LSP_Kevin Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Some of you will have seen me sneak updates on this build into my Minicraft DC-4 thread, as it wasn't supposed to be on the workbench long enough to warrant a build thread of its own. But of course, it took on a life of its own, so I thought it was time to spin up its own build thread. When I bought the kit, it came with a set of Liveries Unlimited decals for Olympic Airways, which were much more attractive than the kit decals, so that's what I decided to go with. Here's a brief recap in photos of the work done so far. First, the paint job - primed with Mr. Surfacer and the fuselage painted with SMS White: Then we have the wings and tailplanes painted with Xtreme Metal Polished Aluminium (old formula), as I'd run out of SMS Super Silver: It provides a lovely natural metal effect, but is super fragile compared to the SMS paint, and has suffered lots of handling wear since being applied. This original formulation was an enamel-based product, but I believe they've recently changed it to a lacquer, which I might have to try out. But I'm very happy with the SMS product, so don't see a reason to change now (always good to have a back up, though). And then it came time for the decals, and that's when things really started going pear-shaped. The aftermarket decals are 25+ years old, and consequently stiff, brittle, and fragile. The full tail decals were also slightly oversized, and not only flaked and chipped when I tried to trim them, but also did the same when I tried to get them to conform over the rudder hinges: Everything has been touched up in the photo above, so I thought things looked fine to continue. Then it came time for the fuselage cheat lines, which also didn't fit at one end or conform at the other: I threw everything at these decals, and while they improved greatly, the result still wasn't very satisfying: The discoloured patches are from Mr. Mark Destroyer, which I used against my better judgement. A hairdryer ended up doing most of the work. I also managed to fix the nose with some spare blue decal and some black paint: Again, better, but not very good. At this stage I wondered whether I should bother persevering with this livery, when I noticed the leading edge of the fin still wasn't looking good. The results of my attempt to fix it was (nearly) the last straw: Some of you may recall that I declared an end to this livery at this point, and vowed to strip it and start again. While that still might happen, sleeping on it and taking another look in the morning convinced me to give it another shot - mainly because the model has so many accumulated flaws now, that it wouldn't really matter if I patched up the tail and it didn't look that great. And being so close to the end meant a lot less work than starting again - especially since I'd be forced to use the kit decals, and don't really like those options. So I've given the entire model a good, heavy coat of X-22, and will do so again tomorrow, just to provide the existing decals with as much protection as possible, before attempted to fix the tail (photo below taken prior). So, stay tuned to see what happens! If I can repair the damage to the tail and make it look acceptable, then it will be finished as intended in Olympic Airways markings. If not, then it'll be stripped and repainted ready for Air Nippon. Kev Lee White, LSP_Ray, Rampenfest and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 I'm pleased to report that I was not only able to satisfactorily repair the damage to the tail decals, but have now gone ahead and finished the model! It's a great little kit, but due to all the issues outlined above, I don't rate the build all that highly. Still, it's always nice to get something finished, and I think it looks OK from a couple of feet away. Best of all, though: I learned some valuable lessons for next time. Kev patricksparks, Paul in Napier, Shoggz and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoggz Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 I like it! LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Nice! That is a nice decal subject; too bad they were such a problem. LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 What a lovely livery! Well done Kev. Derek LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom2 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 A beautiful model! I love the Olympic colors and livery! Stefan Derek B and LSP_Kevin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jep1210 Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 Kudos, this turned out very well. Very attractive scheme. LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_K2 Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 Looks great to me, Kev. Nice job. LSP_Kevin and Derek B 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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