Merry Christmas!!

Wishing all my friends and followers a safe, and happy holiday this year.  

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!"

See you in a few days with an update...Cheers!!

Hobbycraft's 1:72 scale Avro Arrow: Update #7 - Almost there...

Greetings!  So I've been pretty busy with work these days but I have taken some time to push forward with this build.  It's going to be a Christmas present for a family member and now I see the finish line in sight.  Back to the progress.

When I last left off, I had a splotchiness from taking the model outside and spraying it with a rattle can.   I sanded down the model with 200, 320 and 400 grit sandpaper an voila!  Back to a smooth finish.

This is after 3 thin coats of Heirloom White by Rustoleum.  So I let this dry thoroughly for 48 hours.  The last thing I want to do is to have paint lift off by masking. 

Masking

Up until now, I've always used painters tape for masking, specifically 'Frog Tape'.  This time I tried Tamiya Masking Tape.

It is sooo easy to use.  I thought it might have just been a gimmick but for laying out edges and bending around curves, this works really well.

I'm masking for the orange colour (pumpkin orange Rustoleum) and the flight aluminium (gloss aluminium Rustoleum) down the spine of the model.  I then used 2" painter's tape to cover the rest of the model.

So given the problems I've been having with paints splotching up, I held my breathe and behold:

Perfect finish!  Now the silver strip.  A convenient plastic bag taped to aft end of the bird is an easy mask.

Now the paint...holding my breath again...

The paint goes on lumpy and thick but it levels itself out.  As I let this dry, I use a small to circulate the air around the model, kinda like cooking chicken on the BBQ not under the direct heat.

Now the reveal...

So I've noticed a few spots that need touching up, no biggie.  I will save that for the end.  Also some over spray where the green painters tape wasn't stuck down to itself. 

This was going to be the conclusion had I posted by Friday but working on TV Commercial and a going a Christmas party delayed that.

Saturday


So the next major colour is black, followed by silver on the spike, near the domes and a different type of silver near the intakes.  Spike...yes, that is the last part to go on the model.  Where's the spike??  I looked around and couldn't find it anywhere.  I looked at my stock of brass and realized I'd have to grind down the point and then came across one of my unsung tools of model building: tooth picks,  The old-fashioned wooden ones with a cylindrical shaft and a point on both ends.  So used some hot glue to attach it and used some Evercoat to blend the edge of the nose cone to the spike.

It fits the bill perfectly!!  Sorry about the fuzzy picture, it came from my iPhone.  Now for masking part 2...

The areas to be painted black I used grey primer as a base coat.  Now for the black (flat black Tremclad).  I see a problem...

 Look closer...

%^&*(^%!!!  The black paint splattered!!!  When I went to paint the first stroke it did this and got on the model.  So I shook it up really well and it continued to splatter, then I turn the can upside down and it cleared whatever was causing the splatter. 

Since it was only this side of the model and only in this area, I pressed on and finished painting. 

I didn't photograph it, but between coats I continued to sand the roughness the black paint left on the starboard side of the aircraft.  It looks perfectly fine now.  So now for the unmasking...

 Upon seeing this side, I realized I goofed, the black under the cockpit should end where the orange ends.  That will need to be fixed.

On this side of the model I notice more over-spray.  Also where I sanded left an uneven edge around the intake panel.  A little bit of touch up will fix that.

So this is where I ended this last night (this morning) and I was going to post this at that point in time but the need for sleep took over.

Today

I needed to address where the black doesn't continue along the cockpit.  I also needed to mask for more silver sections.

(The shot above with the piece of Tamiya tape on the tip of the needle reminds me of the caution tape you see on a real aircraft.)

I was able to touch up some marks using Varsol and a Q-tip.  I didn't photograph it but I had masked off multiple areas as I was using 3 paints:  flat black (Tremclad), gloss aluminium (Rustoleum), and metalic gray (Testors).  So here are the results:

So I still have a number of touch ups and then seal the paint with a gloss coat so I can decal it.  Speaking of decals, they are very old.  I used Testors Decal Bonder on them to ensure they don't break.

The typeface though is absolutely wrong and the Canadian Flag (red ensign) is in 2 pieces and looks horrible!!  I'm doing some custom decal work via Photoshop and printing some new decals.  I will apply the originals first just in case I need to reprint anything else off this sheet.

That's it for me tonight.  Happy modelling!!

Hobbycraft's 1:72 scale Avro Arrow: Update #6

Putting the 'pain' back in 'painting'...

So a few reasons I haven't posted much about this build in a while is partially due to work but also I've had to re-prime the model...twice!

So this is where I left off after sanding down some imperfections.

My next assumption was I would get it 97% perfect.  I was half right and boy, oh boy, more than half wrong.  I went outside to cover the model in Rustoleum Gray Primer and the paint cracked a tiny bit!! Not a biggie, re-sand it down.

Then I found the light leaks.  As I said in the video, the fiber optic showing is an interesting fact I will consider for future applications.  So I decided to prime the model with white primer (i'm asking myself why I did that now) and here's the result.  I painted this inside too!!

Ack!!!!  So I had to sand it down with 60 grit sandpaper over the peeled section.  That meant re-sanding the whole model again!!  Then, I filled the offending section with red putty (Bondo Glazing Putty).

A little bit on Bondo Glazing Putty.  It's great for the most part but it needs to be remixed before it's applied otherwise it cracks too!!!  Learned that the hard way on my USS Constitution NX-1700 build (a Round 2 re-release built as a 1/2 scale studio model of the 3 foot model of the Enterprise as featured in the un-aired pilot, "The Cage").

