Egilman

It was for me.... That's why I figured that others in the same boat would appreciate it...

Russian plane cockpits are some of the hardest colors to figure... Not a whole lot of good photography of them.... Blue/Grey or Blue/Green? heck of a decision to make...

I know Jack, they only go to 320 grit, I have the entire set 100 to 320 grit... they are what I used to knock the ridge down...

Thanks Jack... From those links I found what I should have... https://www.micromark.com/Dual-Angle-Sanding-File-Set-Multiple-Grits-Set-of-9 from 60 to 12000 grit, perfect for the application.... Didn't even know they made such a critter, I already have the buffing pads, (3200 - 12000 Hobby Lobby) but they are too wide, good for flat surfaces, but next to impossible to control where your buffing on a compound curve... That's why I didn't use them... Right tool for the job ands all that.... Thank you, filed in the learn something new every day section... (and ordered as well)

Very good point Dan Thank You... I'm using what I had and being a compound curved surface a stick that could be manipulated on the bias was the best technique I thought of as it would leave a lot less disturbance of the surrounding surfaces than a sheet would... 320 is the smallest grit I have in stick form... It didn't take much to knock the ridge down, just a few passes with no pressure at all.... 600 would have been better 3200 even better yet, but find me a narrow stick sander in 600 much less 3200... {chuckle} We are stuck using the tools we have on hand... What it really shows is how thin the RnB actually is, only a mil or two... But recovery is easy....

Update... Yes the painting with the heavy masking left a ridge that needed to be knocked down before finishing... Hard to see but you can really feel it, it would show badly when shined up and decaled... Knocking it down requires the use of a medium grade thin sanding stick... 320 grit... And of course no matter how careful you are your going to break down the RnB finish as well... so before we can hard shell with future, we need to retouch the RnB finish... That looks good.. one of the great things with Rub N Buff is retouches are easy a slight skuff and a pointed q-tip is all it takes... Next up Decaling.... Onwards...

Thanks Gary... It's appreciated.. And My Pleasure, it worked for my application and should work for many others... Almost a must have tool for those not into airbrushes especially for the hard to lay paints......

I believe if you can get it thinned down to milk consistency it would spray it fine.... My pleasure Allan...

Me too brother, with this, the only need for rattlecans is the common colors, the mixed or special colors can now be sprayed as well... A lucky find...

Done Brother, It's definitely worth a look see... Thank's Andy, I would just run a bit of clear thinner through the adapter like you would an airbrush until it runs clear... Their website offers extra 3oz bottles with screw on lids so having multiple colors on hand would be easy to set up...

Hi All, it was suggested that I post this tool find here... The Preval Spot Sprayer... What it does is take anything liquid and when thinned according to directions enables you to spray it like you could out of a rattlecan... Perfect for that weird shade of paint you've mixed up to match a historic paint and have a small area to cover too large for brushing... Or, one of those bottle paints that just doesn't cover well with a brush... (yellow and white for example) I was just in that situation yesterday and when looking around for a solution I was pointed to this tool... It consists of a 6oz bottle, a fixture and a pressure cartridge with a spray head like a rattlecan.... You put your paint in the bottle attach the siphon tube to the bottom of the fixture and the cannister to the top of the fixture and spray away... It really works.... My attempt at brush painting yellow on a model... Isn't coming out too well... (using True North Insignia Yellow thinned 50/50 with Mr Color Leveling Thinner) Using the Preval Sprayer... (thinned 3/1 paint to thinner) Perfect... I obtained mine from Home Depot, it is stocked on the shelf... it is also available at Amazon and it's home site https://preval.com/ they do offer extras like spare bottles and cannisters for when they run out of pressure... Cleaning is as easy as running clear thinner through it and washing the bottles and siphon tube.... It cost me 5.80+tax at HD and I'm probably going to pick up some extra bottles for it from Preval... I have no affiliation with Preval, and do not get anything for posting it here... just spreading the word on a gadget that actually worked very well for me in the modeling I do... A very elegant solution to a long standing modeling problem... EG

Thank Alan... I'll tell ya, seldom am I impressed with such shortcut gizmo's like this, most of the time they just don't work... But this just plain worked as advertised..... made a very difficult job easy peasy... It's earned my recommendation as a must have tool for that time you have a very difficult paint job to do, and no way to spray... It definitely solves a problem...

Thanks Ken, it was a lucky save brother, before yesterday I had no idea that such a thing existed... What I use for general cleaning of model paint is enamel thinner, what's in the bottle now is Testors universal enamel thinner directly out of the 8oz can... I've also been known to use Gamblin's Gamsol, odorless pure mineral spirits, which I get from the artists oils section at Hobby Lobby, they work equally well....

