Can you help me?? As of this morning the metal finish (SNJ) looked good and I was actually really happy with it and again enjoying this thunderbolt that has given me quite a bit of trouble throughout the build. Tonight, though, I masked the wings with frisket to color a few panels and pulled up the (I thought able to withstand masking) SNJ. Now the wings look blah.
What should I do??? Is there an easy fix? Do I need to somehow strip the wing down to plastic and apply the SNJ again? and if so, what’s the best way to do that stripping??
Anyway here are some odd colored pictures (I haven’t figured out the white balance stuff yet…) and a close up of the wing for your inspection.
Thanks for any advice. My thunderbolt was going to be for the NMF build ending Oct. 31 and I would still love to get it done for that, but if need be I would rather take some more time to have a build that I will always be happy with.
Hi Leon,
I can’t tell too much from the pics, but you might be able to use a VERY fine sandpaper, feather out the stripped off paint and shoot another SNJ coat over that section… That might take care of the problem…[:I]
-OR-
You can dab a little black on the wing area and call it flak damage… [B)]
The only other option I know would be to sand the wing back down to the plastic and reshoot the whole wing… But that might be a bit extreme…[xx(]
I typically use blue painters tape to mask… It isn’t as tacky and is easily removed without taking off the painted surface…[;)]
You did not wash the plastic first with dish and warm water to remove the mold chemical. Just use Dawn degreaser to remove the paint then clean again and redo. No need for sanding.
Actually I did wash - multiple times. I wonder if I introduced a problem by polishing with novus polish. Maybe I’ll try the degreaser and try again unless someone has a better idea…
I’ve never used it, but I’ve heard that INJ doesn’t cope too well with masking. Even if prepared very carefully. That’s why alot of people prefer alclad.
That’s weird that it pulled up like that. When I did my two Mustangs in SNJ not a single bit of it pulled up when I removed the masking. That stuff was as hard as nails! Still not sure why yours did though. Must have been some VERY tacky stuff! I didn’t think frisket film had that much gripping power.
I’m curious about something. The model looks great overall. Can I assume you first airbrushed the SNJ paint as a base coat and then applied the SNJ powder? Is that what you did before masking?
I think that your best bet is to carefully sand,then re-mask and re-paint. You will save alot of time and there will be less frustration for in the long run. Try and find a very low tack tape or take the piece from the roll and put it down a clean surface and pull it off. Do this a couple of times and this will reduce the stickyness of the tape so there is less chance it will remove any of your new paint. good luck.
You know what. You just helped me figure out what I did wrong…I AM SUCH A DUMMY! After reading other people’s builds (using Alcad) I noticed that they used a black primer, so hey I should do that too, right? Dumb Dumb Dumb. And to make it worse I used acrylic black. Dumber Dumber Dumber. So this is probably why I have the problem. Now the challenge comes in fixing it…
OK, OK
Step away from the model…
Please read my post “Houston, I have a …”
Many great modelers have helped me with my same problem but a different type of paint.
Now if I can only learn from my mistakes and not do them again.
I feel your pain and your anger. You just have to learn to laugh at yourself and know how to correct the problem.
Have fun and keep those builds coming. BTW, the finish looks great.
SNJ is a lacquer, so using it over an acrylic primer is risky. The paint coming up with the tape is pretty typical of most NMF paints, although yours is more severe than anything I’ve experienced. The only paint I use for NMFanymore is Alclad2, but even that must be applied over the proper primer.
If you look at www.snjmodelproducts.com you will see that no primer is required. It is possible that the primer didnt allow the snj to bond properly with the plastic.
Well last night I carefully masked around the most offensive panels (which I believe are the flap and the panel directly above it on the wing and sanded off the snj and the underlying primer. Tonight I plan on re-adding the snj to those panels. I suspect without the black primer there is potential for the two panels to look slightly different from the others on this wing and the other wing which leads me to a question…
When panels vary, are they always symmetrical differences wing to wing? I am wondering if there is a difference if I have to strip the two panels on the other wing to ensure a match…
Mate , I would go with the weathering option if I were you.
These aircraft often operated from very muddy airfields and with arming crews dragging belted ammo all over the place, slight damage like that would be fairly common.
The only problem you now have , is making the other wing look the same !
Try my way. Before you mark the Tape use you finger (Index maybe) wipe on your face or your head yes! your finger will with oil (Sweat) put that finger on the glue side of tape and wipe. Dupicate until you feel that your finger not stick with that tape and put that tape on the model. After peel off clean your model with soap
