Quote from: scotsoft on April 16, 2013, 09:35:22 AM

Quote from: Gnep on April 16, 2013, 09:31:14 AM
I wonder if there's a statistically significant correlation between n-gauge modellers and sci-fi nerds?


G

Reading through this thread I think there is a lot of evidence to justify that thought     

Live long and prosper!

cheers John

Well, to reverse the trend, Jean Luc Picard was a railway modeller too, every time they wanted to go anywhere, he'd point and say "N-Gauge"

Taxi....

QuoteWell, to reverse the trend, Jean Luc Picard was a railway modeller too, every time they wanted to go anywhere, he'd point and say "N-Gauge"

Thanks for the interest folks, just glued on the bay doors, waiting for them to dry.

QuoteDid you manage to get rid of the dust on the primed coat?

Yeah I did thanks, using my latest purchase (from Trainwest) of a set of needle files. How I got this far in my modelling life without them! Gently sanded down the dodgy area and re-sprayed. Worked well and now I can't remember which side it was 

Stay happy folks

Skyline2uk

Evening all.

So mixed reports on the Viper project.

First things first, you get what you pay for. The cheap airbrush I bought to use on this project has turned out to be, well, rubbish. Could not make it work well without the paint being too runny, which resulted in a rubbish first white paint layer.

I moved on to using a white spay can an I was happy until that too ran (probably my fault though, over-compensating for strong winds today and got too close). Its not awful, but I got to the point when I got angry and had to walk away.

One final point on Humbrol Maskol...it says on the pot "do not leave on the model for more than 3 days". I left it for a week and it ended up taking one bay door right back to the plastic!

Oh well, will leave it and see what I can do when I am not so annoyed (and its light / dry outside!).

Skyline2uk

I have got to a point now where

Quote from: Skyline2uk on April 28, 2013, 09:10:11 PM
Evening all.

So mixed reports on the Viper project.

First things first, you get what you pay for. The cheap airbrush I bought to use on this project has turned out to be, well, rubbish. Could not make it work well without the paint being too runny, which resulted in a rubbish first white paint layer.

I moved on to using a white spay can an I was happy until that too ran (probably my fault though, over-compensating for strong winds today and got too close). Its not awful, but I got to the point when I got angry and had to walk away.

One final point on Humbrol Maskol...it says on the pot "do not leave on the model for more than 3 days". I left it for a week and it ended up taking one bay door right back to the plastic!

Oh well, will leave it and see what I can do when I am not so annoyed (and its light / dry outside!).

Skyline2uk

I have got to a point now where

Hi

I've found with airbrushes you certainly get what you pay for. I bought an Iwata Revolution and found it to be excellent. When I bought a compressor I had the option to buy a compressor complete with hose and a pair of airbrushes (it basically cost me £3 for the airbrushes). Not to put too finer point on it the airbrushes are cr@p. The compressor though is excellent.

Cheers

Paul

Just a quick update before bed....

Have managed to save the white coat and, all being well, I can move on with the build now :-)

Skyline2uk

Hey hey,

Getting into my stride with this project now. The underside of the body has been sorted, masking of the doors completed and produced a good result.

Moving onto the next steps, landing "skids" and cockpit.

I deviated from the instructions with the painting of what would be called "landing gear", painting the structure in "Aluminium" as instructed, but the skids themselves "Steel". I reasoned that the "Skids" would be subjected to a much more harsh life and should be made out of a tougher stuff.

With the cockpit, I rapidly completed the small piece of assembly work to build the console, but here I noticed something a bit strange.  The grey of my chose primer (plasticoat spray), is almost a total match for the "silky grey" called for to paint the entire cockpit and console assembly. I honestly cannot see where I have painted!

I will of course add some photos, but the battery has just gone flat on my camera.

Looking at the interior detail, I deviated again from instruction and painted the Viper seat in a, shall we say, "non-standard colour". Wont say anymore just now, but suffice to say our own dear Tank will approve 

Skyline2uk

As promised are some progress pictures.....



Photo above shows the modification I have made to the cockpit paint scheme. Yep, I have decided a plain grey seat is plain dull, so standard issue Viper cockpits in my universe now come with NSE red seats 

I have now finished on the lower body, skids and cockpit assembly (the latter including many fiddly water slide decals). Progress to date is summarised below:







Now onto the main structural stuff, the body of the Viper, most of it already primed.

Enjoying this, and saw a large scale Typhoon on sale today.......

Skyline2uk

There is a precedent.  The humble Spitfire had a Red seat.  Mk 5 onwards the seat was molded from a brick red coloured bakerlite plastic…

 

Yey!

Skyline2uk

Hey all,

I have not stopped this, I just don't really want to post all the "miss-haps" I have had!

Its been very much a case of 2 steps forward and 1 back with the painting on this. Use 6 (yes SIX!) cans of Humbrol Gloss White spray....and two or three components have needed re-work.

And that includes what should have been the last two components in white this evening 

Oh well, learnt a lot and most of the dodgy stuff is not viewable from "normal" (i.e. not upside down!) angles.

Just looking for a small pot of the same white to touch-up the paint on the finished structure (in stock in Modelzone but can tell if its in Bristol store).

NOT blowing another £5.00 on a can of spray!

Skyline2uk

Evening all,

So, after a long time not reporting, I have actually been assembling....





The main pieces (wings, engine cowlings, exhausts and fin) that I had left to build all went together in about 10 minutes....after about 3 weeks working out how to get the wings on!

Turns out I had been a bit over zealous with the glue and had to break a seal between the lower fuse and upper two sections. Not mentioned in the instructions but...no I won't blame them!







Must be honest and say that the pictures rather flatter the paint job on my Viper. The main thing I will take from this build is that aerosol cans can be anything but straight forward to use (well for me anyway). The case for investing in a decent airbrush is growing.

Now I have to sort out the canopy (not painted or glued yet), do the (many) decals and add a gloss clear finish.

"Starbuck....wadda you hear....?"

Skyline2uk

Well after a final push I have completed all of the Decal work on the Viper.

Rather pleased with the results. Its not perfect by any stretch, some of the red stripes were really fiddly so there are the odd gaps where white shows. I may see if I can find the suitable paint colours (you have to mix two to match the stripe annoyingly) to touch the gaps up.

In the meantime, here is how "Triple 2" looks as of last night 







Have some more finishing touches to do, one of which is a clear coat of some sort.

Have a can of un-used Revell Clear Spray, wondering if that would be ok to use??

Guessing I should test it first and have a method for that. Has anybody else used this clear spray over decals before?

Skyline2uk

You have made a good job of it Skyline2uk, it looks superb 

When can I book a joy ride in it   

Thank you for posting your pictures 

cheers John.

QuoteYou have made a good job of it Skyline2uk, it looks superb 

Thanks very much, coming from a member such as yourself that is a real compliment.

As for the joy-ride, when I perfect the shrink ray you can have a shot after me. Though judging by the hand-eye co-ordination I showed earlier today (utter failed to wing a cuddly "Minion" at Legoland ) she may not be in one piece after my sortie 

Your welcome re the pictures. Tiny bit of pride (first even 100% decal complete kit) in my posting TBH

Skyline2uk

 

Nice piece of modelling there buddy, the paintwork and decals look great. Is it NSE or possibly for the new HS2?lol
Regards
Ian