I thin mine but that’s just personal preference, I use Tamiya Acrylic thinner… it gives it a speck more drying time and to me allows for a smoother finish… like a mirror glaze.
Well I took the jump and since we were talking about it in this discussion, I first painted black acrylic on the nose of my Do335, this morning I am going to put the Future down and tomorrow the aluminum, I’ll post pics here when I am done… I am just curious how it is going to work out… I did use polishing sticks, then micromesh to get the nose as smooth and shiny as possible… and that, with the future should provide a good finish…
Usually I have used just future but I just thought this a good experiment…
I tried the Krylon thing, didn’t get great results with it. I know there are those that do, but I’m sticking to future…
Well, here is the first half of my B25 with polished aluminum. I love the sheen, but man you HAVE to have a perfect surface. Will see how the rest goes tomorrow.
You’re going wheels up? It looks like you’ve lost a lot of panel line detail on that belly, shouldn’t you have rescribed before paint? The bombay doors appear non-existant…???
Crockett, because of the way this is going to be mounted (on a rod about 8 inches high on a wood base) one isnt going to be able to see the bottom. I did lose a little detail but only the seam where the two bomb bay doors meet in the middle. You can still see some from the side although not visible from the pic. I had to do some major mods to get the bomb bay doors to meet around the piece of square stock inside the plane. Its the monogram B25J, not a lot of detail down there anyway.
Cool, The old monogram still looks like it builds into a decent B-25. The finish is striking. Not to many modelers on this site do “in flight” presentations, so I’ll be looking forward to seeing yours finished.
Im at the stage now after spraying that all these imperfections like dust spots etc, are really starting to annoy me. Im seriously thinking about stripping all down and starting from scratch with the paint again. This paint job just doesnt do it justice.What a learning curve. Of course this means new canopy, rescribing some lines around the bomb bay (smile) and the like. Any body know of anything that would strip this? Would oven cleaner? This project has taken me since November 1st of last year. I really like the lines of the monogram kit though.
Crockett, they say only pilots build with gear up!!
Well just for curiousities sake I am trying that right now on a Do335 Pfiel trainer, when captured this aircraft had a NMF nose to it so I sanded to 2000 grit with sandpaper, used polishing sticks till glossy, then put Vallejo black down on it (it goes down smoother than other acrylics so don’t know how it works with the others) and have 3 coats of future on it now, going for maybe one more, then the Alclad… I’ve used the Alclad over plain future, I just want to see for myself about the black and if it indeed increases the brilliance of the alclad…
I’ve sprayed other models with nothing but future and been extremely happy with it, but curiousity killed the cat, so I am trying it with a black base on this one. I should have pics by the weekend so I will know by then, and can give an opinion…
Ted - looks like all’s well that ends well… really nice job!!!
Jamalone… nice looking finish!!! I too would like to see the finished product on the stand and all… As far as stripping, I know Castrol Super Clean will get off poorly adhered Alclad but not sure about cured and well glued down to the body Alclad…
There’s no comparison when using Polished Aluminum or Chrome. Without the black base, they’re just semi-shiny silver. With the black base you get a deep polished appearance. The picture attempts to show the results of an experiment I tried a couple of years ago, though my lighting isn’t very good.
Hello all, I decided not to trash this one and go with it. Here it is minus decals and the front canopy glass and top turret. I have the props to do also and this bird is done. Not the best workmanship concerning the paint, but that was my fault not the Alclad. Love the finish. You have to have the black for it to shine like the above modeler said.
and without the engine protection (masking tape for painting)
Thanks, almost finished. All it needs is the nose canopy and this donkey is finished. I put a donkey decal on the front well, because this was a stubborn project. In retrospect I should have painted the rudders the same as the elevators since they are fabric covered as well, but I got in a hurry for the decals and put them on before I knew it. Not going to win any contest with this one, but I learned a heck of a lot. Look for my next project.
