MikeA Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 Beautiful work! Really love the photos that show just how subtle the effect is with the variation in different lights. Would never have thought it could work, but what a formidable task! I reckon the rivet lines would start dancing in front of my eyes before I got to the end of it. Cheers, chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 Question for those who may know more. If CF-104s were planned for nuclear missions to the USSR, would they go West over Alaska, or go North over the pole to get there? Not like Canada is all that far away from the USSR. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted March 7, 2021 Author Share Posted March 7, 2021 1 hour ago, scvrobeson said: Question for those who may know more. If CF-104s were planned for nuclear missions to the USSR, would they go West over Alaska, or go North over the pole to get there? Not like Canada is all that far away from the USSR. Matt As far as I know, Canada has never had nukes on its soil, although I'm sure there has been the odd time that American aircraft with nukes might have landed at one of our airports. Canada had several air bases in Germany during the cold war (they moved around a lot) and as a member of NATO had nuclear capability, along with other NATO member countries. In other words, Canuck Starfighters could strap on an American nuke if the call was made, but the flight would originate in Germany. Cheers, Chuck J.C., Daniel460, scvrobeson and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.C. Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 1 hour ago, chuck540z3 said: As far as I know, Canada has never had nukes on its soil, although I'm sure there has been the odd time that American aircraft with nukes might have landed at one of our airports. Canada had several air bases in Germany during the cold war (they moved around a lot) and as a member of NATO had nuclear capability, along with other NATO member countries. In other words, Canuck Starfighters could strap on an American nuke if the call was made, but the flight would originate in Germany. Cheers, Chuck Diefenbaker refused to put nukes on Canadian soil, vowed never to do it, much to JFK's chagrin. I don't think Kennedy ever forgave him for that. chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted March 7, 2021 Author Share Posted March 7, 2021 (edited) March 7/21 As shown below I have now applied a good couple of coats of Tamiya Acrylic X-22. Before I did I had touched the model with my oily hands and found that the Alclad Chrome paint would rub off fairly easily, needing repairs, so any idea I had before of leaving parts of the model without a clearcoat was nothing but a dream. High Shine Alclad paint NEEDS a clearcoat if there’s any chance you will be handling it. As expected, the clearcoat knocked down the Chrome shine and changed the color. Rather than look like a shiny chrome bumper, it now looks like shiny aluminum to my eye. Not as spectacular a look as before for sure, but much more user friendly. Here are some tips: Thin X-22 with about 1/3 Tamiya lacquer thinner. It’s way too thick to spray straight out of the bottle, but you don’t want it too thin either, or the thinner will attack the paint before the clearcoat can do its thing. Take masks off all the other paintwork and spray everything at once, because X-22 is a bit thick and will leave hard ridges along masking tape edges. It also smooths over any paint ridges that you may already have. You can do paint repairs, but not until after the X-22 has dried and sealed in the Alclad. Do the bottom of the model first to give you practice, let it dry for 24 hours, then flip it over to do the top. For vertical surfaces like the vertical stabilizer, hold the model on its side with rubber gloves, spray it with a wet coat and let it dry slightly before placing the model horizontal again. As with the gloss black lacquer, put the model on a slightly damp towel to help reduce static electricity and the attraction of lint from the air. Spray at slightly higher pressure than normal, because even thinned X-22 is still thick enough to sputter at regular spraying pressures. For me, this was about 15 psi. If you do sputter a bit, load up the splatters with more X-22 to even things out. Spray a "flash coat" of 100% Tamiya lacquer thinner to smooth everything out after the model is well coated with X-22. This can even be done a day later. While X-22 can feel fairly dry in less than 1 hour, do not place your hands on it for at least 24 hours- and 48 hours is even better. When dry, you can lightly sand paint imperfections and respray Alclad, followed by more X-22. All other paints will stick to X-22, so you can do other paint repairs later. Now some pics... With X-22 now protecting the Alclad, I can mask off the windscreen and repair the base of it and other paint repairs without worrying about it lifting. I'll let this dry for a few days while I work on all the little bits that will be added at the end of the build. Cheers, Chuck Edited March 8, 2021 by chuck540z3 LSP_Kevin, Mark M, F`s are my favs and 34 others 35 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 Wow, Chuck, outstanding work as usual. I like the sheen you have achieved with the X-22 on top of the Alclad. Looks more like the pictures earlier in this thread...... Keep em’ coming...... THOR Derek B, J.C. and chuck540z3 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamj Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Unbelievable result...sooooo nice . Jelly. chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levier Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Thank you for spelling out all the detail...very useful! chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 (edited) Thanks Guys! One very important thing that I didn't mention for those who haven't used High Shine Alclad, is that it's not really a true paint, that adds color but also fills and smooths things out. It fills and smooths nothing, because its so thin. Think of it as a colored mist- and that's exactly how you should spray it, as a mist. For this Chrome color I mist over a certain area and long before I have full coverage, I move on, spraying other areas. After a few minutes of drying time, I go back to the first few areas and make the color denser with more mist coats, then move on again. I finish with the model about 75% of the color density I want and let it dry for an hour or two, then go back and do the remaining 25%. Years ago when I first used Alclad, I tried to spray it as a paint and generally made a mess as it crazed the first few coats I had applied earlier. The lacquer (or enamel) undercoat is the real paint, while the Alclad is just the metallic color over it. I hope that makes sense. Cheers, Chuck Edited March 8, 2021 by chuck540z3 Daniel460, airea, Alex and 7 others 6 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chek Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 On 3/5/2021 at 9:23 PM, Oldbaldguy said: Anybody know why they painted the wings whiten NM Starfighters? I think the USAF did the same thing before they camoed them. I recall reading long ago that the gloss white was a special hard epoxy finish used to protect the bare metal of the wing from erosion caused by the hi-pressure bleed air. No idea how true that is. chuck540z3, Derek B and D.B. Andrus 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldbaldguy Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 4 hours ago, Chek said: I recall reading long ago that the gloss white was a special hard epoxy finish used to protect the bare metal of the wing from erosion caused by the hi-pressure bleed air. No idea how true that is. Now that makes more sense than glare from nukes. Chek and chuck540z3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allthumbs Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Looks very convincing, nice work! chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skydivin Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Another awesome build Chuck. Still think you need that Chuck's Book of Tricks and Tips! Appreciate your time to document this build. chuck540z3, Dadeo911 and J.C. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 there are a couple of things they say men do that make them go blind.. I was warned off one of them when I was a young lad this one though, no-one told me about this one.. adding thousands of rivets where even one out of place sticks out - that is dedication it looks amazing Chuck, simply breathtaking Peter Derek B, easixpedro, F`s are my favs and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMcD Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Splendid! chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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