Landlubber Mike

Thanks guys, really appreciate the kind words. I still have a long way to go, but slowly getting better thanks to all your helpful tips and suggestions. @CDW, thanks for posting that info along. Interesting that the pros don't use a clear coat under the decal. I can see cutting off the excess clear carrier film on things like insignias, but numbering and lettering must be a real process, yikes! I almost think it would be easier to paint certain decals rather than cut them out. Speaking about painting rather than using decals, @yvesvidal asked about how I painted the insignia. I used the Montex stencils as I mentioned a page or two earlier, but last night I watch a youtube video by Plasmo who cut out his own in doing a Buffalo (very similar plane). All he used was a circular cutter, a scalpel, and Tamiya masking tape. Easy to prepare the disk masks using the circular cutter. For the stars, he used the kit decals as a template - he put the Tamiya tape on top of the decal, then traced out the star using a scalpel. Took him like 30 seconds (probably would take me 30 minutes, but seemed very easy to do). This is the circular cutter I used by the way (and Plasmo was using) - inexpensive, and cuts circles as small as a little under 1/2"/1cm.

A few days ago I was looking up what to do with carrier film issues. Some suggested that it could be from air pockets between the decal and the model. To minimize this, the consensus seemed that (1) a gloss coat before decal application gives a smooth surface, so the decals can sit easier, (2) use of decal setting solutions (I've been using Micro Set and Micro Sol, but it sounds like there are others that are stronger but you have to be careful on certain kits, and (3) use a pin to pop a hole in the decal to let the solution under the decal to release the air pocket and help the decal to sit better. On my 1/72 planes, I sprayed with Future, then added Micro Set to the model before adding the decal. Once the decal was on, I added more Micro Set and a bit of Micro Sol. Had zero carrier film issues, but sitting the decal on the Micro Set led to a weaker decal that was prone to ripping. On my F3Fs, I added the decals straight to the painted finish without the Future gloss coat (didn't want to dull the aluminum finish). When applying the decals, I added water to the model, added the decal, then added Micro Set and Micro Sol on top. Much easier to manipulate the decals using just water and not Micro Set, particularly the pin striping. But, if the light hits it just right, at an acute angle you can see the carrier film edges. It was more prominent pre-final clear coat and weathering, but is still there. So I don't know what the answer is. This certainly wasn't a controlled experiment as I was using decals of different ages and from different manufacturers. Next time I might try using both water and a touch of Micro Set under the decal when positioning them. Seems like the carrier film issue is prevalent across many model and decal types though.

Looking great OC! My guess is that with some weathering and a final top coat, the tail code films will be even less visible.

Nice collection you have over there Kevin - and love the cabinet you made for it!

This looks really amazing - a big testament to Chris' skills as a designer to make a model with such detailed focus on developing a skeleton for the model that ensures its stability and accuracy. For me, having to figure out where to cut gunports, modifying the skeleton so it all fits together accurately, etc. in other kits were very aggravating. In this kit, Chris looks like he's set it up in such a way that you can spend more time building and adding details, which is what I most like about modeling.

Some final pictures of the F3F-2:

Some final pictures of the F3F-1:

Finished the F3Fs last night. Hooray! Funny how the final details always seem to take me 10x longer to complete than I would have expected. A few post-build notes: 1. As I mentioned earlier, I decided to add a flat finish to the belly bands and painted areas of the cowl. I probably could have gone with semi-gloss, but I like the contrast against the tiny aluminum. 2. For the rigging, I used the kit's PE parts. I wouldn't say it was an easy process to include them, but they went on much easier than the PE rigging set from Starfighter that I used on my F4B-4 and P-6E. The material was stiffer, and Accurate miniatures added slots to the wings into which you could slide the rigging. 3. I added pitot tubes to the right N support. I ended up using pieces of bug pins for the tubes. The pins (used to pin bugs in bug collection) are stainless steel and come in various very thin sizes. The N support already had what looked like the wiring and other hardware, so I just found a pin that seemed to roughly match in size. 4. The radio antennae wires were made using EZ-Line fine. It worked like a real charm. I know some people pooh-pooh it because it's more flat than round, but I think you can only tell that under extreme magnification, at least for the fine size. It attaches easily with CA and stretches (supposedly up to 7 times its length) so you can get a nice taut line. Seemed much easier than stretched sprue or other materials. It was a little complicated in that the wires that run from each wing tip to the tail connect ahead of the tail and then run in a combined line to the tail, but I managed to get it to work. 5. The kit has you attach the upper wings, then attach the bottom wings and supports, suggesting that you try to do it all at the same time. Of course, it's much harder said than done. On both planes, the right side ended up a couple of millimeters higher than the other. If I had to do it again, I would probably have attached the bottom wings to the fuselage pre-painting, to avoid any seams and to better set the dihedral. I think if I had taken that approach, all I would have had to do is manage the angle of the top wing (as opposed to trying to glue the two bottom wings and the top wing, position the struts, etc. all at the same time). Learning experience for next time. I just wanted to thank everyone who has been looking in and helping me work my way through this. I really appreciate all the help so thank you! For my next plane, I'll be doing the Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat kit as the FM-1 version using the Wolfpack wing fold conversion set. Simpler in the sense that it has limited rigging and a single wing, but I have the big Aires resin/PE detail set and the Wolfpack set, so it will be challenging in other ways.

