Tamiya 1/48 A 10A Thunderbolt

[Mr Bowcat]

I got myself some washi tape from Amazon to use as masking filler, 10 rolls for just over a tenner. It behaves exactly the same as Tamiya tape.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DKI981Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Guest]

Had a good look round tonight to see if it needed any touch ups before gloss, and noticed I'd forgotten to paint most of the canopy! It was still in dark grey primer. Thankfully the Mr Color brushed in really well, should be seamless once it's finished.

[minitnkr]

Hairystick to the rescue:smiling3:. PaulE

[rtfoe]

Well Andy, if you do spray painting as a job and get this mucked up I'd be surprised. I was just looking forward to the finale...beeeutiful. The masking already told me it was going to be good. No doubt at certain points I thought you had Egyptian ancestry. Nothing like the end result of a mummy but a pupae turning into a butterfly.

Cheers,
Richard

[Guest]

Thanks for the kind words Richard, although I can't think of many that would compare an A-10 to a butterfly lol.

Mind you, its uncompromising looks certainly have their own kind of beauty.

[colin m]

Brilliant job, and I've learnt something there. I would have taken at least three days to paint three colours. Maybe even longer.

[Guest]

Thanks Colin.

It was my intention to paint over my 4 days off, giving each colour overnight to dry, but at the last minute a sign went up over Gotham City and I had to rush to help out an old colleague who'd bitten off more than he could chew with an Aston Martin Vantage. That took me a couple of days to fix and paint so I ended up with just the day to get all three colours done on the A-10. It bit into my bench time but bolstered my modelling budget quite a lot, so can't complain :smiling5:

Having looked at it for a few days I'm half tempted to add a couple more small areas of the dark grey, then maybe add some highlights / light sun bleaching along the top surfaces, but I'll probably end up going too far and messing it up!

[JR]

Andy,
Well done , the paint job looks top class, as expected from your job:smiling3:. I'd leave it alone, you know what happens when you think " just one more bit "
I was really impressed with the masking, is that 3m something you use at work? strange looking outer edge to it, but what results.
I also noted the use of a silver as a blocker for white, so thank you .

[Guest]

Thanks John. I keep going backwards and forwards to be honest, I feel like it needs something, but don't want to go overboard. Might stick to what I said earlier and just add the decals for now and see what happens. I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure.

The tape is Tamiya tape for curves used to do the outlines, closely following the printout you can see in some pictures. I then filled in the middle with regular Tamiya tape, cutting it halfway across the curved stuff, being careful not to go right through and mark the models surface. Some of the bigger areas had plastic masking film for cars taped in place, or delicate surface Frog Tape.

[Fernando N]

Great looking paintjob Andy, nicely even finish and sharp demarcation between colours. :thumb2:

[Guest]

So, not my best day.

Spent a while applying the decals and I'm not sure I'm ever going to enjoy that bit. Lots of tiny stickers sliding around all over the place then suddenly gripping fast once they are in the wrong place :smiling5: Finding them stuck to my fingers and having no idea where they came from. Then there's the silvering and the mess left behind by the decal fix solution.

Hopefully I'll get better with practice lol

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Then I had the bright idea of adding a wash to try and pick out some of the panel lines. As predicted I pretty much ruined it! I've cleaned it off the best I can but now we're left with a patchy, streaky finish with random black smudges.

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Looks much worse in real life. Should have taken your advice and left it well alone :rolling:

Ah well, mistakes are inevitable and I've learned a valuable lesson for next time.

Most of the landing gear is built now too, just waiting for the paint to dry then I can start final assembly. That might take a while though with all those rockets & bombs!

[stillp]

Doesn't look bad at all Andy. The residue from the decal solution will come off with a soft brush and warm water. Let the decals dry first though!
Pete

[Guest]

Decals are not easy. I’ll explain how I do it in case it helps.
To hand I have:

shallow dish of tepid water
self closing tweezers
blunted cocktail stick
kitchen roll

Before applying decals I apply a coat of gloss which helps with adhesion and silvering.
I cut out the decals to be applied, clamp in the tweezers and sit in the dish face down (they tend to curl toward the print face).
You can keep the decal moving once applied to the model by applying water and always have a piece of kitchen towel handy to absorb excess once the decals are in place. I also use a blunted cocktail stick to move decals around.
I tend to only use a setting solution once the decals are in place and sparingly too, reapplying if necessary. I only apply the solution first on big decals and work quickly to position.
Also work away from one end to avoid them sticking to your fingers.

This works for me and I hope it helps.

[Guest]

Thanks Pete. I'm letting it dry overnight then I'll have a go at cleaning it up again, before a final matt (or maybe satin) coat to seal everything in.

Cheers Chris, that's pretty much how I'm doing it, but I clearly need lots of practice before I become proficient. I tried Vallejo Decal Fix in some areas and just water in others. The Decal fix might have helped a little but left a mess afterwards. I'm still a bit clumsy so no matter where I fitted a decal I always seemed to be holding it there when I moved onto the next. Maybe I should try and support it somehow rather than trying to juggle with it while sliding the decals around.

[Guest]

Yep. Try not to handle it when applying decals.
I use micro sol / set which don’t leave residue.