Bowcat's Italeri SR-71 Blackbird

[Jim R]

Hi Bob
Displaying this in a climb is a great idea. Fixing the clear rods will hopefully work 'cause it certainly sounds like a spot on plan :thumb2: As for the 'non visible' detail painting - we've all done it. Sods Law says if you hadn't done it a bit would have shown and then you'd be cross!!
Jim

[Mr Bowcat]

Evening chaps. :smiling3:

I got the jet cones epoxied on and the jet fans and inside of the cans painted. They just had a quick brown wash to indicate some heat stains, because of the acrylic rods and the way it's going to be mounted I doubt any of it will be seen.



Then I started work on the PE vents, which turned out to be a massive PITA.

Eduard in there infinite wisdom made each vent bigger than the moulded in detail. This meant not only having to chisel off the existing detail, but also having to enlarge each hole by around 2 mil. After 3 or 4 I got the hang of it, but each one still took around 20 minutes. :sad:

It was impossible to get each one perfect, but I got as close as possible. I'm going to give it a primer coat and then fill any gaps.



With that done I got the vertical stabilisers glued on, and went round with filler on the seams.

[Mr Bowcat]

Hey guys.

Got the primer down tonight, used Mr finishing surfacer 1500 for the first time and really pleased with it. I used the neat MLT trick after painting and the finish is beautifully smooth.

Unfortunately it really shows up the areas around the grills so quite a bit of remedial work to do.

[Jim R]

Hi Bob
Great progress. The finish does indeed look smooth. As for the PE vents what a pain. Eduard are usually better than that. I am sure the areas around the vents will respond well to some delicate sanding.
Jim

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Jim.

Yes, going to need some careful filling and sanding.

[Guest]

Finish looks great.

I haven't even thought about using a different primer since trying 1500. I was surprised to read they recommend their rapid thinner for it though, as I've found MLT works great.

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Andy.

I've always been a Stynylrez fan, but the 1500 is great, apart from the smell.

[flyjoe180]

That's looking great Bob, looking forward to seeing this on the rods :thumb2:

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Joe.

[Mr Bowcat]

Evening chaps.

Finished the filling and re-primed yesterday, so tonight I put the top coat down.

Guess what, it's still black. :tongue-out3:



I went for Tamiya NATO black so it's got that slight grey tinge to it. However I tried the laquer paint for the first time and have to say I'm impressed with it.

I'm hoping I can decal straight on top of it, will practice on the drone mule tomorrow.

[flyjoe180]

NATO black looks good Bob. Sinister looking it sure is, even these days

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Joe.

[Steven000]

Nice finish Bob :thumb2:
Cheers, Steven

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Steven.

Yes the laquer finish was lovely and smooth. I did the MLT trick again which probably helped.

[Mr Bowcat]

Morning all.

So, this weekend I got the decals on. Sounds simple, but was a case of "Italeri, what were you thinking??!!".

First problem was that in their infinite wisdom they decided not to number the decals. Now this may not seem like a major issue, but the red "no step" lines on the rear fuselage came in 4 pieces, one long and three short (all of different lengths). It was a case of getting the long one on (an exercise in patience on it's own), then soaking all of the other 3 together and using trial and error to see which one went where. Frustrating.

The other problem was that the decals themselves were utterly awful, really thick and did not want to sit down well. The underlying paintwork was smooth (as proven my the MicroSet beading up when applied) but I had a lot of silvering problems, and 2 days worth of MicroSol application to get them to conform.

As it is I wasn't able to eliminate all of the silvering, luckily the worst is on the underside which won't be seen when displayed, but if I were to build this kit again I would definitely be looking for aftermarket decals and would probably mask and paint the red lines. I'm hoping I can hide any silvering on the top side with weathering.

This is how she stands after an application of matt coat, hopefully I can get on with the weathering tonight.