Hi all

originally intended for "Rumble in the east" life got in the way and I had to drop all campaigns. Now that my job is gone I again have some time to build something (which is a good thing to keep my mental health ... as far as that is possible as a model kit builder )

So here it is the F4F-3 Wildcat in the colours of VF-3 Edward Butch O'Hare. I used the Aeromaster decals.

Some strange thing happend with them: All settled fin with Daco red and the decals were hardly recognizeable as such but as I hit the model with Gunze flat clear the carrier film became visible at the roundels and the fuselage numbers. I tried to hide it by another gloss coat, washing and flat again, but it is still there. This is no silvering (i.e. trapped air below the decal)!

Maybe it is just because I left off the gloss coat before the first washing. If someone has an idea I'd like to hear it. ( the decals are OOP= Aeromaster is "belly up" so there is no way re-doing it)

of course I had the wrong boxing to do the O'Hare mount, so I had to fit another front windshield glass. Turned out o.k.

















here are again the pix I already posted in the RitE thread:











as always any comments welcome ... Feuer frei!

cheers

Steffen

You're model rocks! I want to build as good as you when I grow up!!

Hi Kirby

many thanks, but actually it is just an OOB build and not even a very good one. The decal issue annoys me a lot .. sadly the top colour is custom mixed, so I cannot repaint either.

cheers

Steffen

You are being modest...it might be an OOB build but still looks great to me.

Having a hard time understanding your dilemma with the decals. If I understand you correctly you did not lay down a gloss coat first...did I get it right? And you feel like that might have caused the problem? Since starting back into the hobby I have yet to get to the decal stage...I quit on an Me-262 because lifting paint when I went to mask frustrated me to no end! The F-4S I'm working on now is progressing and I hope to paint and decal this weekend. Therefore I am interested in the problem you had and trying to avoid it myself.

Once again, looks great to me.

Kirby

No. Look at the fuselage stars. You see a thin light circle around that? also between the "F-15". This is not the silvering effect that appears when the surface is not smooth and some air is trapped below the decal.

I do not know what this caused, but I am thinking of the possibility that the different surfaces of the decal and the surrounding area let the washes stick differently (it was not there before I hit it with the flat coat, so I might be wrong). Maybe I should have shot a sealing layer of gloss after the decals.

As for the build. That's why I do not like cockpits I know every mistake .. same with the whole kit. it might look o.k. but there are always these things that have gone wrong and that I know of...

cheers

Steffen

Steffen

Looks really good, despite the decals (very peculiar what happened there!) I missed your build thread - what overall rating would you give the kit out of 10? I have my eyes on doing the same kit (or maybe the Hobbyboss late -3 kit) using the Yellow Wings Decals "Wake Island Wildcats" sheet. Great stuff, Brad

Hi Brad

I am not much into rating kits. Everyone expects other things from a kit. E.g. I like Eduards 190 OTOH I like Hasegawas too I'd give both maybe 8/10 for different reasons (I slightly prefer the Eduard for what you get OOB). Trimaster/Dragon & derivates would get 7/10 and Tamiya 6/10 ... I bet others have very different results

The HB Wildcat is pretty simple. Construction is straight forward only the landing gear bay is a bit tricky in places. Watch out for the wing/belly to fuselage join. Decals are pretty bad, while not unusable. As for accuracy .. no idea. I bet it is a Tamiya "copy", which means not much though. The FM-2 is sadly pretty wrong ... try to find the tread at Hyperscale for details .. something like fuselage too short and cowling too long. I have the kit but I am not sure if I can and want to correct it .. will be sitting in the stash for quite a while .. maybe I'll do a kit bash with the Sword kit

There is a lot of Eduard stuff if you want to go the copper path.

HTH

cheers

Steffen

well, I can attest that the HB wildcat is nothing at all like a Tamiya knock off, but i can't really speak to it's absolute accuracy yet, not having jumped into my copy of the kit yet.

Anyway, nice work on that stubby bird, Steffen. Sorry about that decal experience. I remember te same thing happening to me a few years ago, except i thought it had something to do with the fact that i was working on a natural metal finish (which maybe wasn't the case now, I think).

I'll probably be building my HB F4F-3 for the big cats campaign, ...but not with the kit decals! (just in case)

Hi Vance

thanks mate!




how do you know? I mean, I am also guessing, but having HB's past projects in mind (e.g. Mirage III, Rafale) I think HB's research is mostly retooling other people models (they are no 1-1 tool copies but they copied some mistakes, so it was pretty clear)




I did not use the kits decals, but Aeromaster and i still have this mess. Most probably my mistake but stil grrrrr! §#$/ß"%&

best wishes

Steffen

I had the same thing happen on my Eduard I-16 decals a while back. The only thing i did differently on that one was the type of clear topcoat that i applied the decals over. I was out of the usual clear laquer i normally use, so i used Tamiya X-22 clear acrylic instead. After the flat clear topcoat i ended up with the same thing you got, maybe not quite so obvious but it's definately still there. I put it down mainly to not having let the acrylic clear coat set for long enough...i'm used to clear laquer which is ready for decals almost immediately and is totally impervious to all decal setting solutions.
I assumed that the acidic and alcoholic setting solutions etched the decals in to the topcoat because it hadn't set for long enough. What you mentioned about the wash may have caused a similar thing to happen.

It didn't become truly obvious until after the flat coat (just like your case), but i think it was still there- the flat coat just made it really stand out, similar to how it makes silvering more obvious as well. I guess the moral is that when you find a method and sequence that works for, don't deviate from it!

