[Marty C]

Originally Posted by RC_MAN

Nice job Marty

Tell us about the make of the paint and how you applied it. What equipment and air pressure did you use?

G'day Peter, Well that could take a bit of explaining in length and proper detail along with the many pics I have taken of this project, I do plan on putting together a bit of a F-18 tutorial on the paint finishing of this model once its completely done covering each step in full detail along with pics. its coming soon
Iam deffinetely no professional and totally self taught since I was a kid with plastic models... lots of trial and error over the years thats for sure, so Iam not sure that my way is the most efficient way of doing things but it works for me....

For now I will quickly say obviously preping is 90% of all the work generally, getting every mold seem, hatch gaps etc and scratches filled to as near perfect as possible.
Primer I have used on this project is an auto brand-
Sherwin Williams P30W, 2K white primer surfacer. Available through auto paint suppliers, this product (or similar) is important to use for a good solid base surface bond to the gelcoat ie. when it comes time for all the upper paint coat masking I do not want all the hard work to lift away with the masking tape so a good compatible primer is very important and it aint cheap either but is excellent to work with and sands easy... colour coats are mostly compatable auto acrylics, along with Humbrol enamal for blue leaf patterns on wings. Humbrol paints are great for the detail work and insignia etc. I find the pigmentation excellent and they cover very well for little volume.... I used a HVLP gun available from Canadian Tire, 10PSI for paint application, a Paasche airbrush for wing leaf pattern.... more soon.
For now some more pics of the F-18s wing paint.

[Marty C]

two more

[Myzee]

Marty, it looks amazing man!
Can't wait to see it in person! I'll try to come over maybe Friday, I'll give you a ring first.
Myles

[Marty C]

Myles, emailed you

The F-18 cockpit is just about complete now, just a few minor details to add. The F-18 being 1/8 scale the choices for pilot figures and cockpit kit are limited 'not much out there on the market' so I improvised and fabricated a semi scale dash and seat from parts I had laying in my spare parts box. The gunsight was made from small pieces of 90 degree angle plastic sprue etc all available from the hobby shop. The pilot is a 1/8 scale Aviation Design guy that I had to hand paint. Some guys are installing the bigger, 'not to scale' 1/6 scale Blue Box pilots in their SM F-18's although they can be made to fit you will need to either cut off the BB pilots legs or build a new and much deeper cockpit floor to accomodate.
My set up uses the stock cockpit tub inlay and no mods to stock SM F18 cockpit parts.

Next to do: RCAF roundels and insignia

Cheers-

[Marty C]

I am starting to experiment with making the decals. Pretty much all the art work I have scanned from 1/48 scale 'Leading Edge' water slide decal sheet for the 20th Anniversary Hornet scheme.
My first attempt was 'ok' but I am not 100% happy with this method..... using my Canon i560 inkjet printer I tried printing roundels onto Epson photo quality self adhesive sheets 'white' at 1200 dpi, then spraying Top Flite Lusterkote to seal. The problem I find is that the self adhesive sheets sit too proud of surface and do not conform to surface details like panel lines and rivits as the water slide decal paper should....this is ok for most sport models but for scale not ideal I reckon....

Anyway heres how my Epson self adhesive decals turned out, I think I will replace these as soon as possible when i can get hold of the water slide paper

[nony]

Marty, modelers use a product called Decal-set to soften the decal material and help it conform to surface details. This was from my model RR days, so there may be different products available now...

[Marty C]

Originally Posted by nony

Marty, modelers use a product called Decal-set to soften the decal material and help it conform to surface details. This was from my model RR days, so there may be different products available now...

Hi Wayne, Yep I have the Humbrol 'decal set' fluid you mention, I also have used it many times with water slide decals on my plastic models and it works great! Idealy its applied once onto the painted/gloss top clear coated models finshed surface before decal application and once again after water slide decal has been applied, it helps pull decal down to surface and also it helps to stop air bubbles and 'tenting' of decal over panel lines and rivets, surface detail etc. It should be especially helpful on larger R/C model decals. As soon as I aquire some 'real' decal paper and can print up some decals I will be giving it a try

[rcbart]

Marty, What are planning on using for Ink Jet Decal Paper? I have a project that my decals haven't been done and am thinking of doing my own, I have the artwork.

Is there any that is better or worse?

I saw the Micro Mart product and it looks like it would work.

Thanks
Bart

[Marty C]

G'day Bart, Either Micro Mark or similar paper would be ideal I think. I will let you know within next few days as to which decal paper works best for different applications. I have some Micro Mark water slide decal paper on order and hope to experiment a bit more with it next week. While waiting on the water slide paper to arrive I have been experimenting with some of the self adhesive papers.
So far the Epson (white) photo quality self adhesive A4 sheets seem to work best, this can be easily sealed once decal is printed with gloss clear coat. I used 3-4 light coats of Top Flite Lusterkote to seal with good success, then I just cut out decal from sheet using hobby knife.... Ideally the self adhesive decals and model would be clear coated again after decal application, this is also a must so as to seal decals (especially the self adhesive type as edges start to curl after a few days, if not sealed. In my case I will leave the sealing top coat until I have tried the water slide decals I think....

One other point that I have to experiment with is fade resistent ink. I have been told the regular inkjet ink fades in the sunlight??? I am unsure of how likely this is to happen once the LustreKote clear coat is applied???? time will tell

[rcbart]

Thanks Marty, I think the ink should be OK, I printed my artwork out on regular paper, NO coating, and taped it to the plane. This plane is sitting in a window that is uncovered 7/24. It has been that way for over a year and only slightly faded. I think that if coated, and not outside all the time, it should be OK, my printer is a Lexmark.

Bart