And now, an update.

First off, there was mucho masking to be done...

Then, it was time to give this stuff a try.

This stuff was recommended to me by modeling friend Robin Powell, from Poole, Dorset. He said this stuff was the best of the masking-like putties he's tried. I found it in Aisle 44 of a Michael's Crafts store.

Here it is during initial trials...

Now, i forgot to take any photos of the adhesive tack laid in place, with extra masking filling in on top and behind it. But, i DID take photos of the fuselage with the gull gray applied and the masking removed.

Thats all i have for now. The radome needs a repaint before i can mask off and paint the forward fuselage, and i found some seams on the back end above the tailplanes that bother me so much i cant let em slide. So, i'll be doing some major sanding (and re-painting) on the back end.

Thanks for tuning in. Until next week,

Same Bat-Time

Same Bat-Channel

David your Tomcat is looking better each time I see an update... That adhesive tack stuff works great doesn't it ? My friend Rick Wilkes told me about it and I try to keep some on hand at all times now... Thanks for the updates...I'm tuning in next week on the same Bat Channel.

The forward fuselage is painted now; snapped a few pics but i need to re-shoot the model. I'm presently doing touch-up painting and i broke the R/H tailplane pivot. Fortunately i already broke the L/H one, so i know how to fix it.
-d-

Well, i guess its time for another update.
First, some photos with the last of the light gull gray applied.

Then what followed was about an hour of masking followed by 5 minutes of painting.


And then the unmasking. What didn't come out perfectly, can be easily fixed.

Next up will be masking and painting of some grilles located in various spots on the fuselage. Work will resume in 12 days or so.

Just a minor update; Decaling has begun on the model, but i'm being rather slow and cautious while i wait for a bottle of Mr Super Clear to arrive in the mail...

The Furball decals so far have performed beautifully, laying down well over the Tamiya Gloss White. The excess decal adhesive is proving a bit difficult to wipe away and i wonder if my mix of Micro Set and Micro Sol may be etching the Tamiya paint. There are many areas i had to go back and wet sand with 4000 grit, and i want to over coat the whole fuselage with Mr Super Clear to even things out before i go bananas with the rest of the decals...especially the important ones.

Coming along nicely! I'm gonna get some of that putty...

Time for another update folks.

The Mr Super Clear arrived in the post and i immediately went to work glossing up the surface, which also evened out the finish and covered up all the sanding scratches. It is great stuff; it comes out of the jar thick as treacle, but it thins perfectly with Mr Leveling Thinner. It dries incredibly fast; faster than Future even plus it doesn't get soft from warm fingerprints like Future does if its not fully cured. Also, i'm not sure that Micro Sol etches into it like it does with Future.
Anyway, the model has almost all of the decals on the right hand side...

I also got the decal onto the port vertical fin (outboard) and it worked out much better than i'd hoped...

My laptop went all Sissy Spacek on me, but the kit part looks great.

One last detail: The turbine disc warning stripe is segmented, and needs to be precisely located first, because the "NAVY" fits into the discontinuity in the stripe. Fortunately, Tamiya engineered the stripe so it ends at the transition between the fuselage and the expanding bladder thingie.

So, back to work on her in 12 days or so...
-d-