So after sanding, and sanding, and sanding, this is the 'technicolor dreamcoat' I get of the model.

So, I refuse to make the same mistake again.  I looked up online on paint adhering techniques but what it comes down to are 3 things: bad paint; surface residue; cold climate.  So in the images above I washed the model with light soap detergent and water after my 600 grit wet sand session and used a fan to help it dry.  I let it dry for a full day before I touched it again.  And now here are the results...

Finally a perfect surface!!  Throughout this mess I've sanded and re-scribed every line on the model.  Finally ready for white primer!  (I bought new primer in both white and gray so I don't run into this problem again).

Dusting #1

Dusting #2

The moment I've been waiting for, for such a long time...the first base coat.  I'm using Rustoleum Heirloom White.  When I saw the Avro Arrow pieces back in 2000 at the Parry Sound Museum, the aircraft panels were not white but an off-white.  This is a close match.

So i started off painting this inside but the paint smells bad so without thinking, I continued painting the model in the garage as it was -15 C or 5 F.  The aerosol went clumpy and this is the result!

I s

I was tempted to see if an Avro model could 'really fly' but cooler heads prevailed.  This happened to me once before with primer on the saucer section of the Tesla (Ent-D) model I built for a friend.  (I will post that build soon).  So i started sanding the model with paper towel then moved on to 400 grit sandpaper.  At that point I realized the model will be easy to fix.  So that's where I am now.

Happy modelling and stay tuned for more updates!!  Peace!

Polar Lights/Round 2 USS Enterprise - Space Seed Edition - Update #2

Greetings.  I was hoping to do an update sooner but the life of a freelancer can be very busy at times.  Also the Avro Arrow build is still in the ongoing state of filling, sanding and priming - and then the paint 'spider webs' and start all over...$%^&!!!  Back to this build...

The really good thing about this build is it's sort of a mini build of my 'penultimate' USS Enterprise build I will be tackling in the new year.  The wiring is much simpler but has to fit into tiny spaces.

Here's a layout of the LED's I'm putting into the model.  The upper and lower saucer have their base coat (it's a rattle can made by Valspar 'Winter Gray'.  It's very close to Testor's Gull Gray but better value for the money.)  Note I also pre-painted the inboard nacelles with the accent colour and the grill with a metalic grey.

This is a closer view of the saucer of the LEDs and matching resistors.  I'm using a 9 volts battery to power this.  Each clear LED are 3.4 volts, the little red & green LEDs are 3 volts and the larger red LED is a 5 volt flasher.

I have to admit it took me a while to have a good understanding of resistors.  Just remember 'resistance isn't futile' (I couldn't 'resist that one...lol...back to the program.)  Resistors do exactly what the name implies, it reduces the influx of electrons in the circuit so you don't burn out the circuit or in this case LEDs which use such little power.  Here's a website I often used when I first started wiring up LEDs LED series/parallel array wizard.  I have since started using an app called LEDulator available on iTunes (FREE).

The wiring is pretty simple, two circuits: a) the upper and lower domes with the clear LEDs and a 150Ω resistor. b) the flasher circuit.  The flasher circuit is a bit more complex but not really.  Through trial and error I know I calculate resistance for the 5V flasher and the two 3mm LEDs separately (since the flasher interupts the circuit, when it's off, a full 9 volts is applied to the mini LEDs so you have to account for it).

Here is the circuit in action!

Flashing circuit on breadboard

This is the exact same circuit I used on my Avro Arrow build (except I used clear bulbs).  Putting these bulbs into a 5" diameter saucer isn't exactly easy.  The clear LEDs for the bridge dome and lower sensor dome.  I didn't take any pictures of it but what I do when using the ultra bright LEDs is I put a thin coat of clear orange tint on them, this will warm them to a colour temperature similar to an incandescent bulb depending on how much you use.  It also cuts down on the intensity of the bulb as well.  For the lower dome I used green tint along the edges as the dome sometimes had a greenish tint to it. 

I use heat shrink to protect the soldered leads off of the LEDs.

Now for soldering the flashing circuit, it should have been simple but I found I burnt out the mini LEDs 3 times!! So i had to use a stronger resistor, 200Ω and it did the trick.  I used my dremel tool (cut off wheel) to trim and thin the 3mm LEDs so it would fit in the rim of the saucer.  For the flasher bulb itself I use black heat shrink on it with Tulip fabric paint to light block it so I don't see a red flasher through the clear domes.

The upper dome has red around the edges which gives the look that you are seeing into the bridge but also the bridge has red markers on both port and starboard so having red along the sides accomplishes the same thing too as the bridge is a clear part.

The 'cobwebs' come from using low temperature hot glue.


Here is the saucer test assembled...not bad but I wish I could tone down the brightness of the upper & lower domes. 

Saucer section lighting. 1/1000 scale.

With the lights off I see I need to do more light blocking along the bridge.  Not a problem.

Saucer section in the dark.

Now moving on to more lighting.  The nacelles.

I built a test of the lighting to go into the nacelles using a RGB flasher bulb with 5 fiber optics glued along the outside of it. 

The front nacelle caps (called Bussard Collectors in the Star Trek universe) on the studio model had Christmas tree bulbs arranged in a pattern of 10 around the centre of the motor turning a 12 segment fan blade.  5 bulbs blinked at random in random colours while 5 glowed in either amber or a pinkish colour.  Here's some video of it in action at 1/1000 scale (unfortunately the camera tends to over-expose and bleed the colours).

Lastly, here is the base.  I replaced the rod that came with the model with a hollow one in brass and I'm using the same switch I used in the Avro base.

Happy modelling and stay tuned for more updates!!