davec

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

Faux carbon fiber treatment with clear coat.
 

Hamilton-
 
Beautiful work so far!  I milled my own wood for the fitting out practicum.  It is very doable and lets you mix different colored woods.  Please be careful using the full size table saw to cut the billets.  I started that way but eventually switched to a band saw to avoid kick back and needing to work close to the blade.
 
Dave

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

I've been gluing the rest of the fuselage pieces on.  After the slow pace of painting and assembling the cockpit, the rest of the model is going together quickly.  The fit is great, including the wing root.  I need to mask, paint the inside of the canopy (I got the eduard two sided mask set), and attach the canopy and I will be on to priming.  Looking at all the joints, there will be minimal filler involved, and maybe even none.

I continue to be really impressed with the kit.  I've been adding the additional fuselage pieces.  I've included pictures at each step - the engineers really gave a lot of thought to the design to avoid seams in difficult to fill places.  My favorite is the separate piece for the top, which avoids filling the usual midline seam and having to rescribe panel lines and rivets.  The only place where there is a midline seam is in the rear along the bottom.  Most joints are at panel lines and the fit is great enough that there are no gaps.  

I really appreciate the likes and especially Dave's very kind comments.  I've attached the cockpit sides and started on the fuselage. I'm glad I took pictures because as things start to get closed up, much of the detail gets hard to see. The fuselage engineering is awesome.  It is built in multiple pieces with joins along panel lines.  Looks like the only tough seam will be the underside back part of the plane.  I'm really impressed.  With the early WNW kits, the fit was so precise that even tiny amounts of paint in a joint, even ones not requiring gluing, threw off the fuselage going together.  Even though the unpainted dry fit was perfect, it was hard to get the fuselage together without extreme care in building.  Kotare has the right balance between precision and buildability here.  The fit was perfect after reasonable clean-up of joints.  I've got a few pieces drying, but should have the rest of the fuselage together this weekend.  I've dry fit the rest of the parts, and don't see there will be any substantial gaps needing filling.  

Thanks everyone for their kind comments and interest and apologies for the giant gap in posting.  I've had lots of life and work stuff since the last post almost two months ago.  I’ve been getting to the workshop for 15 or 30 minutes a few times each week and haven't been good about taking pictures or posting.  It is a beautiful kit, and except for a single non-kit related frustrating setback, has been going together really well.  I had tried to use Tamiya panel line wash as a pin wash, and when rubbing off excess with mineral spirits took off some paint.  I had gloss coated with alclad clear, which I think is lacquer based (at least I thinned it with lacquer thinner when I sprayed it) and should have been OK.  Not sure what happened.  Next time I try it, I will use Tamiya x-20 clear gloss.  Should work fine over a gloss from the same brand.  I was able to touch up the areas with a brush in a way that came out OK.  That was the major victory.  For me Tamiya paints airbrush beautifully, but I never have been able to brush them well.  I tried Tamiya retarder instead of thinner, and with it the paints flow beautifully with a brush.  The air tank on the right sidewall was hand brushed and to me looks almost airbrushed, and 10x better than any of my previous hand brushing efforts.  The rigging is modelkasten .6 elastic line (not sure what it is .6 of, but it is .13mm, which is about right for the model).  I had previously used Uschi line.  The modelkasten is stiffer, which makes it much easier to work with – very happy with it as well.  Seatbelts are HGW fabric belts. From reading some of the other build logs, getting the cockpit done is a significant part of the total build.  There is a lot going on in it.
 
Mike - it does look like the WNW quality transferred to Kotare.  The instrument panel is amazing.  ~30 separate decals.  The true test will be when I button up the fuselage, which will hopefully happen later today.  The test fit was excellent.
 
Dave
 
 

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

Dan - many thanks!
 
Almost a month since last post.  I had a bunch of work things, then got COVID.  I’m bouncing back and got a few hours of work in this week.  Even with the great fit, I needed to do a little filling to fully hide seams.  Given how small the seams were, I tried Mr Surfacer 500.  I brushed it over the seam and it was really easy to sand off and fully hid the seams.  I primed the whole model, then painted the white and black undersurface which went well. 

 
I masked this whole area before painting the camouflage.  I used Tamiya masking tape for curves around the edges, then filled in with regular Tamiya paper masking tape.  I had my first problem when I tried painting the brown camouflage color.  To get the right color, I used Vallejo Model Color, thinned with Vallejo airbrush thinner. I haven't really used this paint brand before. Not sure what happened.  It seemed to go down OK, but as it dried, some of the pigment seemed to come out of solution and I got weird streaking.  I had mixed really well (I think). It dried flat, so rather than stripping, I found I had some Mr Paint of the same color on the shelf, and I painted over the whole area, which worked fine.  The Mr Paint fully covered and there was no reaction between the different paints.  I used AML masks for the camouflage pattern which were amazing.  They seemed to capture the right shape, were easy to apply, and whatever frisket material they are made out of was great – no bleeding under.
 

