1/72 Hasegawa VF-1 + Booster step-by-step...

[wm cheng]

Sorry guys for the delay... been away a while with some family health issues, plus I'm still sick... (but don't count me down yet) I hope to do something tomorrow and post...

Spatula, don't worry about stealing the thread - that's what it's here for, I'd like to hear your problems too and hopefully be able to help (if I can) The best way to get help is post a picture of the problem - its worth a thousand words! What kind of scratches are you talking about? (1500 grit should not be able to make definable scratches - its should just fog) I suspect you may be dealing with something less than 1500 grit. Future is not a necessity... it just helps out, but if you don't use future, then the only way to eliminate the foggyness is by using a rubbing/polishing compound like Tamiya. I merely said it was like toothpolish, but I don't mean to use toothpolish instead Like Stamen said, I'd hunt down the Tamiya stuff, its purposefully for plastic models and worst case, order it online. David is absolutely right, when you get as good as he is... you can skip a few steps and use fewer levels of grit sandpaper to do the job. However, its been over a year since I built my last model (its kind of like starting over again...) I need a few models to get back into the groove of things before I feel confident enough to start skipping steps. Sanding clear parts is a feel thing, and thus is hard to explain - but once you get the feel for it, its no different than any other opaque part (I just wanted to try to alieviate any fears or the stigma behind scratching and repairing clear canopy parts) All of the tips given is good advice... but just remember that different things work for different people. Basically the long of short of it - get the canopy to a foggy state (no visible lines or scratches), then to eliminate the fog do one of the following;

1. Buff with a rubbing/polishing compound and rag until clear (ie; Tamiya compound)

2. Dunk in Future Floor Finish (which turns the foggyness clear)

Or be extra cautious like me - do both

I don't think there's a danger of oversanding "through" the canopy (unless you're using 50 grit paper or a file! ) but the danger is pressing too hard and splitting or cracking the brittle canopy. Remember the clear parts are much more brittle than the styrene pieces. And I don't know of any repair that will seal in a crack all the way through a clear piece.

[David Hingtgen]

David is absolutely right, when you get as good as he is... you can skip a few steps and use fewer levels of grit sandpaper to do the job.

Whoa, hey, that's not it. I skip steps mainly out of "it's good enough for me" reasons. I also skip steps because I'm a total Future novice---I can sand and buff, and that is "good enough for me". I haven't actually FINISHED a model jet for probably 24+ months, just have a pile of 3/4 done ones. You could take 10 years off and your next kit would still be far better than mine if I spent those 10 years practicing.

(I personally have a very low opinion of my own modeling work--I can decal well, but basic painting is far more important and it's what I'm worst at---a simple smooth coat of grey still eludes me yet it is needed for most any modern jet).

[Stamen0083]

I've polished canopies without having to Future it. If you use the polishing compound properly, ALL the minor scratch marks will be buffed off, leaving only beautiful clear plastic.

Or dunk it in Future for extra shine. If you want to tint the canopy, you'll want to dunk it anyway.

[Spatula]

Thanks for your help guys. I actually did manage to find some Future today at Wal-Mart and dunking in the canopy right now as I'm typing. Well the canopy isn't "scratched" up per se, but it looks somewhat worse than the canopy you posted. My digital cam is busy charging now so I'll post pics of what I've gotten done so far.

Its kinda hilarious now that I actually used toothpaste (Colgate I think) in the mint flavour and added some Simple Green cleaning solution to the mix, then tossed it in Windex. It came out with this gawd awful smell, but I don't think it did the canopy any damage.

Now I'm gonna raise the canopy outta of the cup of future and witness the results...

EDIT:

Holy S___. I swear to God this must be from the future. It just made my canopy BETTER than when it was factory sealed. Best $7.03 spent, EVER.

Edited October 19, 2005 by Spatula

[David Hingtgen]

Very true--a polished, Futured (that's a verb now) canopy will usually be better than new---they simply aren't THAT shiny when they come out of the mold.

[Stamen0083]

Well, depends on how smooth they can get the mold surface too. Smoother == shinier.

[CoryHolmes]

Well, depends on how smooth they can get the mold surface too. Smoother == shinier.

337846[/snapback]

That's why the mold techs use a paste of diamond dust to polish those molds very smoothly.