Update... Step 4 final painting... Well, it's been an adventure to say the least... Five coats of paint into it and I could see it wasn't doing what I thought it should... It was greyish yellow and blotchy, The Mr Color thinner was moving the primer underneath it... So I realized it wasn't going to work they way it does for small parts... The only way to get large even coverage with yellow paint is to spray it... and unfortunately I don't have any Insignia Yellow in rattlecan... (and Testors is 12.95 a can) Tamiya's closest shade is 8.95 a can.... But here I am with a 1/2 oz bottle of fresh insignia yellow the perfect matching color, and no good way to apply it... So I researched online to who locally would have a spray can of Yellow that closely approximated the right shade at a reasonable cost... Home Depot, Rustoleum, Sunburst Yellow, and only 6.95 a can... My mind was thinking on how to go about washing a bit of darkness onto it so I can match Insignia Yellow.... The paint guy at HD was willing to make me up as many gallons of it exactly matching my shade, but I had to explain to him it didn't matter, I had enough of the correct shade just no way to get it on the surface... Then he made a suggestion..... Spray it... I ask how... He says simple.... And takes me down the aisle and points out a tool, new to me but I guess it has been around for a couple of years... A Preval Spot Sprayer.... Load it with your thinned paint (up to 6 oz's) and spray it just like you would a rattlecan... Right now it is soaking in thinner so the paint residue does not dry in the bottle... And it works like a charm... turns my thinned True North Enamels into an easily sprayed very thin paint... The cannisters are replaceable as well and you can get extra 3 oz jars.... It supposedly works on most paints and any liquid that can be thinned enough to spray... They do give proper thinning ratios for the various types of paint... So I allowed the work I had done up to that point to fully cure and re-prepped it, scuffed it down cleaned it off and this time, primered it with Tamiya Fine white primer... Two coats is all it took... I couldn't have asked for better... turned out beautiful... As soon as it is fully cured (it came out flat) I will re-Future it to seal it and apply the stripe decals... I think it was 5.80, a lot cheaper than a full can of the wrong paint... The man above was looking out for me today.... Because short of tracking down a can of Testors, I was SOL.... Now I have a tool where I can apply any paint I have like a spray paint... All's well that ends well they say... and god looks out for fools and drunks, No longer the latter, but still the former at times... He was lookin out today...

Update... Yes it is, one of the most difficult in my experiences Ken, especially with a brush on a wide area.... I got to five layers when I finally decided it wasn't working the way I imagined it would like the small sections I've done before... So I had to come up with another way.... Update in a few... Thank you Alan.... It's appreciated.... By hook or by rook I'm going to get this one done... One way or the other.... {chuckle} Update in a few...

Update... Step 3, Scuff, Prime and Paint.... Using nail buffing sticks, I scuffed the surface between the masks... Just enough to break the hard shell surface sheen, it wasn't very thick but then Future dries very very thin so it doesn't take much, and you can see how thin the RnB finish is as well just a few scuffs and I'm into the black undercoat.. you do not want to take this to plastic if you can help it... Cause if you break the undercoat edge you risk the edge lifting and that we don't want to have happen.. Primer.... Tamiya Thin Grey, rattlecan, done in several very thin coats, just enough to seal and cover... Paint... True North's Insignia Yellow 2ml mixed with Mr Color Leveling thinner 2ml, (50/50 ratio) using a fine 3/8ths inch sable artists brush (high quality) you brush out an even coat on the surface.... Allow to dry and brush out another, then another and so on and so forth until you get a deep even color tone over the painted area... As many coats as required... Allowing to fully dry between coats... Yes it takes time, but for a thick glossy paint it is the only way to get a thin even coverage with a brush.... The pics is the first coat, I'll post more as the color starts to build and cover.... This is an old technique I learned doing custom model car bodies in my youth... {chuckle} Depending on how good the paint is it may come out shiny or may not but that is ok it's what we have Future for.... More later... Onwards...

I'm hoping so brother, I love a challenge.... {chuckle}

When Testors Model Master was squashed, I was looking at Scalecoat II, my only problem is they are all keyed to railroads and their traditional colors... Then I found True North paints.... I can't handle the hard shell Lacquer style enamel paints cause of the VOC's otherwise I would have went there... That's a great price for paints Craig...

Agreed, once you find a combination that works for a specific application, stick with it is what I believe...

