Starfighter Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 Beautiful, Kev! LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Peters Posted December 4, 2017 Share Posted December 4, 2017 Nicely done! Regarding the wing tip lights, they're actually clear with a tiny coloured bulb inside. I think they'd look better clear than painted. Allan LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 4, 2017 Author Share Posted December 4, 2017 Nicely done! Regarding the wing tip lights, they're actually clear with a tiny coloured bulb inside. I think they'd look better clear than painted. Allan Yeah, I know - but they're such a poor fit that there was no way I was going to be able to pull off clear covers with coloured bulbs, so I opted to cover my sins with paint! If they end up looking truly awful (and I'll let you guys be the judge), I can always strip the clear paint colours off and polish them up as best I can. Kev Kahunaminor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 4, 2017 Author Share Posted December 4, 2017 OK, here are the two wing tip lights painted up in clear red and green respectively: I managed to make the green one a little smaller somehow. Oh well. Anyway, what's the verdict - acceptable? Or strip the clear paints off and leave them clear with no bulb? The problem I have with doing the latter is that I doubt I'll be able to make the clear plastic presentable enough for the job. As I said earlier, the paint is hiding a number of sins! But would love to hear what you guys think. I'm now down to my last 3 tasks, by my reckoning. First one is to rehabilitate the broken pitot tube. I used the Quickboost resin item, which is nicely done, but fragile. The first time I broke it off, I simply glued it back on as a butt-join to the stub peaking out of the wing. Having now broken it off a second time, I've elected to replace the shaft with aluminium tubing, and simply glue the business end of the resin piece to it: The very end will remain vulnerable to being knocked off, but at leas the unit as a while will now be stronger, and I can bury it a bit deeper in the wing. Just need to clean up the join, install it and paint it. More soon! Kev Shaka HI, Lee White, Out2gtcha and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Paul Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Kev, It's your model, but if you're going for overall accuracy to go with all the work and that beautiful paint job, the colored wingtip lights just dont look correct. I have seen folks buy a toothbrush with a clear handle ( or at least a section of it ) to cut up for wingtip lights.. also CD cases are also a good source of thicker clear plastic that shapes and polishes easily. Either way Kev is a beautiful model! A truly fun to watch thread and it's been fun to watch. Paul Shaka HI and LSP_Kevin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 5, 2017 Author Share Posted December 5, 2017 Thanks, Paul. I'm torn over the wing tip lights, to be honest. I agree that they don't look correct, but I so want this model done and off my bench. I've used the toothbrush handle trick many times, but I'm not sure I've not the stomach for it on this one. It's the sort of surgery you don't do on a painted model! We'll see - let's see what others think. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloorwestSiR Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Kev, I think they would look better in clear. If there's a bunch of scratches in the clear, one thing I've done in the past is give them a coat of Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. The cement smoothens out the surface and restores the clarity. The trick is to do it in one pass and then leave it to dry. Do not give it a poke or touch it. This has worked for me on instrument faces and navigation lights. You can try it on a piece of clear sprue. Cut it off, sand the surface until it's frosted and then put on the cement. Hope that helps. Carl LSP_Kevin and LSP_Paul 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 5, 2017 Author Share Posted December 5, 2017 Thanks, Carl. I use this 'chemical sanding' trick on standard styrene, but hadn't thought to use it in a situation like this. The mounting consensus is obvious, so I guess I'll strip the paint off and see what it looks like, and then take it from there. It's not so much scratches and the like that I'm concerned about, it's noticeable areas of superglue, which didn't clean up and become clear after sanding. I had to use quite a bit of it to build up the profile and shape, which was very poor in relation to the cut-outs they had to fit in to. Kev LSP_Paul 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 5, 2017 Author Share Posted December 5, 2017 OK, so the way forward is...clear. Just stripped the paint off and doused the clear plastic in Tamiya Extra Thin cement. I'll have to leave this alone now for a fair while to let the cement do its work and for the parts to dry off completely, which will give me a good opportunity to install the tail wheel doors. Kev LSP_Paul 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Barry Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Good luck with the light do over. I know how you feel at the end here. The little things are maddening after all the work and you are oh so close. Be strong! LSP_Kevin and LSP_Paul 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Honestly if I were in the same position Id leave em. But Im prone to be less concerned about accuracy in situations where builds have turned into marathons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 5, 2017 Author Share Posted December 5, 2017 Honestly if I were in the same position Id leave em. But Im prone to be less concerned about accuracy in situations where builds have turned into marathons. Me too, normally, Brian - and there's certainly plenty of other elements in the build that are not accurate (wheels, paint scheme, nose art), but I have to agree with the other guys that the coloured lights just didn't look right. My fears of the clear plastic not being in good shape were well-founded, but somehow they just look more the part. I've reduced them slightly in size, and will give them a coat of Future or similar to 'glass' them up a bit, and call it done. Before, they really stuck out; now, you won't hardly notice them. Kev LSP_Paul, Kahunaminor and Shaka HI 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 5, 2017 Author Share Posted December 5, 2017 Well, the final hurdle has arrived. At least, I thought it had - and then I realised that I had neglected to do anything about the gun camera ports in the wing leading edges. Trumpeter gives you a couple of poorly defined indents, into which you're supposed to insert a pair of clear parts. I can tell without even trying them that they won't fit, and will look ugly. I'm not even sure if there's meant to be one in each wing, to be honest (experts?). In any case, I'm going to have to clean up the indents, paint 'em black, and then fill them will clear UV-curing gel. Apart from that, I've checked everything off the list except the prop: wing tip lights done; sliding canopy fitted; pilot's headrest fitted; tail wheel doors fitted; upper port wing nav light fixed; new pitot tube installed (and repaired after I broke the tip off!). I can't think of anything else that needs doing, so once Carl's prop blades arrive, I'll get the prop assembled, painted, decalled, weathered, and installed. And that will be THE END! Kev Trak-Tor, Daniel460 and Shaka HI 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Peters Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Yup, lenses in both wings. LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted December 5, 2017 Share Posted December 5, 2017 Brilliant Kev! Closer and closer to the finish line, and it looks great. Jim LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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