Looking very good Tony.
Republic RF84F Thunderflash in 1/48
- Thread starter yak face
- Start date
After a quick rub down with the ultra fine wet and dry and a clean up ,its had a coat of gloss black metal color primer. I’ll see how this dries as to whether it needs a bit more or if it’s ready for the metal color top coats . Not too many different shades on this aircraft just a couple of areas on the elevators , round the jet exhaust and a few access panels near the cockpit to pick out in darker colours. The National Guard aircraft which I’m doing however was very highly polished so I’ve got to get it looking very shiny!
Hi Tony
Very neat, skilled work. Cockpit looks excellent. Seems to have gone together well.
Jim
Very neat, skilled work. Cockpit looks excellent. Seems to have gone together well.
Jim
While I was waiting for the black gloss to fully harden I started on the photo etch airbrakes . The set supplies an outer and inner piece which have to be bent to shape and glued together. The kit airbrakes were accurate in as far as the location and number of holes BUT they are represented by raised dots whereas the real thing has holes. Drilling these out is impossible as they are too small and too numerous ( about 160 on each airbrake) plus it would be impossible to get them in straight lines. The photo etch set is designed for the Monogram kit so they are slightly smaller and have a different front profile and hinge position. I’m having them open anyway so the slight difference in size won’t be noticeable, there’s just the front edge to cut off straight and some new hinges to fit.
Vallejo metal color chrome applied all over , just a few bits to do in different shades now and the tricky wing walk masking . 
Looking really good Tony
Different shaded areas now done . I kept it to a minimum , just doing the centre section of the elevators , drop tanks, ailerons ,rudder, inflight refuelling panel on port wing ,exhaust ,and two panels under the cockpit . Pictures of the Thunderflash in Natural metal finish show that there weren’t many different shades . I’ve now started to get the wing walks ,anti glare panel and other bits painted with Model air NATO black and the intake fronts in red. 
Looking good Tony
cheers Ian , got the anti glare panel and the dielectric panel done now so next up is decals .:thumb2:
Hiya Tony, looking good mate, very nice paint and etch work
Started the decals today - what a bugger they turned out to be!!! They looked beautiful on the sheet but i dont know if they are old ( they were off ebay so have no way of knowing their age) or what but they were a nightmare. They took ages to release from the backing paper and when they finally did, with a bit of splintering here and there, the glue had gone a lumpy opaque yellow . Of course this looked terrible , especially on the large USAF decals with all their carrier film. The only way to sort it was to soak till the decal floated off the paper then fish it out of the water and put it face down and scrub all the dodgy glue off with a paintbrush then rinse it in the water again . The now glueless decal was then put on , laid onto some wet Klear to stick it on . Eventually they all went on but a half hour job ended up taking about four hours! I had to cut the USAF decals to go around the wing strakes and on the underside , the undercarriage doors . These will need a bit of touching up where they splintered . The decal sheet didnt supply any stencils ( perhaps just as well!) but looking at photos i cant see too many anyway so im fine with it. Next up attaching the air brakes ,undercarriage and drop tanks then unmasking the transparencies . I’m not doing any sort of weathering as these national guard machines were kept very clean , ill probably just highlight the control surface joints. Cheers tony
Hi Tony
Those decals sound like a nightmare. Your solution using Klear is something I'd not heard of. Seems to have worked though as it looks good. Air brakes are a model in themselves :smiling2:
Coming on a treat.
Jim
Those decals sound like a nightmare. Your solution using Klear is something I'd not heard of. Seems to have worked though as it looks good. Air brakes are a model in themselves :smiling2:
Coming on a treat.
Jim
G
Scrubbing glue from decals … not the easiest job, I’m sure, but the end result doesn’t give any clue that you had to go to all that trouble, so well done 
Great fix Tony.
Thanks guys , they havent turned out bad at all , just a tiny bit if touching up on the USAF ones. Jim , i almost always lay my decals onto a patch of wet Klear , it helps to get rid of silvering , aids adhesion and when it dries out thoroughly will pull the decal to the surface a lot like decal solvent, see pics below , cheers tony
Finished the decals today . There were a few items i had to use off the Heller sheet ( red lines , red outlines) and the total lack of stencils was niggling me so it was out with the spare decal box and some suitable generic stencils were sourced and put in various places . I tried to study as many pics as i could to get the placement of them about right but photos dont show that many so i used a big dollop of artistic licence . Next is a few touch ups to the decals , a bit of painting round the elevator actuators and then it can have a final gloss varnish , after ive carefully masked the matt anti glare panel and wing walks. 
Im at that stage now where I usually make a snagging list of what's left to do. Been crossing a few off today . The undercarriage legs have had a wash and the brake lines added from black crafting wire . The oleos were done withbMolotov liquid chrome pen and aluminium tape was used for the brake line bracket on the scissor link. Ive also given all the control surfaces a wash and its now had a final gloss coat after masking off the anti glare panel and wing walkways . Tomorrow I can get the rest of the bits on and its just about done. 
Clear gloss coat done and here’s what happened when I took off the masking on the starboard wing walks ! 
oh bugger ( or words to that effect ) said I . This has now got to be touched up:angry:
oh bugger ( or words to that effect ) said I . This has now got to be touched up:angry:
G
Ouch … I hate it when that happens, and always dread taking masking off for that reason. Hope you fix it OK.
Very nice progress Tony! Pity of the masking issue but you'll be able to touch it up :thumb2:
Fine model. Steven
Fine model. Steven
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