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World War II: USA
Aircraft of the United States in WWII.
Hosted by Rowan Baylis
Academy B17F Spotted Cow
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
Joined: December 23, 2005
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Posted: Thursday, March 06, 2008 - 04:26 AM UTC
Time for a progress report..
Err,,,,well,,,,,,,,,,
Its blue !
It looks quite grey in the photo for some reason

Once its properly dry I'll spray a couple of coats of Klear to protect the paintwork and then it'll be time for Mals Miracle Masks to step forward and be recognised
Dont worry Chuck,,Ive got no intention of draping fairy lights all over it
Nige
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Friday, March 07, 2008 - 02:47 PM UTC
Oh the fun and games!
Step one...Using the Academy decals as rough masks, apply 6mm circles x ?

You can probably see them better in this photo.

Step two,,,,,coat after coat of white paint.
I took photos of the white sprayed over them but theres no point posting them because you cant see anything
Mental note to self,,buy more Tamiya Flat White tomorrow,,this is eating it!
Step three...
Remove masks!

Are the circles still round?
When I walked away from the bench these little circles were morphing into ovals, sausage shapes etc etc,,but rather more worryingly,,were drifting around the surface of the model!
Im going to bed,,my brain hurts
Nige
glamdring
Joined: May 21, 2007
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Posted: Friday, March 07, 2008 - 03:28 PM UTC
That looks great Nige! I can only imagine the dreams of polka dots you will be having...
Cheers!
Allen
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008 - 03:37 AM UTC

Quoted Text

That looks great Nige! I can only imagine the dreams of polka dots you will be having...
Cheers!
Allen


Thanks Allen.
I can asure you that they were definately heading into nightmare territory !
All the white has been painted now, and I'll be taking the masks off later.
When the dots stop floating around in front of my eyes
Nige
CRS
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California, United States
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Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008 - 05:57 AM UTC

Quoted Text

All the white has been painted now, and I'll be taking the masks off later.
When the dots stop floating around in front of my eyes


You are feeling very relaxed and calm, listen closely to the sound of my voice, when I count to three you will wake up, and have the urge to buy another model, one, two, three
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008 - 06:21 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

All the white has been painted now, and I'll be taking the masks off later.
When the dots stop floating around in front of my eyes


You are feeling very relaxed and calm, listen closely to the sound of my voice, when I count to three you will wake up, and have the urge to buy another model, one, two, three


I tried Chuck,,,I tried,,but it hasnt worked!






So far Im still evading the men in the white coats,,,,,,just!

Nige
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008 - 10:06 AM UTC
Just for fun.....
How many spots are on the B17?
Answers on a postcard please,,
Nige
betheyn
Staff MemberSenior Editor
AEROSCALE
#019
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England - South East, United Kingdom
Joined: October 14, 2004
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Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008 - 10:25 AM UTC
That looks great mate, and err different .

Quoted Text

Just for fun.....
How many spots are on the B17?
Answers on a postcard please,,
Nige

I got halfway through counting them and then felt an over whelming need to have a lie down .
Andy
Yeti123
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Michigan, United States
Joined: February 11, 2008
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Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008 - 11:40 AM UTC
Nigel:

That is outstanding. I do not think I have the attention span necessary to place all of those masks. Hopefully there will be no need for therapy
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008 - 12:08 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Nigel:

That is outstanding. I do not think I have the attention span necessary to place all of those masks. Hopefully there will be no need for therapy


I dont know why not Taylor?,,,there are only 675 of them
Therapy?,,,I think its too late for that
Nige
f1matt
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Manitoba, Canada
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Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008 - 04:33 PM UTC
First of all.

HOLY CRAP!!!!!! WOW-ZA!!!!!!

That is one of the wildest paint schemes I've ever seen on a model. I can honestly say that when I saw the dots revealed it put a smile on my face ear to ear.

And secondly

I started counting one wing......and I started to realize....

Quoted Text


I dont know why not Taylor?,,,there are only 675 of them
......that you weren't exaggerating.

This is the "loudest" B-17 model ever.

-Matt
drizzt73
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New South Wales, Australia
Joined: April 15, 2006
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Posted: Saturday, March 08, 2008 - 09:25 PM UTC
All I can say is WOW, that has to be the most unusual scheme I have seen- breaks up all of the usual camo and metal I supose. Looks like a very neat job though.
following with interest
cheers
Anthony
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Sunday, March 09, 2008 - 08:54 AM UTC
Thanks guys.
Im hoping to get the stars and bars and other markings sprayed on over the next couple of days. Then I can get some minimal weathering and oil washes on and the finishing post will be in sight.
Why do people think Im nuts?
Nige
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Sunday, March 09, 2008 - 01:18 PM UTC
What started off as a "I'll just have a play around with these Miracle Masks for ten minutes",,ended up with all four Star And Bars painted on!



I found the masks very easy to use once Id figured out the best way of using the "Transfer Tape", although my job was made straightforward by the white areas already being painted as a base colour.
Nige
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Monday, March 10, 2008 - 01:15 AM UTC
Well,,I have to say Im very impressed with Miracle Masks
The 384 BG markings are on and thats the end of the marathon masking session. I added a few more spots around the markings, bringing the total up to around 680!
Still a way to go. The serial numbers will be "interesting", making sure the individual decal numbers are spaced evenly. Masking the ball and top turrets will be long and tedious I think.
Apart from that its not far away from the home straight.

