SPA Modeler

That JB Qwik is tha bomb aint it? Love watchin' you work here bud.

I really like the JB Kwik. It doesn't cure instantly like CA glue but it doesn't take forever either like Milliput.

I'm still going over the wave marking in my head. I thought that I could circumvent the shakiness of my hand cutting and use a compass cutter or the Thinnerline circle cutter but the circles that make up the waves are so small, it would be very difficult to pull off. I'll give it another attempt tonight.
Anyone here use a Silhouette or Cricut machine? That might be next on my shopping list although I'm not necessarily itching to go that route?

jkim wrote:I'm still going over the wave marking in my head. I thought that I could circumvent the shakiness of my hand cutting and use a compass cutter or the Thinnerline circle cutter but the circles that make up the waves are so small, it would be very difficult to pull off.

Wishing you the best of luck. Please keep us in the loop, John.

My SD card got corrupted as I was pushing it into the card reader. Lost yesterday's workbench photos. I took quick snaps this morning just so that I would have SOME photographic evidence to report.

I attempted another wave marking using hand cut masks. I converted the scanned decal into a line drawing, which made it easier to trace with the knife. And I snapped in the strongest magnifying lens (3x) on my Magnivisor to zoom in as close as possible. It came out visibly better than the first effort but still not usable. I had the thought... I can cut perfect small circles using the Thinnerline cutter and the RPToolz large punch set. Perhaps I could finesse the messy wave into shape. I've lost the before photo but here is what I ended up using what I call micro-repair using small pieces of tape and shooting ant-sized areas with the airbrush. You can also see my first failed wave marking.



It'll take a lot of work but I feel the wave marking is do-able now. It'd be so much easier to export my line drawing, which I drew in AutoCAD, to a Silhouette cutter but that is not an immediate option. I am still contemplating pulling the trigger on one though... it might be a fun toy to have.


The black and white tail band has been masked and painted. Some of the adjacent yellow on the tail lifted when I removed the masks but was subsequently repaired. The tail is really bright and clean and needs to be dialed down to match the rest of the aircraft. I've now finished the major portion of this repair and the rest will simply be filling in the small details.





Among the lost photos was the restored brake lines on the landing gear legs that were made from lead wire, brush painted flat black and glued back into place. The image of the Silhouette cutter keeps dancing around in my head...

The data recovery software was able to retrieve over 100 photos from the card but the most recent nine that I wanted were not readable. First time that's happened to me on a memory card.

The repairs on the wave marking were aided by the fact that I was working on that unattached wing. It's more difficult and awkward doing it on a complete fuselage with the wing and tail stabilizers sticking out at you. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on a Silhouette Portrait. I found a decent deal on a new one through B&H. It could make quick work of the wave markings and give me the ability to custom cut other masks in the future. I'm a sucker for new toys.

jkim wrote:I think I'm going to pull the trigger on a Silhouette Portrait. I found a decent deal on a new one through B&H. It could make quick work of the wave markings and give me the ability to custom cut other masks in the future. I'm a sucker for new toys.

Go for it, John!!!

So it was written, so it shall be done.

The Silhouette Portrait 2 is on the way...

Cool! Seen some magic done with these.

We'll see what fun things we can do with the Silhouette once I get it. It's due to arrive on Thursday so I am putting the Dora restoration on hold until I then.