>> **** DONE: 1/48 HARVARD MK.IV - Prototype / Weird Aircraft / Trainers

[Robert Porter]

Nothing to offer but best wishes on that issue. Hopefully someone will come up with a brilliant idea we can all use!

 

[Airframes]

Yep, I used painted clear Selloptape ('Scotch' tape) for some of the more complex frames on my Harvard, and a few other models too.
Lightly attach a length of tape to a piece of glass, and apply two coats of the required colour, over a base coat of the interior colour, letting each coat thoroughly dry before applying the next coat.
I've found that this works best with matt paint for the base, and gloss for the finish colour, using enamels (not sure if acrylics will work).
Once fully dry, use a straight edge and scalpel to cut strips of the required width, and lift these carefully at an angle of around 45 degrees, peeling away slowly from the glass.
NOTE :- use a new blade in the scalpel.
Apply a strip for each required frame, pressing it lightly into place, and trim off any excess tape. Then gently burnish the tape down, and seal the edges with a brushed coat of gloss clear acrylic varnish.
Sometimes, there may be a bit of flaking which, once the tape is in place, can be carefully re-touched, using a 000 or 00000 brush tip.
If it doesn't work too well first time around, there should be pleny of painted tape to allow further attempts until successful.

Pics below show the tape on the glass, after painting the interior colour, and the frames in place after painting in the finish colour.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Robert Porter]

That looks to be a great solution! How do you avoid the dried paint cracking when the tape is lifted or otherwise bent? Is it a case of thickness? Or have you found a particular brand of tape that seems to work more reliably then others?

 

[Airframes]

It's very possibly just luck, Robert !
I've used this technique, off and on, for over 40 years, and it mostly works out fine, although I have had the odd instance of paint cracking or flaking, which I experienced in a minor way, on a few strips, when doing the internal frames on my Mosquito builds - Andy tired it recently and had similar problems.
It's a technique that was quite common in the 1960's and 1970's, particularly with 'home moulded' canopies. Although I wouldn't describe the coats of paint as 'thick', they are brushed on fairly generously and allowed to fully dry. Peeling the tape from the glass is the important stage, and should be done smoothly, trying not to create too severe an angle where the tape is still stuck to the glass.
My current tape is just cheap stuff, bought in a 'multi-pack' from a local office supply store, and seems to work as well as 'branded' types.

 

[Robert Porter]

Good to know, IIRC you have mentioned this technique elsewhere here. I am certainly going to try it. I wonder if airbrushing on the paint would result in better or worse performance? Have to give that a try.

 

[Crimea_River]

FYI, I tried it with the flat finish Scotch tape with enamels and ZERO paint stuck to the tape. Have not tried it with glossy tape.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks for the input gents. I've manages to save a lot of the painted frames using a toothpick dipped in nail polish remover and scraping. I'm now painting each frame individually, first clear coating to make sure the following paint doesn't creep under. The problem I'm having is with the Vallejo paint. While it covered great over a white base coat on the model, it requires several coats to completely cover the interior green and then white resulting in the paint lifting with the tape. It's not the best method but we'll just call it weathering

 

[Robert Porter]

I wonder if you scribed the edges of the tape with a real sharp blade before lifting it if that would help? Vallejo is a polyurethane type paint so I could see how it would tend to pull edges away.

 

[fubar57]

I wonder if you scribed the edges of the tape with a real sharp blade before lifting it if that would help? Vallejo is a polyurethane type paint so I could see how it would tend to pull edges away.

On my first attempt I had so many coats on I couldn't find the edges. I'm about 3/4 of the way through the clear parts, not pretty but I have found photos that show some of the real canopies on the Goldilocks team didn't fair too well yet the airframe paint seemed to be almost in pristine. Anyhoo.....started applying the dee-cals. These came from brother Jan(Lucky13). The wing roundels have settled in nicely The RCAF logo needs to be placed over the rear foot peg on the port side so I've punched a hole in the "C" to accommodate this.

​

You can see the windscreen with the last of the frame work that needs painted sitting in the cockpit

 

[turbo]

There's a line there... Nice work Geo, looking sweet and will look pretty all dressed up with decals.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

Nice work.

 

[Robert Porter]

Looking great!

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far George!

 

[at6]

If you need to strip the paint from your canopy, Simple Green works well and doesn't harm the plastic. I'm not sure how well it would work with acrylic since I use enamels. Ammonia is how I ruined part of my MK IV canopy but since I have a MK II/ MK IV Ocidental kit, I will build the MK II and use the rest of the canopy parts to replace the ones that were completely destroyed.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Larry. The Modelcraft decals are working great but as there are no instructions I'm using various sources to figure out where everything goes. The one place they screwed up royally is the ensign on the tail....it's too freakin' big. Aviaeology Decals makes a sheet but for now its too late. What I will do is put the Modelcraft decals on(3 part) but not clear coat in case I get the Aviaeology decals in the future.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good though.

 

[turbo]

Agreed. Bummer about the ensign, hope you get it sorted.

 

[fubar57]

Sorted out. Not having instructions, I assumed the white rectangle was a kind of backing to prevent the yellow from bleeding through (similar to early Tamiya decals) and serve as a base for the Union Jack and coat of arms. Well sir.....when I went to lay the ensign on it was much smaller than the rectangle so out came the blue masking tape and i ripped off the rectangle. The ensign fits perfectly....film at 11. I have no idea what the white rectangle was for