Oh sweet bench time, how I missed thee.
Busy day, I focused on the P-51 mostly and got quite a bit done. I started with masking the canopy. Prior to this I soaked it in some Future that I finally sourced up. It came out nice and clear, and then it sat under a plastic lid for a month while I got all super busy
It took me three tries to get the tape cut the way I wanted, and I really hope I didn't scar the canopy beneath it. We'll see at the end, eh?
For whatever reason the horizontal stabilizers both torqued up a bit; they should both be 90 degrees to the vertical, but for some reason one of them was 85 and the other like 80
After some time with a little more TET to loosen them and some force, I got them closer to 90, but not all the way. I might have been a bit timid--I really didn't want to snap them off in such a way that the contact surface would be damaged or the wing bent.
Next the collar for the canopy and the canopy itself went on. The frame, or collar, or whatever, really did not want to fit perfectly. It was molded a bit too narrowly to fit the air frame, I had to try to spread it open while it set. I couldn't find the canopy glue I wanted at either of my go-to LHSs, so I grabbed what they did have, some Testors Clear Parts Cement:
Primed in Stynylrez:
After looking at some photos of the subject I'm going for, the control surface on the tail is a slightly flatter color, so I thought I'd mask that off completely from the metal color--there's just primer under the tape. As I've never done NMF before, I just picked a brand and went for it; I used them according to the manufacturer recommendations. In this case, the paint is AK Extreme Metal ordered from Hobbyworld-USA (along with the cleaner). First comes the black base:
It went on ok, though it seemed to be a little spotty. This could be a problem with my airbrush--I hadn't used in in over three weeks so I gave it a good strip down clean and I think something isn't quite right, the pressure out the tip seems low. Probably jammed the needle a bit too far forward. Anyway..
I masked off the elevators on the wings and a couple panels on each wing surface for a slightly different shade of metal. First up is AK Extreme Metal Polished Aluminum:
It scared the piss out of me going on. When it comes out, it looks runny and oily and separated, but that goes away in seconds. Literally. Within 2-3 seconds it starts to level and set up as a very nice metal color. There's also the issue of learning how far from the surface I should be spraying for this paint, and it turns out that's a little bit closer than with acrylics. Slow passes and don't linger, let a misty layer go on first and once you've covered the whole thing, come back and finish it off with a heavier layer. It is actually very forgiving, if you flood a section it sorts itself out--mostly--though a little air on the blob will erase your mistake in seconds. I'm quite pleased with the stuff.
It also stinks. A lot. Use your mask. (Which you always do anyway, right?)
Oh, and it was also at this point that it occurred to me that I don't think I painted the crossbar on the canopy collar. Sweet. I hope primer grey looks good in there...
I didn't get any good pics of the second color, regular Aluminum, since I was moving along at a good clip today. I didn't want something too drastically different, but I think maybe I should have. The differences are hard to see in some lighting, but they're clear in others. I actually think I prefer the regular aluminum to the polished aluminum, and maybe a color combo a little more different from one another might have been better. Oh well. Next plane I do maybe I'll swap the two.
Lastly, the panels around the exhausts should be a stainless steel. I realized this after I ordered the AK paints, so I just grabbed some Alclad Stainless Steel (ALC 115) from my friendly LHS.
On to the livery. I decided a few weeks back to discard the two options in the kit and go for a Tuskegee Airman livery since it shows off the metal well and I like the red and silver contrast. I found some decals online from...damn I forgot the seller's name...I'll dig it up for next update. He was awesome and I'd like to give him the shout out to my North American modelers here to look up if they need some decals. The set made by LPS Hobby:
I'll be going for 31 "Dearly Beloved" flown by 1st Lt Earl R. Lane. Mainly because that's the only D option. Note that if you get the set from this manufacturer for 1/48 you get two D options and two B/C (I think, maybe it was only one for B/C).
So that's day one of my "bachelor" weekend done. Tomorrow morning will be pancakes, bacon, and masking for the red and yellow. And then...DECALS! My favorite.
err, the canopy uncovered
