Sweet! Thanks for the link. =D This is the link I found first before becoming familiar with Sprue Bros. They have a nice way of organizing the plethora of planes both old and new.
Very nice work so far, I’ll be following this one.
Is this a re-tooling of the original USN kit? Or just altering a few parts to make the RAF version?
No no. It’s not a re-tooling. The USN kit originates from 2009 or so and was a new tool. This is the same plastic overall with the addition of the glass nose and proper dorsal turret.
I heard you guys and gals like updates? Well…
I hit this baby with some Tamiya surface primer. Man…love that stuff…accidentally deleted that pic without uploading :oops:
What’s the definition of insanity? Yeah…that’s right…doing the same thing more than once expecting different results…enter Alclad black base…
Actually this is after the Alclad LOUSY P.O.$. WORST PAINT PRODUCT EVER MADE black base…yeah after letting it dry 48 hours when I began laying down the Earth color it melted and ate the paint.
So I stripped it down with sandpaper and alcohol.
If this was for myself I’d be a little tense at this point and concerned about having wasted money and time on a build that I may have to trash. However, this one isn’t just for me and I don’t want to blow my first build review, so I lost some sleep. I got it straightened out though and decided to not be lazy and decant some black Krylon for my usual base coat.
Then is was back to the Earth color. Purposefully patchy mind you. (Oh…and I MAY have spilled some paint out of the cup on a nacelle :crazy: …I’ll let you be the judge.)
Ticky tacky poster tack.
Overspary? No way!
Dark green and she’s looking mean.
And there she sits. Touch-ups needed as per, but nothing too major it seems.
Thanks everyone for peepin’ in and be easy on me. I never had to tell you I goofed up 
Good lord! It seems I keep hearing about the Alclad black base. Is this the Gloss Black or another priming agent? I know the Gloss Black can be a bit particular about how you apply it. It is a lacquer based paint same as the rest of the Alclad line save for the acrylic Klear Kote. What were you using for the earth color?
On Swanny’s page it outlines a really great rule of thumb for painting with lacquers, enamels and acrylics. (for anyone else who may be curious)
The only thing that springs to mind for me is that the carrier for the pigment is too large in volume meaning it wasn’t shaken enough or was allowed to settle some before using…or of the remaining pigment, there’s less of it versus the carrier medium. I would think normally one would expect the opposite to occur and end up with too much pigment and not enough liquid as it may evaporate or get sprayed out. In any event, so long as you weren’t putting down a lacquer over something else…it may stay a mystery! Better get Scooby and the Gang on it. =]
Still. Nice save. She’s looking goooooood.
The Earth is Mr. Color. The black base is lacquer as is the paint. Shouldn’t be a problem at all. EXCEPT that the Alclad black base is notorious for not drying. When I first decided to try Alclad I did a lot of research about how to use it etc. I kept seeing (all over all the forums) mentions of people having problems with it; that it would never fully dry…so applying more lacquer paint over it will damage it.
The consensus seemed to be that there were bad batches for whatever reason. Others reported never having any problems. I’m generally a skeptic, so I bought a bottle thinking I’d have better luck. It sprays beautifully. I wouldn’t say it’s at all finicky to spray of get good coverage and nice finish…it just won’t dry.
So I tried my first bottle on my Tamiya Mustang…ruined $120 model and hours of work. Mind you, when I applied the base coat to the Mustang it “dried” for over a week before the Alclad went over it. (We went on vacation). Lacquer should be safe to overcoat…even with more lacquer…after 24 hours. I generally wait 48 for safety…but…
Decided to try again and bought a second bottle…and this. It’s unfortunate because it sprays wonderfully and finishes out beautifully. I actually like the way decanted Krylon sprays even better…but decanting is a messy hassle…so I was lazy…and I paid for it.
