Short Stirling Mk.V, 46 Sqn RAF.

[T Bolt]

Looking good Terry

 

[JKim]

Nice work Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Glenn and John.
Nothing much to show yet - things are taking a little longer than anticipated.

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Time to bring things up to date.
The engines have been painted, assembled, and fitted into the cowlings, which were then fitted to the nacelles. The carb intakes from the kit were improved slightly, and fitted in place, as were the oil coolers, the latter having their front and rear faces drilled-out.
After a delay due to domestic things, and a visit from my youngest daughter, I eventually managed to spray the model overall in a dark grey primer, and check the joints around the resin nose, tail cone and the upper turret plug, which, although not perfect, are good enough to pass, given the ever-tightening schedule I need to keep to.

I experienced some problems when spraying, as the pressure kept falling, allowing around three to four seconds spraying only, although the compressor was still delivering air to the brush - just not enough to spray the paint !
I'm not sure at this stage, if this is a compressor fault, or the thinning ratio of the paint. When spraying neat thinners, everything works as it should, so it's possible that the paint, although thinned to my normal ratio, may have needed more thinners - Revell No.79 Ocean Grey enamel was used, a paint I haven't used before. Although marked as enamel, this paint, which was fairly 'heavy', had a distinct smell of cellulose.
When the primer has fully dried and cured, I'll do a 'trial run' with the silver finish, using Model Master 'Aluminium Plate', which I'll thin more than usual, and see if it sprays without the pressure loss.
If it doesn't, then it will be time to replace the compressor, and put this model 'on hold' until it arrives.
Meanwhile, the first of the Meteor kits can be inspected and prepared for building.
Pics below show how the model looks so far - some areas have yet to have a light rub down with 1200 grit wet and dry.

 

[Airframes]

Well I'm happy to report that the pressure loss, mentioned in my previous post, does not appear to be a fault of the compressor.
Having thinned the Model Master 'Aluminium' slightly more than I would normally, it sprayed fine, even when the pressure gauge showed 'zero' after a minute of spraying.
What I'm not happy about, is that the silver finish, as is usual, reveals every imperfection on the model's surface.
Having closely inspected the joints between the resin conversion parts, and the fuselage seams, after the grey primer had dried, I was reasonably happy with the result - not 100% perfect, but certainly acceptable, especially, as Dougie Barr mentioned, allowing for the fact that the guests at the dinner wouldn't know the difference anyway.
However, although the resin parts joints are reasonable, including the turret 'plug', which can't be detected, the fuselage joint now shows up as a slight depression under the silver paint !
This is no doubt due to slight inward warping of the fuselage halves, and there's not a lot I can do about it now. Had the colour scheme been in the grey/green/azure colours, I doubt that this would be visible, but there's a slight chance that it may improve following a second coat of the 'Aluminium'.
The rather poor photo below shows the model after the first coat, and I'm aiming to spray another one or two coats this evening, after allowing some time for the first coat to fully settle.

 

[rochie]

Nice one Dogsbody.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Red Two !

 

[T Bolt]

That's a whole lot of silver Terry. Looking good!

 

[fubar57]

Weird about the air pressure, looking good though

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Glenn and Geo.
I think the 'pressure problem' was just due to the Revell paint needing a bit more thinner. The drop to zero on the gauge is normal after a minute or two spraying, and given that the thinner to paint ratio is correct, the 'brush still sprays as it should.
When not actually spraying, the gauge remains at the set pressure which, in this instance, was 18 psi.
I've since sprayed a further thin coat without problems, and I'm going to allow this to fully dry for a few more hours, before inspecting the finish and deciding whether or not to apply a further coat.
As the finish is not intended to be a true 'bare metal' finish, I'll probably spray a coat of clear gloss, to aid decal application, and even things out overall.
Pic below shows the model after the second coat of 'Aluminium'.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Crimea_River]

Looking great sir!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps.
Not happy about that fuselage seam, but not a lot I can do about it now. It looked fine under the the primer, after applying some filler down the depression and sanding and polishing.
I've also just noticed that the Mk.V had the outboard exhausts below the level of the wing, whereas the kit has them in the correct place for the Mk.I and Mk.III, above the wing - again too late to mess around now.
Just about to spray a clear coat, ready for the decals, which I'll leave for at least six hours, and meanwhile start on the undercart etc.
Might have some pics this evening.

 

[Gnomey]

Looking good so far Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Hugh.
I'm going to let the model dry for a bit longer, before applying the decals, as there is still a very slight 'tackiness' to some areas of the clear coat - don't want to risk 'clouding' at this stage.
Meanwhile, the undercart is underway, after cleaning-up and removing some flash and moulding seams.

 

[turbo]

Looking good Terry. From the photos in post #1 the finish doesn't look particularly shiny so you could knock down the aluminium plate finish with a mist coat of light grey or something which might help make the seam less obvious.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Kirby.
The finish is actually more shiny than it looks in the photos, and it's now had two clear gloss coats, making it even shinier.
I really can't afford the time to try to improve things, as it would mean stripping the paint, and doing a lot of remedial work, involving coating the entire upper fuselage section in a thin layer of filler, and then sanding back etc.
The problem is, the fuselage halves actually bend inwards on their upper surfaces, creating a shallow 'valley' down the center line - the only place that is actually 'flat' is where the resin turret plug was fitted and filled with 'Milluput'.
With the clear coat, it's not quite as noticeable, and the addition of panel lines has also helped to distract the eye. Once the decals are in place, this should also help.
Although it's definitely not up to my standards, Dougie Barr is pleased with what he's seen so far, so at least it'll serve its purpose.

 

[parsifal]

I think it looks fine terry, but if that seam is bothering you could you not mask off the dorsal area, sand and fill the dorsal again (not by much I would say) and then respray just that small area? Or is that just too bodgy and laughable to deserve even thinking about?

 

[Airframes]

That would be the plan Michael, but as already mentioned, I just can't afford the time involved, for what might be (probably would be) just a very slight improvement, following a lot of work, especially as it's a metallic finish. Had it been camouflage, then the depression wouldn't be noticed (it couldn't be seen under the previously applied primer), but the 'silver' emphasis the tiniest blemish.
I only have a further six weeks in which to get the Stirling finished, and build and finish two Meteors, before delivering all five models to Dougie in time for the event on June 3rd - which will be done on 31st May, on my way to Holland, departing on June 2nd !
At least the model looks reasonably presentable, and is in the Squadron#s markings, and better than a camouflaged, WW2 era die-cast model, with all the metal joints visible, which was Dougie's only other alternative !

Not much done today, as I've been busy elsewhere, but I hope to get the final bits done within the next couple of days, and move on to the first of the Meteors.