fnick

Thank you Mark..
 
The wax is permanent, it's what puts the metal finish on the plastic and is gloss coated to seal it down, the decals go over the gloss coat.....
 
And it doesn't change color when sealed.... 
 
EG
 
Update:
Below is an image of her gloss coated....

Yep, she doesn't change colors.... Waiting for a solid cure, before I continue... Way too many coats on her now, so I just wanna make sure before I go farther....
 

Too late you've shown us the plans...
 
Well that was a bit silly...😋
 
Besides you clearly love a challenge...and you certainly have the skill level... K. I'll stop now😁
 
Nick

Hi all
 
So I decided to go down the painting route main reason I wanted the finish to look the same on both colours and I wanted to see if I could do an ok job! ☺️ If the whole thing goes pearshape then I can always strip the paint of the bonnet and start again...(plus I still have the decal option up my sleeve)
 
... Which is what I have just done! 😀 No it didn't really go pearshaped it's just that I was struggling to get a good finish with the white even with a base coat of grey. Even after  sanding back down and retrying a couple of times.
 
So I ended up doing what I should have done a long time ago... Listen to the experts in this particular case Plasmo who mentions in a couple of his videos that in his opinion the best white coverage wise is the citadel base white paint. The main reason for stripping the whole bonnet back was that I was worried about not being able to properly sand back right near the masking tape and ending up with a big paint ridge. This in fact is what happened as I confirmed when I removed the masking tape. On the plus side doing that showed me that if or more hopefully when I get this right the two white stripes are going to look really good and quite close to the picture I put up at the start of this build.
Anyhoo enough rambling here's a picture.
 

 
I decided not to paint the white stripes first which yes would have been easier because as the car body is already painted red then I'm also going to paint white stripes over red for that as well (and I am not stripping the car body back!). Hopefully all I need are a couple more coats of red on the bonnet and I can start the stripes again.
 
As you can see I have also been playing with the molotow chrome pens. My aren't those things great! 😀
 
Thanks for looking in
 
Nick

Hi all
 
So I decided to go down the painting route main reason I wanted the finish to look the same on both colours and I wanted to see if I could do an ok job! ☺️ If the whole thing goes pearshape then I can always strip the paint of the bonnet and start again...(plus I still have the decal option up my sleeve)
 
... Which is what I have just done! 😀 No it didn't really go pearshaped it's just that I was struggling to get a good finish with the white even with a base coat of grey. Even after  sanding back down and retrying a couple of times.
 
So I ended up doing what I should have done a long time ago... Listen to the experts in this particular case Plasmo who mentions in a couple of his videos that in his opinion the best white coverage wise is the citadel base white paint. The main reason for stripping the whole bonnet back was that I was worried about not being able to properly sand back right near the masking tape and ending up with a big paint ridge. This in fact is what happened as I confirmed when I removed the masking tape. On the plus side doing that showed me that if or more hopefully when I get this right the two white stripes are going to look really good and quite close to the picture I put up at the start of this build.
Anyhoo enough rambling here's a picture.
 

 
I decided not to paint the white stripes first which yes would have been easier because as the car body is already painted red then I'm also going to paint white stripes over red for that as well (and I am not stripping the car body back!). Hopefully all I need are a couple more coats of red on the bonnet and I can start the stripes again.
 
As you can see I have also been playing with the molotow chrome pens. My aren't those things great! 😀
 
Thanks for looking in
 
Nick

Hi all
 
So I decided to go down the painting route main reason I wanted the finish to look the same on both colours and I wanted to see if I could do an ok job! ☺️ If the whole thing goes pearshape then I can always strip the paint of the bonnet and start again...(plus I still have the decal option up my sleeve)
 
... Which is what I have just done! 😀 No it didn't really go pearshaped it's just that I was struggling to get a good finish with the white even with a base coat of grey. Even after  sanding back down and retrying a couple of times.
 