Update, Step 2 A normal masking procedure usually is done here except we have a hard shiny overcoat on which we need to put a glossy yellow paint layer on with a brush... This is problematic in most cases, the paint doesn't stick to the hard surface and winds up very streaky and by the time you've laid enough paint to cover, the finish is uneven and very blobby... So what we need is to reduce the existing hard shiny finish and use a primer to give the paint something to adhere to and thin the paint exactly to the consistency like you would to spray it and apply as many thinned coats as needed to cover... This allows the paint to lay down and level... Those who followed my USS Gwin build have seen me use this painting technique before for getting a thin even coat out of thick paint... But first we have to lay down that coat of Tamiya thin grey primer... Rattlecan of course... We have to scuff up/off the hard shiny surface.... But only the surface where the yellow paint is going... How do I do this? We need to remask the marking area to only where the yellow is going, actually slightly smaller than the finished area cause we are going to use the decal for the black border stripes... First we need to know how big the stripe is.... The fuselage stripe overall is 29 to 32 inches wide on the real aircraft.. (it depended on who painted it) Mostly they were closer to 32 inches, in scale that makes the stripe 1" wide overall... So what is the width of the existing decals (already on the wings we need to match the scale of the decal for the right look) Clearly an inch and a sixteenth, the decals are slightly overscale. (10%) the initial masking for location takes this into account and are masked to this dimension... Since we are not going full width for the yellow we need to narrow the area a bit, for this I masked the inner edge with 2mm Tamiya masking tape for curves... 2mm = .070 a tad wider than needed but the black stripe decal at .125 will cover the edge... The reason is cause whatever we do when the yellow goes on it's going to leave a visible edge which is going to have to be smoothed down before the stripe decal is applied... At this point we build the full fuselage mask... We line the two masks with 3/4 inch frisket tape this makes sure neither is going to move and gives you a place to attach your paper masks for the rest of the fuselage without affecting the edge of the area... Then you cover the rest of the fuselage so there is nowhere for sanding dust or overspray to reach the rest of the fuselage.... Now we are ready to buff down the hard surfaced shiny area to give the primer a chance to stick and a place to lay, and so the paint will make a minimal edge when the masking is pulled.... What I'm looking for here is smoothness and a dull surface, it doesn't matter if the RnB comes off, it would be under the paint anyway.... Next up, sanding, priming and painting.... Onwards.. EG I know this seems overly complicated, and if it was just an aluminum paint finish I wouldn't go to this length, I would just mask and paint.... The hard shell future makes this extreme process necessary and hopefully will result in a smooth transition from stripe to fuselage....

Thanks Jav, Yep, that is the way it is usually done, but I have some issues here that the finish creates, one of which is the coating of future that is on it, paint doesn't stick too well to it... This needs a different approach... Thanks Dennis, Fortunately, I had the foresight to get an extra set of decals for this the Print-Scale #32-017 for an F-86E for the tech stencils which is it's claim to fame... Included with it is extensive 1/8th" inch black stripes, (4" in scale) And I can trim down the residuals of the Kinetic set if I have to.... If I have to I can print another, decal paper is reasonably cheap and I have HD images of the full sheet, Inkscape, and a capable printer, just need to get the fixative spray from Hobby Lobby if I need to go that way..... There are a few things I need to account for with the finish and will be posting my solution soon... Thanks everyone for your support and well wishes.... It's has helped a great deal given my RL situation... The Sabre and me have a kind of symbiosis going on it doesn't want to be finished and is making me work for it much like the P-51B was and F-104 have been as well... They are forcing me to make it happen... {chuckle} Nothing is going to prevent me from finishing this bird... (my neighbor who helps the wife from time to time spied it on the bench and asked how I got the finish said she has never seen anything like it speaking of the metallic look, she has never built a model before and never seen a modeler at work, and it stands out for her) This kinda confirms all my brothers here have been saying... All I can think of is Shepard's prayer, "Lord please don't let me screw it up now" Thank you all... Thank you, Thank you all...

Thanks Craig... I put a fair amount of research and time into figuring it out and I think it's bearing fruit, still a lot of learning to go with it to reach Paul Coydrette's expertise level, but at least I know the direction to go now... (I'm hoping that more modelers take the dive and experiment with it, give it the place it deserves in modeling) The Sabre is one of the most beautiful aircraft designs ever built, I only hope I do it justice..... Thank you Dennis... I am still hoping so, it's not finished yet....

I just got an updated notice from the PO that my paint will arrive in today's mail!!! Wow! that is fast for the USPS from Maine to Washington... They must have put it on a plane... So I guess I had better get my butt in gear... {chuckle} Update coming soon...

Update... I have to paint the mid fuselage ID stripe... My technique of doing this is simple but involved... Please bear with me as I explain it... The Insignia Yellow paint is scheduled to arrive on Monday so I need to start prepping for it now.... The first step is to mask out where the marking goes.... The inside edges of the tape represent the position of the marking... and we need to double check to see if we get it close... Close enough... All painting will take place within the tape boundaries... The bottom is roughly laid out as well... We then clear the insides of the tape overlap... And at least check and see if the opposite side looks the same... The second step is coming up, re-masking the edge and covering the rest of the fuselage in masking paper to protect it from the next parts of the process....... More as I get to it....

Thanks Ken, Yep surprising that it is only the main stripe, the checkerboards were right next to it... I searched for a while online and I could only find one copy protected pic and anecdotal testimony, sufficient to convince me but not enough to offer as absolute proof... Thanks to Jolly Roger who provided the evidence of my presumption... I love this fora... Thanks Jav.... Your 51 came out very nice... Yellow on decals has always been a hit or miss proposition, sometimes it covers well others it doesn't similar to white... Generally you have to prime underneath them with either white or grey which is going to present a problem here... I will get into it on the next update....