ghodges

The canopy sits wrong because the I glued brace inside the vac canopy too low, and it rests on the fuselage, propping up the rear of the canopy instead of allowing it to "drape" properly. Oh well......that's just another reason it's a shelf sitter! GIL

The following is NOT Iwata specific... A clean airbrush is next to godliness to paraphrase...but (if you see the lack of organization on our benches) practicality often prevails! I've had 4-5 different brands of brushes over 30 years time. NONE have ever "died" from being too dirty. In fact, a couple "died" from excessive breakdown and the loss or damage of a seal! The direct consequence of a dirty airbrush is poor paint delivery. If you're not getting the results you want from your brush, and you've tried every "control" (paint viscosity, air pressure, water vapor control, etc.); then you most likely need to break the brush down for a thourough cleaning. Short of that, I simply run laquer thinner through the brush after each color, and swab the cup and tip with a Q-tip dipped in clean thinner. I generally do a more thourough cleaning after finishing a build (model's done). At that time I'll remove the tip, inspect the air ports and ream them out with a wire, and remove the needle and wipe it down. I NEVER break down the body/air assembly sections short of a major malfunction (nothing's working!). If you're a more careful and deliberate person, you may want to clean yours more often; and chances are you'll get better paint jobs than I do! However, I find most manufacturers recommend excessive cleaning as a way to avoid reports of problems. Cheers! GIL

Sharp eyes Clare! YES, and it's MY fault! As I attempted to flat coat the black lines of the "HL" it bled over onto the clear decal. The NMF just beside it is slightly shinier. If I'd have left those decals alone it might have remained invisible. There are some areas where you can find the clear decal on the NMF (besides my screw-ups), but you have to look VERY hard to do so, and get the lighting angles just right. By the way, I couldn't make a good comparison between the Alclad and the SNJ as to how the clear decal areas were "absorbed". The decals on the wings have almost NO extra clear edges, while many of the decals on the fuselage do. All I can say is that I'm happy with both areas. And, there is one more MAJOR gaff on this model.....I'll leave it to another sharp-eyed modelholic to find it! Cheers! GIL

Finished the Mustang. Go to the a/c topic section to see more pics. Cheers! GIL

This is the 1/48 Tamiya Mustang kit. I built it just to soothe my bruised fingers after doing a vac, vac conversion, and a low-end low-pressure injection molded kit. I needed a break! The model is mostly OOTB except for a few placards in the cockpit, an Ultracast seat, and a vac canopy. I drilled out the kit exhausts, added hypo tube gun barrels, and MV colored lenses under the wing for the IFF lights. The markings are from Life Like decals. They are thin and require some care when placing as they don't like to be repositioned on the model. For the most part they went down with only a few problems. Their printing and color are VERY good. The NMF was a bit of an experiment. I first "primed" the plastic with Future, and then shot the entire model with Alclad Aluminum. Next, I rubbed SNJ aluminum powder (polished) onto the fuselage, ailerons, and tail surfaces. The idea was to replicate a "painted" wing and NMF fuselage. This worked pretty well and I may do this again in the future. I used a water soluble oil wash in the panel lines. ALL areas of the NMF picked up water marks (the Alclad and the SNJ). This actually adds a bit of "weathering" to the finish...BUT if you wanted a "pristine" finish this would have ruined it! A "sludge" wash with chalk pastel dust might be a safer method! I also applied a very selective flat coat; limiting it to just the colored striping and the stars and bars. That toned down the glossy sheen of the decals and gave the markings a more scale appearance. All in all, this was a fun, relaxing build. I chose American Beauty because I used to have it, but it was lost over the years in various moves. It's one of the more colorful Mustangs, and an ace's mount to boot. Hope you enjoy! Comments and critiques welcome as always! Cheers! GIL

Wow! That is a rare bird! And those pics date from '73? That hopped up Nova(?) sure looks like it's the CURRENT style, and not someone's middle-aged flashback! Thanks for posting! GIL

You're not brain dead, but the glue fumes have gotten to you! There is no 1/48 C-119 (resin, vac, or otherwise) or I'd have one! In fact, I finally tracked down a reference book on the C-82/C-119 at VB in preparation for the possibility of having to scratchbuild it in 1/48. Now if I could just find some good scale plans (1/144 or 1/72) to enlarge....And, unfortunately, I don't see Trumpeter coming to the rescue (at least not until I scratchbuild mine!). GIL

Ahhh....one of Steve Ritchie's F-4's! Nice! GIL

You've finally "excorsized" your Demons! Nice model! It amazes me how graceful and attractive 30's British biplanes are, compared to their ungainly multi-engined beasts! Thanks for posting! GIL

It would be a nice space saver...... GIL

Same here....I had two Azteks at different times. BOTH of them developed a clog (or problem) inside the body, which cannot be disassembled.....I gave up and went back to Badger also. At least you can break it down to the tiniest component and repair/replace what needs to be fixed. GIL

How do I find the patience???? I drink until I don't care anymore! Actually, as mentioned above, the Future goes a long way towards giving a smooth surface for any NMF. It can save you a BUNCH of polishing! However, IF you're not careful and get a "run" in the Future; you're back to square one! The other half of the battle is to start with a good kit (like this Tamiya Mustang). There is precisely 1/8in. length of superglue/baby powder "filler" in a 1/16in gap in the front of the left wingroot. All other seams needed no filler! The last secret is to be willng to experiment. Try various combinations until you find something that you like and that you find easy for you to routinely use. Don't worry about the mistakes along the way! It's just a model! Chalk it up to "experience" and move on to the next project, and try not to repeat the same mistake. Eventually you'll settle into a NMF system that you're comfortable with. Cheers! GIL

