Budman Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Clioguy When I decant I just turn the rattle can upside down and spray till it can't spray any more. Then I punch a hole in it and pour it into a couple of jars that I have laying around. If you cap them quickly they will stay good for several months. Or you can spray it into a jar and use it like you suggested. Chuck you are the MAN. Are you trying to build a real airplane. Because from the looks of it you are on a really good start. That engine looks like it needs to be in a Museum. I can't imagine how this Mustang is going to look after seeing your F-4. Holly crap that thing looks real. Chuck for President. :worship: :worship: Thanks for the decanting tip. Sounds like a better mouse trap all the way around!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 (edited) Thanks for the decanting tip. Sounds like a better mouse trap all the way around!! A couple more decanting and spraying tips if I may. I try to only decant a relatively small amount of lacquer at a time, say, an ounce or so. I do this because the lacquer dries very, very quickly and the screw threads of the jar and cap become contaminated with dried up paint before you can wipe it off, that eventually falls into the jar creating airbrush plugging problems. By creating a new batch of paint in a clean jar more often, this problem is minimized. Also, when using lacquer, try to keep the airbrush blowing almost constantly, because the airbrush tip tends to dry and gunk up, again due to the quick drying characteristics of the lacquer over enamel. You also need to pull the needle back and blast out a little puddle of sputtering paint every now and then. If you don't, the airbrush will do it for you, all over your nice model! I also thin the lacquer with thinner and spray relatively close to the surface at low pressures, to minimize "paint dust", which is tiny droplets of paint that have dried before they hit the surface. This is particularly common in tight spaces where the air flow is blocked, like wing roots and jet intakes. With a little practice, lacquer decanted out of a spray can create the smoothest paint finish possible, like the orange-peel free nose of this Phantom. Edited June 20, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Devilleader501 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Great tips Chuck I never though about that but it makes perfect sense. God I cant wait to see more of this build. If it will be anything like the Phantom you will have people foaming at the mouth for more updates. JOSH Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Budman Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Great tips Chuck I never though about that but it makes perfect sense. God I cant wait to see more of this build. If it will be anything like the Phantom you will have people foaming at the mouth for more updates. JOSH What Devilleader501 said... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
steel_tiger1 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I would like to add that the best decanted lacquer to spray are the Tamiya sprays. The are phenominal they lay down with an airbrush better than any paint I have ever sprayed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
clioguy Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Thanks everyone for their decanting tips!! Best regards from Sunny and hot Malta! :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blunce Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 If it will be anything like the Phantom you will have people foaming at the mouth for more updates. JOSH Whaddya mean will have?! The first 3 or 4 pages of this thread were full of foam and no build pics! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gonzalo Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 " Ah, now eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs on your, on your dinosaur tour, right? Hello?" Dr. Ian Malcolm Jurassic Park Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Budman Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I don't know if you are doing the early or late D version but see if these help your effort. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Whaddya mean will have?! The first 3 or 4 pages of this thread were full of foam and no build pics! " Ah, now eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs on your, on your dinosaur tour, right? Hello?" Dr. Ian Malcolm Jurassic Park "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" Lesley Gore Well, the last time I looked, nobody was forcing anybody to click on this thread. If you want robotic progress pics with nothing extraneous to sift through, this isn't a thread you want to follow. Real build pics will eventually get posted, lots of crap that has nothing to do with Mustangs will be posted as well (see above), it will take a very long time to completion and, more importantly, the end result will (hopefully) be worth the wait. These build threads are far too much work to not have a little fun with along the way. Sorry if it's taking so long, but the golf courses are open, the sun is shining and the last thing I want to do is to model all summer, which in this part of the world is only about 3 months! Besides, according to my very first post, I think I'm fairly close to being on schedule with the engine nearly complete: See you back here in a few weeks when I have something more meaningful to show! Come November, I bet I kick out 2 build updates per week as the snow starts flying. Maybe some will want to check back in then. ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Budman Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" Lesley Gore Well, the last time I looked, nobody was forcing anybody to click on this thread. If you want robotic progress pics with nothing extraneous to sift through, this isn't a thread you want to follow. Real build pics will eventually get posted, lots of crap that has nothing to do with Mustangs will be posted as well (see above), it will take a very long time to completion and, more importantly, the end result will (hopefully) be worth the wait. These build threads are far too much work to not have a little fun with along the way. Sorry if it's taking so long, but the golf courses are open, the sun is shining and the last thing I want to do is to model all summer, which in this part of the world is only about 3 months! Besides, according to my very first post, I think I'm fairly close to being on schedule with the engine nearly complete: Come November, I bet I kick out 2 build updates per week as the snow starts flying. Maybe some will want to check back in then. ;) That pretty well sums up my thoughts on it Chuck. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 I don't know if you are doing the early or late D version but see if these help your effort. Thanks Bud. I'm doing "early" or the "B" version of the kit. The Barracuda IP I'm using looks like a hybrid between the 2 kit IP's, but it's close enough to the straight B to do the trick. I've assembled all the little pieces and I'll be hitting it with paint tonight, followed by lots of Fundekal and BarracudaCals cockpit stencils and placards. Between tomorrow and next week, I plan on no modeling as "life" gets in the way. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gonzalo Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 (edited) "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" Lesley Gore Well, the last time I looked, nobody was forcing anybody to click on this thread. If you want robotic progress pics with nothing extraneous to sift through, this isn't a thread you want to follow. Real build pics will eventually get posted, lots of crap that has nothing to do with Mustangs will be posted as well (see above), it will take a very long time to completion and, more importantly, the end result will (hopefully) be worth the wait. These build threads are far too much work to not have a little fun with along the way. Sorry if it's taking so long, but the golf courses are open, the sun is shining and the last thing I want to do is to model all summer, which in this part of the world is only about 3 months! Besides, according to my very first post, I think I'm fairly close to being on schedule with the engine nearly complete: Come November, I bet I kick out 2 build updates per week as the snow starts flying. Maybe some will want to check back in then. ;) Great reply I love it! I was just being funny though. Take as long as you want with this build. Either way, I am looking forward to all your pics and progress. Edited June 20, 2012 by gonzalo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gonzalo Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I loved your F-4E by the way. It was stunning! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blunce Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Not sure if you misinterpreted my post about lots of foam and no build pics, I was simply pointing out that before there were even any build pics posted, there were 3 or 4 pages of people foaming at the mouth. Anyhow, I know how these things go, I was along the ride for most of the F-4 build and had gone through page-by-page on the F/A-18 build, so I consider myself a veteran of your builds Chuck. Get done what ya can, when ya can, we'll still be here....foaming at the mouth likely. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Listen Guys, I was joking mostly too, hence the Leslie Gore quote, although that song also identifies me as a serious geezer if I remembered it at all! :P The reality is, this is a hobby that should be enjoyed when you have free time, rather than you feel compelled to build something so that you can post an update here more frequently. I know, because the F-4E and CF-18B consumed me and I found that I was letting important stuff slip by because I just HAD to get another step done. Make no mistake, this will happen again with this build as well!- but I'm just trying to ease myself into believing that it's "just a plastic airplane". Yeah right! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anders_Isaksson Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Chuck, again many thanks for putting in the time and effort in your WIP threads. I regret that I lately have not had much time to follow this board but I am very happy to see you working on a Tamiya P-51! It's on my (long) list of future projects. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 A couple more decanting and spraying tips if I may. I try to only decant a relatively small amount of lacquer at a time, say, an ounce or so. I do this because the lacquer dries very, very quickly and the screw threads of the jar and cap become contaminated with dried up paint before you can wipe it off, that eventually falls into the jar creating airbrush plugging problems. By creating a new batch of paint in a clean jar more often, this problem is minimized. Also, when using lacquer, try to keep the airbrush blowing almost constantly, because the airbrush tip tends to dry and gunk up, again due to the quick drying characteristics of the lacquer over enamel. You also need to pull the needle back and blast out a little puddle of sputtering paint every now and then. If you don't, the airbrush will do it for you, all over your nice model! I also thin the lacquer with thinner and spray relatively close to the surface at low pressures, to minimize "paint dust", which is tiny droplets of paint that have dried before they hit the surface. This is particularly common in tight spaces where the air flow is blocked, like wing roots and jet intakes. With a little practice, lacquer decanted out of a spray can create the smoothest paint finish possible, like the orange-peel free nose of this Phantom. Step 2 of this procedure is how did you manage to mask such a perfect tine on a conical object (nose) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) Step 2 of this procedure is how did you manage to mask such a perfect tine on a conical object (nose) Flexible plastic masking tape, cut into a 1/16" strip. Once that has been put in place, the regular Tamiya 6 mm tape is overlapped on the edge furthest away from where you're painting. Make sure you rub it all down tight so that there's no paint bleeding underneath, paint, then remove it almost right away (1 hour or so) while the paint is semi-flexible, so that it won't chip