MiniCraft 1/48 X5F-1

[LyleW]

Well......it is official. I HATE WINTER. Fermis, you a a god for dealing with it as well as you do!

The paint would not "dry" or cure out. It stayed gummy. So, me and my trusty 0000 steel wool along with 91% IPA spent some quality time together with the XF5.
It has not been too difficult of a job and what is interesting is the IPA doesn't seem to be attacking the MM Acrylic Yellow. It sure is wiping out the Alclad and gloss black, though.

[Stuart]

Well......it is official. I HATE WINTER. Fermis, you a a god for dealing with it as well as you do!

The paint would not "dry" or cure out. It stayed gummy. So, me and my trusty 0000 steel wool along with 91% IPA spent some quality time together with the XF5.
It has not been too difficult of a job and what is interesting is the IPA doesn't seem to be attacking the MM Acrylic Yellow. It sure is wiping out the Alclad and gloss black, though.

I'm no expert Lyle but I think you might have overdone the weathering on this one...

[LyleW]

You may be right, Stuart! Good one for sure. It does provide some interesting effects, though. A dio of a plane being stripped comes to mind.

[Stuart]

You may be right, Stuart! Good one for sure. It does provide some interesting effects, though. A dio of a plane being stripped comes to mind.

It'd be fun to enter it into a competition as an X5F-1 pre-restoration – I’d love to see the judge’s comments on that one!

[LyleW]

Switched to the Alclad Aluminum and this time, I used a flat white base. My goodness. It is already dry.

[Thomas_M]

Lyle, you have my full respect for fighting this one into submission! Good to see the silver paint is already on!

[LyleW]

Lyle, you have my full respect for fighting this one into submission! Good to see the silver paint is already on!

simple fight.

[Stuart]

Much better!

[LyleW]

Thanks Stuart and Thomas. The neat thing about the steel wool is that is will polish the surface as it removes the paint. Smooth, huh?

[LyleW]

This may be a dead, buried project. Need advice. Feeling pretty good about the finish.



Added the engines, after sanding the cowling opening flat.



Went to fit the cowl rings and much to my surprise ( ) what did I see? They don't fit. By a LOT.





I glued up a spare from the "long nose" version. That kit has parts for both. . . . Didn't fit on that one, either, though not by as much.

Now what? Split the cowl ring and fill?

Try to make the cowling fit?

Trash it?