Peters PIB (Paint it Black) GB - SR-71 Blackbird

[pjgtech]

Todays update was a bit of sanding, did some filler last night....



I have decided to leave the cockpit canopy open and have the wheels down, etc, as even when this thing is standing still, it still looks like its going 1000mph! Lol Plus, I quite like how the little pilots and the cockpit look, nothing fancy or too detailed, just enough to give the impression of what its like...





Then after covering the pilots, inner cockpit area, I primed on the first coat of matt black. The plan is to leave it matt black as I think that suits the plane and it did not have a "standard" black paint anyway AFAIK? Used my "Acme" home made spray booth, eg: extractor fan with foam insert in cardboard spray booth surround. I was using Citadel Chaos Black primer spray paint, seems to do a nice even coat.



Last two photos came out a bit foggy here, I think it was quite hot and stuffy in the garage, so the lens fogged up?

[Jim R]

Off to a great start. Good idea to scribe some of the panel lines. Seeing the pilots in place makes you realise just what a huge beast this was.

[pjgtech]

Did a bit more, as its too bloody hot to be going out anywhere!
Primer coat has come out nice, not the best photo sorry, will dig out my proper camera for the final pics.
Also glazed the cockpit canopies, and painted the struts, and wheels, etc on the landing gear.
Also painted the black strip on the triangular front glazed canopy section, not yet glued in place.
Lastly the inside of the landing gear doors are supposedly aluminium, but I wanted them to look well worn, etc, so has tried to give them a "scuffed" aluminium type finish, hard to see/do on this scale, but hey....


Next step will be pretty much the final assembly, fitting all the extra parts, wheels, struts, landing gear doors, cockpit canopy covers, etc.
Don't think I'm gonna weather this one, as it looks pretty good as it is TBH IMHO.....

[Mr Bowcat]

Love the vice, might have to make one. 🤔

What size are the jaws?

[stillp]

If you're making one, the jaws are whatever size you want!

[pjgtech]

I did a review, see linky, sizes are in that 1st post, cheers...

https://www.scalemodelling.co.uk/forum/smf-supporters/product-reviews/1261942-dspiae-stainless-steel-clamp-vice-review

[pjgtech]

Its getting hot again! my study gets way too warm, so eager to finish this one now, as next couple of days will be even hotter, eg: 30+!

Painted the inside of the landing gear recesses last night, kept it a sort of neutral grey colour.

Put the decals on this morning, I have left off the (many) tiny ones as you can barely see them and they are way too fiddle for my sausage like fingers, so just stuck with the main larger ones.

As I have left the finish as black primer, and not adding a final top coat, I was concerned about how the decals would slide on (or not) and I was correct to worry about that.
I did not want to gloss coat over the primer, so just went for it, and the first decal (number to LHS fuselage, if looking from the front) went on ok, but then crinkled up as I tried to move it. The primer is just too "grippy" and it ruined the decal, so that one had to be binned, and no spares?

So....... Lesson learnt, and from then on I carefully, very, very carefully, slid each decal off the backing and straight onto the plane, in its final position, without moving them at all, took a bit of time, but got the ones I wanted on and pretty much in the position I wanted.
But I can confirm that decals really do not slide around on Primer, even with micro sol/set! So beware!!!

Once the decals were on and dried, I then applied a couple of thin coats of matt clear (Tamiya) varnish. This seems to have given a decent finish. I really wanted this to have a matt finish, and its not turned out too bad IMHO.

Then I moved onto installing the front clear glazed section of the cockpit canopy (after adding the matt black strip down the centre), and then installed the front and rear undercarriage.
I especially liked the little suspension struts, that lock the rear landing gear to the fuselage in the correct position, it would have been much more fiddly and time consuming the get the gear at the right angle, without these little struts. They did need their holes drilling out a tiny bit, but once that was done, they had a nice fit and it was easy to get everything into position correctly.

I still have the two main cockpit canopies and the landing gear (rear) doors to install, but nearly there.....

[papa 695]

Looking very nice indeed.

[flyjoe180]

Speedy work Peter. Looks good, as you say, speeding along while standing still

[Geoffers]

Nice work Peter 👍

Your build is almost as quick as your subject 😂

Geoff.

[pjgtech]

Ok, I'm calling this one done. I'm not going to weather it, as I like the way it looks nice and clean.
For a relatively simple mode, I am quite pleased with this one TBH.
Some pics, but I will put up more pics in a separate "completed" thread.

[Geoffers]

That look good Peter 🤩

[Nicko]

Nicely done Peter....

Nick

[papa 695]

Cracking work

[Mr Bowcat]

Nice.

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Great result Peter well done.