Grey Ghost 531

Finishing a model, that would be something new for me too!....oh, that's not what you meant? ...never mind.

1) Household foil works well, the model specific kind like "Bare Metal" are thinner but way more expensive. 2) No, just cut a little oversize and then trim to fit once it's on the model. You can vary the sheen of the foil by altering the direction as it has some "grain". You can also switch which side of the foil you use. One is shinier than the other. How you burnish it can change the appearance too. Soft cloth or Q-tip or paper towel... 3) Microscale sells "metal foil adhesive". It's kind of like regular PVA glue (Elmer's) but remains slightly tacky after it dries. You paint it on the back

Novus is usually available in motorcycle shops here in the US so you might be able to find something comparable in motorcycle shops there.

You can look at it this way; at least you avoided having to walk around with a F-86 glued to your hand! I'm super careful about using thin CA and I manage to glue things to myself all the time. Of course, I once used Squadron Green Putty to hold nose weights in and ended up with an F-15 with a raisin for a radome!

use my scale converter app. available on the tools 'n' tips page. Enter the 1/1 value on the left, choose 1/48 and the units you want on the right and click "Calculate".

I can't imagine there's an age limit on buying lead shot.

The TD weight picture reminded me of something I did once. I used clay to make a mold of the nose and then made a female mold out of plaster and then poured melted tire weights into the plaster.

Lead shot mixed with 5 minute epoxy poured in the nose works for me. You can get it from any gunshop that supplies hand loaders.

Tenax is faster but the end result is the same. Both have their places. If you can put the pieces to be cemented together and then apply the cement, Tenax is better. If you have to apply the glue to the pieces and then stick them together, Testors is better. Tenax evaporates too quickly to use in that way. Tamiya glue smells the best.... Does anyone remember a long time ago when Japanese kits came with that tiny little tube of glue? That stuff smelled the BEST!

I don't have an optivisor but I do have some of those "reading glasses" from the pharmacy that work about the same. I couldn't do a thing without them now that I'm aproaching geezerhood. It is sooooo much easier to do fine detail now that I have them.

I can answer the "where" part. Just go to your local yellow pages and look for "gas-industrial". Then, call them and they will probably be able to answer the rest of your questions. I'm sure you're not the only one who's wanted to do this so they can probably hook you up with what you need.

Depends on the kind of paint. If it's acrylic I don't think there's any way to bring it back. If it's enamel, maybe. To unstick enamel paint jar lids, turn the jar upside down and put some laquer thinner in the lip of the cap with an eye dropper. Let it sit for a while and it should loosen the paint sticking the cap on. After you get it open, clean the dried paint off the threads of the jar and cap. See if you can break up the lump of paint in the bottom of the jar. If there's not enough liquid left to mix the solid part back in try the thinner of your choice. Some thinners react badly with

Smells way better though, don't it?

It makes the surface of the brass a little rough so the paint can grip it better.

A little trick is to loosen the screw part and the push the collet in. That's the littled domed part with the slot for the blade. Pinch the blade between your fingers (carefully) and then try to push the collet back into the threaded collar. It should snap in and then the blade will be loose.

Both olive green and drab are very generic color descriptions. Either may be used to describe anything from a light tan or light green to a dark shade of either color. Olive paints (drab or green) tend to fade faster than most other colors as well. Keeping in mind the above, olive drab is usually browner and maybe a little lighter that olive green. Look to see if you can find actual spec numbers for the colors described.

For pros, it's often a lot easier to scribe the parts before assembly. The wing and fuselage parts will lay flat on the table, you don't have to worry about breaking glued joints with the pressure, wings don't block access to fuselage, etc. On the con side, you'll have to re-rescribe any lines you obliterate while building. I think the pros outweigh the cons.

Lots of places carry them. Most office supply stores do. Many tool outlets as well. MicroMark carries a couple. Do a web search using "magnify lamp arm" and you'll get a bunch of hits. I just did and this site looks to be a good reference for many links.

I've used it for a couple of things. It worked well as a barrier when I built up the framework of my D.VII inside the fuselage half. I lined the fuselage with the plastic wrap and then built the framework right inside gluing the rod together with Tenax. When it was dry it pulled right out of the fuselage without sticking. I also used it as a barrier to putty. I had to putty the join between the D.VII's lower wing and fuselage but I didn't want the "fillet" that doing it the normal way would leave. I wrapped the plastic around the wing and set it in place in the fuselage cut-out. Then I puttie

Ruling pens work great. They look like a little pincer with a screw to adjust the gap at the tip. They're available in drafting sets. I also use a paintbrush that is for painting stripes. It's about as wide as a normal 00 brush but the bristles are about twice as long. A cat chewed on it once and it's not fit for painting as it's got a kink in the middle of the bristles but it works good for Tenax. It holds a lot more than a normal 00 but it comes to the same fine point.

Hmmm, I haven't seen that stuff. The label says "washable". How sensitive is it to humidity? I'll have to go and find some I think. Thanks for the tip!

Kind of depends on what you're waiting to do next. If you're going to apply decals and setting solution (which I assume isn't the case for you this time as it's a wheel well) I'd give it at least 24 hrs. Setting solutions tend to cause Future to turn white if you use them to soon. If you're going to do a water based wash 3 or 4 hours is probably safe.

Big difference is that wet sanding keeps the sandpaper clean so it lasts longer. Dry sanding tends to clog the grit of the paper with putty and plastic dust and it stops cutting. Just make sure you use wet sand paper. It's usually black. If you use the tan or reddish color paper wet the glue that holds the grit to the paper dissolves and the paper falls apart. Then you have a big mess.

Floquil metal primer would work too.

Would it be possible to use the lines between the different panel of plastic sheet? That is, make your pieces of plastic sheet the same size and location as the actual metal panels.