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MH,

You could cover all that up with some salt weathering :woot.gif: It would be a great time to test out the technique :thumbsup: If you want some advice just ask... BTW the ship looks great in those pics. Superb scratchin' :clap2:

/Jesse

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thanks for your kind words guys.

It looks alright from a distance, but when you get up close, this is what you see (and I am swallowing pride here showing you this):

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I'm not sure salt weathering will fix it unfortunately Jesse :unsure: I may even have to try and strip it all back somehow without damaging the detailing and start afresh, but I am unsure on how I would actually accomplish said statement

Edited by The Madhatter
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I'll just bet you could save that finish if you do some drybrushing of your basecoat (or a shade slightly lighter than the basecoat) over the darker spots. At the very least it would help to blend in the obvious grunge in spots while also putting in some highlights. Given how tiny this model is, it needs something. I've had to drybrush the basecoat from time to time on models when the wash coat stained a spot that I did not want it to and it works if you are careful enough. Make sure to drybrush with an enamel though as they tend to blend better than acrylics in my experience. It may add some lighter graininess to the finish in spots, but that can give a nice hint of interstellar dust pelting the crap out of the surface of the ship (and UV exposure bleaching the coloring out a little bit).

My point is, don't sell it short yet. The paint finish can still be salvaged at this point. It might not be a bad idea to take a break for a few days and then come back to it, but drybrushing I think can really get the Cordoba to look like much more than a ship with the name of a Chrysler product from the 1970s. ;)

Edited by Jay Chladek
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thanks for your suggestions Jay - I really appreciate it. I have actually stepped away from it over the last few days and am now seriously contemplating using "Easy Off" - an apparent paint stripper designed specifically for models - so it won't dissolve the finer plastic bits.

Has anyone actually ever used this stuff? Does it work all that well? I heard it doesn't strip black for some reason - I've never heard of a pint stripper that is picky about which colors it dissolves :blink:

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I would be very, very wary of stripping it - especially with something Easy-off, which I have used extensively for this sort of thing.

It's interaction with glues is the main issue - and all your delicate work with the detailing you've done may start coming apart in ways you didn't expect.

To be honest your problematic finish doesn't look too bad. Yes, the Cordoba didn't have the type of 'weathering' you've inadvertantly given it, but so what? It still looks pretty damn good!

I don't think salt weathering is the answer - the scale would be to large.

Anyway, this is a fantastic build, and I am very grateful for all the pics giving an insight into the process.

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I would HIGHLY recommend NOT stripping it with Easy Off (if it is the Easy Off we know in the states as Oven Cleaner) since that stuff can damage many of the things you put on it (I shudder to think what it would do to the brass you added since Easy Off can eat aluminum foil).

Now it sounds like if it is purpose designed for models, it could be Floquil "Easy Lift Off" (a train shop might be more likely to carry Floquil products in Australia if your LHS does not, or are you in Melbourne Florida?). It is a slower acting paint stripper which is more user friendly (it won't eat your skin for instance like oven cleaner can). Brush a little on, let it soften the paint, wipe off after a few minutes. I've used it to take enamel, laquer and acrylic off and it doesn't seem to damage the plastic or glue. Plus it doesn't seem to damage metal either.

I really don't think you have to go that far though and in taking the paint off, flakes of it are going to clog some of the vents (unless you have some micro brushes to clean them out). If you can get ahold of some, keep it on standby and try the drybrushing techniques I recommended first. If that saves the paint to your satisfaction, then you won't need to strip the beastie. If not, strip away. Just be very careful!

Doesn't Gunze make a paint stripping product as well (Mr. Paint Disolver I believe it is called)? It might be worth looking into.

Edited by Jay Chladek
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Easy Lift Off - that must be the stuff the guy was telling me about. I was reading through numerous posts on BMF about Easy Off oven cleaner and as I was reading it, I was thinking to myself "hmm, maybe not what I was thinking of'.. and it was described to me as coming in a silver can. Seeing as I've never actually laid eyes on Easy Lift Off, I'm assuming it must be that.

What the photo's don't really show (unfortunately - despite my best efforts to show it) is the really stringy surface the Dull Coat left behind. I had spent a few hours smoothing out the original base coat because I think I mixed it to thinly and it was drying before it hit the surface. I had it looking pretty good, but now it's too lumpy and pebbly again.

I'm not really sure what I'm doing wrong there.

I will try the dry brushing though to see if it works. If at the end it still looks grainy and rough and crappy, I'll strip it back with that Floquil stuff if I can get it here (Melbourne, Australia). If not, I'll ask about the MR Hobby/ Gunze stripper. May have to look online for that because I've never seen anything like it here (mind you - I also wasn't looking for it either)

I'll try and fix it over the weekend if I get chance and see how it goes.

Thanks guys for all of your input - I can't express enough how appreciative I am of it

MH

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I had a go at dry brushing the body, but it didn't hide the roughness and it still looked wrong - so I caved and used Floquil:

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I really like this stuff - I wish I knew about this ages ago! It worked really really well.

I ended up using my airbrush set to 50 PSI and washed it all off with hot soapy water then meths - came off like a charm and no damage to the details (except small but fixable breakage due to some heavy handed handling)

This time round will be better. I now now where I was going wrong with the paints etc

Thank you again to all who have given me advice!

