This is the Revell 1/48 P47N Thunderbolt, OOB with kit decals. Painted with Alclad II, different panel effects were achieved by masking and polishing using SNJ polishing powder. I've been debating wether or not to give this a matt coat, what do you think?



This should be finished soon. :-)
Mal

wow, nice bird....what do you prime with for the alcad??? stug

This looks absolutely terrific !
You should write an article for the site about how to have a realistic metal finish ! That's someting that many modelers don't even dare to try.
I think your plane looks right that way, don't apply a dull coat ! But is the paint "stable" or does it come off on your fingers each time you touch your model ?

Whoa!! That is one nice looking T-bolt...Love the alcad finish..You are a brave man ..I wouldn't touch it with a dullcote...unless you want to protect your decals..in which case not flat ..maybe satin...But I looks just right now to me !!

Richard

Very nice. If you want a display bird I'd leave it or as thebear suggested use satin. If it's going to go into a diorama or lifelike display then maybe a dull coat. Even in a calm airfield they would get dusty and loose thier bright shine.

Hi stugiiif,
The Alclad is first primed with an auto motive plastic primer (in the UK Halfords, I use the grey), then a second primer coat of gloss black, then the Alclad. At the time I only had the 1 shade (£4.00 a bottle) so I used the SNJ technique and buffed panels with SNJ polishing powder. :-)

Hi penpen, HHOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLLL!!
The paint is totally stable, Alclad is rock hard. I applied a coat of Klear (Future) before applying the decals, one after and a third before masking off the NMF to matt coat the yellow, black and OD areas.

The dark grey wash actually dulled it down abit. It's nearly finished, just been getting the drop tanks on tonight. If the suns out tomorrow I should be able to get the finished pics then. It does look pretty awsome. :-)
Mal

Excellent plane. Wow. You are not trying to get more people to build wingy things are you?
What´s really weird is that sense of weight your plane has. It must be the life-like metal finish with subtle weathering! It actually looks like you have done something right along the way! #:-)

Hope you get the final pics soon... :-) :-) :-)

Toni

No Toni, I'm not trying to get more people to build wingy things, I'm just trying to redress the ballance here on this board. Plenty of armour, not enough planes. However there are more on the way :-)
Mal

Hey holdfast,
Nice 1 m8. Where did ya get the SnJ?

Holdfast:

What can I say but "Holy Cow"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a beautiful Tbolt.

I swear I smelled aviation fuel and exhaust when I viewed your pics In other words, it looks like the real deal! Great job!

WOW that is one beautiful bird, incredible job there very nice work, and I agree with penpen, you should do an article!! I always wanted to do a bare metal finish ac, but never had the guts to try it

Bender

That's one nice looking T-bolt !
You are certainly brave to go after that natural metal finish....I would leave it a bit glossy.....I think it would look like painted metal if you matte coat it.

:-) Finished it yesterday





And another P47