I’m about ready to start painting my Revellogram F-86D. It’s a wonderful kit! But now I’m wondering how should I paint the black nose? Has anyone else out there ever built this kit? Did you paint the nose first, mask it, then paint the NMF or did you do it the other way around (NMF first, mask around the nose, then paint the nose)?
For those of you who have worked on this particular kit, I was wondering which technique you used that seemed to work the best (as in easiest).
My next question is about the color of the antiglare panel. The kit instructions call for dark green (FS 34079). Does this sound right or should it be olive drab?
From Google Images, some of the period color photos show a bronze green like WW2 NMF birds such as the Mustang, and some show a lighter green, but doesn’t appear to my eyes to be OD. You could print them off, and compare with the color charts.
Thank you Rich. I almost never build jets so even something as simple as an anti-glare panel has me befuddled. Ha-ha-ha! So I guess it’s safe to say that, at the very least, the panel is not olive drab. At least I’ll know what color NOT to use.
I built this kit about 10 years ago, and loved it! As far as the nose, I painted the entire bird silver (including the nose), then masked off what didn’t need to be black using the box art as a guide as to where to mask it so that the white demarkation decal has all black on one side and all silver on the other, and CAREFULLY sprayed the black on it. The thin white demarkation decal that goes on afterwards is very easy to get in place, and, once in place, stays where it’s supposed to. Hope your build goes well!
I have his one in my stash and looks like an excellent kit OOB, lots of nice cockpit details. Which metallic paint are you planning on using? Alclad will be an excellent choice and will give you a realistic finish. Just follow their directions. About the nose question, I think it’s easier to paint the nose then mask it.
As was mentioned above, if your plan is to use MM Metalizer, do your OD Anti-glare and nose first, then do the NMF. However, if you’re using Alclad you can coat the whole thing then mask around the nose and OD. Stark contrast between the two. Metalizer has a glass jaw, whereas Alclad is tough as nails. A good primer will also help adhesion, I use Mr. Surfacer 1500. Never had paint, NMF or otherwise, lift off.
If you do use Metalizer and find yourself in need of masking (Say to do different aluminum tones on panels) Post-it-notes are great
I ended up painting the nose first using Polyscale black (can’t remember the exact type of black it was). Then I masked the nose because it was easier for me to mask the curvature of the black area than it was for me to mask off the NMF area. I hope that makes sense. Then I used Floquil Old Silver to apply the NMF.
I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out but I then masked off certain panels on the wings and used Model Master Stainless Steel. At first I was kind of like “Oh no! What have I done?!?” because at first I could not see much of a difference between the Old Silver and the Stainless Steel but it turned out even better than I could have hoped! Yes the two seemed to be very similar but after the Stainless Steel cured, there was an oh so subtle difference that seemed to change depending on what angle you were looking at the model. I couldn’t have planned that out if I had tried! I like for there to be slight panel variations rather than glaring differences and this combination worked out perfectly.
On a side note, I do think great results can be achieved with Alclad. The very first plane I ever tried it on came out phenomenally. The second plane, however, ended up as a painting disaster. Since I was batting .500, I just didn’t want to risk ruining this F-86D. As others have stated on this thread, it IS a wonderful kit.
Like I said, masking the nose is a bit easier as you experienced it. You can get different shades with the Floquil by adding a drop or two of black and so on.
Thank you Plastic. I was actually going to give that a try last night. I live in Green Bay, WI where our temperatures have been getting down to -17. That makes my basement (where I work on my kits) extremely cold! Well, it’s not quite like a meat locker but it’s still chilly none-the-less. I literally went downstairs, felt how chilly it was, stared at the model for a minute or two, then went back upstairs.
I think we’re supposed to get up to 14 today so maybe I’ll feel better about being in the basement tonight. We shall see. In fact, I need to stop off at my local hobby shop today on my way home from work. Gloss black is on my list of supplies I need to get.