MH

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Excellent save! I am glad you were able to get some Easy Lift Off and it did the job intended. Using the airbrush as a pressure washer also was a genius idea as well to get stuff out of those tiny little crevaces. I knew this project could be saved. And yes, when you find the stuff, you wonder how you ever got on without it as salvaging old model builds now becomes a possibility (strip paint, fix problems, repaint).

I'm still wondering why Dullcoat would do that? Only time I ever had a clear coat go all stringy is if the can is old and it can cause permanent marker inks to run if not careful (which is one reason why I don't use a Sharpie on my models). I wonder if the stuff didn't mix properly or something.

I admit I've not been as keen to use the Testors flat clear sprays myself (I use spraycan instead of airbrush versions) since it seems like they tend to produce an uneven finish (flat in some spots, slight sheen in others, especially decals). I have more or less switched over to airbrushing on Microscale Micro Flat now and it does the job. Plus, since it is an acrylic one thins with water (Do NOT use an alcohol based thinner in it, unless you want a simulated frost) it should be inert to the paint and weathering. Floquil I believe still makes an acrylic flat in their railroad color Pollyscale line.

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Wow. Very brave move! And it will be worth it :thumbsup: I think you just need to find a good combo of paint brands to use.

Here's my list...

Mr.Surfacer primer (lacquer)

Tamiya black pre-shading (acrylic)

Model Master base coat (enamel)

Tamiya Clear (acrylic)

Next, decals and post shading with Model Master enamels

Another Tamiya clear (acrylic) then a wash

Model Master flat coat

Obviously you can do your own thing, I'm just saying I haven't had a bad reaction yet... I also polish with micro mesh cloths between each coat....

Good Luck man :D

/Jesse

Also. It's important to have good light. I use a LED head lamp and magnifying glasses. So I can see the paint shoot onto the model wet, but not too thick... This seems to keep the pebbly finish to a minimum.

Edited by JesniF-16
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Thanks for your replies guys - hugely appreciated

I'm thinking the can must be old as well - even though it was still sealed. I'm also wondering whether or not it was reacting to the Alclad clear coat beneath it? I knew I should have used the Alcald matt coatr intead - but I was being lazy with the rattlecan. Serves me right really.

I usually use Alcald primer, then Tamiya XF-1 for preshading and Tamiya or Gunze Acrylics as the body colours and usually nothing bad happens. I didn't use that combo here - I used XF1 as a primer/light blocker and Tamiya Colour as a base coat, XF1 again for preshading then another coat of Tamiya colour then Alclad clear then wash with Tamiya Panel line washer then Testors Dull coat. I'm goind to discard the Dull coat and stick with the Alclad version (although I do have Dull coate and clear coat in airbrush form)

However, I discovered over the weekend that another problem is using straight meths as a thinner as opposed to half water half meths (which I have tried out on a TU-154 and found that combo works terrifically) and so it was drying before it hit the surface, creating pebbles and rought surfaces.

Anyway, still waiting for it to dry thoroughly before starting up again. No chances this time

Edited by The Madhatter
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, the ship is finally done - and I am much happier with it now too. Not a single pebble or stringy bit to be seen!

Everything went on perfectly for a change :yahoo::banana:

I've fallen in love with that paint stripper - so much so that I've resurrected my BSG Viper and stripped the crappy paint off of that and modified the body shape slightly and it's now currently drying the gloss black base coat. Pics of that once it done - and it won't look like the usual Viper either - so if your a hard core BSG fan, you may not like it

Anyway, back on topic, aside from the base (which I'm still sourcing the materials for) its done. Unfortunately, the paint stripper ate away at the internal lighting, so all my "windows" are now no more. Oh well...

Thanks to everyone who has dropped in and offered me help - I am so appreciative of that. It's why I love this site...

Enough blabbing, pics time. Feel free to critique:

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and for some "moodier" shots

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I'll post some pics of it on the base once I have that part sorted out in due course

Thanks again for stopping in

:cheers:

MH

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It´s gorgeous!!!! :worship:

Absolutely stunning!

Only critique I´ve got is the photography, you´re shooting it in macro mode and that makes the field of depth paper thin so the whole ship is never in focus, just parts of it. Would make it less model like if the entire ship could stay in focus.

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Thanks Aigore, I was shooting in auto mode to start with, then went into manual mode for the darker shots. I was playing with the F stop and apiture settings, but I couldn't get the right results. Will try again when I do the final overall shoot. However, if u have any good tips, please feel free to post them.

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Begin with an aperture of F8-F9 and about 1/3 second shutter time. With this setting it would be good if you have a tripod,it´s almost impossible to keep a camera steady for such a long shutter time.

Work the shutter time up and down until you get the right ammount of exposure.

I think the last picture you posted was the best

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There are some handy online depth of field calculators that can help you sort that out. Given this is a smaller ship, you shouldn't have to go super high on the f stops, but you may need a lot more ambient light.

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Begin with an aperture of F8-F9 and about 1/3 second shutter time. With this setting it would be good if you have a tripod,it´s almost impossible to keep a camera steady for such a long shutter time.

Work the shutter time up and down until you get the right ammount of exposure.

I think the last picture you posted was the best

There are some handy online depth of field calculators that can help you sort that out. Given this is a smaller ship, you shouldn't have to go super high on the f stops, but you may need a lot more ambient light.

thanks for your input here guys - I'll have a look for these online DOF calculators when I go to do the final shoot with the completed base. Do they provide scaling features as well?

Jesse - thanks for your kind words too - hugely appreciated

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