Area 88 1/144: Rocky Arrival (DC-3)

[Old Wombat]

 

[TheChronicOne]

This baby is really starting to look like a plane. I'm a little nervous about what I'm going to find once I peel off the masking on the windshield... fingers crossed.

If you're anything like me, it'll look like Alice Cooper! 

[NARSES2]

Coming together well 

[strobez]

If you're anything like me, it'll look like Alice Cooper! 

And then some!

Horrors.  I got the top coat of paint on and removed the windscreen mask... confirming my worst fears.

Not too bad from the side... but...


I knew the tape was wiggling around, but not this bad...


I tried to clean it up a bit, but I think I just made it worse!


I'm not happy, but I'm not quite sure what I need to do to fx it. So I basically just gave up and walked away for now. Hopefully in the morning a solution will present itself.

[TheChronicOne]

I'd have a go at it with sanding sticks... the uhh... ones... uhh.. plastic ones that have a spring in them (real technical, I know, I just too dumb and don't know names of some things     ) and use the sanding belts? One end is tapered into a V and you can hold it like a pencil and rub back and forth like an eraser and whittle that stuff down. This looks like the perfect job for 'em.





I've had great success with these on just the type of problem you have and what's nifty is they can be controlled well enough to keep you from slipping and gouging up the clear plastic. Just start slow and as it gets smoother you can "erase" a little faster and make headway. Of course, what works for one person may be a pile of bunk for another, but it's worth a shot? 

After, is another story... re-mask then spray again? Or hop on the grenade and bust out a hairy stick to paint the stuff back? That's all down to your preferred method. Such short spans are easy to make perfectly straight lines around cockpit windows with hairy stick but I can say this having built up quite a history of "practice" doing it. 

[NARSES2]

I'm not happy, but I'm not quite sure what I need to do to fx it. So I basically just gave up and walked away for now. Hopefully in the morning a solution will present itself.

And it's amazing how often in the clear light of day a solution does present it'self.

I've used very sharp cocktail sticks dipped in the thinner/cleaner appropriate to the paint you are using with various levels of success.

[strobez]

It did... but by the time I got home from work and back at the modelling bench all that clear light was gone and I was back where I left it...

After remasking, repainting, remasking and repainting... I'm starting to get the feeling I should've just left it well enough alone to start. I'm starting to get that feeling like things are sliding downhill and there's nothing I can do but watch.  Having more or less given up on making the windscreen presentable, I started chipping away at the hairspray layer to remove some of the green paint. I may be taking too much off in too small an area... but I can't seem to stop myself.

This is annoying because I felt the project was going so well and it lurched to the left so suddenly I was caught off guard.



They're all learning experiences... right?

[PR19_Kit]

It's looking nicely weather beaten from here, and the windscreen would have been paint chipped around its edges anyway.

[zenrat]

Hardest thing with the hairspray method is knowing when to stop.

[NARSES2]

They're all learning experiences... right?

That's what I keep saying to myself with one of my current projects.

Hardest thing with the hairspray method is knowing when to stop.

I knew a couple of girls back in the late 60's who had that problem 

[PR19_Kit]

I knew a couple of girls back in the late 60's who had that problem 

Hehehe, yes indeed, you and me both. 

When you were out on a date with them and their hair was taller than you it was time to be worried!

[strobez]

Well... if you can't beat them, join them I guess.

I knew when to stop, but I went barrelling by the stop sign anyway and plunged right off the cliff. Truth be told, I was going to strip off the green paint, touch up the aluminum in a few spots and have another go... but then it got just ugly enough to be beautiful so I stopped (again) and decided just to go from here.

It might not be quite what I had in mind when I set out on this project, but I'm okay with that I think.  I'm still toying with the idea of another coat of paint and maybe just a tiny bit of chipping. But I'm going to give that some thought.

[TheChronicOne]

I can dig it! 

[Old Wombat]

I like that! It looks like an old warhorse that was never pacified.

[NARSES2]

I like that! It looks like an old warhorse that was never pacified.

Very much so. Seen a lot of tough service and still going strong