DONE: RNZAF F4U-1A Corsair NZ5255 ,Flt/Sgt R L.Bayly No.21 Sgn/4 Su Group Build

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Cheers Wojtek ,Jan and Terry

Gonna be either putting another coat of white on or some blue next -pics later of my success or miserable failure (proberly the latter)
 
Think this build maybe a write off

Decided today to strip all the paint off and start afresh ,using turps For a couple minutes all seemed to be okay then disaster -it started to "melt" the plastic .Raced inside and got some soap which seemed to at first make it worse , lost quite abit of surface detail .Tried to clean it up best as possible and gonna give it multiple coats of klear in the hope te surface smoothes out abit .Definately won't be done tomorrow ,next estimate is a week .Gonna clear my head and not do any tomorrow but gonna get some more paint and then paint it all white on friday .The dam temperature aint helping

If I can recover from this ,I can recover from anything
 
Here it is as of tonight - for all you guys saying what a waste of a tamiya kit -please forgive! I need to learn somehow

The second pic is the colours I'm after - the blue on the upper fusalage and lower fuselage and tailplane

Advice please on how to get these colours? will buy any brand/colours - Please help!

I got Warren Russel's book giving colours ,but he gives colours for the older range of Humbrol paints -so its a tad useless for me
 

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I've got a 'comparative' colour chart at home for the various paints Daniel, I'll get you the details later.
What's the story with the kits now - how badly did the turps eat the plastic?
 
Heres my best attempt at explaining it

This turps stuff is as you may know slightly acidic .I used a cloth with this dabbed on -paint came off fairly easily and then hit the plastic -obviously it was so strong it started to dissolve it

Must of been atleast 5 minutes before I realised what was going on .What delayed realising was it was a total mess (paint bits everywhere) then underneath it all this 'sticky' plasticy stuff started to appear -then it was a case of finding a base as soon as possible .Soap was the only thing I think I have thats near a base so as I said ,I ran inside and grabbed some and started to wash it as quickly as possible ,in a pathetic attempt to neutralise the turps .Nearly took it inside for a bath but the motor would of been ***** then -almost forgot about it

Anyone got tips on smoothing plastic like this? Il try and get a better photo up but frankly its a little embarassing .Will have a go at rescribing some of the lost panel lines ,now I'm just hoping I can get a okay result from it let alone near good

Lesson learn't NEVER put turps on a plastic model to clean it (my own stupid fault really ,should of tested it on some sprue) what a pain in the arse lesson to learn
 
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Bummer! It might be salvagable though Dan.

This advice is a bit late, but for future reference.... Use Mr Muscle oven cleaner, or Fairy Powerspray (a bit gentler) if you can get it, to remove paint, spray it on, put the model in a plastic bag and tie it closed, leave for a few hours and then wash it off with soap and water, it removes the paint and doesn't damage the plastic.
 
I'm with wayne, need to see some good, clear pics, and some close-up shots if possible Daniel.
That's a great tip Keith, now noted in my memory cells, the 'little grey cells' as Poirot would say.
I'm a little puzzled that turps should attack the plastic, unless it's a really strong %, and even then, it shouldn't really do much, apart from possibly a slight etching, which would make 'fresh' plastic a little matt in appearance. Are you sure it isn't cellulose thinner? That would certainly dissolve the plastic.
EDIT:- Nearly forgot, IF this should ever happen again, pour milk over it, followed quickly by a strong solution of detergent, such as dish-washing liquid, in water. The milk won't cure the problem, but it should start to halt the process, whilst the detergent will separate the oils in the turps/thinner, making them inactive, and then it'll be fairly easy, if a little soapy, to rinse off any resulting mess.
 
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Thanks for the tips guys -espicially that oven cleaner Keith! theres a build on the net ,a guy who also built a RNZAF Corsair using the tamiya kit and he said he used oven cleaner to strip it bare after the decals started to crack -I just didn't see the harm in using turps at the time!

I think it could well be cellulose thinner Terry -as you can hopefully see by the pics -the left wing really took the worse hit (its literally removed all the fabric like detail) and the fusalage sides ,hopefully Cory I can get some like 6000 grit sandpaper and clean up some of the surfaces

I do think though its salvageble -just not by me!
 

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Whoa. Sorry for the bad luck. Geez. I have to ask if anyone has used a product called Goof-Off. Seriously. It's supposed to safely remove acrylic paint. I've used it for that purpose but never on a model (styrene) because I don't use acrylics. I wonder if it's worth a try.
 
Thanks for the info Sweb - maybe see if I can get some of that as now theres only acrylics left on it

I agree Cory! I' got some 1000 grit sandpaper today and more klear so will see what I can do with it tomorrow
 
Certainly looks like you have lost some detail Daniel... make sure you DO use a very fine sandpaper to rub back very carefully so you don't loose too much more detail.

Do you have a fine needle or similar so you can carefully remove the paint from the panel lines, sort of rescribing them as you go, but again real careful as you do it.....
 
Sure will Wayne ,couldn't resist doing some tonight both wet and dry sanding -Wow! the fusalage sides are ALOT smoother

With further sanding and some rescribing I hopefully should be able to make it look okay , Ya think couple coats of klear will help 'level off' the uneveness? I'm real pleased I got that sandpaper -good thing is to you only need bugger all and so far its given a smooth finish! thanks for advice mate! theres hope
 

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