<-- **** DONE: 1/48 P-38J Lightning - Twin Engined Aircraft of WWII

[Robert Porter]

Really nicely done.

But a couple of notes here...
Firstly, you have used the incorrect tool from the dental set for applying of the putty. Instead of the one with the ending shaped as a hook with a ball you should have used the paddle type one. A dentist uses the hook with ball for tamping of filling in deep holes of the round shapes with bottoms while you had to fill a quite narrow and long aperture.
Secondly , you haven't had to remove the masking tape so quick. If you stuck them closer to the aperture and left these strips there while using the cleaner and Q-tips for removing of the putty excesses you would have less of plastic messed and less of the putty at all around the gap. Just my opinion.

OH BTW... instead of using the cotton wool for protection of the wheel bays you could use a pieces of sponge that is more elastic and get the bay shape while put it in a such hole. It is enough to cut a piece of the sponge of a little bigger dimensions than the hole and squeeze it while putting into a bay. Then it will return to its shape when you stop squeezing. The cotton wool is too "hairy" and leave fluff stuck easy all around usually . The example can be seen in your video while unsticking the strips of the masking tape.

Thanks for the great tips! Especially sponges, that makes sense! I will try the paddle shaped one next time and see how that goes.

 

[Robert Porter]

Cool to see your video of this process! I'm not sure I would be using the masking tape approach on an exposed joint like this. Is there a physical gap between the two halves that the putty would be occupying? You should be able to get a nice solid joint using glue only which could be smoothed out with careful sanding. Putty could then be applied (I like liquid putties like Mr Surfacer) in any small gaps. I reserve my Milliput/water technique for certain situations like filling physical gaps in hard to reach areas such right angle joints.

I was using this method to avoid the sanding as all the detail on this kit is raised. Have yet to try Milliput but I have ordered some to also try. Someone else mentioned 'Perfect Plastic Putty' as a great alternative as well.
The seam was more of a depressed area than an actual gap, but as I mentioned was trying to avoid any sanding at all there. Will have to see how it works with the other suggestions.

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far!

 

[Airframes]

Nicely done video Robert.
It looked like a very small gap, so, in addition to the points raised by Wojtek and John, it may well be that the gap, or depression, is too shallow to allow the putty to 'take', hence the 'balls' when applying the acetone. If the putty is in such a shallow gap or depression, it's very like it being just on a smooth surface, with little or no depth for the putty to 'key' to, which leads to it still being at least partly soft, but trying to cure. This almost always leads to a break-down within the partly cured putty, which, when 'worked', sanded or otherwise treated, manifests itself as flaking, or, in this case, as the cotton bud is agitating it the 'flakes' roll in to balls.
It may well be that a length of stretched sprue, slightly larger than the gap, laid into the depression and fixed using liquid cement, can then be sanded back flush with the surrounding surface.
An alternative is a bead of CA adhesive, which should be sanded before it's had time to fully harden, otherwise it'll be like trying to sand Mount Everest - with a nail file !
I wouldn't worry about the surrounding raised detail too much - a lot of it is very probably way over scale, and would benefit from being removed, especially raised rivets.
If the depression is very shallow, then a mix of clear gloss varnish (enamel or polyurethane, NOT acrylic), or light grey enamel paint, and talcum powder, 'painted' into the gap, works just like the proprietary brands of 'surfacer', and can be sanded once fully set.

 

[Robert Porter]

Nicely done video Robert.
It looked like a very small gap, so, in addition to the points raised by Wojtek and John, it may well be that the gap, or depression, is too shallow to allow the putty to 'take', hence the 'balls' when applying the acetone. If the putty is in such a shallow gap or depression, it's very like it being just on a smooth surface, with little or no depth for the putty to 'key' to, which leads to it still being at least partly soft, but trying to cure. This almost always leads to a break-down within the partly cured putty, which, when 'worked', sanded or otherwise treated, manifests itself as flaking, or, in this case, as the cotton bud is agitating it the 'flakes' roll in to balls.
It may well be that a length of stretched sprue, slightly larger than the gap, laid into the depression and fixed using liquid cement, can then be sanded back flush with the surrounding surface.
An alternative is a bead of CA adhesive, which should be sanded before it's had time to fully harden, otherwise it'll be like trying to sand Mount Everest - with a nail file !
I wouldn't worry about the surrounding raised detail too much - a lot of it is very probably way over scale, and would benefit from being removed, especially raised rivets.
If the depression is very shallow, then a mix of clear gloss varnish (enamel or polyurethane, NOT acrylic), or light grey enamel paint, and talcum powder, 'painted' into the gap, works just like the proprietary brands of 'surfacer', and can be sanded once fully set.

