Eduard 1:48 - Ultimate Sabre

[jelliott]

I just found this thread and I have to say, this turned out to be one beautiful F-86!! I myself have never built a Sabre; however, the more I see them and the wonderful work that can be had, I see one finding its way into my stash in the near future. Keep up the fantastic work!
I noticed that you are using the Vallejo acrylic metal colors and they look fantastic! I've looked at them but have been skeptical. Typically I use Alclad II or Xtreme Metal, both are pretty smelly. Thinking I may have to give Vallejo a try. Can you give any insight as to how well they clean up or are there any special preparation measures that need to be taken?

[shortCummins]

Hi jelliott

thank you for your interest. The “base” kit is Hasegawa with some Eduard PE and resin and has been really enjoyable, especially the resin ejector seat. I’ve not worked with Eduard resin before and the level of detail has persuaded me to use it whenever there’s an opportunity.

This is the second time I’ve used the vallejo metal color acrylics, the first time was for my P-51D build last year…
http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=15090
I’ve not used either Alclad or Xtreme Metal so I can’t give you a “side-by-side”, my work bench is a tray on the dinning table, when I get around to building my mancave I’ll be able to install a paint booth with extraction and I’ll give them a go then.

Clean up is really easy, I use Ultimate airbrush cleaner and treat it as any “ordinary” acrylic paint. I always strip down my airbrush an clean the air nozzle, I use dental paper points, but I do this every time I spray not just for the metal color, probably overkill but it keeps me happy
My airbrush is a H&S infinity with a 0.2 needle and pinch tip, so far I’ve not experienced tip dry using these paints. My pressure gauge says its set to 1.6 bar/24 psi but as its a cheap Chinese compressor I wouldn’t trust these readings?

On my first build I used vallejo gloss black primer, this was a mistake, when I masked for the anti-glare etc. the metallic paint lifted back to the plastic!
This time I used Ultimate/Badger grey primer and then sprayed the vallejo gloss black on top of that. I had no problems with the masking, I did a fair amount, and spraying a different "colour" over the base Aluminium worked really well. I've seen some examples of people spraying a light coat of Tamiya smoke to create different tones, that seams to work really well.

Next time I’ll not use the gloss black, unless I’m looking for a really shinny/reflective finish. The Ultimate black primer has a satin/semi-gloss finish and for military aircraft would be good enough I think.
I’ve not tried to “buff” the paint, I’m not looking for a really shinny finish and I’ve not seen any results of anyone trying it, so I don't know if you can get a really reflective finish that way.

I’m more than happy with the results and I’ve now got eight variations of the paint…
77.701 Aluminium
77.702 Duraluminium
77.703 Dark Aluminium
77.706 White Aluminium
77.707 Chrome
77.711 Magnesium
77.717 Dull Aluminium
77.723 Exhaust Manifold

there are a few more, copper, burnt iron, gold, gunmetal, jet exhaust, pale burnt metal, semi matte aluminium and silver, when I need any of these colours I’ll be buying the vallejo offerings.

I hope this helps, I would recommend using them

[shortCummins]

Finishing up.
So it was time to add the undercarriage, air-breaks an other bits’n’bobs.

When I removed the canopy (I’d used liquid mask to fix it) I discovered part of the PE, I think it was a radio antenna?, had been knocked off so I had to replace that.
Then when I tried attaching the undercarriage I noticed that landing strut was missing so I had to attach the wheel with a pice of copper tube, you can see here that I forgot to paint it before I attached the wheel!


During my research I found out (too late) that John Glenn’s F-86 couldn’t have had AIM-9 Sidewinders fitted because they didn’t come into service until the late 1950’s and John Glenn was in Korea in 1953. I found this out after I’d drilled the holes for the underwing pylons so I was committed to using them.

So apart from that this is an excellent kit which I highly recommend.

here’s a sneak peak of the reveal photos...


you can see the rest here
http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=488&t=18505


until next time
as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received.
rgds
John(shortCummins)

[jelliott]

Hi jelliott

thank you for your interest....

I hope this helps, I would recommend using them

Short,
Thank you so much for the information about your process. I too like to do a thorough cleaning of my airbrush after each use. If I'm using similar colors or plan on spending awhile sitting at the bench and spraying alot, I will just do a quick rinse of the brush with either Ultimate Thinner or lacquer thinner, depending on what I've been spraying; sometimes, I'll just use a couple of paint cups of 91% iso alcohol.
I have also switched to using the Badger primers and absolutely love them. Here in the US its actually cheaper for me to use the Badger Stynylrez (same thing as the Ultimate Primer). I have experienced a little bit of tip dry using these primers; however, the climate here in Idaho is super dry so it is expected a bit. It's pretty easy to grab a paper towel dampened with Ultimate Thinner and clean any dried primer from the tip. I currently use a couple of different airbrushes. My primary brush at the moment is a Badger Krome with a .2 needle. I also use a Paasche Talon with the .3 needle. I really like the performance of both brushes. Previously I had been using the AK and Ammo of Mig primers, I still use them somewhat for internal areas where there isnt going to be as much masking, as I've discovered that they dont have as good adhesion to plastic as Badger.

I forgot to mention, I have used a few of the Ammo of Mig Metal colors, I have the matte aluminum, titanium, and steel. They aren't too bad, I wasnt as impressed with their "metal look" to use them on the exterior surfaces. I mainly used them to paint the interior of the burner cans on my Mig-21. I did some experimenting with these and sprayed Xtreme Metal Jet Exhaust over them to see if they would react. I did not notice any reactions; however, I only did light highlighting, not sure I would recommend heavy coats over the Ammo stuff. I guess some testing could be in order.

Jeremy