KOTR Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Well, after nine beers, I'd probably have the radiators placed all over me, but not on the model... Great progress, love it so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geedubelyer Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Nice work Eric. That shot of the whole lot assembled looks lovely. This is a super subject and you are doing a cracking job. Keep at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) I have done a bit more work on the S4. I put this model on hold for a while as I was confronted with a problem that I wanted to fix properly instead of just a patch job. As the model needed a lot of sanding and filling with primer, some of the lovely round fastener heads were rubbed out. As the resin parts are from MDC, I thought that it may be appropriate to purchase the MDC 1/32nd rivet maker tool. I found the indentations to be pretty well an exact match! (surprise, surprise). Here is the problem I got this tool from MDC and here is the solution Edited January 22, 2013 by ericg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJG Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 Mate there is no stopping you. It looks great and I love that you are so apt to plastic and resin. Cheers, Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 Well the moment that I was dreading with this build has finally arrived, the painting stage. I have never done a civil bird or any gloss aircraft before, and have always hated doing white, so I knew I would have to come up with something different this time. As I wanted the paint to be high shine, I knew it would have to be polished, so the issue of breaking through the surface of the paint was something I was keen to avoid. The other issue is how to not make it look like a toy, so my traditional way of finishing a model will require a new method First was to give it a couple of decent coats of MR surfacer 1000 from the spray can. Initially I though I was going to use this just as a primer. After I rubbed it back I was pleased to find that the primer was in fact smoothing out into a glossy finish with ever finer grades of sandpaper. I then decided to unleash the dremel. Take one dremel, equip it with a polishing bit. Then apply small amounts of the Tamiya Coarse polishing compound. Here is the result. It was very hard to get good pics of the super shine as the contrast of the white was blowing out my phone/camera settings. To say that I am over the moon with how good this has come out is an understatement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radial Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Very nice gloss finish and a gutsy move to take a dremel to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssculptor Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Don't stop now! Pant pant. I've got an unpainted wood one of these in 1/24 and I want to see how yours comes out before i start to paint mine, especially how you do the radiators. Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 (edited) Eric Beautiful work on buffing out white to a deep, gloss finish. I never had the slightest doubt you wouldn't pull it of. Hope you don't mind, as I tried to bring out the whites for you. Being a JPEG and not a RAW file, there isn't a lot of information to work with but I was able to bring out more of the gloss white. Edited January 23, 2013 by Peterpools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Very nice work Eric! I used Mr White Surfacer on my 767 as both primer and top coat. It's great stuff if you want a smooth, tough white without a lot of effort. I'll have to give the Dremel polishing technique a go on my next airliner. Looking good! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Oh, by the way, that's a cordless Dremel in your photo, yeah? What's the minimum RPM on that one? My corded one only goes down 10k, which is way too fast for most applications in plastic or resin. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Excellent job. looking good........Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 Hi Kev, the minimum RPM on the cordless Dremel is 5000 rpm, same as my big corded one. I think the difference is that at low rpms, the cordless one doesn't have a huge amount of torque, so it doesn't have a tendancy to burn through. Another quick update, I had planned to do quite a bit on the S4 today but got called into work. I did mask off the forward fuselage though and get it ready for the Alclad black base. Paint applied, now the nervous part.... did the masking tape rip off the white paint?/did the black creep under the tape?/did I get overspray? It all came out pretty good in the end. I unmasked the black part so I could polish the black base, and also check for flaws before I go back and colour it in with varying shades of Alclad aluminium. In a moment of sheer madness, I took to the black alclad with the dremel again and it actually polished to an almost mirror finish. I went back and touched up a couple of areas after these pics were taken as I noticed a couple of rough spots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Eric You've got the touch, as the gloss black nose and cowl looks glass smooth. Keep 'em coming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 (edited) I retouched some areas and gave it another polish. Next up is the application of the alclad aluminium. In this photo you can just make out the raised effect of the blended panel of the wingroot. I actually masked this off when I initially primed the model and gave it a heavier than normal coat of primer such that when it is finished, it will look like an aluminium panel that overlaps the wooden wing. I am going to see if I can pull off what I did with my Phantom a while ago when I gave Alclad a go for the first time. Sorta like the bare metal panels found on the rear of my model here: Edited January 25, 2013 by ericg radial and Whitey 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 That looks fantastic mate! It's giving me new impetus to get going with my Hughes racer. How did you manage to find a corded Dremel that goes down to 5k? As it is, I can't find a cordless one these days; nobody seems to stock them. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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