snelson Posted May 11, 2009 Report Posted May 11, 2009 Here's my latest project; Tamiya's 1/72 Mosquito B.IV. I built her for our club's bi-annual "challenge build"..this month's theme was "09," and the kit actually had decals for 109 Sq RAF. I had her more or less finished in time for last week's meeting, but decided to go back and tweak a few things I wasn't happy with (as usual, the result of trying to take some shortcuts to beat a deadline.) The biggest issue was the wingtip lights. The kit parts didn't fit well, and had sink marks to boot, so I popped them out and redid the lights using my tried-and-true method (which I should have done in the first place..would have save myself a lot of time and headaches!) I cut some clear stock to fit the openings, drilled a hole in the edge and painted it to simulated the "coloured" light bulb, then painted the inner edges silver. Here are the "raw" parts grafted into place.. ..and here is the final result, after sanding to shape and polishing, and repainting the wingtips. And here's the finished product in its entirety. This is definately the last predominently black scheme I'll do for awhile. It's as unforgiving as natural metal! Hopefully my various boo-boos and touch-ups won't be as glaringly obvious to the judges as they are to me. Cheers! Steve Nelson IPMS#30925
Keith Pruitt Posted May 11, 2009 Report Posted May 11, 2009 Woooooooof! If that's got any boo-boos or touchups, I can't see 'em! Nice work!!!
Glynyrd Posted May 12, 2009 Report Posted May 12, 2009 "Hans! The citronella isn't vorking! Go get me the 88!" Very nice Mosquito! Thanks for sharing. Glenn
jbates Posted May 12, 2009 Report Posted May 12, 2009 Steve finished something! Good job and wonderful choice of subject. Jim
TimHortman Posted May 12, 2009 Report Posted May 12, 2009 Nice work - thanks for sharing! How did you get the 'clear' back to the lights after you filed/sanded them down? I seem to always struggle with getting those kit parts to line up correctly.
snelson Posted May 12, 2009 Author Report Posted May 12, 2009 I got them down to the general shape with a course sanding stick, then finished them with 400 and then 600 grit sanpaper, and finally poished them with Blue Magic polishing compound (I've been using the same tube for some 15 years, and it's still almost full.) Then after everything was finished, I carefully brushed them with Future. SN
TimHortman Posted May 13, 2009 Report Posted May 13, 2009 Thanks for the info. I have some of the Novus products here that work well on clear parts. I will have to check out the Blue Magic.
snelson Posted May 13, 2009 Author Report Posted May 13, 2009 I've heard good things about the Novus as well..a lot of fellow club members swear by it. I just use the Blue Magic because it's what I have and it works well. SN
ghodges Posted May 13, 2009 Report Posted May 13, 2009 I'll take your results every day of the week and twice on Sundays! Looks great! GIL
Wayne Posted May 14, 2009 Report Posted May 14, 2009 Excellent Mossie and in "The One True Scale" to boot. When you use the Blue Magic as it has a silica base do you clean the area with anything after using it prior to painting. Wayne
snelson Posted May 14, 2009 Author Report Posted May 14, 2009 I'll usually wipe down the area with alcohol to remove any residue from the polishing compound. In this case, I think I used a cotton swab dipped in mineral spirits, since the wings had already been painted with acrylics. Usually, I'm smart enough to do the wingtip lights before I paint the model (and some days, I can even tie my own shoes!) SN
planenuts Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 Hello, I'm new around town and this is my first post, but that really looks nice!!!!
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