Plates in Space Challenge - the PFT Phaeton

[zenrat]

Have you tried saying out loud "OK, I give up.  You win.  Can I have the paint back now please."?

[Rick Lowe]

Have you tried saying out loud "OK, I give up.  You win.  Can I have the paint back now please."?

"Never Give Up, Never Surrender!"

Nope, the best course is to buy a replacement tin - which will make the original turn up, then you have a spare! Win-win! 

[Scotaidh]

"Very cluttered"? I prefer the term 'free-form' or 'organic' - better than saying 'I'm too bone idle and disorganized to tidy up'... 
Or 'Organized so that everything is close at hand.' maybe? 

I like the way you think!   

[Scotaidh]

This is why I never spray paint - I hate masking!


PFT Phaéton 105
So, I re-masked and painted. It's now within tolerances - which is to say, I now feel that any attempts to improve it will result in steps backward. There will be clean-up/touch-up, of course, but no more masking. You can see one side effect there next to the cannon ...     I know it's not pretty - the term "mud fence" comes to mind ...   


PFT Phaéton 106
<le sigh> This always seems to happen when I peel away the masking tape - raggedy edges and paint-peel-up. Those and step-edges, some of which can be seen at the bow. But see - if I try to fix the steps, I'll make it worse and have to start all over, so I'll just live with it. So now I gotta invest in a steady hand to fix the damage.   

[NARSES2]

I don't tend to get problems when I use Tamiya tape but the Modelkraft/Shesto freebie in SAMI gave me right grief  Even after allowing for my usual drying time.

[Scotaidh]

It's getting down to the last few things to do to this beast before I call it done and display shelf it. 


PFT Phaéton 107
Through a friend at church - Thanks, Cindy! - I recently discovered that those Krafty Kutters used by card-makers will work on thin plastic such as this "For Sale" sign. These punches are _not_ cheap, but take the stress out of cutting multiple identical shapes. This one is the lozenge shape displayed at the right. On the left can be seen two painted lozenges.


PFT Phaéton 108
For some reason antennae cannot be painted like the rest of the craft - they always seem to be some kind of 'off' tinge of grey or faded bilious tan. However, my bottle of "SAC Radome Tan" has gone to the big paint shop in the sky, so I made do with Humbrol's "Linen". The wee dome is from my niece's disposable contact lens. Apparently she needs two new contacts each day, so the covers pile up quickly. She was more than happy to give me several dozen of these wee domes. In their guise as sensors/antennae/unexplained bumps I paint the inside the desired colour - in this case, ''gold".


PFT Phaéton 109
Situating these domes so they wouldn't interfere with the turret's line of fire was not as easy as it may seem.

[Scotaidh]

I'm listening to the Status Quo - seemed fitting for the final post of this topic.

The man-doors inset into the cargo bay doors have been giving me fits. Shape, size, colour - there is no facet of these things that I have not second- and triple-guessed. I must have made at least three different versions of these things before settling on a final one, mostly because enough is enough!


PFT Phaéton 110
I finally stopped dithering about the man-doors in the cargo doors, painted and glued them on, did the touch-up, and sprayed it with clear matte varnish. It's done!


PFT Phaéton 111
Port-side door is red - well, crimson, actually. The matte varnish has done away with my lovely clear-surface on the upper engine shroud ... oh, well - can't have everything. Remembering that the hexes are 1", and I'm trying for 1/72 scale here, so that means those hexagonal man-doors are 6' tall; which makes the cargo doors about 36' tall, and even wider. I guess the Phaeton can haul some seriously large hunks of cargo!


PFT Phaéton 112
Here's the repulsive end.


PFT Phaéton 113
Starboard door is, of course, green - British Racing Green, to be exact. The door colours are a salute to navigation lights, but I realized that in space the colours also serve another funtion. Where there's no up nor down, it could useful to be able to direct folks to the green door so you know where to have security waiting.


PFT Phaéton 114
The other hexes are sensor panels - radar, radio, and so on. She's not quite symmetrical, of course - I'd have needed another bump on the top of the forward hull, and I had only the one spoon.


PFT Phaéton 115
The varnish was sprayed outside, it being a nice sunny day. It had an odd effect - there are areas that are quite a bit lighter than others - dunno why.


PFT Phaéton 116
The underside looks quite 'busy' with all that undercarriage and the lower turret.

https://i.imgur.com/6AUhbyU.png
PFT Phaéton 117
I've always felt that the underside of a ship should be a bit murky ... not a place for respectable folk. 


PFT Phaéton 118
Last picture! This was quite the biggest project so far - I'm ready for something smaller! Thanks for watching.

[zenrat]

Well done.

[Scotaidh]

Well done.

Thanks!