¹⁄35

The Mother Child ReUnion

The Cart for the “Goblin” was a nice and necessary feature (as the XF-85 has no gear). Not willing to leave well enough alone, I did make a couple of modifications here.

I added small pieces of wire to the front supports of the Cart and drilled to small holes in the fuselage of the XF-85, this to make the aircraft removable from the cart. I also added a small “saddle” to stabilize the aircraft while resting on the Cart.

Two of the photos of the “Goblin” show the results of the Metalizer application. I used MM (buffing) Aluminum Metalizer, for this project. I have used Alclad and SnJ in the past, but wanted to give the MM product a try. Frankly I’m glad I did.

The MM Aluminum Metalizer (Buffable) goes on as sort of a “fuzzy”, dull Aluminum. It’s easy to apply, as there is no need to prime the surface, just make sure you have a clean, blemish free surface as EVERYTHING SHOWS. The surface detail is quite visible as is every scratch, file/sanding mark, extra drop of glue and any dust.

As the “Goblin” was to have a highly polished surface sheen, I actually invested in a pair of white cotton gloves just to handle the model; boy, am I glad I did, I really needed them later. From past experience I knew that applying a gloss coat would tone down any buffed finish, I therefore buffed the entire aircraft to a relatively high sheen, using a cotton cloth. After applying the Clear coat, and letting it cure for a day, I re-polished selected areas using SnJ powder and a motor tool. I then applied the Decals, painted the color detail, and applied a second light coat of clear, overall except the anti-glare panel.

The last two pieces to be fixed to the model were the canopy and the “skyhook”. This was done together, as the canopy and “skyhook” alignment to each other is critical. I painted the vacuum-formed canopy framing after it was in place; with a toothpick and my favorite bare metal trim paint, a bottle of at least 10-year-old Testor’s Silver. This particular bottle of paint has been special for me, it is very smooth in consistency and provides a very bright metal looking surface. Since I only use this paint for special purposes; i.e. bare Metal frames and landing gear components, this bottle probably has another 10 plus years of painting left in it. The toothpick painting method is something I adopted several years ago, I make no claim to having come up with the idea, I just can’t remember where I saw it used. I started using the method, as I remember, just before they started selling Micro Brushes. Having tried Micro Brushes, I’ll stay with the toothpick method. I find it an effective way to apply paint to a very small area, and use it for figure painting as well as canopies. You can vary the width of line to be laid down by carving the toothpick. Carefully controlling the amount of paint on the toothpick you simply draw the detail. Unfortunately, as you can see in close-ups, my hand is not as steady as it used to be, but I still like the result.