[wm cheng]

Yep, the liquid acrylic (Future) seeps into all the microscopically fine scratches (which refract the light giving the foggy appearance) and in effect, flattens the surface of the canopy - filling in all the tiny dents and imperfections. That's why I dunk it in water to see if it goes clear, since the water does the same thing (it just doesn't stay)

Now, remember to let it dry overnight - at least 12 hours before you touch the canopy, or you'll get impressions of your fingerprints on the future coat. Always remember that there is a coating over your canopy part now, and if you're not careful, you can scratch it off or etch it away. Future is suseptable to ammonia based products such as blue Windex or Humbro masking fluid - keep these away from the newly Futured canopy - and handle it gently. I prefer to glue it to the plane (which seals in the inside surface) right away as soon as its dry. And I paint a coat of liquid masking fluid to the outside to seal/protect the outer surface too.

[wm cheng]

This is the canopy glue I use (its very much like white glue) it dries completely clear, and its somewhat flexible when dried which is great when the canopy doesn't perfectly match the fuselage. I've also used white glue - which works very well.

[wm cheng]

Basically, I'm prepping for a overall coat of white primer - to make sure all my seams are sanded and sealed properly.

At this point, I sealed in the canopy and protected it with some liquid mask (which I can peel off at the end of the airbrushing. I've also glued on all the delicate little antennas and the vertical stablizer fins to the legs. You want to glue all these bits now since I want the solvent-type cement to actually have styrene to styrene contact (for some strength). You don't want to glue to paint or solvent, since the connection will only be as strong as the paint is to the styrene. I want to get everything white first, then see if there is any need for repairs. If the white primer is good (I intend to use a thinned down Mr. Surfacer 1000) then I might be able to get a coat or two of Tamiya white in there. Leave those hip bulges out for now, since I have to paint the accordion detail behind it in metalizer steel first.

I hope to get to a coat of Alcad metalizer steel for the hip bend accordion thingy, the intake shields, the arm doors and the engine bells and back end of the boosters by the end of the day today.

[Spatula]

The only thing that is stopping me from glueing it on right now is that I want to put the pilot in but I don't have the weapons set yet, so I'm probably going to have to keep it in some sort of small box or something. I might have to future it again...sometime in the future.

[wm cheng]

So I went out and got this Mr. Base White 1000 primer. I'm so glad they finally made one in white instead of the grey - it makes painting white planes easier (since the grey requires so many coats to completely cover it).

However, maybe I thinned it down too much (50:50) it doesn't cover as well as I hoped, it gives a great smooth primed surface to paint on - but you need many coats to completey cover any non-white marks.

[wm cheng]

I thought I'd also get the head lasers ready for painting at this stage now too. It looks a lot cooler if you drill out the ends of the lasers. I started with a fine/small bit for the pin-vise - the trickiest part is trying to center the bit in the end of the antennas/lasers. Start very gently all you want to do is get a dent in the middle of the lasers. Then, once you're satisfied that you are reasonably centered, I then move up to a larger sized bit. You don't need to drill too deep - just 1-2mm depression is enough to give the impression that its a hole all the way through.

Here's a shot of the finished product before the metalizer paint.

[wm cheng]

I'd thought it might be good to mask some areas off - from the primer so that when we glue these bits and pieces on, we have styrene to styrene contact - instead of gluing to the paint.

[wm cheng]

Well... yours truly was either too eager to get the sanding over with or I've just been out of the loop too long - but after the primer, it revealed quite a few seams that I should of paid more attention too. Luckily its primer and not paint - so its sandable. I started by painting a strip of the Mr. Base White 1000 over the seams that I want to re-sand - it will act as a Mr. Surfacer to seal and build up the seam for me to sand down

Argh.. I hate this (but nothing is worst than a stupid seam...)

[wm cheng]

While I'm letting that dry - I thought I'd go ahead and start painting some of the pieces with the AlcadII Metalizer Steel as a base coat. I didn't mask anything off yet - I'll mask the greys on top later. But I was maybe planning on doing several shades a metal and trying some burnt metal type effects (since there is so much area to the engine bells - it would add more interest to them)

[wm cheng]

There's a great article; Heavy Metal Flankers (Painting weathered bare metal finishes) by Paul Brown over at; http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/

Go to Tool 'n' tips section - its under bare metal finishes. Great site!

I was thinking of experimenting and doing something like this real Flanker photo(but much less weathered or used)

Of course his model is 1/32 scale which is much bigger - I want to try to reproduce some of his effects in our much smaller 1/72 scale. I think it gives a good reference guidline though.

[Grayson72]

Wow thanks for the link WM, that guy is amazing!

[David Hingtgen]

If you'd like to see a similar idea on a 1/72 Flanker, look here:

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/index.php?...pic=33171&st=40 (This guy did the EXACT Flanker I'd like to using the kit I'd like to, so I followed his build closely)

PS---that pattern of discoloration is unique to the Flanker, I would not recommend using it as a reference for anything else. Techniques yes, but not the pattern/colors. Every engine/plane is different.

