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Good kit to practice foiling?


Bstarr3

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I'd like to give foil a try for a NMF plane.  I know that there can be some challenges to the technique, and that, eg compound curves can be difficult to come out right.  Is there a specific plane that anyone who has experience with this technique would recommend to try?  That is, one whose general shape would not make it exceptionally difficult to try for a first time foiler?  I guess another useful answer would be, is there any kit I should avoid trying the technique for the first time?

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6 minutes ago, Bstarr3 said:

I'd like to give foil a try for a NMF plane.  I know that there can be some challenges to the technique, and that, eg compound curves can be difficult to come out right.  Is there a specific plane that anyone who has experience with this technique would recommend to try?  That is, one whose general shape would not make it exceptionally difficult to try for a first time foiler?  I guess another useful answer would be, is there any kit I should avoid trying the technique for the first time?

 

 

Get yourself a cheap Revell-esk type kit without raised panel lines.  The raised panels will be a severe impairment for a first time foiler, and Id steer clear of it. In actuality,  any kit you have on the SOD will work, I would just recommend one with the most surface area you can find. The type or brand doesn't matter as you will be encountering all sorts of foil variations when/if you start foiling models you care about. 

 

Just make sure its assembled fairly decently, as practicing on a poorly built model with gaps, steps and other surface blemishes, really doesn't do much good for practice except to get the hand of burnishing. As long as you have a fairly similar starting point/surface as to what you may have on the real models you are going to foil, you should be GTG

 

HTH

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Here’s a few thoughts in both prop and jet categories depending on what you like to build. A clipped wing spit or mustang would be cool - in the category of avoids those compound curves. I’m doing an F-84G right now and the wing tanks are painted, not bare metal on the one I’m modeling so that avoids the compound curves as well. An F-100 may fit the bill as well. Brian’s got tons of advice on here and you can check out my post in the WIP forum as well for advice everyone has posted on my first try at it. By-the-by, Airbrushing the adhesive using alcohol to dilute it has netted me the single biggest improvement in my work and the way the model looks.

chris

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I may have been a tad stupid and simply launched into foiling without any prior practice, but managed to pull it off anyway. There are some incredible resources and resourceful people on this site, as mentioned in this thread already. Foiling in itself is not difficult and, if it stuffs up then just remove the foil panel and redo it. What is important is that you plan how you want to do the job and have a routine for each step of the process. It is by nature fiddly and quite repetitive, but immensely rewarding. Having said all that, I wouldn't be attempting narrow drop tanks without some prior practice on a similar shape.

 

The process of foiling is in reality very forgiving, in the sense that mistakes are immediately and easily corrected. Which is certainly not my experience with most of the paint finishes available. Almost any air frame will do, especially where the number of tight compound curves are limited. Be prepared to have several goes at areas like wing roots.

 

Cheers

Mike

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

My first was a 1/32 hasegawa p-51. I think it was a good platform to learn. The hardest part being the chin.

 

My second was a 1/48 revell b-25 raised panel lines made it quite harder

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  • 3 weeks later...

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