TeeELLs Meteor NF 11 ** FINISHED **

[TeeELL]

I watched something about the SAS last night on 'catch-up' and then set-to masking the camouflage on the Meteor - a long job - it took about 3 hours all told.



As soon as I have finished posting this I will take a cocktail stick and press down all the edges before applying some Tamiya XF81.

There is something that I wanted to share with you and it concerns the Modeldecal set no 92. The decals provided are all well and good but no alternative serial letters/numbers are offered which is most frustrating as the Xtrakit decals are also quite limited in choice. I have ordered some Xtradecals although I was toying with printing my own - but a search for suitable fonts produced more problems than it solved. Still with a couple of days available to me on my return, I should be able to add the serial numbers.

[DavidWomby]

I use a font called RAF_PW_ATH to print my RAF serials in any size I need. I found it on the web and it installed easily into MS- Word and Open Office.

David

[TeeELL]

David, thank you - I will investigate for future needs.

Green has now been applied and I am waiting for it to dry before I remove the masking tape (I also want to check that there is nothing 'under covered' although I've just given my Paasche H3 a thorough clean.



I may get some more done today - perhaps decals on the drop tanks and so forth, we shall see.

[ShaunW]

Great work so far Tony. For me the only real downside to using an airbrush is when there is the need for masking, it can be a real bind and often it is a case of three hours to mask and ten minutes to apply the paint

[TeeELL]

Spot-on Shaun, that about sums it up - then, of course, there is the additional time spent cleaning the airbrush, about 30 mins for a Paasche H3 (more for a 'double action'!). But the up side is the gorgeous finish :-).

Here then, my Meteor with all the major paintwork finished. The radome requires some MSG underneath (I hadn't spotted that when masking the radome - doh! I will break out a hairy stick for that). I will mix some Tamiya NATO black with brown for the di-electric cover. I suppose I will need to do some weathering, but before I do that, I need to contact one of my fellow model club members who does a subtle weathering finish that I like - see if he will let me into his secrets????

What has particularly impressed me is the barely imperceptible ridge line between the green and grey - so slight that I do not need to do any rubbing down.





I am quite pleased with how the canopy has worked out, my use of PVA to fill gaps has certainly paid off.

[DavidWomby]

Looks great.

I second Shaun's comment - the masking and cleaning is a pain but the results are usually worth it and definitely are in this example!

David

[59North]

I know that cutting your own masking tape for a camo job is a long process. What a beautiful, sweet looking result you've achieved. Well done!

[TeeELL]

Thanks for the comments, very much appreciated.

[splash]

Wow nice finish.

[shangos70]

Wow, given it's no shake n bake you are making rapid progress. Thanks for all the handy heads ups along the way too. I think mine will stay in the pile a good while longer yet.

[TeeELL]

Shangos,
It really isn't as bad as it is slated to be, sure I could have done a better job if I had more time, some of the filler really should have been added too. But, it is nothing like the Sword T-33 that drove me to dispair - had it not been a GB it would be sat, partly built, on a shelf gathering dust.

[fredk]

That shure just looks grand so it does

[TeeELL]

When I removed the masking tape protecting the cammo from the radome painting, I found some paint creep and some of the green lifted with the Tamiya masking tape - grrrrrr!!! I had to break out a hairy stick to do some repairs, several coats of diluted paint saw the problem resolved. Last thing I applied some Klear to the outer wing sections in readiness for decals, I also undercoated the fin bullet in white ready for the red paint.

Well, the Xtrakit decals started to split as soon as they touched the water! Trying to position them on the wings was a fraught business, re-aligning the splits. I persevered and used Micro-set to try and settle things into place - in the end I decided I had to remove the decals - you've probably guessed it, on any model where you don't want the decals to drop off - they do, on this model I had quite a task removing them even though they had been in place les than 10 minutes!! My task now is to order a sheet of RAF cockades and fin flashes that I might decal the aircraft on my return from holiday. Guess I shall have to go and pack :-(.

[JamesPerrin]

Very bad luck with the decals, if they were Hannants own brand I would be very surprised as they are usually pretty robust.

[DavidWomby]

Shame about the frustration with the decals but enjoy the holiday.

David