Excellent observations and suggestions! Thank you! This last time it more or less did take, but I have other similar seams to experiment on! [-o&lt;

 

[Crimea_River]

It's all been said.

Another trick for filling wheel wells - stuff some tissue into the well, then wet it and press the wet paper into any gap with the back of a paint brush. Keep adding and wetting more paper til the well is filled. when dry, the paper forms a stiff plug.

 

[Robert Porter]

Been awhile, I had another heart event which increased my shake. Feeling better. Finished the main seams and re-primed. Lost a lot of detail sanding. Will attempt to recreate some of the detail via some riveting tools I obtained.

I rough cut out the first canopy, getting ready to trim, sand, and paint that.

Also finished a lot of the wheels, engine covers, and wheel covers etc. A little bit of touch up painting left on them.

I acquired a new airbrush, an Iwata HP-CS Eclipse. It seems to be easier for me to use and will help with the final painting.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good.

 

[Gnomey]

Good works so far!

 

[Crimea_River]

With all.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Robert, and I hope the heart condition isn't serious.

 

[Wayne Little]

Say what!!! hope your ok there Rob...

 

[Micdrow]

Looken good, hope you feel better soon

 

[JKim]

Moving along on the Lightning! I hope you are feeling better Robert!

 

[fubar57]

Sorry to hear Robert. Take care

 

[Robert Porter]

Well I am better now, my blood pressure, even on medication, typically runs 220/110 but it had spiked to 250/150 which made me rather dizzy. Its back down in its normal for me range. But thanks for the good wishes. I had a stent placed back in June which has helped but they may have to place another soon.

Meantime, progress! Masked the canopy and am starting to paint the frame. Also painted a lot of the smaller bits, first gloss black, then used Vallejo Metallics Aluminum for my BMF. Used the aluminum as a primer for the props, you can see it worked like a primer and exposed all the remaining flash and left over sprue so will be working on them next.

I had seen the tip to spray the BMF over gloss black for extra depth and it seems to have worked. I really like the color. Not pictured is I added the intake cowls on each side of each boom, as anyone that has ever worked with this kit noted the fit was horrible so they are now covered in putty and soon to be put to the sander.

You can see the overspray from the black, I used Tamiya X-1 with a little X-20A thinner, about a 70/30 Paint to thinner ratio and two drops of flow improver in the cup sprayed with .35 needle at about 15PSI. For the BMF I used a 90/10 ratio with Vallejo's thinner medium sprayed at about 20PSI with same needle. Also added 2 drops of flow improver.

I did not note any spitting but I did wipe my needle tip with a q-tip moistened in airbrush cleaner about every 2 minutes just to avoid tip dry.

I vacuumed my work area first, then turned the spray booth on and let it run for 10 minutes prior to spraying. Gloss black shows EVERYTHING and having cats means I have cat hair and dander in the workspace. Tried to sell the cats for a couple of kits but the wife rebelled and threatened to spray everything in sight with full strength acetone or MEK.

 

[fubar57]

Glad you're feeling better and paint looks good. Curious about the Vallejo. Early versions of the Metal colors didn't hold up to masking very well but the later versions improved

 

[Robert Porter]

Glad you're feeling better and paint looks good. Curious about the Vallejo. Early versions of the Metal colors didn't hold up to masking very well but the later versions improved

Thanks! These are the latest versions, the little masking I have done has not pulled anything off. There are so many versions its best to post a link. These are the critters I am using: Metal Color pricey but they really do work.

Since they only need a little thinner they don't go very far. I am searching for another good metallic paint and am going to try MRP as they seem to be getting a rave review everywhere. They are lacquers so back to smelly paints but from what I have heard and seen not all that bad.

 

[Crimea_River]

Looks great Robert.

 

[Wurger]