I'm using ebony for my Charles Morgan build, and I have to say that I don't find it as difficult to work as people tend to say. Sure you have to be careful of the dust, but you similarly have to be careful about the dust of many woods you see used in the hobby. For what it's worth, I've heard that the leather dyes can fade, so you might want to try using black stains if you go that route. On my Pegasus, I've been using General Finishes stains and the black still looks like the day I applied it. If you're looking to source ebony strip wood, try Matt at Inlay Banding. He put together a package of ebony for me a couple of years ago at a reasonable cost, dimensioned to what I needed. https://www.inlaybanding.com

Nice work, great job! Even more impressive that you did it at such a small scale!

Wow, that detail is amazing. Greg, if you don't mind, I was wondering if you could share any tips on fixing the railings to the model. Do you use CA? White glue? Do you pre-prime and paint before attaching? I'm close to adding the rails to my 1/700 destroyer and am wondering if there is a proper way to go about it. The PE is so thin, that I have to do it right the first time or it will look like garbage. Thanks in advance!

Thanks man, really appreciate the nice words and the advice! Even though these are fairly simple planes, the color schemes are anything but. Maybe I should have started with something easier, but I can say that these we have been a big learning experience for me. I'm slowly getting better and more facile with the airbrush, but I need to figure out a lighting solution, as the lights in my spray booth are super bright LEDs, and it gets tricky to see if I have sprayed too much or not enough paint on the model with certain colors like metals, paint colors on similar undercoat colors, etc. My next plane model (I think it will be the F4F-4 Wildcat converted to an FM-1, mostly because the box is in rough shape), only will have two or three colors, and no belly bands, chevrons, two-color cowls, etc. so that should be easier. Vallejo Metal Varnish. Last night I sprayed the top sections of the bottom wings with Vallejo Metal Varnish, this time adding Vallejo's thinner to the cup. Worked so much better, went on smooth without clogging the tip. So, while I've had great success shooting Vallejo paints, I think their finishes need thinner or flow improver. When I first went to use the airbrush, I was barely getting any paint flow. Took off the tip and cleaned it, and a small sheet of dried varnish came out (despite a thorough cleaning at the end of the prior session). When I went to clean the airbrush at the end of last night's session, it still was shooting good and clear. Top Wing. I also ended up top coating the top of the top wing (the yellow wing). I debated whether to go with flat or semi-gloss, but just went with Tamiya flat from the rattle can. The newer planes in museums seem to have a pretty glossy finish, but I wasn't sure if that was because they were using modern paints and finishes, wanted to protect the planes, make them shinier for museum visitors, etc. I kinda like the flat colored sections as a contrast to the aluminum, as otherwise, the whole model would just be way too shiny. Cowl. I then took a chance and sprayed the flat against the red cowl of the F3F-1. It not only dulled down the "wet" look of the red, but also seems to have minimized the orange peel appearance. So that was a relief. Next I'll do the same for the belly band and the tail, and similarly tackle the F3F-2. Just about at the finish line on these. Looking forward to knocking them out and moving on to the next subject and hopefully avoid some of the mistakes I made on these.

I'm not surprised - looks professional, and a testament to your skills. Very nice! You're setting the bar awfully high for me when I get to mine. 😐

Looking fantastic! I've always loved the lines of the Harrier.

Here is what I used for the wooden wands: I checked my Mr Hobby Clearcoat sprays that I’ve used on plastic models and they didn’t list wood as material to use it on. Have you thought about using Tung oil? I really like how it brings wood to life. Easy to apply with a rag and I’m sure you could similarly brush it on.

Are you thinking of applying the finish to the entire model? Have you considered using a rattle can finish? I made some wooden magic wands for my girls and used a spray which worked really well. Easy and quick to apply, and left no residue.

