(Not) Following Ted's Instructions ** FINISHED & FUELING **

A Matchbox kit GB in tribute to Ted Taylor who passed away on July 29th.
GB runs from August 15th through September 30th.
GBL: Martin R, and others.

Please join us as we honor this fine gentleman, modeller, and icon of Classic British Kit history.
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Martin R
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by Martin R »

John,

The Victor's looking rather good imho. As you have an honest face, an extension is available should it be required.

regards,

Martin
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TimJ
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by TimJ »

Looking good John, I hope the decals turn out OK.
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Adventures in decal land .... I have never seen different decals from the same sheet act so differently ....

Image

The first I put on was the large wing roundel. I put MicroSet on the wing and dropped the decal in hot water. Minutes went by, it still would not come off the paper. Finally I got an edge up and then got it off. The surface is nice and glossy and it slid around without problem. I tamped it dry then applied MicroSol mostly because the roundel is over the little wing fences. It started doing a bubbly-wrinkle thing, but I'm used to some decals acting that way and I know what the Micro- folks say to do, leave it alone.

I moved on to the fin flash and the squadron marking on the tail. MicroSet, drop them in water. The fin flash took forever, the squadron marking came right up. Both moved around well. I tamped them dry but decided to hold off on MicroSol as both appeared nice and flat and doing fine on their own.

On to the fuselage roundels. This time I skipped MicroSet and put them on direct. These came off much quicker and I moved them around -- then they started the wrinkly-bubbly thing all one their own. Puzzling, so maybe it is the decal (or at least some of them) and not the Micro-stuff.

I went back to the wing roundels and then the fuselage roundels, using a soft paper cloth to gently smooth them down, and it worked. The fin flash & squadron code needed none of that.

So, on to the aircraft serial. No MicroSet, they came off quickly and laid down well, but have a lot of white gluey substance behind them -- aaaaarrrgghh ! I put on some MicroSol let it sit, then did the gently wipe routine which seems to have squeezed some of the gunk out. We shall see. I can tell you that I moved the position of the serials back on the fuselage to get them completely on dark green so if I have to do something major I'm only fooling with one color.

I'm off, leave things along for a bit, we'll see what I have when I get back. And figure out how to handle any problems and move on to all the fancy decals underneath ....
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ShaunW
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by ShaunW »

Adventures in decal land indeed John. I'm a long time user of Microscale solutions but some decals just don't like them. In your case here, the decals all seem to have a mind of their own. Still, the decals that you have applied look good from here and are really starting to bring this beast to life. Good luck with the rest of them!
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reinhold
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by reinhold »

The colors look glossy enough, so silvering should be minimal, I hope :roll:
I also usually use a bit of microset to get a good setting on the model. Perhaps for the decals that have a lot of transparency, let them sit in shallow water and move them to another piece of presoaked decal paper. That would let you get rid of most of the white woodglue. And the whiteness may disappear when dried.

All the best!

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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Thanks, Shaun & Reinhold ...
I don't want to get over confident, but they do look pretty good -- because, or in spite of, my ministrations. I think a coat of semi-gloss over it all will look just dandy ....
Knocking on wood, crossing fingers, making incantations ....
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by ShaunW »

Semi gloss or satin are the best finishes IMHO. I'm of the view that a full on matt finish somehow just doesn't look "natural". On full size machines, even in camouflage schemes, the finish rarely if ever appears to be as matt as modellers often achieve. Your Victor will turn out fine, I'm sure. Fingers crossed etc etc :grin:
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

I have had almost no time today.

I put the red striped decals on the wing tips. I did not interpret the color diagram correctly and failed to put white on the upper side so that'll be wrong. The four stripe sections appear identical on the decal sheet and aren't called out separately but when put on they do go on differently. None fit exactly, these would be good candidates to paint on if you wanted a really neat job.

I have much of tomorrow & Tuesday free and believe I will get all the decaling (less little stencils) done on the Victor and all 3 Lightnings, get a coat of semi-gloss on all, and maybe even rigged to the ceiling. After Tuesday, I have no more time.

Anyway, I'm asking Martin for a one-day extension, through Tuesday 1 October.

Also, question to the viewers -- how long should a refueling hose be, roughly ? The kit ones work out to about 18' which means thirsty Lightnings would be bouncing off various parts of the tanker. I have 14" of the appropriate diameter rod which equates 84 feet, but I also don't have infinite room on the ceiling either.
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VickersVandal
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by VickersVandal »

You can do it. It looks excellent so far 8-)
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Martin R
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by Martin R »

jRatz wrote: Anyway, I'm asking Martin for a one-day extension, through Tuesday 1 October.
You've got it. :)

regards,

Martin
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

The underside decals are all on .... not fun.

I'm sorry Ted, but your decal instructions leave a bit to be desired. Specifically the stripes on the hose pods. You didn't tell me that the port inner = starboard outer and vice versa. You didn't tell me that the lower decal was best left until after the others. You also didn't tell me that it would be best to place the black stripes on the wing aft of the hose pods first to get them perfectly aligned, then align the inner and outer stripes with the center.

The decals themselves aren't your fault. Similar items are not of same lenth, placement is guesswork, and just what comes off the decal paper when is still a mystery. OTOH, at least these decals don't roll up or tear -- they are quite stable and sturdy once they come off and that makes up quite a bit for the other problems.

Tomorrow, I am going to attempt to decal the wing walks on the top side and then it'll be ready for a semi-gloss coat and done.
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PaulBradley
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by PaulBradley »

The white stuff is decal glue - quite a common occurrence with decals of 80's vintage. Modeldecals are the same...
Paul

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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

OK, I tried the wing walks last night. Yet another variation on how one sheet of decals acts. They were gunkier than the rest and I just yanked 'em off ....

So, off to the semi-gloss coating room .... and to decaling of the Lightnings ....
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

I should have shown this last night .... a Victor K2 at the top of a loop :grin: wait till I have the Lightnings attached :lol:

Image

Anyway, the semi-gloss is on and drying .... it's effectively done except the final display ....

Pix later ....
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Ian
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Re: Following Ted's Instructions ....

Post by Ian »

Great work, mate!
It's later, where are the pics?
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