Egilman

Absolutely agree on the Liquitex High Gloss Varnish. It's intended as a long term preservative for finely painted artwork so it doesn't get damaged when on display...... It goes on with a soft sable brush used gently to avoid air bubbles and dries in a couple of hours to a hard shell finish that is absolutely clear. (and doesn't effect the underlying paint, that why it used for serious artwork) It didn't effect the metal powder finish I applied to my test piece. (absolutely clean hands, freshly washed clean hands, leave fingerprints from skin oils on that metal powder finish, if it doesn't effect that it won't effect anything) I understand that it is a perfect surface for decal placement as well..... (but I haven't gotten that far yet) Thanks Ken..... EG

Are they really truly rubber, or vinyl? If they are rubber scrub them up with a toothbrush under running water...... If they are vinyl I would suggest denatured alcohol with a light scrubbing.....

Today's update before a trip to the doc.... (nothing major) Well getting the fuselage ready for paint I noticed something with the tail.... The base of the tail above the engine... It doesn't look like that in real life I can tell you.... Something we gotta fix...... It will show.... Clamping in a piece of .010 plastic card to cover the hole... Glued in and rough shaped..... Sanded smooth.... Done, no more unsightly hole in the tail...... Little things like this, you would think that even for a 40+ year old kit, that was considered the top of the art when it was produced would get something this simple...... Any way getting closer to paint and finishing... EG

Fingers crossed, If there is a way to screw it up I will find it... (trust me)

Very Nice! Working those is an art form... an adventure in photo etch.... I have their Eiffel Tower which I acquired on a trip to Newport Oregon back in the late 90's. they were known as Iconx then... I still have it, unbuilt, it intimidates me too much.....

Thanks Carl, I tried real hard to make it clear for all to see... and show the steps... Now I just have to do it for real....

Absolutely agree with Lou on both sentiments, fantastic cockpits and YES on the Future for the canopies.... don't brush it, dip them....

For the time being brother, at least until I have another problem to resolve.... {chuckle, besides I'm crazy enough already I don't need any more practice}

A little out of my wheelhouse, but I'll not miss this.... Pullin up an easy chair...

So, Getting on with the build.... I've fitted the tail and am now starting on fitting all the various panels with canopy glue so when I paint this I get even coverage.... Fuselage laid out.... EG

Ok now, final test, Sealing the metal finish off... First up the gloss blue I pulled the cross tape so you can see the original base paint coat.... And the coloration and sheen are the same, no real perceivable difference.... Gloss Black base... Oh Yeah! the sheen and reflectiveness is still there Yay! Flat Light Grey... I'm loving this, perfect! Flat Black... Yep. the Liquitex clear varnish does not change the coloration...nor the depth..... I have a few more shots like before to see if we still have the depth in the shine... YES! Now I"m pumped, It Works.... Even the flat base sheen is there!... That perfect coloration for the aft steel panels... This came out a lot better than I thought it was going to... You've all heard that some things are too good to believe? well for me this was one of them. But, it turns out that it was true... You can put a polished metal finish on plastic without an expensive airbrush..... There you go my friends.... Experiment over... Next up finishing prepping the fuselage for paint...... Gloss Black EG

Oh yes, all the high quality kits have that now and many of the AM manufacturers are now including weld seams for kits that don't have them... Modeling has come a long way.....

Looks pretty darned close to me my friend....

Thank you OC, I think it's going to work wonderful... Thanks Lou, I have to wait, I still have one more test, sealing it so finger oils don't destroy it.... Well we will see, the recommended sealing product is Liquitex high gloss clear varnish, I still have to apply it to these and wait for a couple of hours for it to cure..... My initial test shows that it doesn't discolor it anything like the model grade gloss clears. In fact I think if I went to an automotive grade gloss clear when sealing the paint and over the first application of powder the results would be even better... But in a few hours we will know..... I'm happy that the organization of this experiment showed you what you wanted to see..... Well I'm doing this one with Uschi's powders, and we have an F-86 BMF being done in Alclad, what we need is some enterprising soul to do a B-58 in Extreme Metal Color paints that would leave Bare Metal Foil as the only BMF technique not done here... I've seen some very pretty aircraft done with the other systems but they all have one thing in common, they need an airbrush for best results... This doesn't... Not that I'm against airbrushes or don't know how to use them, I've just never had the need sufficient to justify the extra expense.... everything I've done in modeling has been done the old fashioned way, rattle can and sable brush.... It's what I learned and what I know.... (really, what I'm most comfortable with) Thanks Carl, I'll get the finish pics up when ready in the same layout so we can see how it finished off...... so far everything I"ve investigated and read about these powders has been true and accurate. I expect the final sealing to be the same.... (but we will see for ourselves, if I don't flub it up) EG

Nah it won't take that long, we all know that RL interferes with modeling and that is normal. And some have more of it than others do.... (especially with our states predicament given the "disaster" declaration.... It will get back to normal my friend.... just not fast enough for some of us....

Here we go... Ready for some magic? It was pretty disappointing to see the metalized finish go away in the last set of pics... But here is where it is all worthwhile.... Uschi's powders really shine in replicating polished metals.... Gloss Blue.... The sheen is back! and the blue tint remains... (I'll have a follow up shot after the four main images) Gloss Black... Oh my, you can see the reflection in the chrome side and a hint of it in the steel side, I suspect lighting is going to have a huge effect on seeing this. but All I can tell you is it's spectacular.... DEFINITELY polished metal, no doubt about that... Flat Light Grey.... Still darker than initially applied but the metal sheen has come back! you have to see it in real life it looks like freshly buffed metal on both sides.... Flat Black... This looks like freshly machined metal...... The second application of powder makes this stand out... A polished bare metal surface on plastic by hand using nothing but rattle cans and q-tips... I'm amazed..... Ok I know the pics don't show it that well so I took a few oblique shots hoping to pick up some of the reflectiveness and shine of the surfaces.... Blue... Black... This is it, this is the finish I'm going to use. A few more shots showing the reflectivity and sheen.... It's got that deep reflective look I want highly polished aluminium..... Gloss black base coat.... Chrome powder..... double layered... That's my overall finish, the steel panels on the tail are going to be flat light gray masked to the panel with steel powder..... This is stunningly beautiful.... I have to sit for a few and get over my excitement.... BMF without an airbrush.... Now I've seen everything....