So I ended up doing what I should have done a long time ago... Listen to the experts in this particular case Plasmo who mentions in a couple of his videos that in his opinion the best white coverage wise is the citadel base white paint. The main reason for stripping the whole bonnet back was that I was worried about not being able to properly sand back right near the masking tape and ending up with a big paint ridge. This in fact is what happened as I confirmed when I removed the masking tape. On the plus side doing that showed me that if or more hopefully when I get this right the two white stripes are going to look really good and quite close to the picture I put up at the start of this build.
Anyhoo enough rambling here's a picture.
 

 
I decided not to paint the white stripes first which yes would have been easier because as the car body is already painted red then I'm also going to paint white stripes over red for that as well (and I am not stripping the car body back!). Hopefully all I need are a couple more coats of red on the bonnet and I can start the stripes again.
 
As you can see I have also been playing with the molotow chrome pens. My aren't those things great! 😀
 
Thanks for looking in
 
Nick

Hi all
 
So I decided to go down the painting route main reason I wanted the finish to look the same on both colours and I wanted to see if I could do an ok job! ☺️ If the whole thing goes pearshape then I can always strip the paint of the bonnet and start again...(plus I still have the decal option up my sleeve)
 
... Which is what I have just done! 😀 No it didn't really go pearshaped it's just that I was struggling to get a good finish with the white even with a base coat of grey. Even after  sanding back down and retrying a couple of times.
 
So I ended up doing what I should have done a long time ago... Listen to the experts in this particular case Plasmo who mentions in a couple of his videos that in his opinion the best white coverage wise is the citadel base white paint. The main reason for stripping the whole bonnet back was that I was worried about not being able to properly sand back right near the masking tape and ending up with a big paint ridge. This in fact is what happened as I confirmed when I removed the masking tape. On the plus side doing that showed me that if or more hopefully when I get this right the two white stripes are going to look really good and quite close to the picture I put up at the start of this build.
Anyhoo enough rambling here's a picture.
 

 
I decided not to paint the white stripes first which yes would have been easier because as the car body is already painted red then I'm also going to paint white stripes over red for that as well (and I am not stripping the car body back!). Hopefully all I need are a couple more coats of red on the bonnet and I can start the stripes again.
 
As you can see I have also been playing with the molotow chrome pens. My aren't those things great! 😀
 
Thanks for looking in
 
Nick

Hi all
 
So I decided to go down the painting route main reason I wanted the finish to look the same on both colours and I wanted to see if I could do an ok job! ☺️ If the whole thing goes pearshape then I can always strip the paint of the bonnet and start again...(plus I still have the decal option up my sleeve)
 
... Which is what I have just done! 😀 No it didn't really go pearshaped it's just that I was struggling to get a good finish with the white even with a base coat of grey. Even after  sanding back down and retrying a couple of times.
 
So I ended up doing what I should have done a long time ago... Listen to the experts in this particular case Plasmo who mentions in a couple of his videos that in his opinion the best white coverage wise is the citadel base white paint. The main reason for stripping the whole bonnet back was that I was worried about not being able to properly sand back right near the masking tape and ending up with a big paint ridge. This in fact is what happened as I confirmed when I removed the masking tape. On the plus side doing that showed me that if or more hopefully when I get this right the two white stripes are going to look really good and quite close to the picture I put up at the start of this build.
Anyhoo enough rambling here's a picture.
 

 
I decided not to paint the white stripes first which yes would have been easier because as the car body is already painted red then I'm also going to paint white stripes over red for that as well (and I am not stripping the car body back!). Hopefully all I need are a couple more coats of red on the bonnet and I can start the stripes again.
 
As you can see I have also been playing with the molotow chrome pens. My aren't those things great! 😀
 
Thanks for looking in
 
Nick

Update, the one everyone is waiting for....
Waxing this lady!!! (no, not that kind of waxing)
 
We start with masking... we don't want any wax on our wings...

Using 3/4" frisket tape we mask even to the fuselage to the flap then even with the flap to the trailing edge...

We finish off with covering the wing surfaces with masking strips. I did it this way cause I do not want the masking tearing during application of the wax...

Rub on and buff out.. It didn't take very long at all about 15 minutes to completely cover the fuselage...
Top and bottom...

