You can't get enough Yellow Wings - Part 1 : Fisher Ryan ST-M.

[MikeP]

Hi Hubert, glad you are finding your mojo again. I have one of these that's been waiting for a coat of paint for a while, so I'm watching your build with interest to see if there is anything I should modify (such as the cockpit coamings) before making it very yellow. Keep up the great work.

 

Mike

[Hubert Boillot]

Tank you for your interest guys.

 

I am in the process of rebuilding the rivet lines which disappeared in the sanding of the fuselage. Need to take the time géo some pics and explanations. As I want to foil the fuse and add-on the wing AFTER I have done thé foiling, I spent some time to ensure the seam around the front fuselage to wing jonction would be minimal. This is a critical area in the kit, and all the builds I have seen had some difficulties in this area.

 

Pics soon

 

Hubert

[Hubert Boillot]

An update ... I can't believe it's been 4 weeks since the last one. This topic has had enough time to sink deeper in the pages of the WIP forum. A good sign that you are incredibly productive ! I like it !

 

Back to the ST-M. As said earlier, I want to foil the fuselage. A key implication is that, to work more easily, I will do the foiling, as much as possible, before gluing the wings on. The consequence is that I need as clean a joint as possible between the two, and this is a critical area in the Fisher kit. If you have followed other builds of the ST-M on LSP, you will have seen that there is a gap to fill and sand at the front seam between the fuselage and the one-piece wing. It's not a big issue if you glue them together, and paint later, when you have done the filling and sanding.

 

With my MO however, it was different. As most of the fuselage but this area will be foiled beforehand, I do not want to have this filling/sanding operation with a foiled fuse. So, I progressively built up the gap between the two with white Milliput. To avoid gluing the wing and the fuselage together at this stage, the wing was covered with shrink-wrap foil and then taped in place. When I was happy that the seam would be minimal, I faired and sanded the new bottom front fuselage into shape.

 

 

In the process, the fine raised rivets that Paul has molded on the fuselage were lost. Rather than attempt to patch the missing rivets here and there with Archer sheet 88014, as per Fisher recommendation, I then decide to bite the bullet and sand the whole fuselage smooth, then rescribe the few panel lines and restore the rivets with the Archer rivets sheet.

 

In order to do so, I needed a smooth gloss base, with good contrast with the black rivets. I had an half empty Tamiya TS-18 gloss red rattle can which proved adequate for the purpose. The re-rivetting is not complete yet, as in the meantime I decided to check something else before (see below), bu this is how it looks so far.

 

 

But the plan still relied on a key assumption: that I could actually foil the fuselage. I have done some trials on a flat scrap plastic sheet, and the foiling worked fine over the rivets, with some (very) thin alu foil.

Howver, the question remained whether I could foil the whole fuselage and cowling. The latter especially has some short radius compound curves around the nose. So I thought I'd better verify I could do it before commiting to full foiling route. In the meantime, I just set aside the rivetting.

 

The conclusion is multiple :

 

1. It can be done.

2. It is unlikely one can succeed at the first attempt. It took me overall some 7 (or 8 ?) attempst before I could say "OK".

3. The good thing about foiling is that it is not so difficult to restart. Just remove the foil, clean the Micro Foil Adhesive glue residues with a rag and alcohol, et voilà ! ready for another attempt.

4. Even though the Tamiya red is a lacquer-based paint, it reacts with rubbing alcohol. I had read on Uschi's site that a dedicated primer was needed for resin; well it is probably true. Even though the parts have been thouroughly degreased, the degree of bonding between paint and PU resin remains weak. I have in the meanitime ordered Mr resin primer surfacer, but it will be used on another resin kit !

5. Thin (i.e. cheap)  foil IS NOT the best foil for complex compound curves. It will crease too easily in the multiple-axis laying.

6. Heavy-gauge kitchen foil will work better, as it still has a capacity to stretch around the compound shapes when burnished.

 

Even with all the precautions, I nevertheless had to admit that I was still expecting too much in terms of foil stretching. Statying at the bottom chin part of the front cowling, the foild could be stretched without undue wrinkles, but not however if it was asked to go around the scoops that flank the sides of the upper cowling, slightly above the prop axis. I finally succeeded when I decided to remove these ones, and to redo them later.

 

I ended up yesterday evening with a very bright and shiny cowling. Too shiny in fact, to the point where it looked artificial. I dulled the bright aluminium slightly by rubbing it with a 0000 steel wool pad. It is still a lot shinier than the "dull" side of the alu foil, but not as mirror-shiny as previously.

 

Her is the foiled cowling. The dzus fasteners were marked by using the tip of a cocktail stick, to push the foil in the engraved recess. The top scoops still have to be redone and foiled, but it will be a no-brainer.

 

 

 

 

Now, back to rivetting the fuselage !

 

Hubert.

[Out2gtcha]

Nice work Hubert!   I love it.............

Have NO fear about coming over the the "dull side" of the force foil my friend. It works just a well as the shiny side, and the MS glue sticks just as well. You can also still gre-grain the dull side to help with that extra shine you found.

 

 

Keep em comin!!

[Hubert Boillot]

I actually wanted a high-gloss shine, so I went for the shiny side. But i was too shiny for my taste in the end.

 

I am still hesitating between a modern warbird with a ultra-high gloss polished aluminium look, or an era US trainer, where the aluminium still looked fairly shiny. My inclination is towards the latter.

