TIP: You can do masking tape wraps or you can build up some "ribs" for a better fit.
I applied a drop of medium CA glue to the nose cone shoulder. The wet glue was dragged in a straight line down the shoulder with an X-acto blade.
Apply a small drop and form the line with the knife tip. Thicker CA takes a while to dry. Set the nose cone horizontally for each single line to dry. Super glues will run! Do one line and set it aside to dry.
I did three lines spaced evenly around the nose cone shoulder. If the lines make the fit too tight they can be easily sanded down.
It's not perfect, just a different technique.
White undercoats were sanded. I sanded a bit too far.
I went back and touched up with some paint sprayed in a cup. A Q-tip "brush" was used to roll on the paint.
The first Rusto Metallic Silver was sprayed. Go light with the metallic paints and build it up over a few coats.
There was a small dip in a rear fin. White Squadron Putty was set in and sanded smooth.
The Rusto Metallic Silver dried smooth on all the body and fins.
On the plastic nose cone it crinkled up.
More sanding and primer were used before spraying it with silver again.
Hrm... Is there any particular reason for painting the colors in reverse of what you did on the last time? If I'm not mistaken, in prior build of this kit you first applied the black on the fins, then masked them to apply overall metallic. And if I'm not mistaken, you pointed out that it was to avoid the tendency of metallic paints tending to lift when peeling off masking tape.
ReplyDeleteHi Naoto,
DeleteYou remember more about my older builds than I do! Painting the black first did cross my mind, but knowing ahead of time (about the metallic paint lifting when pulling the tape) I thought I could do it if I was more careful.
I like the technique of using CA for building up the nose cone shoulder for a tighter fit. I tried your technique of using the Dollar Store bottles of cheap CA for filling seams on plastic nosecones. With a little practice I got pretty successful filling seams with 2 applications. And sanding the CA before it gets really hard works great. Like a lot of builders, I used putty before to fill seams, and sometimes it just would not stay in the seam.
ReplyDeleteHi Lee,
DeleteThe CA glue plastic seam fill sometimes takes a second bead of glue. You just have to do one side at a time and prop the nose cone so the glue doesn't run. I like Squadron Putty but the whole tube can dry out if you don't use it everyday.
Speaking of paint crinkling... had that happen to me when I was painting the Estes USS Enterprise kit (similar to what you had the paper and wood parts were OK, and the crinkling occurred on the plastic parts) with camouflage grey paint. Grrr.. though I must admit the effect was fascinating -- it looked as if the surface had shattered -- and briefly pondered if I could paint on "battle damage" like charred areas and "explain it all way" with a made-up story of how the Enterprise was ambushed by the Romulans... Nah. Ended up sanding it and repainting.
ReplyDelete