Nige
vanize
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Texas, United States
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Posted: Monday, March 10, 2008 - 04:23 AM UTC
Holy cow!

"Marathon" is right!

so the miracle masks were worth it, huh? interesting...
Holdfast
Staff MemberPresident
IPMS-UK KITMAKER BRANCH
#056
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England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: September 30, 2002
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Posted: Monday, March 10, 2008 - 07:08 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Well,,I have to say Im very impressed with Miracle Masks

Yes but you have to say that
Nige this is looking fantastic, only you would come up with a scheme like this did you need to place reference marks on the "star & bar" masks or did you find them easy emough without them? Do you reckon that they are ready for the modelling world or do I need to do any tweeking?

Mal
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Monday, March 10, 2008 - 08:19 AM UTC
Thanks Mal.
Its certainly getting there.
I didnt have to draw any reference marks for these particular "star and bars" because the white area was also my base colour. So it was just a matter of transferring the mask onto the model and removing the area to be painted blue. So I didnt need to lift and replace the different sections of the mask.
Technically,I suppose you could say I only used half the mask.
I will,(when I get time) use a couple of masks on an olive drab background to see how easy that process actually is.
One thing I did like about the masks is the way the "weeded" areas return to their shape after deforming when you lift them out. The masks themselves adhere very well to the model with no tendancy to lift, which I really liked.
Its looking very much like I'll be able to attend Cosford show so I'll bring the finished B17 along.
Nige
EDIT:
Ive just used the masks to paint a Star And Bar over an Olive Drab wing and they worked just fine. The only marking I did was to identify the top point of the star to keep it in the correct orientation.
Nige
propwash
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Charente, France
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Posted: Monday, March 10, 2008 - 08:45 AM UTC
That's looking awseome, Nige!! I love it!
jimbrae
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Provincia de Lugo, Spain / España
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Posted: Monday, March 10, 2008 - 09:27 PM UTC
Right. Question time. What's miracle mask?

Secondly, this is amazing - i've always loved these Assembly Ships (although I do prefer the B24 )

Oh, I could be tempted with something like this. At the moment i'm just salivating over the C-47 from Trumpeter. However, it's been a LONG while since I built one of the 'heavies'.

Finally, and totally by coincidence, I found this yesterday on AirConnection's site:

lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Monday, March 10, 2008 - 10:23 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Right. Question time. What's miracle mask?

Secondly, this is amazing - i've always loved these Assembly Ships (although I do prefer the B24 )

Oh, I could be tempted with something like this. At the moment i'm just salivating over the C-47 from Trumpeter. However, it's been a LONG while since I built one of the 'heavies'.

Finally, and totally by coincidence, I found this yesterday on AirConnection's site:



Hi Jim.
Miracle Paint Masks are a new line of paint masks designed and manufactured by our own Mal Mayfield ( Holdfast). More details can be found in
THIS FEATURE

I believe the majority of the Eighth's assembly ships were B-24's so you should find one you like
And the book,,oh wow!,,must get hold of that one!
It will be ideal in my long term quest to build every asembly ship of the Eighth...only kidding!
Well,,,only kidding about building all the assembly ships
Nige
Holdfast
Staff MemberPresident
IPMS-UK KITMAKER BRANCH
#056
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England - South West, United Kingdom
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Posted: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 08:13 AM UTC
Nige, you may want to try throwing "Assembly ships" into the ring for next years Telford theme I quite fancy doing one and even in 1/72, imagin 12' x 4' space covered in the buggers, spotted cow centre stage

Mal
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 08:28 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Nige, you may want to try throwing "Assembly ships" into the ring for next years Telford theme I quite fancy doing one and even in 1/72, imagin 12' x 4' space covered in the buggers, spotted cow centre stage

Mal


I didnt know insanity was infectious
Ive got the serial numbers on now. Decals!,,,, harder to apply than the masks,,LOL.
Slowly working my way through masking and spraying the frames on the turrets and other clear parts. Hardest part of the build so far! I really want to get this finished now but Im not going to rush it and cock it up.
Ive also found a supplier for self adhesive mirrors that you can cut to size, so now the plan is to display the cow on a mirrored base to show off all those lovely dots.
Dots are great,,I like dots.....hundreds of them.....................blue ones......................................everywhere I look................................aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Bigskip
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England - South East, United Kingdom
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Posted: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 07:56 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Nige, you may want to try throwing "Assembly ships" into the ring for next years Telford theme I quite fancy doing one and even in 1/72, imagin 12' x 4' space covered in the buggers, spotted cow centre stage

Mal


I'm up for that!!, but the tracked boys may have something to ssy about it.

Andy
lampie
#029
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England - East Midlands, United Kingdom
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Posted: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 12:42 AM UTC
Oh well,,some things in life are sent to try us!
I started the washes today..luckily underside first!
This is what happened when I wiped the oil wash off.




Hmm,,,,,,,,that wasnt supposed to happen now was it?

I had sprayed Klear and left it overnight to dry. I can only think that either..
1.The Klear wasnt completely dry.
2. There wasnt enough Klear to protect the paint.

Either way it looks as though the turpentine in the oil wash has eaten through the Klear and taken the paint off.

So,,,its sort out the cock up time I guess!
Working in small sections, Im going to be masking over the blue dots and repainting the white.Any blue dots that need repainting I'll also mask and redo.

You wont see the join when Ive finished

Has anyone else had any issues with oil/pure turps eating away Klear?

Just to be on the safe side I'll use a water based wash when I get back to that stage.

Nige
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