**** DONE: 1/48 Kittyhawk IV "Cleopatra III" - Aircraft in Foreign Service WWII (1 Viewer)

[subkraft]

Hi,

Can I make a suggestion to this beautiful build of my uncle's Kittyhawk.

Yes, they were dirty and weathered. But he always insisted that the aircraft be polished. So not entirely matt finish. In at least one of your pics BuB looks much darker than the others, polish may be why. He flew 2 aircraft at BuB's time, the other was a photo Lightning.(F5E?) Unarmed...and I can assure you all that she was highly polished. We had the discussion.

 

[Crimea_River]

Suggestions are always welcome and, for me, too rare. Thanks very much for the input and feedback. I'd really like to give the model a polished look but find that spraying a gloss coat to achieve this makes a model look toy-like and unrealistic. I've sometimes achieved what I consider to be a realistic look by sanding with an extremely fine paper but I'm scared that I'll wreck the decals or the finish where the paint might be thin.

Does anyone have a good way of doing this?

 

[Airframes]

A light spray of either satin clear, or dulled gloss clear, might work Andy. The problem is getting it to look convincing, rather than contrived or accidental, where viewers may think the finish is incorrect. OK if, when on show, any accompanying descriptive notes explain that the aircraft was waxed and polished, but otherwise possibly open to criticism.
One way you could try, with the current finish, which I've done to achieve a sheen on Luftwaffe aircraft, is to give it a very light buffing, just to create a slight sheen. Again though, an explanation for viewing or competition use would probably be required, to avoid criticism or drop in points.

 

[Crimea_River]

I definitely do not want to recoat it and I think buffing might be the way to go. I'll do a bit of off-model experimenting.

 

[subkraft]

Could I suggest varying the degree of sheen over the surface maybe? Surely the more accessible parts would be higher gloss.

 

[T Bolt]

I agree with Terry about the buffing. Maybe use a piece of soft cotton t-shirt. I sometimes do this it the paint is really flat to cut down on the number of Future coats i have to give it.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Glenn. I agree that that's the right idea. I've had success with newspaper as well, provided I find a spot with no ink on it. I'm off tomorrow and will give it a shot.

 

[Wayne Little]

Hope you get it right Andy....

 

[Crimea_River]

Well I've had a major f!ck-up but it's not what you think. I did some buffing of the surfaces with a lint-free cloth and it did bring a bit more of a sheen to the surface to the extent that I was very satisfied with what I had. I was on my way to one of the best finishes I'd ever completed on a model when this happened:

This was the result of a complete ****-up with my CA glue applicator. I was placing a small dab of CA onto the bomb pylons with the model inverted for the purpose of installing the bombs, or so I thought. It looked to me like the glue was not coming out of the thin nozzle, a frequent occurrence, so I continued to try until I saw a small dab form on the pylon. I placed the bomb in position and, when it had set, I flipped it over to discover to my horror that the CA was in fact coming out the whole time unnoticed and had run down the wing, up the cowl and down the air scoop. It was hard by the time I noticed it. I attempted to remove the CA using debonder after testing it on the landing light surface where it didn't appear to react with the paint. However, after repeated application on the CA and blotting it off, it did in fact dissolve the paint just over the landing gear bulge so I stopped and put the thing aside to cool my head.

The fix will start tomorrow. Looking on the positive side, I was fortunate that the spill did not run the other way and onto the windscreen.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Oh Andy, damn, damn, damn. Hope you can fix it, and good on you for looking on the positive side. Speaking of which, the buffing success is good.

 

[subkraft]

.....oww.

What a shame.

I use one of these for CA:

It's a v useful tool. Easy to make by filing the end off the eye of a sewing needle.

All the best for the repair....it's a beautiful paint job.

 

[ozhawk40]

Damn shame CR. I hope this cleans up okay.

Cheers

Peter

 

[Wayne Little]

OH Sh!t....fingers crossed you can straighten it out Andy...

 

[Airframes]

Ah, B*ll*cks!
Hope you can get it sorted Andy, and I know exactly how you must feel, after my debacle with the P-47.
Must admit, I always use a pin-head or sharpened cocktail stick when applying CA, and even then, it can be tricky, if the glue can't be seen.

 

[rochie]

Gutted Andy, hope you can recover it

 

[dneid]

Damn, Andy, I am so sorry to see that. I have had things like that happen with CA, especially the thin stuff. I sure hope you can salvage things.

 

[Gnomey]

That's a real shame Andy, hope you can get it sorted soon.

 

[woody]

Dang Andy Hope the fix goes well such a nice build.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Holy <bleep>!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks for the sympathy cards guys. Should get it sorted this weekend with tomorrow off.