Anyway, the remainder of the kit looks really good- much better than i thought one of these HB kits would turn out. I have the F4F-4 version which i plan to build hopefully before the end of the year. But i have to admit that i don't like the way HB have done the surface detail- the rivets are WAY too overstated for my liking! But the way you've done the model makes it look quite good to me.

Andrew

well, i've built the Tamiya F4F-4, and have the HB F4F-3 kit.

If you mean that they copied the Tamiya dimensions, well that could be, but that also means they copied a fairly accurate dimensional replica.

The parts breakdown is a bit different, though not RADICALLY different I suppose, both more or less doing what makes sense, so they are bound to have similarities.

The surface detail is radically different though, and much improved on the hobby boss kit in my opinion, despite my vague dislike of such widespread use of engraved rivetry.

I'd guess they copied the Sword kits if they copied anyone (and maybe they copied Tamiya? i don't know).

anyway, i haven't built the HB kit yet, but in the box it looks like a fair improvement over the old tamiya kit (which was a good kit in its day, and still a fairly decent kit).

so yeah, i really dunno i suppose. but calling it a tamiya copy is doing it an injustice i think.

huh. strange. well, i guess i won't rule out the kit decals then! thanks.

Steffen,
I think it turned out really nice, despite the decal problem, it's still a well built model.

I totally agree with that!

Many thanks Andrew, Dave and Vance

maybe I am a bit over-critical in this case, but the decal problems ruined my day.

@Andrew: Hmm, sounds logical. I had no clear undercoat (paints were semi-gloss) and the paint had set for several days. You are definitely right on th rivets, especially when using a wash like I do.

@Vance: of course the cut a new tool and made the correct wings fo the dash 3 (maybe using one of the resin conversion sets as a master). Also those bullet holes are a original HB feat




... I concur

all the best

Steffen

Hi again

recently I complained that life is not fair .. well, sometimes it just gives you the well deserved kick in the butt.

Posting my Wildcat on HS plastic pix too I just got a comment that the F4F-3 could not carry the two drop tanks -- well, I knew that but somehow when I saw the holes in the wing, I thought I had opened them and mounted the tanks.

O.k yesterday I cut the tanks with a razor saw which went very well and filled the area with a bit of Mr. Surfacer 500. Today I wanted to remove most of the filler with Mr. Colour Thinner (you just have to love the GSI brand names ) and the colour came off very well too ..

I was not too happy with the underwing Star, so I removed it ... well and so on. Checking my decal stash I found enough Numbers and Stars (Yellowwing set) to rebuild the c&m I wanted .... soooo, I will redo the plane despite my initial plans to live with it. Still have to find the remaining stuff of the Aeromaster set for another set of Felix, the cat (else I will have to mask it).

You can't fight AMS, can you?





cheers

Steffen

Steffen , just came across this post and was reading about your decal issue . I don't think it was your method , but the type of carrier film that HB uses . However I could be wrong on this . I have never had this happen before to decals nor have I built any of HB kits and don't plan to either ! I must say though you did a fine a job on the build . now that you are starting over I'm sure you will be more pleased with your results ! When I apply the decals on a kit always future first , then decals and then future again to seal then I will dullcote .

Hi Terri

many thanks for the encouragement. The more I think of it the more I am convinced that Daco attacked the colour unter the decal (I had no sealing layer as the finish was semi gloss). This time I will do a clear gloss surface for the decals.

Meanwhile I found the decal sheet, it has two more sqn. markings. The model was totally stripped (except of the rudder). The new camouflage is on, this time the top color is mixed a little brighter and more towards blue .. but as this was appearently no standard colour and I can claim a scale effect I am o.k. with it.



cheers

Steffen

You could be on to something here . Semi gloss does have some what of a smooth surface but it's not totally smooth as gloss . will still have uneven surface like dullcote and bleeding occurred . I'm looking forward on seeing the finished scheme .

Believe me I know how silvering looks and this was something totally different even if it ruined the finish similar .. but i better look forward. I am glad I have to (and can) redo this .. sounds strange, but thats what I feel.

Talking about redoing things ... this was posted on HS yesterday

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10712&st=0&start=0

cool diorama and what a persistency

cheers

Steffen

All I have to say is WOW ! Thanks for that link , I joined it !

Hi Steffen

I admire your patience and determination. Having to make a re-start like that would probably have assigned the kit to my overcrowded Shelf Of Shame, where all my unfinished builds sit and sulk.

Keep at it! All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

Many thanks ... actually it was quite easy. And now I think keeping the ruined model would have been harder ....

and then there is that La-5FN that is much harder to revamp as it is painted in WEM colours and a gloss laquer (Citadel) which ruined the model .. need a good solvent to remove the paint and keep the model safe .. still searching (already tried some stuff that effected the plastic)

hope the Widlcat will go well

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen

This stuff looks interesting (but I've never tried it): http://www.chameleonproductsonline.com/howtousetipsfaqs.html. Revell used to market a paint remover, but I'm not sure if it's still available.

Heavy duty detergent (the kind you get at auto-stores for removing engine grease) also works surprisingly well. I've got some psychedelic pink stuff that removed paint that had been dry for several years after an overnight soak.

All the best

Rowan

I've found Fairy Power Spray here in the UK is good for stripping both acrylic and enamel paint and it's not a toxic as some of the over cleaners that have been suggested to me in the past.

Steffen,i may have some "Felix" decals spare from some of my Tomcat decal sheets I'll have a look if you want.

Cheers

Allen