Yeah baw 1:32 Saburo Shindo Zeke!

[KennyX]

ZEKE porn!!!!

HAHAHAAAAA!!!

Also depending on the size of your cojones I would be tempted to heat some water up not boiling but hot water and heat one half slightly to correct the mismatch. By fitting the one to the other you correct the problem without removing plastic. It takes several tries to do this... in order to heat the plastic all the way through so that it reforms. I have a feeling that’s possibly a part that was pulled a little too fast from the mold. I would try to get the pieces in alignment before proceeding.

But damn that photo with the cowl off makes my day! Bravo, Banzai Ken!

That’s another option I’m certainly willing to try, and I appreciate your giving me the skinny, on that. I think, though, that the issues I’m running into are more a combination of factors- the very minor mismatch with the cowling halves parts, along with maybe I didn’t get those cowling frame parts around the engine on there just-so, and the wiring guides on the cylinder head covers I added might be interfering, too. Could be a cocktail of issues. But hey- she does look nice like this indeed. I am going to sleep on it for a few nights, and get to painting stripes and insignias, and the remaining parts over the next few days. Then come back to the cowling and see how I feel about what my next move will be given these solid options.

[KennyX]

We have stripes and bands!

I painted these on today! The other side of the tail is not pictured because I had a small issue with overspray which I tried to cover up and ended up with various steps in the paint and sheen differences. I spent two hours scrubbing that side of the tail with cotton q-tips soaked in Windex to wipe it and redo. That redo will happen tomorrow. Yes, I am deadly accurate with an airbrush. Yes, I am still capable of making rookie mistakes. Yes, I laughed it off, wiped it out, and laid-down a new coat of paint on the tail to prepare for the redo. It’s no problem. It’s one of the reasons I like Tamiya acrylics- make a mistake, and wiping it off is as easy as cleaning the bathroom mirror.

I like how the red turned out on the fuselage band. I used Tamiya Gloss red instead of the flat red. I intend to do the same with the Hinomaru. I like the sheen on that red, I think it’s lovely.

[Stikpusher]

Kenny!!!! Those stripes look fabulous. All you guys here who paint on the markings sure know how to set an excellent example!

[KennyX]

Kenny!!!! Those stripes look fabulous. All you guys here who paint on the markings sure know how to set an excellent example!

HAHAHAAA Carlos!!! Thank you!!! Your message was the first thing I read when I got online this morning. Huge mood booster. Thank you!!!!


Last night I redid the paintwork on the port side of the tail (that is the port side, right? ) and this morning I got it all masked-and ready for the stripes. Fool me once, shame on you, Kenny. Fool me twice? Now that just ain’t happening:



I had some concerns about the Ammonia in the Windex altering the exceptional paint biting properties of the Me. Surfacer 1500 beneath. Those concerns proved unfounded after letting the paint rest overnight for approximately 12 hours. I made sure to carefully de-tack the tape before application, and made sure also to mitigate any overspray issues, as you can see. Yes, Kenny X makes rookie mistakes. But I’m opting to look at it like this- yeah a redo of this magnitude (carefully stripping the paint off the tail with Windex and q-tips without somehow ruining the rest of the paint or the model in-general) is difficult and time-consuming and kind of a drag, BUT- it cements the lesson-learned firmly in my mind and when the time came to re-paint the stripes you bet your bottom dollar I’m going to follow best practices. So there we go! No harm, no foul:





Just as nice as before. And no strange steps in the paint nor sheen differences. I’m glad I corrected that the right way.

Okay! Onto the Hinomaru, well, as soon as my new shipment of thinner arrives in the mail HAHA, I ran out. So a short break from painting until the thinner gets here.

[mustang1989]

Very nice recovery Kenny. Looks perfect man.

[Stuart]

Very cool Kenny - those look great. Nice work on the correction.

[KennyX]

Mustang Joe and my man Stuart,

Thanks, gentlemen. Thank you! I get a little bug for my britches sometimes. I need to remember that, especially when using my temperamental and sometimes downright recalcitrant Neo airbrush, that overspray is always a risk.

Know what though, this screw up and recovery helped me in another way too- it boosted my confidence in the staying power of this paintjob. And I needed that. I feel less apprehensive now about masking insignias. Remember Kenny, de-tack the tape thoroughly beforehand, and remove it slowly and gently. And of course, remember to account for the risk of overspray and mitigate it as best you can. Those are my watchwords.

[mustang1989]

You're lookin' at it from the same angle as I do when I mess something up modeling wise. It's another learning opportunity. If I have to strip a paint job a few times.....whatever.....it's just one more opportunity to get that much better at what we're doing.

[KennyX]

100% my man. 100%.

[mostrich]

This is epic and still risin'. An emotional modeling drama in several acts, written by KennyX.