Whitey Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 (edited) I wasn't planning on doing a WIP for this one but disaster has struck and I felt it timely to share the stuff up with you guys. I've just spent about 6 weekends' work on this kit, filling seams, making bits fit, filling seams, straightening warps, filling seams, fitting the worst part I have ever seen on a model kit - the nose cone, and fitting the second worst piece I have ever seen on a model, the windscreen. The intention was to do a bare metal French Air Force Mirage IIIC. Got it ready to paint, black based, squiggles to add some depth and then applied the silver undersides with Alclad. Looked good, sorry no pics, but as after a week drying, masked it with Tamiya Tape, after putting the tape on my arm to remove some of the adhesiveness, and when the time came to remove the tape, half the Alclad came off. Loud expletive. Bare metal jet was now out of the question. Blue upper surfaces and silver undersides was my backup choice. Put brain into gear and sought out another silver. We New Zealand modellers have to put up with the disrespect shown by a lot of modelling wholesalers who aren't bothered bringing products here so one of my only other options was to try some Vallejo acrylic metaliser. Decided to trust it and went ahead and sprayed Dull Aluminium on the undersides. I didn't think that Dull Aluminium would look more like chrome. Bloody chrome. I am a flexible bloke so I thought that this was fascinating, rather than frustrating, and that a coat of matt varnish may dull it down later. Back to that in a little while. Last weekend I primed the top surface and highlighted some panels and squiggles to help break up the monotone blue topsides. This morning I masked the bits that needed covering up and spent a couple of hours spraying the top sides with the nice French Blue colour with highlighted and faded panels. It all looked ok, nice contrast and faded panels. And late this afternoon, applied a coat of Testors Spray Lacquer (Gloss), misted on and built up to a nice shine..........until it all dried and the whole upper surfaces looked like blue orange peel. Bugger. Light bulb moment.....hit it with a heavy coat of Mr Colour Levelling Thinner, great stuff, neat to melt it all down a bit and kill the orange peel. It looked great and very smooth.....but when fully dry the orange peel remained. Being flexible I thought that a later coat of matt or satin would kill the orange peel. Everything was nicely dry after dinner so I applied Tamiya TS-29 Semi Gloss to the undersides and waited for it to dry. Half an hour later the whole underside was a maze of cracks. Paint incompatibility galore. Lousy photo but all of the silver paint has cracks throughout it. First option, blow the bloody thing up with fire crackers.....but it is not November so none at hand. Calm the brain. And start stripping all the paint off and start all over again. Stripping paint is easy enough. Tamiya Lacquer thinner does the job and doesn't affect the plastic, but bloody hell, it will take all day tomorrow to get it off and get the surface back to ready for another round of you know what. I'll keep you posted. Edited July 24, 2016 by Whitey rafju and Zero77 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaninaustria Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Man, the lengths we go to get that perfect finish!! Don't give up - she's a beauty!! Cheers Alan Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony T Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Sadly the pictures are all of the Dassault Breguet tabby kitten. Love the Mrage III/5 Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasta 14 addict Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Also here, there are no pictures to see only a kitten. Greetz Danny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 Hello Kitty Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alain11 Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 hi this kit is a real nightmare , and maybe even damned ..... I was close to paint work , ( gloss black base done ) when it fell down for the second time ... no other way than straight to the trashcan .....but I don't give up , I am currently on an other one Alain Harold and Whitey 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IJ001 Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 (edited) Up until last weekend, I would've agreed with this 100%, but we were across in Taupo (at the Hobby Show), and found a model shop in town that stocks EVERYTHING and is looking to expand - how unusual is that !! If you want to contact me off-board, I'll give you details - the owner is very happy to order-in and send-out. Ian. We New Zealand modellers have to put up with the disrespect shown by a lot of modelling wholesalers who aren't bothered bringing products here so one of my only other options was to try some Vallejo acrylic metaliser. Edited July 24, 2016 by IJ001 Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 No more kitty cats. Sorry about that, I moved the pics to a library and broke the links all fixed. Here she is nice and clean ready for the paint process to start again......next weekend. Harold, Out2gtcha, Marcel111 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 Thanks for the heads up Ian. I'll chase that up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmthamade Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 What was the issue with the nosecone fit? I have this one in the stash, and might do this one soon. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Good to see this here mate. Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale32 Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Gotta hate that! Looking forward to the next round. Cheers Bevan Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 What was the issue with the nosecone fit? I have this one in the stash, and might do this one soon. Don 1st - The rear of the nose cone does not fit the front of the fuselage - way to big. Sand down easily enough but why is it so oversized? 2nd - the kit pitot tube is a bit strange and it takes a fair bit of work to fit a Master pitot head. I ended up putting the kit one on, cutting the tube off and then cutting that back until the Master one fitted nicely. The shape looks ok though. The kit is a pain in the backside to put together but the shape is pretty darn good so it is well worth the effort as the finished result should look like a Mirage IIIC. Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 Nice project, Peter! What a bummer about the paint job, though. Still, it looks like you've got it all under control now. Kev Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 Thanks Kev, but only until I start painting it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now