off when the tape is removed. For my last build I used this same tape for the window gaskets, which you can see here at the top.... Here's another example on a Tomcat using the same technique. You can barely see the 1/16" tape on the leading edge...... The end result is very sharp, although this pic got a little "pixelated" when I shrunk it a bit too much, creating a bit of false ragged edge on the left that isn't real..... And another example on an F-4J I did 4 years ago using ordinary Tamiya tape cut into 1/16" strips. Still pretty good.... What does this all have to do with a P-51D Mustang? Nothing! :lol: Edited June 21, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neo Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Flexible plastic masking tape, cut into a 1/16" strip. thanks Chuck can you tell me where you get this stuff? What does this all have to do with a P-51D Mustang? Nothing! :lol: you never know when you have to but a stripe on a prop spinner :P Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Budman Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Painting is a part of any build and one that many of us struggle with. For me, weathering is the downfall. Straight painting is not a problem, but my weathering is sad to say the least. My wife is an artist and she is teaching me how to mix colors to achive a certain hue but I still am having issues in trying to determine what hue to use in that there are obvious differences between using brush(s) to paint a rose vs an airbrush to paint exhaust headers. Having said that, your tutorials can be applied not only to a P-51, but to any build we neophytes are attempting. Thanks for taking the time and showing us how as you go. Bud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) thanks Chuck can you tell me where you get this stuff? You never know when you have to but a stripe on a prop spinner :P I bought mine at my local hobby store, but I found some at Hobbylinc (good on-line store) here. It's basically vinyl masking tape with a razor sharp edge.... http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/tes/tes50622c.htm Thanks for taking the time and showing us how as you go. Bud Just about everything I know about modeling, I learned from others here, so I like to share. What's really cool about this hobby is that you're always learning new stuff, so my modeling never gets stale where I do the exact same thing over and over again. I always like to try new things- sometimes it works, sometimes I bomb, but you'll never know unless you try. For instance, I took "steel_tiger1's" suggestion (Post # 105) to try out decanting Tamiya lacquer paints, which I tried last night on my P-51D dash. Even though I have nothing to show yet, I have found the following, although others may have had better luck with this product: 1) The propellant in the Tamiya spray cans is very volatile and I didn't dare seal the jar tight for several hours as it dissipated. It bubbled in my airbrush cup so much I couldn't paint for at least an hour- and it came out freezing cold due to the pressure drop between the can and the atmosphere. Krylon lacquer paints have propellant in them as well, but a lot less and you're good to go to paint or seal the jar within 15 minutes. 2) Tamiya paint needs less thinning than Krylon, but it still needs some. I used Tamiya lacquer thinner, which mixed well. 3) The Tamiya paint dried quicker and harder than Krylon within an hour, so if you're in a hurry, the Tamiya paint is the way to go. 4) Both paints sprayed about the same, with no real differences in application or quality of finish. 5) Tamiya paint costs 3 times what Krylon does for cost per volume of paint. Based upon these experiences, I'll continue to use Krylon over Tamiya paint, unless I need speed of drying or a specific color, since the Krylon color choices are fairly limited. Another modeling experiment I'll be trying in this build is to drill a small hole in the back of the clear plastic bubble canopy for the aerial wire that goes back to the vertical stabilizer. Based upon prior experiences drilling hard clear plastic, I think the chances of getting a crack is extremely high, so I've ordered a spare canopy, just in case. I think that if I start with a very tiny drill and take things slow and easy, then use a slightly larger drill to accommodate the aerial wire width, followed by a little touch of CA glue within the hole to keep things tight and stable, I might win. If not, I'll go with the no-aerial route, which appears to be method of choice with most of the builds I've seen, likely for a reason! Edited June 21, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JohnS Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 (edited) Hi Chuck! Thought I'd parachute in from my lurking position to see how your P-51 is doing. No surprise, the work so far looks great! You might even make a prop fan out of me. Keep up the great work.: John Edited June 23, 2012 by JohnS Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Yoxford Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Another modeling experiment I'll be trying in this build is to drill a small hole in the back of the clear plastic bubble canopy for the aerial wire that goes back to the vertical stabilizer. ETO Mustangs didn't use that aerial. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 ETO Mustangs didn't use that aerial. Interesting- and since my knowledge of Mustangs is sparse, I need to be sure. Here's the benchmark build I'm shooting for, which I believe is an ETO bird. Is this incorrect?..... http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=243659 And here's some pics of ETO P-51's, which are poor resolution.... http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/?images/military/eto/111448269 but there's at least one pic in this collection that shows this aerial on the front bird... http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/?image_viewer/military/eto/26596773/111448269/8 So, I guess the real question is whether or not P-51D-10-NA, 44-14570, had it or not (for sure!). It would sure be a lot easier if it didn't! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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