English Electric Canberra F10

[PR19_Kit]

Do I sense you're becoming a convert to acrylics Kit ? 

I still prefer enamels for metal work, especially the old Humbrol Metalcote range, but seldom get them out 

Yes Chris, you do. They're working much better than when I first tried them, maybe 5-6 yrs ago, plus the Tamiya ones don't smell so terrible as they did back then either. The ones that really impress me are the Gunze Sangyo/Mr. Modeller paints, they go on VERY well indeed, and no pickup when laying out, unlike the Tamiya shades.

Metalcote, how I WISH they'd have kept them just as they were! I'm on the very last dregs of my 'Polished Aluminium' and 'Polished Steel' and they don't do either of them any more.

Painting on the F10s about done, I'm about to add the gear, and then I'll be printing off the decals, which are already designed.

[NARSES2]

I've become a big fan of Hataka Kit. I like the fact they do 3 ranges - Blue is for brush, Red for air brush and Orange is Laquer for air brush.

You can brush the Red line, just takes a couple more coats.

[PR19_Kit]

Most of the Hataka range I can find are Red ones, so I've never got any yet.

[NARSES2]

Most of the Hataka range I can find are Red ones, so I've never got any yet.

Yup at shows over here that's what you tend to get, and some Orange range as well.

I was lucky at Telford in that Mr Hataka was there with a small stand and I bought 8 of the Blue Range sets  I've exchanged a couple of e-mails with him since Telford and I'm going to log on to their site in the next couple of days to see what I want next.

I'll drop you a line if I get any details Kit

[PR19_Kit]

Yup at shows over here that's what you tend to get, and some Orange range as well.

I was lucky at Telford in that Mr Hataka was there with a small stand and I bought 8 of the Blue Range sets  I've exchanged a couple of e-mails with him since Telford and I'm going to log on to their site in the next couple of days to see what I want next.

I'll drop you a line if I get any details Kit

That'd be great, thanks Chris. What's the Orange range for though?

Decalling of the F10 is preceding apace, a mixture of the Airfix B(I)8 decals and some (OK, a LOT  ) of my own printed ones for the F10 specifically.

It's notable how different they are to apply, Airfix's stuff takes at least 30 secs, sometimes a minute, to get wet enough to come off the backing sheet. Mine take 10 secs flat, no matter how large they are.

And my own printed ones seem to be more liable to silvering, especially when laid over the PRU Blue. Very strange, but there's not a lot I can do about it bar press harder with the soft cloth when applying them, I've left all my Micro decal fluids at home.

I'd have thought that the proportions of the RAF D Type roundels were well known by now, especially by Airfix, but they managed to print the red dots in the centre of the B(I)8 fuselage roundels about 2/3 full size! It looks ridiculous, so I've printed some of my own to replace them, sized from Airfix's own Canberra PR9 sheet! 

I also had to have two goes at printing the squadron badges that I drew up for the F10. At home I know how to play tunes on my trusty HP printer, but Pete's is a Canon and I know nothing about it. After RTFMing I found the trick to producing a nice, high density decal was to con it into thinking it was printing photos, and BINGO! Great results. 

[PR19_Kit]

Sometimes I think the manufacturers are taking us for a ride.................

There's a large number, 40+, of small yellow decals that go on the upper wing surfaces of the Canberra, each one is 1mm x 0.5 mm, and instead of printing them as they go on the model Airfix print them all in one solid block of 10 x 4, and they expect us to cut each one out and position it individually! 

Stuff that for a bowl of conflakes, I drew up a proper decal set, in the correct positions, and printed it out. That way I won't drive myself nuts and I'll get them all in the right position!

[chrisonord]

Sometimes I think the manufacturers are taking us for a ride.................

There's a large number, 40+, of small yellow decals that go on the upper wing surfaces of the Canberra, each one is 1mm x 0.5 mm, and instead of printing them as they go on the model Airfix print them all in one solid block of 10 x 4, and they expect us to cut each one out and position it individually!  : It
Stuff that for a bowl of conflakes, I drew up a proper decal set, in the correct positions, and printed it out. That way I won't drive myself nuts and I'll get them all in the right position!

I don't like decals at the best of times, and if faced with something like that, I wouldn't even consider attempting it. Hats of to anyone who can do such decals
Chris

[PR19_Kit]

It turns out I can't. 

After scaling the design to the real wings I printed the decals out, varnished them and tried them in place. They fitted a treat but the yellow is nowhere near dense enough to be seen over the MSG and LSG camo.

I can't think of  solution so it looks like the F10s didn't carry those markings..................

[Kit's 2nd law of Whiffing applies.........]

[chrisonord]

BUGGER!!
Chris

[NARSES2]

That'd be great, thanks Chris. What's the Orange range for though?

The Orange range is Lacquer specifically for air-brushing Kit. A lot of the producers are bringing lacquer ranges out nowadays. Tamiya did at the back end of last year and had quite a bit about it in the magazines.

I got a reply from Mr Hataka yesterday and apparently the Polish Government aren't allowing any overseas post during the Covid 19 crisis .

Here's their website Kit http://hataka-hobby.com/o-nas/

I use their Blue range mainly, but the Red range is fine for brush work just needs a couple more coats.

I'm also trying to get them to do a Japanese WWII aviation set. They do a modern range and they also do a WWII AFV range but not WWII Aviation 

[kitnut617]

It turns out I can't. 

After scaling the design to the real wings I printed the decals out, varnished them and tried them in place. They fitted a treat but the yellow is nowhere near dense enough to be seen over the MSG and LSG camo.

I found that out when I did my Super Twin Mustang, I had printed some nice bright red stencils but when I applied them, they practically disappeared. All I can think is the OOB decals must have a backing colour printed first, before the main colour is printed.

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks Chris, I've faved that page. 

I figured something like that Robert, the Airfix decals for the base B(I)8 kit are slightly out of register and I can see a white outline underneath the yellow bits that I tried to reproduce. I can't print white, and nor can anyone else who doesn't have an ALPS printer, so I'm stumped.

[kitnut617]

Thanks Chris, I've faved that page. 

I figured something like that Robert, the Airfix decals for the base B(I)8 kit are slightly out of register and I can see a white outline underneath the yellow bits that I tried to reproduce. I can't print white, and nor can anyone else who doesn't have an ALPS printer, so I'm stumped.

My friend Steve Gardner uses a laser printer that can print white. Actually I should say he can get white ink cartridges but then has to swap it out with the black one to do the printing.

[PR19_Kit]

That must be difficult if you have black and white areas on the decal. Domestic type printers aren't that good at really accurate registration really.

ALPS were brilliant, but were expensive and only two firms made them, and they BOTH closed down.

[Captain Canada]

Oh yeah.....looking so good now ! And that is armed to the teeth !