PPS--wm_cheng, how does that canopy glue stand up to water when dried? I find most white/canopy glues to re-liquify with water, and so are worthless when trying to decal (especially since so many planes have crew names on the canopy rails right near where the glue is). I did have an F-18 canopy come completely off while decaling near the area, simply from the water from the decals.

Edited October 20, 2005 by David Hingtgen

[Ido]

So I went out and got this Mr. Base White 1000 primer.  I'm so glad they finally made one in white instead of the grey - it makes painting white planes easier (since the grey requires so many coats to completely cover it).

337971[/snapback]

Base white shouldn't be a primer, it's supposed just a white lacquer that cover better, use it at a low pressure and don't thin it so much.

You are absolutely right about white over gray, if you followed my build-up: that is the first and last time that I use mr.surfacer on a white plane

the trickiest part is trying to center the bit in the end of the antennas/lasers. Start very gently all you want to do is get a dent in the middle of the lasers

Ever tried Hasegawa rivet scriber? Its great as starting point to drill a hole, it scribes rivet as you see them on your hasegawa kits.

http://www.hlj.com/product/HSGTL11

[Berttt]

Well I made some time again this weekend and put the base coours one.

After considereing WM's idea of FastPack Blue I decided to go with the white.

But that's a whole load of white so I masked and sprayed those raised sections of the engine shroud with some neutral grey with a bit of desert tan mixed in until it looked right. Ther are still some touch ups to be done on the white on the valk and booster, and the wings aren't permanently fitted, however I really wanted to see this start to take shape so I sprayed on the black stripe and stuck on the Kite decal. It's a little small but I don't have anything else, and once it's done I am sure it'll look okay.

I began needing a place to put this thing when it's drying etc so I broke open the launch arm and dry fitted the main parts. i think this is going to be the showpeice of my collectio once done, it certainly has a presence about it.

Only a few more weeks and it may be finished...........now where have I hread that before?

[nightmareB4macross]

bertt,

The grey really help to reduce the monotone bulkiness of the booster.

Keep up the great worlk!!

[wm cheng]

David, I don't think I could duplicate the effect at this small scale anyways I'm just using it as a guide/inspiration - its always useful to have real-world references.

Ido, argh - you're right, it doesn't sand as nicely as a primer should! At least its a laquer (I hate spraying laquers, it stinks up the place and its harder to clean brushes and airbrush!) so it does bite better into the plastic - and it does sand better than the Tamiya white (which doesn't sand at all). Thanks for the rivit scriber tip - I'll order one the next time I have something from HLJ - although I'm not quite the stage to scribe my own panel lines and rivits yet

Brett, that looks fantastic! hmm... I starting to have doubts about my fastpack blue/grey idea... It really looks good - pretty accurate to the TV episode screen captures.

Here's some of the captures I've collected;

(if anyone has any other references - I love to see them...)

[wm cheng]

OK, I had a little time last night and this morning. The first thing was to get the Valkyrie up to snuff. I had to do a nice white coat over the entire thing. I did it in several lighter coats. Every once in a while I'll get fluff/lint cought on the surface of the drying paint (I guess I need to vacuum my basement!) - I'll let it dry, then very lightly sand that area with 2000 grit sanding film to remove the fluff/lint (and slightly around the area). Then re-paint over the affected area until you can't see the repair.

[Ido]

Ido, argh - you're right, it doesn't sand as nicely as a primer should! At least its a laquer (I hate spraying laquers, it stinks up the place and its harder to clean brushes and airbrush!) so it does bite better into the plastic - and it does sand better than the Tamiya white (which doesn't sand at all). Thanks for the rivit scriber tip - I'll order one the next time I have something from HLJ - although I'm not quite the stage to scribe my own panel lines and rivits yet unsure.gif

Mr.color paints also clean up nicely with 92-95° alchool if you don't want to use lacquer thinner, just don't use it to clean the internal of your airbrush.

Let me know, cover better mr.base white 1000 or tamiya acrylic white?

ps

I'am currently decaling my vf-1A, any tips about that damn thin long decals like the wings one?

Edited October 24, 2005 by Ido

[wm cheng]

Ido, the Tamiya acrylic white (Flat) covers better - however, you can't sand it - where as the Mr. Base White is at least a little bit sandable if you're careful. I've gotta find a decent white primer! I didn't know you can clean it with alcohol too, why can't you clean the airbrush with alcohol too?

