Shake And Bake Pacific Jug

Started by Carl Smoot · 168 · 1 week ago
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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month, 1 week ago:

    Sounds like a good approach, Carl @clipper
    Still not easy to apply at those roundings.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month, 1 week ago:

    Indeed, those areas are extremely demanding, my friend @clipper.
    Good decision to take a few days off this project, you will surely tackle it nicely in the end!

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month, 1 week ago:

    One wing trailing edge and wing tip done. This looks better than previously, no wrinkles this time. By lessening the amount of foil that wrapped around to the underside on the trailing edge and by breaking the area to be foiled into smaller sections, I was able to get a better result.

    The camera struggles with the aircraft so the finish looks rougher in the photo than in reality.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month ago:

    Wow! You nailed it, my friend @clipper!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month ago:

    That approach worked perfectly, Carl @clipper

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month ago:

    The approach I used for the ailerons was better than the previous attempt, but I was still having trouble with foil lifting at the very edges in some areas. Regardless of how well it was glued down, the smaller areas at the edge simply didn't have enough glued surface area to stay in place under even a small amount of handling.

    I had not done the tail plane wingtips yet, but did not have much hope that they would would be better or hold up better. While thinking this over, it occurred to me that perhaps the tail planes were also painted yellow like the vertical stabilizer was going to be. I had not studied the aftermarket decals sufficiently to know for sure. So I went looking and indeed, the entire tail section is painted yellow.

    So I proceeded to peel the foil off of most of the tail section with the intent of simply painting it yellow. As for the main wing ailerons and wingtips, I've decided to paint them with Alclad . Most of the wing will still be foiled and is holding up well, but the wing tips and ailerons were not, so that foil was also taken off.

    The entire rest of the aircraft except for the cowling, and gear doors has now been foiled. So I turned my attention to what needs to come next. I have heard that these foiled finishes should be sanded unless one wants to have the shiny aluminum foil look. I am tempted by that, but there are numerous rub marks from burnishing the foil down.

    I first tried polishing one of my foiled test mules to see how this might look. It does clean up the foil but is very shiny , like an airshow bird. I am not after that look.

    So I tried some more experiments with various sanding grits and clear coats to see how it might look. This of course was also done on the test mules.

    5000 and 7000 grit seems to be more like a polishing and doesn't leave the foil looking like weathered aluminum. 3000 grit does leave the foil looking like weathered aluminum. I sanded one area with this 3000 sanding sponge (wet), then painted three different areas with matte, semi matte, and gloss Tamiya clear paints. I used a brush to do this, so there are some evidence of paint brush marks in the test finish.

    Here is the test mule. The photo looks somewhat different than the real test piece, but you can see that the matte clear coat gives a very flat weathered aluminum finish. The semi-matte looks less weathered and this may be were I go . The gloss, reduces the scratchiness of the sanding, and may be useful for panel differences when used in conjunction with semi matte (or even full matte).

    I also tried these three clear coats on unsanded aluminum foil and the matte looks about the same, semi matte, slightly glossier, and the glossy looks shinier.

    I am thinking about trying some very thinned down oil filters using various different colors to see how they look on sanded and unsanded surfaces.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month ago:

    Fantastic job on determining ow exactly you will achieve the weathered aluminum finish, my friend @clipper!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month ago:

    Nice research on weathering the aluminum, Carl @clipper

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month ago:

    Thanks Spiros (@fiveten) and John (@johnb).

    I am doing a bit of research on the yellow for the tail this morning. There seems to be some difference of opinion on which shade of yellow is the correct shade. Looking at various models, color profiles, photos of restored P-47N, and photos of older not restored (but possibly repainted sometime in the past) P-47N's doesn't yield anything definitive.

    My decals (Kitsworld) show the yellow as a lemony yellow. The Dana Bell / Squadron book on US Air Force Colors has the profiles has the yellow as a more lemony color. Restored birds tend to be a more orange cast yellow (Insignia Yellow). The Commemorative Air Force in Georgia is restoring a P-47N that they are going to great lengths to restore accurately and it has a tail that is slightly less orange than Insignia Yellow, but not quite Lemony Yellow. I do not know if this is their paint job or one that came on the aircraft before they acquired it, as it is still being restored. I've written to them to ask.

    Furball Decals (who usually do excellent research) show it as closer to Insignia Yellow. I have black and white photographs of aircraft from the same squadron that show the tail color in very different shades of gray.

    What do you guys think? I am tending to believe it's probably Insignia Yellow as this would have been the color available to the bases in the Pacific Theater. But it's not definitive.

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month ago:

    Here are the five yellows I have in paint without having to mix a custom color.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month ago:

    Great research, Carl @clipper
    I think with Insignia Yellow you are very close to what it should be.
    Let's see what the Commemorative Air Force in Georgia comes up with.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month ago:

    Great research on the yellow, my friend @clipper!

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    Carl Smoot said 1 month ago:

    Nothing back on the yellow so far, but it is still Sunday so I will give it a few days. I am not quite ready to do that part yet anyway.

    I decided to take a side step and work on the engine and then I will return to sanding the aluminum foil on the main model. I also did some work to improve the exhaust gates that mount on the lower outside of the cowling / fuselage section. These needed to have the louvers opened up and thinned down.

    I had purchased an Engines and Things replacement motor (bought online), but it is somewhat crudely cast and the kit engine looks better in many regards. So I decided to stay with the kit engine. Everything was cleaned up, and partially assembled, then primered with Mr Surfacer 1500 Black

    Then the base colors of steel, aluminum and a dark gray were applied to the parts. Interior yellow was sprayed inside the cowling. Vallejo paints were used for detail painting and some pigments applied to the waste gates. Next up will be to apply a gloss clear to the parts and then a wash and flat clear coat after that. Last bit will be a bit of dry brushing. Those last steps will be done tomorrow.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month ago:

    Engine looks great, as do the improved louvers and the cowling, my friend @clipper!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month ago:

    Very nice progress, Carl @clipper