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Foiled HKM B-25J Strafer - 345th BG Air Apaches - Lady LiL


Out2gtcha

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Thanks for the votes of confidence, and all the positive comments fellas. :D

 

Kev,

as to the application of the MS foil glue with the airbrush..........

 

I had always wanted to try this application method ever since I started reading Kens tutorials on foiling on oldmodelkits.com.

I started with brush application but as mentioned before it left bristles and streaks in the glue, and using the putty spreaders did produce satisfactory results albeit with drawbacks that I was not happy with.

 

The main reason I never tried this method before is I was not sure A- the glue could be shot thinned and B- was not sure it woldnt muck up the airbrush.

 

I basically put a lump of MS foil glue in a little plastic medicine cup, and added a few drops of bottled drinking water until I had the thickest possible consistency (visually) that I thought I could shoot through the aibrush at higher PSI, and not gunk or clog it all up.

If I had to guess, Id say it might be close to a 3 parts glue, 2 parts water mix.

 

If you cap the hole in the air-brush lid it seems to help keep the glue mix from drying out at much. It WILL still clog the air brush a bit, but nothing like I expected.

 

It shot wonderfully at 25 PSI, as it was high enough to get the proper coverage, but not SO high the mix went way off base when aiming for your foil work. If you stay about 6 - 8 US inches away from the work, I found the glue layer was quite adequate and you could re-apply (literally) within seconds of the last coat. Just keep the layers not too thick and not too close, and at an angle to the light and you can really watch teh glue dry rather rapidly.

 

No runs, drips or errors it seems! Its not perfect, but leaves almost 0 streaking, lines, lumps or lumps, and because it applies like paint, you can regulate with great accuracy, how and where the glue is applied.

And because this is loaded up in the airbrush, there is no prep work getting the putty applicators clean, or laying out the glue to be spread. Since you are not shooting paint, you can also keep the airbrush close at hand away from the normal "spray zones" as the glue seems not to kick up any noticeable small particles either.

This will be my method of choice for some time I think.

 

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Hi Brian,

 

Thank you so much for sharing your fantastic information and techniques on your incredible foiling jobs. I really have to give this a try one day as the finish you achieve in just first rate. I've followed all your builds on here so far and I for one really appreciate the time you take to write these WIP's.

 

Cheers mate, Craig

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Thanks again guys!

 

K1,

 

Yeah Im pretty sure..........the only reason I put it like that, is because I normally spread more than 1 layer of straight MS glue on the foil using the spreader method.......................So in this case I was just figuring that since the glue was quite thinned, that one layer of the glue might not cut it.


To be honest I haven't tried sticking it down with only a single layer of glue. Its really so handy that honestly, its just as easy (and literally only takes a couple extra seconds) to grab the airbrush and run over another layer of glue as apposed to leaving with 1 layer. I really just didnt want to chance that the single layer would be sufficient to hold the foil in place permanently.

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Guest Peterpools

Brian

One more question regarding foiling. How do you apply the different sections of foil to butt up so perfectly to each other and without getting glue on the top surfaces of the foil?

Thanks

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Holeeeeee sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiit! What a masterpiece.

 

That will teach me to not look at a topic because I don't like the subject matter.... excellent work sir!

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Brian

One more question regarding foiling. How do you apply the different sections of foil to butt up so perfectly to each other and without getting glue on the top surfaces of the foil?

Thanks

 

I've only foiled one model so far Peter, so I don't have Brian's expertise, but I would always overlap the foil, burnish down up to where they meet, and then trim the excess with a new #11 blade. Any glue residue that transfers to the top of the existing panel can be cleaned off with a cotton bud moistened with alcohol (I used methylated spirits myself). This didn't happen that often though, as the Microscale foil glue dries to a gummy consistency and is pressure activated. So as long as you don't burnish the new panel down over the existing one, it wasn't much of a problem.

 

Kev

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Thanks again one and all for the positive responses! Im still actually experimenting with this foil stuff, since I seem to advance, or at least change up my techniques each time I embark on a new foiling venture........I just try to continually fix areas or techniques that dont seem to give me the results Im after. The most successful breakthroughs come from suggestions, research and mostly from T & E.

 

 

 

 

Brian

One more question regarding foiling. How do you apply the different sections of foil to butt up so perfectly to each other and without getting glue on the top surfaces of the foil?

Thanks

 

 

I've only foiled one model so far Peter, so I don't have Brian's expertise, but I would always overlap the foil, burnish down up to where they meet, and then trim the excess with a new #11 blade. Any glue residue that transfers to the top of the existing panel can be cleaned off with a cotton bud moistened with alcohol (I used methylated spirits myself). This didn't happen that often though, as the Microscale foil glue dries to a gummy consistency and is pressure activated. So as long as you don't burnish the new panel down over the existing one, it wasn't much of a problem.

 

Kev

 

 

Peter,

K1 is 100% right. The MS glue is quite pressure sensitive, so as Kev suggests, if you dont burnish it, it really doesnt stick to the other sections of foil. Just make sure you have a new #11 blade or a new straight razor. The Exacto handle/blade combo works really well for curves and shorter straight lines, but I found it handy to get a 100 pack of straight razor blades for the main brunt of the straight line work, as its easier to keep a straight line with them since the blade surface is actually longer. The straight razor blades are also HELLA cheaper than getting mass amounts of #11 blades..........although you WILL need them both.

Just make sure you clean things with 90% alcohol and not 70%. The 70% just doesn't cut it.............or the glue.

The down side to foil is you will go through MASS amounts of blades.............dont think your going through them too quickly because your probably not. Foil decimates the blades VERY quickly, and they become dull and unusable to cut the foil after just a few uses cutting foil. Dont overuse them, as you will assuredly ruin a nice piece you just laid down cutting a panel out with an over used blade.

 

I have however found a technique that keeps the current foil panel your working on less likely to stick to any panel around it -

 

- I take some of the Vaseline used for burnishing and using my finger, spread in on all the panels surrounding the 1 Im working on. Dont worry about getting it on the bare area your about to cover in foil.......

 

- Then I take a cotton bud (I use Q-tips ) dipped in 90% alcohol and go over completely the panel Im about to cover in foil, making sure I clean the whole panel, all the way to the edges. No need to be too careful here, as going off the edges of the panel is no big deal since only a little section of the adjacent panel gets wiped off, the rest is still covered in Vaseline.

 

All of this gives the overlap of the current panel your working on, very little surface area to stick to the next panel beside it, thus making it WAY easier to remove the excess from the panel your just cut out.

 

For me, I have found one of the KEYS to a smooth foil finish, and being able to foil complex, compound curves, is the Vaseline. It totally smooths things out, and give the foil a chance to bend, and stretch, as apposed to catching on the burnishing tool and ripping or wrinkling. No way id be getting the foil around some of the compound curves I have without it. Im makes a big difference.

 

HTH and cheers,

Edited by Out2gtcha
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