I started Hasegawa’s 1/48 P-47D lastnight. I sit and stared at the stash pile for a while and even though it’s relatively small it still took me a half hour to decide what to build next. After scouring the AM parts bin and the decal collection I decided on beautiful selection of markings from the Pyn-Up line. I eagerly tore into the kit in anticipation of getting to the paint. Therein lies my pain. The project requires a NMF. Did I mention that this is a Hasegawa Jug? I did? Tonight the air was clogged with a huge cloud of dust consisting of no less than two applications of the following, Cyano, primer, dissolved putty, Mr. Surfacer 500 and 1200. And a few muttered words that tend to light fire to the air all by themselves. And a NMF requires what? Everyone, now: “A perfect, defect free, nice shiny surface!” And at the end of the build session it’s plain to see that this evil cycle of nastiness is going to continue and do so for most of the week. I must be crazy.
I have a razorback jug (kit) that I got off of ebay for free (long story) that has a severly damaged wing. It looks like someone bent it back and forth until it broke and it looks like the fix is going to take a good bit of effort. In hindsite I should have started THAT kit instead. I actually have a nice set of Pyn-Up decals for that one also!
Fred, I wasn’t too happy with the Alclad “Aluminum” either. But then I tried “Polished Aluminum” and wow…it’s amazing. I have heard that their “Airframe Aluminum” is almost chrome-like.
You’ll notice it’s a big difference between that and hawkeye’s paintjob.
The reason I didn’t go with polished aluminium or chrome is because I was trying to avoid the chrome look. I was hoping to get a “slightly oxidized aluminium” look. What I ended up with was a “used a $4 can of silver spray paint” look, instead.
I painted it with an overall coat of aluminum as a base (Talon acrylic). I then polished it out with a blend of 60/40 blend of aluminum and steel polishing powders. The steel gives the finish that ‘chromed’ look. Too much steel tends to give it a polished steel look versus a polished out aluminum. It takes a couple of applications and buffing of the powder to get a uniform coverage. I use my Dremel with cotton buffing wheel. The mechanical advantage makes the buffing process so much easier. Here is a centerline tank for a B-58 that I am working on.
That look can also be achieve too. Example the in progress shot here with half polished (show plane) and the other unpolished (war worn). I prefer the unpolished myself, but to show the potental for those who want the highly polished finish I had to do a couple models.
It’s really hard to get, but Polysclae used to have a Metal-line where they made (amongst others) an “Oxidized Aluminum”. It was really smooth and looked like it was supposed to. I picked some up from these guys a few years back:
Would the polishing powders work on the alclad? While I’m trying to avoid the polished aluminium look, I’d like to be able to achieve a slightly more realistic metal look, than what I’ve got going on.
I’m building this one for the P-47 GB and will post progress there instead of clogging up the board with multiple posts. If someone wants to check it out use the link below.
Hawkeye, those finishes are AMAZING! I’ve also had similar “$4 spray can” experiences with Alclad…can you tell me where you get the Talon paint line? And who makes the aluminum/steel polishing powders you use?
