Thermal coatings on bombs

[A-10 LOADER]

Has anyone here tried using white out correction fluid to replicate the thermal coatings used on Navy bombs ? Can it be masked on or will it pull off when the tape is removed ? Any input is welcome, thanks.

Steve

[Grey Ghost 531]

I've used liquid cement and an old toothbrush. Paint on a generous layer of cement, let it work on the plastic for a minute or two and then tap with the ends of the bristles of the toothbrush. I light sanding to remove the high points and it looked pretty good. I didn't mask it, instead, I scribed a groove where the tail connected and that kept the cement from running into the part I wanted smooth. Steve used to have a banner of old articles on the top of the page, the A-6 on it was one I did. You can probably find it to see what they look like. It was 1/72 scale, I don't know if it would be convincing in a larger scale.

Another way is textured spray paint. Krylon makes a stone texture that I used on a 1/4 scale HEMI exhaust manifold. It worked pretty good. A club member uses it for no-skid on tanks. It would work for the thermal coating on Navy bombs I think in 1/48.

[lesthegringo]

Use a slow dry enamel paint then sprinkle a fine layer of either flour (if you want it rough) or corn / rice flour if you want a smoother finish. Let it dry then spray the colour you want on it. Because you can mask where you don't want the coating it makes it easy to control, plus the finish is very even.

I used rough flour to recreate suede covered seats and steering wheels for car models this way, and with a matt paint it looks really convincing

Les

Edited November 12, 2015 by lesthegringo

[metroman]

All good ideas - my take is to dabble on Mr Surfacer 500 (the coarse one of their line) and then dabble/stipple with a cutdown brush, once dry a light sand to remove the high spots and you're off. Cheers

[A-10 LOADER]

Thanks for your imput guys, much appreciated. Turns out you can use BIC white out for the thermal coatings. I did an experiment on a "test subject", for my 1/18th scale Tomcat.

The correction fluid was handy so, I went with it. The applicator supplied with it no longer comes with a brush, it now has a small foam tip on it. This was a helpful bonus.

I sanded the bomb body with 320 grit and wiped it down with some rubbing alcohol. I worked small sections at a time and as it was drying, went back and dabbed the surface with the foam pad.

The results are great and it looks the scale, not overly done. I used Tamiya tape to tape off for the yellow bands and it did not lift off when I removed the tape.

Have a look for yourselves .....

Steve

[Grey Ghost 531]

That's an excellent result. I wasn't sure if white-out would stick or flake off since it wasn't designed to go on plastic.

[Joe Hegedus]

That looks pretty much just right. If that is 1/18 scale, then I submit that in 1/48 or, especially, 1/72, that much texture would look overscale. I'd use normal, flat paint, and shoot it through the airbrush without thinning as much as normal, with enough air pressure to push it through so that it dries with a slightly rough texture. Should be right in the ballpark for the smaller scales.