- Thread starter
- #21
Wolfman_63
Airman 1st Class
For this week on the Thunderbolt I have most of the base coat painting done. I have the invasion stripes painted on. The main landing gear doors were then painted. For the insignias on the side of the fuselage I scanned the decals into the computer then printed them onto a sheet of paper. The insignias were then cut out and I taped them to a wide piece of blue painters tape on a piece of glass. A hobby knife was then used to trim around the paper leaving me with a mask for them. The mask was then removed from the glass and aligned into position. I did this so that the area under the insignias would not have the black and white stripes show thru the decals. The white area was painted then the black stripes.
The side insignias on the aircraft have a natural metal finish (NMF) outline just under the insignia. The decal set provides this. Once the insignia decal was placed I carefully slid the NMF stripes into place. There is also a couple of NMF decals for the intercooler doors. While it may look a little tricky to place the decals on the various surfaces it went very well. The decals conform well and fit into the areas perfectly.
Since I have the ammunition doors open, I once again used the paper insignia to mark where the decal goes and where I needed to make cuts for the ammo panel and the wing. I then scored the surface of the decal where the cuts were needed and slid the decal into place. While the decals are nice and thin, They are not difficult to maneuver into place.
The landing gear was attached and the center drop tank was detailed and installed. I still have some of the side decals to install and then the checkers for the nose. Then I can move on to the finer details and weathering.
Check out the build log for all the details from the start at 1/48 P-47D Thunderbolt "Bubbletop"
The side insignias on the aircraft have a natural metal finish (NMF) outline just under the insignia. The decal set provides this. Once the insignia decal was placed I carefully slid the NMF stripes into place. There is also a couple of NMF decals for the intercooler doors. While it may look a little tricky to place the decals on the various surfaces it went very well. The decals conform well and fit into the areas perfectly.
Since I have the ammunition doors open, I once again used the paper insignia to mark where the decal goes and where I needed to make cuts for the ammo panel and the wing. I then scored the surface of the decal where the cuts were needed and slid the decal into place. While the decals are nice and thin, They are not difficult to maneuver into place.
The landing gear was attached and the center drop tank was detailed and installed. I still have some of the side decals to install and then the checkers for the nose. Then I can move on to the finer details and weathering.
Check out the build log for all the details from the start at 1/48 P-47D Thunderbolt "Bubbletop"
