Trumpeter 1/32 Lightning P-38L-5-LO

[minitnkr]

You've done a beautiful office, I'd have done it open to begin with.

[BarryW]

The canopy parts have ‘come through’ OK so I have progressed the build with a black primer coat.

I will check for flaws tomorrow, deal with them, reprime, check, reprime again if necessary, then use a polishing sponge to make sure the surface is perfectly smooth.

[stona]

I'm glad to see you've saved this. It's an impressive looking build and I know only too well how tricky clear parts can be to, shall we say, adjust. It's not like you can use some card or putty

I hope that the rest of the build proves less stressful!

[Jim R]

I'm very pleased that the canopy issue is sorted and the build can progress.

[BarryW]

No matter how carefully you sand and fill seams primer always shows more work.

Last night I went over any imperfections with Mr Dissolved Putty and, this morning I sanded them down, working down sanding sponge grades. I then did a final all over sand with 2500 grit sanding sponge. I need to apply some cement between the port outer wing section and the engine nacelle, the seam opened while sanding. Not a big deal, it just demonstrates that there was pretty much a minimal ‘gluing edge’ between them that did not hold. I will need to be a bit more careful later.

This afternoon I will wipe the model down with a damp cloth before spraying another black primer coat for what I hope will be a final check for flaws.

[BarryW]

Another coat of primer.
The seams look OK now but I will do another check. What I need, however for my NMF scheme is an even surface and, as you can see due to the underlying plastic, the sheen varies. I will therefore do a final sand with a polishing stick, a very light primer coat and then perhaps a varnish coat or two in order to get the even surface before I lay down the first metal shade.

My plan is to use three metal shades in all, first a dark aluminium all over coat. I will then mask off some panels and is titanium and others silver.

[BarryW]

One characteristic of MRP paint is how fine it is, hence the great smooth finish. The primers really do pick out any flaws doing exactly what you want them to do but there is a downside, it is so fine that it picks up imperfections in the plastic, such as the whorls from where the liquid plastic was injected into the mould. Any sanding really shows up as well, so you really need to go through the grades. None of this is a problem at all normally as layers of paint and varnish deals with it. But, with a natural metal finish, you really need to take care over surface prep and any variations in the underlying surface can show through.

So, as mentioned, after a go with a polishing stick, I put down a light matt coat of varnish. This partly evened out the finish. I then did a very light black primer coat and finish off with a light gloss coat.

I now have a perfectly smooth even finish ideal for a natural metal coat.

Any variations in the picture are because the gloss varnish is not yet dry.

[BarryW]

The first overall metal coat of Dark Aluminium. Looking rather unrealistic as just a solid coat. I will start correcting that tomorrow with other metal shades differentiating panels.

[Andy T]

If ever there was a topic showing how important preparation is....

A gloss black base seems to be popular with many for NMF. Is that not something you care for Barry?

I recently did a 1/72 in NMF and sprayed straight over the same primer as you have but wondered if gloss would have given me a better, or just different result.

[Jim R]

One characteristic of MRP paint is how fine it is, hence the great smooth finish.

I have only been using MRP paint for a short while but another plus is that even when multiple layers of primer and paint are used there is no loss of detail.
Great smooth finish Barry.

[BarryW]

If ever there was a topic showing how important preparation is....

A gloss black base seems to be popular with many for NMF. Is that not something you care for Barry?

I recently did a 1/72 in NMF and sprayed straight over the same primer as you have but wondered if gloss would have given me a better, or just different result.

A gloss does help a good NMF and that’s why I did a gloss coat as part of the surface preparation over the primer as explained in the post Andy.

[Andy T]

as explained in the post Andy.

Oh wow, I completely missed that part, sorry!

[BarryW]

Masked up ready to paint the horizontal control surfaces silver and the exhaust system Pale Burnt Metal and Burnt Iron.


Below with masking removed


Masked up again to paint some panels with Titanium.


Maskes removed.


Thanks to how MRP dries and cures so quickly this was all done in one session.

Tomorrow I will mask up to paint some sections black

I w Islam not be using any more varnish on this model because I don’t want to spoil the metallic look. Besides there is no point, I will be painting the markings using 1 Man Army masks so no decals will be used as all. Given this is how the actual aircraft was done varnishes are just not required.

For washes I want to use the Flory sludge washes as these will work better on this NMF and removal is less aggressive, water only if needed.

Tomorrow I will post again my progress but that will be it for a couple of weeks as I am off to the USA very early Saturday.

[Nicko]

Looking very nice Barry....

Nick

[Waspie]

That is quite stunning Barry. Love the paint scheme.