**** DONE: GB-57 1/72 Gloster Gladiator - WW2 Foreign Service

[Greg Boeser]

Got the wing on, added the alighting gear, and the exhaust pipes. While it was lying on it's back, decided to put the underside decals on. These decals are very old, thick, and yellow. On top of that, there was a layer of grime on the topsides of the decals which loosened when I applied them, but really took a bit of scrubbing with a soft brush dipped in warm water to get rid of.

 

[fubar57]

Good job with the upper wing

 

[Greg Boeser]

Good job with the upper wing

Don't say that until you've seen it.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Full marks for sorting the decals and now your forewarned for the rest.

 

[Crimea_River]

Brush painted you say? Beautfully done!

Glad your upper wing went on well. I had to build a jig for my 1/48 Roden.

 

[SaparotRob]

Agree with above, except for the building a jig thing. Of that I have no clue.

 

[Greg Boeser]

Brush painted you say? Beautfully done!

Glad your upper wing went on well. I had to build a jig for my 1/48 Roden.

Turns out, while my back was turned, gremlins snuck in and popped the portside struts on the fuselage out of the holes in the upper wing. Grrrr!

 

[rochie]

really like that Greg

 

[Snautzer01]

Turns out, while my back was turned, gremlins snuck in and popped the portside struts on the fuselage out of the holes in the upper wing. Grrrr!

Those mothers do that, dont they.

 

[Snautzer01]

And the model is going great. It realley is.

 

[Crimea_River]

Turns out, while my back was turned, gremlins snuck in and popped the portside struts on the fuselage out of the holes in the upper wing. Grrrr!

Yeah, I get it. When you have 8 points of support there are bound to be a couple that are stubborn. If you have some CA glue, push the struts back to where they are supposed to be and dab a little on the connection with a chiseled toothpick.

 

[Greg Boeser]

Yeah, I get it. When you have 8 points of support there are bound to be a couple that are stubborn. If you have some CA glue, push the struts back to where they are supposed to be and dab a little on the connection with a chiseled toothpick.

That's my plan. Might do a little strong arming with a needle nosed pliers to teach them the error of their ways. I suspected that could be a problem from the beginning, but thought using CA would fix it. Unfortunately, CA only sticks instantly when you don't want it to.

 

[Crimea_River]

I hear ya. I actually bought a tube of CA gel which take a little longer to set up and doesn't find its what into every plastic groove and skin pore.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Turns out, while my back was turned, gremlins snuck in and popped the portside struts on the fuselage out of the holes in the upper wing. Grrrr!

The force of gravity old chap, use a dab of Zap Kicker if your using CA.

 

[Greg Boeser]

These decals are definitely past their "use by" date. The large roundels reacted badly to the Solvaset. Lots of wrinkling. One tried to curl up, but another bath of Solvaset got it to lay flat. I figured out that the gelatin medium on the paper was what was causing the yellowing and griminess. Anyway, decals are on. God knows what they will look like tomorrow.

 

[Greg Boeser]

PS: Advice welcomed on how to avoid decal wrinkling when using setting solution.

 

[fubar57]

I believe Solvaset is the strongest decal solution around. I use Microscale, Mr Mark and my dwindling supply of Polly Scale solutions. There are a few others out there as well

 

[Greg Boeser]

I believe Solvaset is the strongest decal solution around. I use Microscale, Mr Mark and my dwindling supply of Polly Scale solutions. There are a few others out there as well

I can't use Solvaset on Microscale decals. Turns them to mush.

 

[Greg Boeser]

More Gladiators.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

I use Microsol on those persistently troublesome decal, sometimes it takes a lot of gentle brushing to get the to conform and in doing so they do have a tendency to wrinkle, but have patience as the wrinkles will smooth out overnight as the decal dries out and seals itself to the aircraft form.