Pete's Black Arrow

[stillp]

A couple of setbacks. As mentioned above, I ran some tube glue down the inside of the fuselage joint, but overdid it somewhat, so the glue has softened the fuselage, which has sunk in places. More filler work. Even worse, gluing the upper and lower wing pieces together - finished one wing, applied glue to the lower half of the second wing, picked up what I thought was the upper half and tried to fit it before I realised it wasn't the upper half, it was the other wing! So, the glue had made a mess of that. It should sand off when it's dried hard, but I'll lose a lot of moulded detail.
Pete

 

[Sunburst Finish]

I sympathise, I managed to leave a glue thumbprint on the P51. Luckily it’s buffed out.

 

[Jim R]

The Gods aren't with you on this are they. You'll get there in the end though. You have the skills but do you have the patience

This was like trying to glue a banana to a corkscrew!

Wonderful description - made me laugh

 

[stillp]

Patience? No, but I'm stubborn.
Pete

 

[stillp]

Sorry for the lack of updates folks. I'm still struggling with some health issues since having a dose of Covid in September. I'm also getting pretty fed up with this kit - as well as the problems getting the two halves of the fuselage to line up, the canopy doesn't fit the fuselage and is mis-shapen at the front, one side being different from the other. There's almost no moulded canopy detail, so after several attempts to use the usual tape for masking I thought I'd give this stuff a try:
since they say you can cut it with a knife, so my idea was to create a canopy frame using 1mm wide masking tape, paint the whole canopy with masking fluid then cut along the tape where there should be a frame and remove it, leaving the masking fluid on the clear parts of the canopy.

Sadly it didn't work - yes, you can cut the masking fluid, but it doesn't stick to the canopy very well so just lifts where it's been cut. Latest plan is to mask all of the canopy and brush paint some framing on it afterwards, or perhaps even leave it clear. Yes, my patience is wearing thin. I'm going to put a coat of primer on it but it's close to being binned.
Pete

 

[colin m]

Some wise old modeler once said, 'we are illusionists, not just modelers' or something like that. So how about just doing an approximation of canopy framing ? So where the rear canopy meets the front will need a bit of a frame, but should be easy to mask. The other frames, forget them, and see how it looks. If you feel they are needed, they can be added later.

 

[stillp]

Good suggestion Colin, thanks. I got fed up with the endless repetition of fill/sand/prime, so I decided that some of the many blemishes will just have to remain, and gave it a couple of coats of Tamiya Semi-gloss black. Looks a lot better less awful now it's all the same colour. Started with the canopy:

I'll need to paint a 'frame' where canopy meets fuselage - actually it doesn't really meet. The canopy could almost be from a different kit. The hard part is going to be the front screen but I think I might be able to cut a paper tape mask and then use a strip of curvy tape just outside that.
Hope to get some more done tomorrow.
Pete

 

[stillp]

The frames came out acceptable. I should have left the masking on until after the clear coat though. I'll have to mask the canopy again.
Pete

 

[Andy T]

The frames came out acceptable.

More than acceptable I'd say!

I can understand why you'd want to take the masking off, to check how it looked. I think I would have done the same.

 

[stillp]

It might be simpler to brush the clear coat. Anyone know how Galeria brushes? I'm thinking of using satin.
Pete

 

[Tim Marlow]

Hi Pete. I use Galleria matt on the little blokes. Brushes OK on them, but not sure about such a large flat areas. It may be a bit thick to get a level even coating. If you’ve ever used anything from the Humbrol (Matt) cote varnish range it is very similar.

 

[Mickc1440]

Looks really nice

 

[Jim R]

I know it must be driving you mad but it actually looks good. You're right in that the black coat has pulled it all together. Canopy looks fine. Not that far to go now.

 

[stillp]

Hi Pete. I use Galleria matt on the little blokes. Brushes OK on them, but not sure about such a large flat areas. It may be a bit thick to get a level even coating. If you’ve ever used anything from the Humbrol (Matt) cote varnish range it is very similar.

Thanks Tim. Do you thin it at all? I've never used the Humbrol matt cote.
Pete

 

[boatman]

Pete dont bin it please as for me this brings back child hood memerioes as i built one of these back when i was about 10 yrs old an yours is lookin good so stick at it
chrisb

 

[Tim Marlow]

I use it straight out of the bottle Pete. But as I said, I’m using it on figures so don’t worry if it isn’t dead smooth. Not sure what you’d thin it with to be honest. It isn’t cellulose or enamel based.

 

[Allen Dewire]

Mr. Ketchup here, Pete...This build has really shown your true determination and mule headedness (stubborn) to keep going. I know you are not one to bin an expensive kit and you are almost to the finish line Sir!!! Keep on truckin' and I do hope you are feeling much better now too!

Prost
Allen

 

[Andy T]

I've thinned Galleria matt & gloss with a little water before now to put it through the airbrush, so I should imagine the same would work for brushing if you find it necessary.

 

[stillp]

Pete dont bin it please as for me this brings back child hood memerioes as i built one of these back when i was about 10 yrs old an yours is lookin good so stick at it
chrisb

Chris, it'll go in the bin, but I'll finish it first and post a couple of photos, but don't expect a good model.
I don't display my finished models, and this one isn't good enough for ebay. Might just keep it as a paint mule.
Pete

 

[stillp]

Oh dear. For some reason that I've forgotten, I left the main gear wheels off, probably to save masking them. Just fitted them and only now realised why there are two locating points in the semicircular part of the bay doors - the wheels don't reach the ground, but the bay door does!

The nearer (port) wheel looks OK in that photo, but it isn't, they're both the same. I think both my brain cells must have been having a holiday when I fitted the landing gear legs. Actually I think the way I have it is the only way the legs and the straight part of the door would fit.
Oh well, at least the decals went on alright. I'd given them a coat of Microscale Liquid Decal Film in deference to their age. I small part of one of the fuselage roundels did break off but i managed to coax it back into place.
In other new, I tried brushing some Galeria varnish on an old kit, and it seems to brush OK straight from the jar, so when the decals have dried fully I'll give the 'plane a clear coat. The see if I can rescue the undercarriage somehow.
Pete