That’s so ODD! I have read where it says to give the Gloss Black about 8-10 hours of drying which basically amounts to you coming back the next day (so 24 hrs). You don’t even want to know the things I get away with… =P For the GBlack, I do let it set up overnight, but honestly I’ve find it’s basically dry about 20 minutes later. No sh!t. When I return to put whatever Aluminum shade of Alclad I’m going to use, I don’t have any trouble whatsoever when I’m masking whatever it is I intend to paint…and I LIVE IN THE SOUTH!! lol. It’s so humid down here!! I can let the Alclad shade set up for ten or so minutes (sometimes less) and I just move right along painting. I hear of people going through extraordinary ends sometimes with they’re drying times and letting things cure, and I realize that sometimes that is a necessary function, but me…I paint with either Tamiya or Alclad. I zoom through painting. =] It works. I get away with it. Everything turns out precisely how I want it and I just mosey right along.
The lacquer on lacquer violence doesn’t make sense to me either. They ought to play nice. I can’t understand how it won’t dry and set. I mean…it’s A LACQUER! Extremely volatile…evaporating…lol. This is probably the tenth time I’ve heard this happening on here. I just can’t understand why.
Oh…I get away with all sorts of things that would blow most people’s minds I’m just so embarrased by them I never tell anyone…I usually say something like “I let that dry three days” when I really mean “yeah…I let that dry about 5 minutes before moving on…” Lol
Update:
Tuesday I did some significant touch-ups to the green.
I then masked off with thin strips of Tamiya tape and painted the under-surface with Tamiya Sky (being acrylic that’s why I did it after the the lacquer top).
I had mentioned that the wing join was so good that one could paint them separately. I’d recommend to anyone building this kit that they in fact do that. Masking in the tight fit between the elongated nacelle and nose wasn’t hard exactly, it was just a bit more time consuming than it needed to be.
With the the painting done decaling becomes a reality. Not always my favorite step of any build, but it has to be done.
I must sadly admit that the decals have been the biggest let-down of this kit. There are two reasons for this.
First, there just aren’t many. Looking at the sheet below you can see that the bare minimum roundels are there along with the unit markings and tail numbers. Throw in some stencils for the fuel filler caps and props and we are done.
Now this in itself isn’t entirely bad if you’re new to building or just don’t like this step. However, as much as I hate decaling I equally love the look of stencils. To me, stencil detail is one of the biggest things to help make a kit pop…and they just aren’t here.
While this is forgivable, the second issue is a much bigger one. Silvering.
In the pictures above you will notice two things. First, the decals have silvered despite having sunk down nicely with just two applications of setting solution. However, this wasn’t enough to remove the silvering problem. The second thing you should notice is the fidelity of the red in the unit markings. Along the borders some discoloration of an orange-ish color has appeared. This was not present until the decals were placed on the surface. This is not something I’ve ever seen happen in my modeling years, so I can’t really explain it.
I’m not terribly worried about the silvering. I will thin down some of the base color and knock it out before beginning to weather. Nevertheless, it’s frustrating. Note that this could be largely avoided if you take the time and care to cut away all the unnecessary carrier film from the large inner swatches of the unit marking decals.
The issue with the discoloration is something I hope will be less noticeable after the upcoming weathering steps.
I will conclude by saying that the decals were actually very workable in that they began to sink into the recess of panel lines fairly easily even before setting solution.
Conclusions?
Decals: 2/5
Thanks for the heads up on the decals, I’ll scan the OOB ones and print my own. The paper I have is a little thick. but exellent in quality.
It’s looking really nice! What do you use to break the temporary bond of the white glue used on the clear parts? I assume you just use Elmer’s?
Actually, I use this stuff:
You can find it in the craft section of the local mega store or at Hobby Lobby/Michaels.
It holds the parts fairly well but you can pull them away with minimal effort. In fact I accidentally knocked the nose off and re-fit it twice [:D]
It will leave a film that is easily pulled away and you can reattach with it again, or another glue if you wish.
Thanks for the info!