This has been one of those weeks where real life consistently got in the way of my modeling life. It started with prepping for, and finally getting, a colonoscopy. It took a day to recover from that. The next day we had family friends from Georgia at the house. Then we had a massive series of severe thunderstorm roll through central Texas. We had several rounds of heavy rain. Finally, yesterday, the last round of evil storms passed through. The ground was already very wet when the storm hit. My neighbor's rain gauge had 4 inches in it after the storm, but it was the 60 mph winds that got us. The high winds pushed over 2 oaks in our yard, and then our back yard flooded. Well, this afternoon things were finally under control enough that Modeling could take place.
All the delays gave me a chance to pivot on my build. After having so much good luck with AK Xtreme Metal paint, I decided to apply the NMF first, and then mask over it to apply the painted areas of the nose and the high vis markings. I had also previously decided to use two different colors of Xtreme Metals on the plane. The Duraluminum went on the forward part of the plane just fine, as did the polished Aluminum on the rear of the plane. As before, the masking tape left sticky glue on the plane, so I planned to remove the leftover glue with alcohol, which I had done without problem on the first plane. The glue came off the Duraluminum fine, just like the first plane, but when I cleaned the Aluminum, the alcohol removed both the glue and the paint. Apparently the Aluminum is more fragile than the Duraluminum. I repainted the rear of the plane, let it dry, then sprayed a layer of clear gloss lacquer to protect the metallic paint. Feeling now well-protected, I masked the panel for the gun ports, and painted it dark aluminum. When I carefully removed the tape, I was astounded to find that the tape had pulled up portions of the clear layer. I cleaned up the area and repainted the clear.
It would be an under-statement to say that I was frustrated. Deeply regretting my decision not to paint the high vis markings before the NMF, I decided I would find a new paint scheme that would limit the need for masking. The paint schemes used on the QF-86F would gradually evolve during its career from a very simple design with minimal paint and markings to a design featuring high vis panels. I decided to paint the very first F-86F converted to a QF-86F. It features very simple markings. Although the markings are simple, there was a certain appeal to building the first of many F-86Fs that would be shot down by other planes. I managed to scrounge most of the decals I needed from my decal spares. There is a small ID number and aircraft type printed on the rear of the fuselage. I created these decals using clear decal paper. By creating my own, I was able to add the exact airframe number of the first aircraft. I added all of the decals today. I plan to let them dry for 24 hours, then spray on a protective clear coat. After some panel washes, I plan to add all of small bits and call it done. Yeah.
7 attached images. Click to enlarge.