The long strip of black on the wings is a toughy - just use lots of water and don't apply any decal softeners until its in its final position. I apply it with lots of water and play with it until its down and blotted out (press deeply with a paper towel so that it sinks into all that nice engraved details and rivits on the wing), then apply some decal softeners or solvents over top and around the edges before it's dry and DON'T TOUCH IT!

[wm cheng]

The colours I plan to use...

I start off my masking the rear portions that I've already sprayed with Alclad Metalizer Steel.

Then I spray the entire thing with XF-18 medium blue - this will form the base colour that I will work from (its the same colour I used for the fast packs on my VF-1A super)

[wm cheng]

Now onto my next colour - I've decided that I would like a light shade on the top panel (like the white area on the Max & Millia boosters in the screen capture). I am going to try to make the boosters go from a light grey (portions close to the Valkyrie attachement points - to minimize the abrupt contrast) to a darker shade towards the engine bell end of the booster.

I use the good stuff (tamiya masking tape - yellow thinner tape) on the edges where I want a straight line. I follow the Captn' scribed line on the outside faces and try my best to interpret the line on the inside faces (I will learn to scribe my own panel lines soon - but this isn't the project to learn on ). I use the regular masking tape (light tan) stuff for all the other areas that aren't important.

I then carefully spray the lighter XF-19 Sky Grey onto the intended areas. Always spray away from the taped edge to get a nice sharp line. And try to spray lighter so that the paint is almost dried when it hits the surface - you don't want the paint to seep underneath the tape. Also if you spray towards the tape, you could get a bit of underspray underneath the taped line.

[wm cheng]

Next I decided that the raised areas on each of the booster humps were going to be another shade of grey. I decided on XF-53 Neutral Grey.

Again I taped off the areas using the good Tamiya masking tape for the edges and the cheaper stuff all around.

Becareful with the flat paints (especially unsealed Tamiya) its a beautiful thin coat, but very delicate to scratching. Just handling the boosters and taping and masking I accidentally scratched off a few sections of the basecoat. I'll go in and repair it later.

[wm cheng]

Well the main three shades of grey are on it now. The sharp line between the front sky grey portion and the main body of blue/grey was a little too strong in contrast. So when I returned with the medium blue to fix up some of the scratches that occurred while I was handling it during the masking - I also decided to spray medium blue over the areas where the different greys were delineated to soften the contrast between the colours. Keep in mind this is still the basecoat. I still need to feather the greys from a light to dark from front to back, apply some post shading weathering effects and generally lighten the tones so they tie together more.

But overall, I'm pleased with the restults.

[wm cheng]

This is the stage the Valkyrie is at - its ready for some shades of off-white and greys - I plan of doing a darker version of the white (yellow & black) Roy's colours with more shades of grey and more weathering so it ties into the greys of the boosters a bit more. It will be Roy's plane after Hikaru took it over - so it will have Hikaru's name on the canopy rails.

Now the flat finish on the boosters are still pretty fragile and doesn't stand up to much handling - especially if you have any nails. I will spray the entire thing down with a coat of Model Master Acryl (its actually a laquer) semi-gloss clear coat to protect the finish. The semi-gloss will make the entire booster appear darker (kind of like its wet) but I have to keep in mind that it will be flat and lighter in the end.

I just couldn't resist a dry fit! I plan on spraying a lighter grey to work all the greys together a bit more over the clear coat, and start to weather and delineate some of the panel lines on the booster once the clear coat is dry.

I have a final bit of sanding to smooth out some irregularities on the white Valkyrie and a final coat of semi-gloss white (I mixed 70:30 flat:gloss white) to get a semi-gloss that is more durable than flat paint, but have some of the covering characteristics of flat paint.

[Berttt]

Looking good as always WM, the blue on the booster should prove to be a good looking scheme.

[Spatula]

Er, I think I've got myself into a pretty big pinch with the wings. I took out the wings and I have the wing tabs for you to slide the wings in, however now I swung one too far and it's loose, but the other one seems jammed in. Now the left tab is almost perpendicular to the fuselage while the other is like 50 degrees the other way.

Help!

[Grayson72]

That happens all the time spatula, you just gotta push both all the way forward and then bring them back down at the same time, slowly.

[Spatula]

Alright thanks, I got them back in-line, but I'm seriously thinking of glueing them solid. I know this will totally lose the swing feature, but I think that's what my bandai 1/55s are for. Also, snipping those small head light and wing lights are such a pain in the arse and glueing them on! Argh, I dropped one on the floor now and it's thick carpet. Good bye light. I'm just using some glue to fill in the spot so I'll have to think of a replacement.