 
I used Tamiya paint for the green color and it went down fine.  I was really disappointed when I pulled the masking off.  The brown color (I’m presuming the Vallejo paint) bled under the vinyl masking tape in a lot of areas.  Thbere wasn't any bleeding under any of the paper tape.  I thought I had burnished the vinyl tape down pretty carefully before painting.  I spent a while masking and respraying of the white and black undersides along where the camouflage met the undersurface, and overall am mostly OK with the results.
 

I've sprayed gloss clear (tried the Tamiya X22 instead of the alclad gloss clear I had been using - it was much easier to get a good gloss coat.  Hopefully decals will go on after work tomorrow.

Hamilton-
 
Beautiful work so far!  I milled my own wood for the fitting out practicum.  It is very doable and lets you mix different colored woods.  Please be careful using the full size table saw to cut the billets.  I started that way but eventually switched to a band saw to avoid kick back and needing to work close to the blade.
 
Dave

Continuing work on the stern gallery.

Continuing with the rear frames that will make up the stern gallery. Those stern pieces were a bit tricky to make, I ended up cutting them a few millimeters thicker and sanding them down to shape with the rest of the frames. I think it turned out pretty well!

Most of the rough sanding is done, but there's still a lot to be sanded. Sadly I just gouged the yoke a bit this afternoon when sanding the stern, not much I can do about that now though. Also I need to fill out that triangular area below the wing transoms and then sand it all flush.

Lots of scrolling on this page!! Hope this post will push the log to page 3 - I imagine people are getting sick of scrolling, as I am.....
 
In any case a final post before we head out on holiday - just a quick one to show frame set 4 completed and raised on the keel. These two frames were very straightforward, though I wish I had added the taper to the toptimber before assembling the frame - I'll do this with 5-aft which has a similar taper. The only other feature is a notch filed into the aft face of frame 4-aft for the pump dale scupper. There was some difficulty getting these symmetrical port and starboard, but in the end they went ok - we'll see much later in the fitting out stage....
 
In the meantime, here are a couple of photos of the model as it stands. I head back to full time work on Aug. 15, and I'm hoping to be able to complete the framing before then - assembling and mounting frame set 5, adding the gunport and sweep port sills, installing ribands along the toptimbers and making and installing the keelson. I will then be taking a break from this build - hard to say how long, but I think it's time I returned to the Bellona for a while - she's been neglected in the excitement of making frames and I know that once I get through the lower hull planking the real fun can finally begin.
 
Hope all are well and bye for now
hamilton

Similar evolution - folding table in corner of basement between dryer and cat litter box (lint and cat hair on everything - very bad for finishes) to single unfinished basement room, to 2 1/2 finished basement rooms (converted part of garage) to new house with single large basement room with as much floor space as prior 2 1/2 rooms, but much easier to use efficiently.  Only took 25 years.  My family has been very tolerant, but I think I've finally reached the limit.

Nice methodical approach, JP. I notice some cross-grain on the stemson and fore deadwood. Try to minimise this by orienting the pieces when you lay them out on the stock. This will be important when  cutting frame components.

I set about milling the steps in the fore deadwood. A depth of 1.5" needs to be removed from each side of the piece and I removed most of the required area on each side using the mill. I set the depth of the mill bit so that it was flush with the face of the deadwood and then I shimmed the deadwood up by the required amount so that I knew exactly how deep the cut was going to be. I found it was easier to judge the correct depth of cut this way rather than trying to set the mill bit to the correct depth. As you can see I left an area at the rear of the piece simply so that when I turned it over to mill the other side it was able to lay it flat and square on the mill table. These areas will be removed using a chisel when I come to fit the fore deadwood to the keel in due course.

After milling out the bulk of the area I then tidied the corners of the steps up using some small chisels.

There are in fact 6 steps in all on the fore deadwood and so I still have further steps to cut towards the rear of the piece. However, the steps toward the rear are extremely small and as I mentioned previously I found out that is easy to damage them when trying to fit and refit all the various pieces of the keel etc together. I will therefore wait until the piece is ready to be permanently affixed to the keel before I cut them and finalise that part of the work. At the moment the deadwood is also a little over length and needs trimming to size - this will also be done before the final steps are cut.
 
Here is how the stemson and the fore deadwood fit against the stem at present.