Hey brother, I don't buy it, I'm no artist, all I can do is replicate what others have done before me... you are no different, keep reading and practicing.... I used to look at those pics of the real great modelers and believed that I could never do that... I still can't in fact. so I just di what looks good to me and eventually others started saying that it looks nice... That happens enough and you realize that you are getting better.... just keep hacking plastic and it will come. What I do today is absolute evidence of that being true..... We all start somewhere and none of us were any good at it when we started.... I'll make a deal with ya, ten years from now when I hopefully get good at this, come back and tell me what you think then, and I'll do the same for you.... Like I said, your better at this than you think my friend.......

Ok this is where a lot of people lose enthusiasm for this medium,. once you gloss coat them using typical overcoatings, they turn dark. not at all like a polished metal surface... Examples .... Gloss blue.... Gloss Black... Flat Light Aircraft Grey Flat Black... It's hard to describe what is happening here. They have all lost there brilliance the Glosscoat keeps them shiny but it's a surface reflectivity not a real shine... Also the color does get darker and I think it is because the glosscoat eliminates the applied metal from reflecting anything so all you get is base color... In the first pic you can see the blue tint underlying the greyed metal finish, it looks like a painted surface not a metal one. In the second pic you see the same thing except it is tinted towards the black closest thing I think it resembles are metalflake surfaces like the metal powders have been encapsulated in the gloss overcoat... It's a nice effect and in some ways better than metalflake paint. but it is a painted surface not polished metal.... In the third pic over the flat light grey the actual color deepens about four shades similar in effect to what happened above but much finer I suspect that is because of the flat retaining more of the powder on it's rougher surface than the gloss paint did less of it mixes with the overcoat so it retains some of it's sheen. But it still looks like paint. The overall effect is a lighter shade of steel and the metal luster is gone... The Fourth pic is no different the luster is gone and it looks like dark steel paint.... So we can see what happens using typical transparent overcoats for models... it destroys the metal reflectivity rendering the final product much like metalized paint... Next step, a second powdering on each section, same as the first powdering... I believe this will restore the reflectivity of the metal and hopefully the deep depth of the polished metal look..... Onward... EG

Thanks OC, That's why I"m doing this, trying to help and get this out in a way that is clear and repeatable.... I've seen some fantastic stuff done with these powders, hopefully I can communicate this in a useable way.....

Thank you Ken, Never done it this way before, but I can see Carl's point, makes it clearer as to what is actually happening each step of the way....

Hobby Lobby has Formula 560 ot Tamiya's brand (same thing) I use it to attach the vinyl track pads to my plastic track links for the M8 HST. works great and it's invisible and they don't fall of.. and there is NOTHING that glues vinyl tracks to anything.... should work for PE

Not in my opinion, this is easily doable.... You are a lot better modeler than you think my friend...

Ok second step metalizing the parts. Remember, Chrome is on the left, Steel is on the right.... First pic over Gloss Blue... Second Pic over Gloss Black... Third Pic over Flat Light Aircraft Grey... Fourth pic over Flat Black First thing I see, chrome is shinier/lighter than steel, (about a half a shade I think) Gloss Black undercoat gives more depth of color than Gloss Blue On the flat paint, there is no direct metallic shine, but there is a serious metallic luster/sheen, (think unpolished metals) also it takes more powder to cover light colors than dark colors.... the light color gives a more raw aluminium look using chrome powder and the steel well looks like raw steel..... The dark color give serious depth of color to the metal effect I think that the metal effect on flats would be sustained under Liquitex flat varnish but I don't have any to test... Overall initial results are good definitely looks like polished metal on gloss paint raw metal on flat paint.... Next step hit them with Testors Ultra Gloss and see how the color changes..... Onwards... EG

Excellent! The F-86 is a very attractive airplane in BMF..... I will enjoy this....

Ok first step is preparation.... Materials and tools.... 1. Uschi's metal polishing powders, Chrome on the left, Steel on the right 2. Cotton cleaning Swabs, pointed compressed on the left, standard on the right 3 Cotton Balls.... 4. Several large paper towels, placed under the work area to catch excess powder as it falls off your parts while buffing.... Parts preparation... Four colors Gloss Blue Angels Blue Testors rattle can, Gloss Black Krylon Shortcuts hobby paint rattle can, Flat Light Aircraft Grey Testors rattle can and Flat Black Krylon Shortcuts hobby paint rattle can. Gloss parts have been overcoated with Testors Ultra Gloss rattle can. (I've left the flat parts uncoated otherwise the testing of flats would be pointless wouldn't it) First Color Gloss Blue.... Second Color Gloss Black.... Third Color Flat Aircraft Grey.... Fourth Color Flat Black.... Now I think it is obvious as to why the turret top is divided into four sections, two metals, on two colors.... The turret botton with the flat paints will have an extra step the left side, (side facing us, front is on the left in the above picture, rear is on the right) will also get a coat of clear and a reapplication of the powder before finish coating... Cause I'm going to also explore the color shift when covering the metal with typical gloss overcoats..... I might have a shifted color that will also work well on the fuselage of the finished project and want to document how we got there. Ok, enough prep, time to get to metalizing.... EG