F84G ''Thunderbirds'', 1:48 Tamiya

I used alclad polished aluminum & dark aluminum. I also had used MM stainless steel but it came out too blueish and didnt like it so went over with dark alum. It doesnt peel with masking BUT if you look closely to the tacky part of the tape youll see shiny particles of the paint that got pulled off. if you keep doing it youll start seeing change in the finish. Alclad peels easily if you spray alclad on alclad.


Now im having problems with the decals. too thick

Brilliant work Adrian, you are really getting good at these bare metal jets, this is even better than your previous one. Keep it up man, you could build a lovely collection.

Adrian Yesterday I saw it at the club. It's coming really nice and that ALCLAD finish is excellent!!

Canopy FINALLY masked!
it took around 4 hours to do. Very time consuming & required a lot of concentration. I was drained by the end of it

Very promising

keep it up

David

the masking maybe an annoying task, but in the end it is all worth it. Keep it up!!

Forgot to post how i 'treat' my canopies! Gives added protection and shine




Place on tissue and cover







Canopy ready!
im quite happy with it. except that round thing on the side. Photos make the lines look a bit ugly..

Front canopy disaster



Front part had been ready since july, looking pretty, and definetely my best paint job till now.





Until i began to remove the backing masking tape and found 2 big 'dirty lines'. One on the front wind shield, the other on the side.

At first i thought its the masking tape glue.. no big deal. But was too hard to be the glue. I immediately knew it was Klear which gotten under the masking when i brush painted it once.

No big deal! I just threw the canopy in Klear to let it soften these lines, and id just wash them off.

After 30 mins i went to check it to find the paint BEGAN TO BUBBLE/WARP!










While still 'wet and soft' I removed all the paint and... were back to square one again!



Why this happened im not sure. reaction with the laquer? or a reaction with the acrylic black. if im not mistaken i had mixed the black with Klear. Brushing and dipping in klear never effects acrylic or anything.

No worry Adrian, it is in pristine condition again so at least it was not ruined, just a repeat paint job but the rear part is really nice, well done. I don;t mind the round part, i think it looks great too, not the easiest thing to mask.

The front canopy has been re-primed with black. i re-used the masks. Tomorrow alclad.

Decalling is well underway... & taking very long. There are a lot of decals, most are big, but the toughest till now were the nose section and fuel tanks. Its also my first time using Mr mark setter/softer & i need to keep waiting (hours) for the solutions to 'do their thing'.
Next step is the tail section (8 pieces) Still havnt figured out what tail number/pilot name to do..

Adrian looking very nice......

WOW great work Adrian, it is looking really great, keep this up.

Decalling soon over. Just tail number and pilot name to go. Decals are taking long to do & need a lot of concentration, but are quite fun. The red line arund the fuselage frustrated me because i simply couldnt get it to go round in a straight line! Here it is:







Tailplane decals left a lot of gaps which will need retouching which is a risk since i do not have an exact red paint match









Bit of a smudge while using revell color clean as a decal softner (which works really well)

Beautiful Adrian. I think the decal problem will not be a difficult task for you. You solved far more difficult problems in your modelling than this.

Lovely work there Adrian, you are really becoming great at these bare metal jets. Those decals make it really stick out.

Even though the seat belt decals were clear and detailed, they look somewhat babyish and flat.
So i decided to paint over them and scratchbuild seatbelts using masking tape and wire.
Im not terribly happy, but they look more realistic now.

BEFORE


PAINTED OVER


THEM


AFTER



WHEELS


FLAPS, GEAR DOORS, CANOPY (NOTE I USED MAJ. DICK CATLEDGE'S NAME NOT JACK)


CANOPY AREA, HUD


IN PLACE

Adrian I thing you better look at these drawings...

Please keep in mind i havnt stuck on the headrest yet!
Well, my seatbelts are pretty close. Colours i used are pretty much the same
Note the headrest wasnt always red!

AdriaN wrote:Please keep in mind i havnt stuck on the headrest yet!
Well, my seatbelts are pretty close. Colours i used are pretty much the same
Note the headrest wasnt always red!

I now that you haven't stuck the headrest yet , and the headrest wasnt always red,I was trying do give you an idea of the seatbelts....

you have copy the decals seatbelts and they are wrong , for me they look more like a horse shoe...

Now if you whant to do the correct detail it's up to you ...

or your just happy built OOB............

Panel washing done. it took me 3 weeks on and off
I used water colour. It is a great weathering medium, way better than oil!
I know these birds were kept very clean, but i felt it needed a bit of a wash to break up the individual panels & to give it more depth.
Unfortunately i couldnt get the wash in all the panel lines and some lines look 'broken' or do not have any wash


BEFORE
The water colour is mixed with water and dish soap to break surface tension. Left to dry for 24hrs and wiped with a DRY cotton bud. I left some wash for 3 weeks, making it harder to take off




AFTER
When it was ready it was given its (several) final coatings of Klear. Before that it was wet sanded and sprayed then p.washed.


Wheel bay weathering still to come



My favorite part



Panel lines blended in nicely with panel shades and decals As you can see on the tail, lines are a bit broken from close up