I haven't seen one that dries flat, but note that using flat or other clear coats will cover up the glue spots.

One place that I have had some success is Woodcraft (there's one in Springfield). It's hit or miss, but they have a section with 3" x 24" (or so) boards of various thicknesses. I believe they carry boards down to 1/8" in thickness, but again, hit or miss on sizes, species, too much figure in the grain, waviness of the board, etc. I found some sheets of bloodwood that I might try for gun carriages, and padouk that I'm using on my La Renommee build. Another option at Woodcraft is to look at their veneers. You can get long sheets of the stuff that are about the right thickness for planking. For my Renommee, I'm using cherry veneer that I found there that worked nicely. You can also find dowels in various woods and diameters at Woodcraft. I picked up a bunch of nice dowels in cherry and walnut for my Renommee and a future build. Just make sure that you check for straightness as many were a bit wavy. I rolled them on the floor to see if they rolled smoothly or were bumpy because of warping. Big loss when Hobbymill and Crown left the business

Thanks! Yeah, good learning experience for me. Part of the problem is that I was getting dry tip, so more air was shooting out than varnish, which probably accelerated things before the varnish could level. I saw a few videos where folks were suggesting adding a retarder is necessary for that product. Never needed to on their paints, but looks like the varnish is a different animal. From a normal viewing distance it doesn't look bad, just when you are up very close you can see it. What do you think of the look on the cowl? Too wet looking? I was thinking of perhaps spraying Gunze semi-gloss clear coat on it - the rattle can is fantastic and nicely self levels. That would tone things down a bit and possibly help smooth out some of the orange peel effect.

Wow, that came out awesome! Nice job!

Really nice work Joe! I love the lettering - looks fantastic! Did you find that you had to double up on the white lettering or was a single decal sufficient on the black hull? I stopped working on my Charles Morgan because I haven't quite figured out how I was to do the lettering. Dry transfers are going to be too difficult to pull off I think, and I didn't want to glue paper to the hull. I've reached out to a couple of custom decal shops to no avail. I might just try to use single letter decals like you did, and just take my time to get them into the right position. I was worried about getting them spaced and lined correctly, but it looks like it can be done. If I can't do it, maybe I'll send my hull to you to decal

Very nicely done Chris, great job! Agree with druxey that it's nice to see something a little different on here.

I believe the wings and even the tail were fabric.

Thanks for the likes and the kind words, really appreciate it. I used some Vallejo dark gray wash to add a little more depth to the panel lines and other details, except for the top wing where I used Vallejo dark yellow wash to break up the solid mass of yellow and highlight the ribs a bit. I put a bit of wash on a thin brush and ran it down the panel lines, etc., then used a damp Q-tip to wipe most of it up. I didn't want to get into weathering the planes to preserve the bright colors, and would note that these planes didn't really see any action so they tended to be maintained in a pretty good condition. I quite like the effect which tended to highlight panel lines from certain angles, and not be very stark as you see in some models. Here are some pictures - sorry, the lighting is not the best where I took the pictures. I sprayed the fuselage and the aluminum sections of the wings with Vallejo Metal Varnish. It's kept the shine of the original Vallejo Metal color paints, but is making the non-aluminum sections like the cowl and belly bands look a bit wet and not smooth in finish (though, it gave the red and blue a very rich tone that I like). Not the best picture in the world, but here goes: I found that spraying the Vallejo Metal Varnish, the airbrush was prone to dry tip. Had to clean out the nozzle a few times, so I probably should have added a retarder. 😐 Wondering if I should have masked off the cowl and belly band and added a different clear coat from the start, but was interested in seeing how the Metal Varnish would look. There are some videos on how to spray Vallejo finishes so I will have to check those out as well. Can't really see the wet, bumpy look on the aluminum, but the cowls and belly bands bother me a little. Not sure if I'm going to leave it as is and call it a learning experience, or try to touch up the cowl and belly band by spraying a semi-gloss clear coat. I've been using the Gunze clear coats and they spray perfectly - excellent coverage, self leveling, etc. Not sure if I want to get into taping off the aluminum sections, but I might try it out. A little tricky with these colorful planes as I'm not quite sure if the non-metal colors should be equally glossy as the aluminum or dialed back to semi/satin gloss. I'm thinking using semi-gloss on the red and blue sections might be a good approach. I ordered an Olfa circle cutter that should arrive this week so that I should be able to cut masks for the insignia, which I would also spray semi-gloss. Thanks for looking in!

Beautiful work! Really nice job! 👍