Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket (Minicraft 1:48)

[ShutterAce]

Looking good Jason! You can take care of the overspray with a cosmetic sponge.

 

[JMac]

Thanks Jim.

You can take care of the overspray with a cosmetic sponge.

How? I was just planning to carefully paint it over...

 

[ShutterAce]

Thanks Jim.

You can take care of the overspray with a cosmetic sponge.

How? I was just planning to carefully paint it over...

Load the sponge with a little paint and use it like a stamp. It sounds crazy but it works.

Just a dab'l do ya!

 

[JMac]

Thanks for the tip Jim. I'm committing that one to memory. I didn't use the cosmetic sponge this time, we simply didn't have one here at the house, and after a impromptu BBQ, I didn't feel like heading out to the store.

I just thinned my paint down, turned the compressor pressure way down, and carefully painted over the overspray. Worked out ok. The worst thing was My gorilla thumbs managed to break a couple small parts off of the model. One I had to rebuild out of 0.03" [0.75 mm] rod.

I'm calling the main colour coats done. I was not originally planning to paint the plane pre-shaded & weathered, after all the real plane was just a prototype. But I forgot to fill in the gun ports (the real plane had no guns installed - just ballast to simulate the weight), and I noticed after I had begun painting. At that point I kind of rolled a little with an idea Baron had mentioned earlier; so I'd painted it in the originally planned scheme, and I'll weather it up as if the Skyrocket had actually entered Navy service.

I'll let this sit for a few days - then gloss. After that decals.

Sorry, my WiP pictures are not the best colour wise. My desk and overhead lights wonk-out the colours every time I take a picture. Truthfully I'm just too lazy to haul out the other stuff would I use to take a better picture...The first picture is closer to the colour of the actual model than the rest.

Thanks, for looking and following along with this build thread. Comments are very welcome.

Jason

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[Glorfindel]

Wow JMac she's coming out great. Paint looks awesome!

 

[Fruit]

Wow! That pre-shading really made those panel lines 'pop'!

I love the subtle transition between the two primary colors!

 

[JohnSimmons]

Yeah what he said, nice pics aswell.

 

[the Baron]

Looks great! I agree, the panel lines look great, very convincing and not overdone, as can too often happen.

Do I see a tailhook on that bird? That would be something I never knew about the XF5F, but it wouldn't surprise me, and makes a good whiffer detail, too.

 

[Chris S]

Yip ...I concur ;D excellent paintwork Jason ,you really worked the pre shade nice !! And it looks like you got the soft edge perfect too ;D ...Love it .

Chris.

 

[Junkie]

That's a really beautiful design, that plane. Build and paint are looking great.

 

[JMac]

Thanks guys!

Added a few small remaining parts & I've finished up the decals - I just used the ones supplied in the kit. Not a lot of decals on this one, maybe 20 - tops.

Have to say this has been a fun little build. I ave only two complaints with the kit. First, some of the seams between mating parts are difficult to fill. My second complaint is with the decals. The decals seem to take forever to come off of the backing paper, I was using warm water, and even after a minute the decal would budge from its spot. Another thing with the decals is that they didn't respond very much to the Microsol I use. The National emblems on the wings took (no joke) about a 10 to 12 applications before they finally "snuggled" down. Hope that the decal behaviours I've been observing are not typical of Minicraft kits. Besides my second Skyrocket kit, I have another Minicraft kit, the B-24 "Dragon and his Tail", considering the size of the decals on that one, I'm a little concerned...

I'm hoping to wash the panel lines on this one and the 109 tomorrow. Debating making a belt from tape also...

Thanks for following along. Comments welcome.

Jason


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[Chris S]

Looks like you got the decals sorted Jason ,she looks brilliant mate ,Had the same problem with the Lanc ,the large clear parts on the decals just wouldnt settle ,I had to keep soaking them till they eventually got the message

Chris.

 

[Glorfindel]

Looking great mate.

 

[JMac]

Thanks Chris and Glorfindel.

I didn't get washing the panel lines just yet. Had lots of family stuff to do on Sunday, and a very sinky dog to wash...

So the day was full.

Things are settling down again at work so I'll have my evenings back again to do some modelling. Hopefully wrap this up soon.

Jason

 

[JMac]

Just a small update; got the panel line washes done. The Vallejo washes worked out really nice. Scott M, Ken and Sunsanvil gave me some great advice, I really appreciated the help.

Next up, I'll start weathering with some oil paints.

Thanks for looking, comments welcome.

Jason

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[Junkie]

Looking sweet Jason.

 

[Chris S]

Oh yes ;D ;D ;D Very nice Jason ...very nice . The panel lines seem to have brought out the tones in the paint to great effect , Looks awesome ...I want one ;D

Chris.

 

[JMac]

Thanks Scott and Chris.

Qwik update. I'm weathering, mostly with chalks. Pictures soon...

 

[Glorfindel]

Jason how did this Minicraft go together on you? Any issues with fit?

 

[rookie]

Wow, despite your comments about the decals they seemed to have settled down realy nice. Looks fantastic..

How long do you normaly wait between applications of Microsol ?