Dragon 1/72 P-38J Droop Snoot

[stefanwest]

Well it is done. But did not enjoy this build very much. Kit has a lot of fit issues and spent a lot of time trying to make this look good but I did not have much luck. Cannot complain too much. Won this model at a raffle and was also my first attempt using Alclad 2. Next time I should get better with that paint. So here are the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ron Bell]

That's what "not much luck making it look good" looks like? Geez, I should have such "bad luck". Nice work on the natural metal finish.

[Mark Deliduka]

Wow, I agree with Ron. Man, I wish my work would look that good!

[stefanwest]

You cannot see in the pictures but there are some rough spots on the metal finish were for some reason the alclad bubbled up and did not cover over the black primer. I used the black primer from alclad. So I have several bad paint spots. Also the red on the spinners crack for some reason.

[ghodges]

I too was expecting something that looked much worse. That's a pretty good "failure"!

 

As far as Alclad goes, here are things that help in my personal experience:

1) You need to use a gloss primer OR sand flat primer paint to a VERY smooth finish. After all, any silver paint/nmf will show any rough texture, dings, and/or scratches.

2) You do NOT need to use gloss black for any Alclad EXCEPT the Chrome or Polished Aluminum. You can even use a clear coat of Future to protect the plastic as a "primer". You MUST use gloss black ENAMEL (not acrylic) to get the Chrome or Polished Aluminum to plate out (chemical reaction).

3) You can use different colored primers (black, gray, white, clear) to give the Alcad slightly different tonal variations.

4) MIST THE ALCLAD ON! Do not put it on in wet coats! You get the best results if you allow the color to build up slowly until you get the tone you want. It dries very fast, and you can often start adding the next mist coat back at the "beginning" of the model as soon as you finish misting the other end.

5) Although Alclad is maskable, use low-tack types of tape such as Tamiya tape, Blue Scotch tape, Yellow Sherwin Williams tape, or the green Frog tape. Post It notes and Post It tape also work well on flat surfaces.

 

P-38's are notoriously tough builds, so don't be so hard on yourself. Congrats, and I hope this helps!

 

GIL

Edited April 27, 2013 by ghodges

[stefanwest]

Cool. Thanks for the info.

[ClareWentzel]

Good looking job Steve. As Gil said, P-38s are usually tough. I have one in my collection from, I believe, Hasegawa and I swore at it while I was building it too. Gil just gave a good primer on primers and painting Alclad but I will add one additional item. If you used a gloss black primer or base coat, make sure it is completely dry. A few years ago, Alclad had a batch of primer that took forever to dry. I have an F-80 with lots of cracks in the finish.

 

Gils comment about using different color primers or base coats is a good one. That will give the final finish some different tones on different panels. That avoids the monochromatic look.