "workability". In this case extra heavy duty Reynolds wrap was used. An over-sized piece was used to provide extra material in the tight areas. In this case I applied adhesive to both the foil and the wing tip, making sure there were no cat hairs in the adhesive..... The foil is wrapped up and around the wing tip. Here, you have to take what the foil will give you by letting the foil take the best bending path. In this case, there is a larger, slightly curved area that the foil will bend to without wrinkling. Smooth the upper and lower surfaces with the balsa stick. The foil will have to conform to some irregular contours. Simply pressing down hard on the curvatures will leave you with a bunch of unremovable wrinkles. To get a good idea of the contour, lightly press the foil together around the wing tip. Using a single-edged razor blade, the foil can be slit between the upper and lower surfaces. This will allow the foil to "flow" around the irregular curves more readily. Using the balsa stick and a toothpick, the foil can be tightly pressed against the contours.The overhanging foil can be trimmed back with the razor blade. Sorry, I had too many pictures. Next post continues topic...... Edited July 18, 2013 by foiler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foiler Posted June 17, 2010 Author Share Posted June 17, 2010 (edited) With a little more judicious use of the nail board and careful trimming, the excess foil can be worked down to the parting line. To completely blend the foil seam, the aluminum X-Acto knife handle is lightly coated with Vaseline and used to burnish the foil. This is where the hevier foils are a must; too thin, and the aluminum handle will grab the foil and tear it. A lot of pressure can be used on the heavier stuff.A little touch-up with some 600 wet-or-dry, and the hard part is done! The last picture shows the wing tip on the final model after the finish was adjusted. The total time for this (including taking pictures) was about 1/2 hour. Once the rest of the foiling is complete, the finish of the wing tip and other areas can be adjusted in a variety of ways. If you find a little plastic showing through a seam, just use some buffing metalizer to make it disappear. One of the ways I have found to "weather" aluminum foil is to polish it with toothpaste. This provides a "used" look vs a "just off the production line" look. Some have different grits and different additives, and provide different sheens and discoloration. Using steel wool to burnish the whole model will turn your work into a die-cast replica and ruin all your hard work. Steel wool can be used to "grain" individual panels, but care must be taken to keep the scratches parallel to an edge in lieu of elliptical swirls.Yes, there are other ways to do this. But, I have found this method is consistant, and can be used on almost any wing tip, horizontal stab tip, or fin tip. Hope this is useful, and thanks for looking! Edited July 19, 2013 by foiler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Ken, You are the BOMB! Excellent show and tell. Sincerely, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 When i found this treasure i downloaded the thread and i actually use the technique for the first time yesterday and OMG this is an awesome tutorial it took me 2 tries to get it right and it looks amazing. THANKS FOILER your a genius Any good trick for foiling a bird with raised panel lines?? Cheers Neo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Can we please have the pics restored?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Molitor Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 Can anyone restore these pictures again? Thanks.. Troy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foiler Posted July 19, 2013 Author Share Posted July 19, 2013 When i found this treasure i downloaded the thread and i actually use the technique for the first time yesterday and OMG this is an awesome tutorial it took me 2 tries to get it right and it looks amazing. THANKS FOILER your a genius Any good trick for foiling a bird with raised panel lines?? Cheers Neo I really do apologize for not getting these images reposted in a timely manner. I simply forgot to do it...... darned old age....... The best thing I have found for raised panel lines Neo is to sand them down until they almost disappear, then apply the foil. The reflective properties of foil will show even the most minute surface detail, so you will still be able to trim your panels to the original lines. Personally, I like to lay a larger piece over the area, lay thin sheets on top of that piece, and trim the top piece to the panel lines that are showing through. This does two things; it provides variations in panels as they would be seen on the real aircraft, and the edge of the top layer provides a realistic SCALE panel line. Panel lines in 1/32 scale should be no wider than 0.001" (0.0254mm). Normally, this would not be visible to the naked eye, so the reflection and shadow of the top layer provides a discernible panel line. Again, my apologies...... Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radial Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Thanks for the concise description of your foiling process. I've been practicing on a mule model for about a year and my problem area has been tight concave sections like wing fillets. Between you and Brian this is great information! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foiler Posted July 19, 2013 Author Share Posted July 19, 2013 Thanks for the concise description of your foiling process. I've been practicing on a mule model for about a year and my problem area has been tight concave sections like wing fillets. Between you and Brian this is great information! I am happy to hear the information is useful. I am also re-doing another old post (that I had to remove) on foiling an F-104. There is a specific section on wing root fillets. I will try to get it back up within the next week. Maybe that will help as well. Ken radial 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Thanks for restoring the photos Ken. Much appreciated! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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