Lockheed Altair

[tom arnold]

Those are very realistic looking tires. What black "color" did you use and what paint?

[Tim H]

It is Humbrol Matt No 67, Tank Grey.

[faif2d]

I had some blackboard paint years ago that worked very well.

[Tim H]

Even glaciers move downhill and the glacial progress of this build has taken a lurch towards the end point. A fairly big lurch actually as you can see. Not much needs to be said other than "It's been painted!".

Some pics

[Tim H]

more

[Pete Fardell]

It's looking magnificent, Tim. This is going to be a stunning model!
(Which paints did you use btw?)

[Tim H]

Thanks Pete, it's humbrol gloss. I had picked out the blue ages ago so I had everything ready to go once I got one of those elusive "round tuits"!
Still very pleased with the new airbrush; I have been enjoying the painting rather than dreading it.

[rgroener]

Tim, she looks very good in the opaque dress
I am always afraid that I will tear the colour away when I remove the masking tape. But it seems that you did not have the same problems...
Maybe the different colour made the trick... I have to check this in the future.
Keep the pics coming...

Roman

[g_kandylakis]

Looks great, Tim...

With no registration and details added yet, it already looks the part. Will you manage in time for the indoor nats? Not much time left, for glacier speed, but the ice melts anyway

I wish you good luck with it! Hope to see it flying soon in video form and in real in November. My plans for sooner failed


Roman,
another key factor in paint no lifting, is what masking material you use and how you remove it after spraying.
I used to use Badger masking film, at some time my shop run out so they gave me another brand, Artool (I needed to spray ). Was very skeptical at first, but after using it I liked it more. Came out much more smoothly. (What did you use, Tim ?)

And I always make it a point to remove the tape at 180 degree pull, i.e. not vertically up and away from the first paint layer, but over the masking tape itself. This reduces the strain on the paint quite a lot.

George

[Tim H]

Thanks Roman, thanks George.

For masking I use an ordinary painters masking tape called Frog tape. It is available in most builders merchants and DIY stores here. They do a few different types. The ones I use are the standard (green) and the low tack (yellow). I stick the tape to a piece of paper so that only 3mm to 6mm of the tape edge is left so there is less to remove. Also I run a bead of dope around the edge to seal it better to stop the bleed under the edge. It never fully succeeds but is better than just the tape on its own. It also depends what you are sticking it to; doped tissue is good and so is gloss paint so you can leave less edge of tape. It won't stick so well to matt paint so I leave a wider edge of tape, and silver paint is the worst, sometimes the tape won't stay stuck down to it at all!
I also use it for canopy framing. Just stick a length to my cutting board, paint it and then when it's dry cut strips of the width I want and stick them on. It sticks quite well to acetate.

I agree with George about removing it; very slowly at 180 degree.

I am not planning on finishing it for the UK Nats. After all this time it would be unwise to rush it and I have not had anywhere to do any trimming this winter thanks to our inability to use the Velodrome. I hope to do some outdoor trimming with it once the grass grows and Roman sends us some of his Swiss weather . Then if it flies and I manage not to wreck it, we will fly it in Nijmegen.

This is the Frog tape.