Well, I've got the fuselage invasion markings painted on. They went on pretty good. Painted in flat black and flat white MM enamels. I painted the entire area white first, then masked and painted black. I still haven't solved masking over MM metalizers. I'm still getting small areas that peel off as I've pointed out in one of the photos. I do think this is one of the faults with metalizers and is why I will attempt to use ALCLAD II next time (on the 1/32 P-47). I may be able to use these areas in the weathering scheme. If not, I'll just go back and touch them up.

As always, criticism is wanted.

Also, how do the pics look? My wife picked me up a new digital camera as an early christmas gift. Seems to do pretty good to me. My lighting setup could be better I'm sure.

jeez...I hate that,you spray something,it looks great and you end up peeling it up with tape

Nice Plane Tin_Can built in scratches for getting in and out of Cockpit? (++) (:-)

Tin Can
you answered your own question.Next time,paint the stripes first.then generally mask over them,and paint the NMF.I think the regular enamels are rugged enough not to peel with a decent drying time.
The build looks like it is going well. maybe you can strip in that little area,mask over the stripes,and repaint? (++) (++) 49 (++) (++)

Tinman, too awesome, love them stripes. sorry about the peel off thingy. but over all this looked like a winner to me. Makes me wanna do a Mustang!

Hi Tin_Can:

What Metalizer and masking tape did you use ? Metalizer Sealer ?
With MM Metalizers and Tamiya masking Tape I don´t have problems.

Tin Can,
First off the photos with the new camera look fine. Merry Christmas !!!

The project looks like it's coming along great, sorry to hear about the paint lifting. The area around the cockpit may have happened even with ALCLAD, at the edges of a surface the paint is fragile, I'm sure you've seen that even with other paint applications.

I've always taken a cautious approach to NMF. I know some articles have said don't apply a clear coat over the finish, but, and I could be all wet here, I always do. Granted it's a costly and time consuming step but I clear coat ( with MM Clear Lacquer ) between each detailing step, ie. masking for paint detailing, and then before I apply decals. Articles have said this causes the surface finish to lose something, but I like what it does. It really does away with the worry of lifting metalizer for one, and that's enough for me. I've done it over MM and ALCLAD, I actually do it over all finishes.

Well as you've seen by some of my efforts, my rules are :
Rule #1 Follow all the Rules.
Rule #2 Break Rule #1.

Just my two cents worth, below are some samples of this method applied.

Hi Bryan

She's looking good! :-)

What did you use to mask the stripes? I heard of people using low-tack Frisket, Post-It labels, or even simply wet paper to protect a n/m finish.

All the best

Rowan

Looks great to me. The pictures look great too - is it ok to ask what camera you got, seems to be a nice one.

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Tankcarl, you're aright, I should have painted the stripes first and then the metal. Bad planning on my part and a good lesson learned for anybody.

Chuck, I used the aluminum and magnesium non-buffing metalizers and they were sealed with the metalizer sealer. I used a couple different masking mediums. The blue tape is 3M painters tape. It's low-tac but too much for the metalizer. The other method was post-it notes. Those are perfect but don't hold to curves very well.

The post-it notes have given me a great idea for a product if I could figure out how to make it and market it.

Newtothegame, my wife got me a Sony Cybershot dsc-p32. It's a 3.2 megapixel camera and seems to do pretty good, in my opinion. I need to adjust my lighting to take my pics to the next level-I think.

To correct the bad spots, I'll probably just re-spray those areas with aluminum or perhaps see if I can work the areas into the weathering sheme. We'll see.

Has anybody used the Pactra masking tape?

Hi Bryan

I've got some Pactra tape tucked away somewhere. It's a plastic tape, with lovely clean edges, but I found it wasn't very flexible... so I don't use it very often.

One way to reduce the tack of masking tape is to press it onto the palm of your hand a few times. The oils in your skin kill the adhesive.

All the best

Rowan

you could use a glue-stick, like the one below and us some fine, flexible paper (like that stuff R/C modeleres use for the skin of their models!)

Tinster,
Here's a thought. If you plan on respraying those areas,try hand cutting a paper mask.Hold it by hand to sheild areas you must redo.Then,using lower pressure,I think you may be able to patch the area,with little overspray,and avoid a stick to the model problem.....
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The Mustang still looks great Bryan !!! :-) Hope you have better luck on the other stripes (if any).



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