 

Hubert

[Out2gtcha]

I actually wanted a high-gloss shine, so I went for the shiny side. But i was too shiny for my taste in the end.

 

I am still hesitating between a modern warbird with a ultra-high gloss polished aluminum look, or an era US trainer, where the aluminum still looked fairly shiny. My inclination is towards the latter.

 

Hubert

 

 

Once you get to that stage Hubert, if you decide on amping up the overall shine to a modern polished finish, two stage automotive metal polish and a suitable Dremel bit come in VERY handy

 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Terrific work Hubert! Note too that it's been my experience that the Tamiya TS and AS rattle can paints will dissolve in alcohol (methylated spirits in my case), and I don't think any kind of primer will help here. You just been to be careful!

 

Kev

[Loic]

Nice work mate !

[Hubert Boillot]

Terrific work Hubert! Note too that it's been my experience that the Tamiya TS and AS rattle can paints will dissolve in alcohol (methylated spirits in my case), and I don't think any kind of primer will help here. You just been to be careful!

 

Kev

 

 

Nice work mate !

 

 

Thank you guys .

 

Kev, point taken about the TS rattle cans and alcohol. The resin primer I bought after I painted the ST-M, and I had no intention to repaint it. I'll see how it works on my next resin kit (I have enough to choose from in the stash).

 

Hubert

 

Hubert

[Hubert Boillot]

A quick update.

 

I finished the re-rivetting of the fuselage, using Archer rivets. I have used the best part of a sheet in the process.

 

I (re) discovered two basic principles of applying decals in an efficient way :

1- It is better to avoid manipulating the decalled parts too much if you want your decals to stay in place. So, either you wait for the decal to have settled, and it takes ages on as small a fuse as the ST-M, or you devise a jig to avoid touching the fuselage as much as possible whilst "chain-applying" the decals

2- Using a product like Microset ou Mr Setter helps a lot to speed up the process and ensure quick adherence of the decals ...

 

Pretty obvious, uh :BANGHEAD2:   ?

 

Anyway, after I set-up a quick-and-dirty holding jig made out of foamed cardboard, and I resolved to the systematic use of Mr Setter, things went pretty swiftly.

 

 

The rivetting was done using the Paul Matt drawing as a guide.

 

 

Finally, I have also redone the two cowling scoops I had removed to ease the foiling process. This was done using slivers of a 4mm dia plastic tube, thinned inside, and subsequently foiled. They were glued in place using Micro Liquitape pressure sensitive adhesive. No risk of smearing CA glue everywhere this way . ( Do you see a pattern in me avoiding CA glue as much as possible, and delaying as much as possible the use of the aerograph for painting ?)

 

 

You can also see on this pic that I have sprayed some satin black on the fuselage, to seal the rivets before foiling. If I need to remove some foil, I thus minimise the risk of tearing off the rivets. The black will also help me get some "panel lines" if I cut some foil too enthusiastically ... It comes from a rattle can sold in the automotive paints section of the local DYI store. It gives a very nice and even finish, for a fraction of the cost of a modelling-apint rattle can. The other good news is that, whilst very conspicuous on the red background (my goal to see what I was doing), the rivets are very fine and subdued once painted over.

 

Now, the fuselage foiling process has started. Update soon (I hope)

 

Hubert

 

PS : the last pic was upright and saved as such on PB. Don't understand for the life of me why it's now lying on its side like a stranded whale    )

Edited April 28, 2015 by MostlyRacers

[Guest]

Hubert, so good to see you here. Lovely build here. Your doing a fantastic job. Thanks for the WIP.........Harv

[Hubert Boillot]

Thanks for the interest, Harv.

 

Well, I have a living illustration of my fears . I have started foiling the fuselage. I will work from the rear to the front, following panels, so that the foremost panels overlap the one behind. So I started. I am applying the glue on the fuselage. To avoid painting glue where it is not yet wanted, I used some Tamiya masking tape...

Well, of course, when I removed the masking tape, the one row of rivets I had set with Mr Mark Setter lifted. So much the plan to seal the rivets with paint !

 

 

I have immediately applied new rivets, but now I have to let them settle ...

 

 

I have used the same heavier gauge of aluminium foil as on the cowling, where I needed to strtech it. It is conforming to the rivets, but not as well as the thinner one I did my trials with. So I will carry on with the thinner gauge for the rest of the fuselage, methink.

 

Hubert.

Edited April 28, 2015 by MostlyRacers

[Out2gtcha]

Great work so far Hubert!     Ive got this kit in my stash as well, and will be watching closely................... 

[Wolf Buddee]

Wow Hubert, you've set yourself up for quite a challenge with the riveting and foiling. One thing I've found is that perseverance and a little luck almost always pays off in the end. Keep at 'er, you'll get it done and it will look fantastic.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

[Hubert Boillot]

Thanks Wolf, Brian and al for checking in.

 

A quick in-progress update. Foiling goes on. The principle is to do it panel by panel. Front panel above rear one, top above bottom, and left above right.

 

 

Using my new high-res camera is terrible to my own work. the pics are taken less than 5 cms away from the model. When looking at it with bare eyes, it has the appearance I wanted : irregular metal, some "oil canning effect", micro-scratches ... When seen through the camera lens, it looks awful, like the work has been botched-up.

 

Maybe it is the case ... Anyway, I am committed to finsh it now. The work goes on .

 

Hubert