With the masking pulled....

Wing Tanks and stabilizer added, she is really looking the part now...
Time to get some outside shots....



She looks better from a distance than up close,  yeah, the finish suffers from the refinishing work that went on before... But as far as the metal surface goes it duplicates the natural look of aluminum sheet metal in a semi polished state..... Some reflections, but not mirrors, the way most of them in common use were.... It reflects sunshine the way it is supposed to.... 
 
I don't think there is a better BMF product hands down.... There is nothing out there that matches this...  Absolutely nothing... (of course in my humble opinion)
 
Gonna leave it sit overnight, give it a final rubdown and call it good... Next, I will start concentrating on the details... which first up is the different colors on the tail......
 
Tamiya fine grey primer, a light coat of testors wet look and Rub n Buff... My next aircraft will have a black base coat...
 
Anyway it is what it is..... It does look like a bare metal F-104 just don't get too close to it to see all the imperfections in the surface...
 
A heck of a learning experience.....
 
EG
 
My first one, I hope you like it....

Come on, first try ! Here are the half-timberings of the first central floor on the right, and a filling try on the left with my mixture between the half-timberings on an exercise square.
 

 

 
 
We will have to wait for it to dry, of course, before sanding and finding all the wooden structures...Then will come the time to stain all this properly. 
But visually, it does it, once sanded ! 😛
 

Too late you've shown us the plans...
 
Well that was a bit silly...😋
 
Besides you clearly love a challenge...and you certainly have the skill level... K. I'll stop now😁
 
Nick

Too late you've shown us the plans...
 
Well that was a bit silly...😋
 
Besides you clearly love a challenge...and you certainly have the skill level... K. I'll stop now😁
 
Nick

Too late you've shown us the plans...
 
Well that was a bit silly...😋
 
Besides you clearly love a challenge...and you certainly have the skill level... K. I'll stop now😁
 
Nick

Too late you've shown us the plans...
 
Well that was a bit silly...😋
 
Besides you clearly love a challenge...and you certainly have the skill level... K. I'll stop now😁
 
Nick

Too late you've shown us the plans...
 
Well that was a bit silly...😋
 
Besides you clearly love a challenge...and you certainly have the skill level... K. I'll stop now😁
 
Nick

Those street level shots make you feel like you are actually walking through a medieval town...😮👏👏
 
Nick

Too late you've shown us the plans...
 
Well that was a bit silly...😋
 
Besides you clearly love a challenge...and you certainly have the skill level... K. I'll stop now😁
 
Nick

Too late you've shown us the plans...
 
Well that was a bit silly...😋
 
Besides you clearly love a challenge...and you certainly have the skill level... K. I'll stop now😁
 
Nick

Too late you've shown us the plans...
 
Well that was a bit silly...😋
 
Besides you clearly love a challenge...and you certainly have the skill level... K. I'll stop now😁
 
Nick

The next building will be the lord's house. The cardboard base suits me quite well, I just changed the height of the roofs like the other buildings. But I'm keeping it for the layout, reinforcing it a little inside, of course.
 

 
 
Where I think it's going to get a little tougher is the upgrade of the facade... (knowing that I have 2 or 3 things to add for the other sides too !) I'm starting from this:
 

 
 
...and the project is something like this:
 

 
Well, let's be clear, I think I'm going to lighten up a bit, but overall there's a bit of work to be done, so I'm going to take it easy, and do 2 or 3 tries on the hard parts...
But it's worth a try ! (not even afraid to show you the project before actually realizing it...!) 🤪

Hi all made a start on the display base, still need to make a tool chest for the back corner.
 

Not perfect but I think it will be enough. 

Those street level shots make you feel like you are actually walking through a medieval town...😮👏👏
 
Nick

Those street level shots make you feel like you are actually walking through a medieval town...😮👏👏
 
Nick

Those street level shots make you feel like you are actually walking through a medieval town...😮👏👏
 
Nick

Those street level shots make you feel like you are actually walking through a medieval town...😮👏👏
 
Nick