I'm doing "American Beauty". The red/yellow tail striping is all decal, so there'll be LOTS of clear film on the tail planes/vertical fin! Everywhere else I can trim away most of it and minimize the potential problems. We'll see....... GIL

I think you can see the differences between the fuselage and the wings in the pics above. The entire model was sealed/primed with Future, then sprayed with Alclad Aluminum. Next, I masked off the wings and rubbed SNJ silver powder onto the fuselage and ailerons. The final finish will have the flaps done in Metalizer aluminum, and I'll probably lightly flat coat a few fuselage panels to add tonal variation. In any case, I'm hoping the above finish will convey the "painted" wings and the NMF fuselage and parts the P-51 was delivered in. Oh yes, I also used some plastic sheet and corrected the main gear well rear wall. It's hardly worth it, unless you're an accuracy freak (IMO) since it's tough to see unless you're looking directly at it. Cheers! GIL

Interesting Clare! I've never had that happen. Did you apply anything to the finish after decaling? In my experience, if you do that then the finish changes slightly everywhere EXCEPT under the decal, making the NMF behind the decal look different than the rest of the model; which at a glance looks like silvering, or that the "clear" didn't disappear. I've got the SNJ on my Mustang, so I'll go take some pics and start another topic soon! Cheers! GIL

SO they let you into the "offices"......interesting considering all of the OTHER mags they published! By the way, I forgot to mention that the yellow flashing around the canopy hump and on top of the fuselage is NOT on the Victory decal sheet; and I can't even tell from the instructions if #7 had that trim on the plane. Oddly, all of the other planes do have yellow trim in that area, and it's provided for them. I don't know if it's an oversight on the decal makers part, or if the TA-4J simply didn't have that area painted. I just didn't like the side flashing going back and ending at the intakes. I cut the supplied trim decal to shape to fit the spine and then added bits from the "extra" material provided on the sheet. That, and a little touch up paint got the job done whether it's right or wrong! Cheers! GIL

That's sharp! I particularly like the multi-shading of the metallics. If you don't tell folks they'll never know it was a restoration job! Congrats on a very nice build! GIL

I've had better luck with decals directly over Alaclad than over any other NMF! You should have no problems....just go easy with the decal solvents (as on any other nmf). By the way, I'm about to see how SNJ powder does on top of Alclad aluminum (the fuselage of a P-51D). Cheers! GIL

I've had better luck with decals directly over Alaclad than over any other NMF! You should have no problems....just go easy with the decal solvents (as on any other nmf). By the way, I'm about to see how SNJ powder does on top of Alclad aluminum (the fuselage of a P-51D). Cheers! GIL

I've had better luck with decals directly over Alaclad than over any other NMF! You should have no problems....just go easy with the decal solvents (as on any other nmf). By the way, I'm about to see how SNJ powder does on top of Alclad aluminum (the fuselage of a P-51D). Cheers! GIL

Thanks for the kind words Ken! "Stale Modeler" was good for its time, but thankfully that time has passed! I'm still looking to meet Jordan Ross, one of the more prolific contributors to SM when I started reading it in the 70's. He could build ANYTHING! I know he's an IPMS member, but I've never bveen able to track him down. I did however run into Mr. Hodgedon, who did all of those great 1/32 dios (they usually had footprints on the wings) in the mag. We had a laugh commiserating about what it was like to deal with those cheap SOB's that ran SM! He couldn't get paid and he was able to go to the offices! Cheers! GIL

This is the 1/48 Monogram OA-4M/Falcon vac conversion. I built it so I wouldn't feel guilty when I bought the new Clasic Airframes kit! The decals are from the Victory Productions sheet, and went down with no problems. This model has more "dings" than my 10yr old car! But, it's done and I can move on to the new kit without feeling guilty! Also, it'll look good enough for my Skyhawks display table in VB! Comments and critiques welcome! GIL

I've seen the Mattell vacs go for anywhere from $30-$100. I paid $50 for mine almost 30 yrs ago, so I guess that would equate to $100 in new millinium $....and I'd have to say that since I've built so many "trashy" kits over the years I've gotten $1000 worth of use out of it! If you do find one, make sure the pump handle is in good condition. Don't be too concerned if the vacuum presure seems a bit low. Smearing some Vaseline around the interior of the piston housing will help seal any leaks as well as improve the movement of the machanisms. As pointed out above, you don't really need any of the gadgets that originally came with the machine (although the plain mold surface platen is very useful!). I too have often wondered why someone else has never brought this simple machine back out. Best of luck! GIL

To add a couple of fine points to Clare's technique: 1) wear gloves! When you pull the plastic down over the form it will "drape" over the part, but not be very tight around the bottom edges. This may be ok, but if not, you need to "pinch" the plastic in around the bottom (but BELOW the form) in order to define the bottom edges better. The plastic will still be quite warm (or HOT) so gloves will prevent you from burning your fingers as you manipulate the plastic. 2) Another way to do this is to use a "top board" over the plastic sheet you're heating. The top board (any stiff material; wood, thick cardboard, thick sheet plastic) will do. The idea is to cut a hole in it that is the SAME shape as your form, but just SLIGHTLY larger. The thin plastic to heat goes on the BOTTOM of this. Heat the thin plastic (it will sag away from the board) and then jam the plastic over the form and up through the hole in the board. This helps the plastic form much tighter around your master. If you're going to do this very often in the future, spend the money on an old Mattell Vacuform machine. It'll solve a lot of your problems and cut your work time in half! Cheers! GIL