Not much going on here the last couple weeks. Marie and I have been dealing with stomach bugs that have really slowed us down. In my case, it comes and goes, with a bad day followed by a couple of good days. It has really sapped my energy and killed my desire to do anything.
Easily the biggest news of the last couple weeks was Christine being accepted into the U of C Architecture program. She learned she was accepted last Thursday, and is absolutely ecstastic about it. We couldn't be prouder. All her hard work has paid off.
Taxes have occupied much of my attention for the last couple weeks. First passes have been done for Marie and I, all three kids, and both my parents. The kids are easy to do, but I have been taking extra care doing ours given it is my first year of retirement. I will let things sit for a week and then go back and do a final review before submitting to CRA.
The weather the last couple weeks has been...bleah. After one really warm day it hasn't been above freezing more than twice the last couple weeks. There were even a couple of -25C nights the last week of March. Virtually no snow has melted, and it is happily snowing today, with up to 5cm expected.
Ember's house training continues. She rarely has accidents now unless you aren't paying attention, or she has gotten too excited to pay attention to her bladder. She has entered a chewing phase, and has gotten into lots of trouble for chewing stairway newell posts and chair legs. She is also rapidly learning bad habits from the other dogs, such as running to fence and barking at the neighbour dogs.
Anson
Time to start painting the top side camouflage. Several hours and lots of tape was needed to protect the yellow painted areas. Because yellow is a difficult colour to get good coverage, I decided to do the serial numbers as positive masks. This means the mask is placed over the correct base colour and then the camouflage is sprayed over top. Doing the numbers was straightforward but creating a separation between the fuselage roundel and the top yellow panel took some work.
In a moment of inattention, positive masks were also set for the upper wing. Normally these would be negative masks, where the paint was applied over the previously applied camouflage colours. Being lazy, they were left on with the thought it really didn't matter how they were applied. To limit the amount of airbrushing, the wing underside masks were then installed. That would later prove to be a mistake.
The green and brown camouflage colors were sprayed using my dwindling stock of Model Master enamels. RAF camouflage is challenging to mask, with all the turns and waves lines, and I am always on the look out for a simpler process. This time I tried Panzer Putty, a slightly sticky, black mastic that can be easily shaped. It has the added bonus of easily conforming to uneven surfaces and difficult contours. I was initially hesitant, as the material seemed greasy out of the package. It also seemed too stiff to be useful, but it softened as it was worked. It was initially rolled it into worms that were placed to follow the desired pattern. With some experience, it was realized that flat ribbons were easier to use and place, and could be pressed into place as desired. The material worked quite well and I will use it again.
I have had good success with Model Master enamels, but have recently been having problems with the paint coming up along the mask edges when the masks are removed. Once again, I had unwanted paint chipping when the masking was removed. I thought perhaps it could be a reaction between the Orocal 810 I have been using for masks, given it isn't actually rated for solvent use. But the chipping was also happening where masking tape or Tamiya tape was used. This time, the problem was most noticeable on the rear serial numbers, leaving a jagged appearance that will have to be repaired. The roundels, notably the starboard fuselage and the port underwing, had different problems, with the roundel paint being pulled up by the mask. The roundels were painted using Tamiya paints, so this appears to be a different issue than the Model Master chipping. All these roundels were applied over a gloss yellow finish, which may have affected paint adhesion. Regardless the cause, they will have to be repaired.
Photo 1 - Nose serial mask in place
Photo 2 - Fuselage roundel and fuselage serial masks in place. That was a lot of work!
Photos 3&4 - A lot of masking in preparation for the camouflage
Photo 5 - Brown applied
Photo 6 - Masked for the dark green
Photo7 - Painting complete. Ready to remove the masking
Photo 8 - Ready to unmask
Photo 9 - Nose numeral masks worked well
Photo 10 - Port side serial and roundel masks worked well
Photo 11 - Starboard side serial and roundel masks peeled and flaked, requiring repairs
Photo 12 - Port side upper wing roundel had misalignment and peeling, requiring repairs
Photo 13 - Port side under wind roundel had peeling, requiring repairs.
There were now two separate paint repairs required - the chipping on the rear fuselage serial numbers and the roundel paint that was pulled up.
Positioning new masks over the roundels would be tricky. The new masks would need to be placed exactly over the existing roundel to ensure they remain circular. That would take a lot of trial and error to get them in the right place, and ran the risk that all the repositioning would pull up more paint. It was decided to take the lazy way out and simply apply the kit decals over the painted roundels. A 1500 grit sanding sponge was used to prepare the old roundels for decals, knocking down any paint ridges and smoothing out the paint.
I initially thought fuselage serials could be repaired by placing number masks over the rear fuselage serials and then respraying the camouflage colours, but the number masks didn't match the painted numbers. There were several areas where the number masks were wider than the painted number underneath, suggesting that simply respraying the camouflage could result in uneven number widths. It was therefore decided to respray the camouflage colours first, covering up the chipped paint, and then use a negative mask to spray the numbers. This would use a mask with the numbers cut out, so the numbers would be repainted over the camouflage colour.
The photo below shows the fuselage after the camouflage colours were touched up. A new mask was then applied and gently rubbed down. Some minor mask adjustments were needed, so the mask was gently lifted to reposition it. To my horror, the repositioning lifted more paint!
A break was taken to give some thought to next steps. Paint lifting is the result of poor adhesion, generally because the surface wasn't clean, or the paint couldn't bond properly. To deal with the first issue, the area was wiped down with isopropyl alcohol. It was then lightly sanded with 1500 grit to roughen the surface. Just to be sure, the area was recleaned with alcohol. The camouflage colours were then resprayed and allowed to dry for 24 hours. And that's where things sit right now.
MiG-21 Fishbed
The cockpit is relatively simple but gave some fit challenges. The cockpit sidewalls are two plastic pieces joined together, with coloured PE glued on top. It took several attempts to get the coloured PE lined up properly so it wouldn't interfere with the fuselage when the assembly was placed against the sidewall.
Fit of the cockpit back wall and floor was very tight. The back wall was installed first, then the floor was slid in under the previously applied sidewalls. This took several attempts, popping the sidewalls off twice, before everything was finally in place. The secret proved to be timely adjustment of the instrument panel. It needed to be guided into position to avoid binding it against the sidewalls. Deft use of tweezers allowed all the parts to be navigated into place.
With the cockpit components installed, I couldn't resist test fitting the two fuselage sections. There are no positive locators on the fuselage, but the two sides lined up nicely along the fuselage top. Flipping it over found a gap under the cockpit, apparently the result of an overly wide cockpit back wall. The fuselage pieces were separated, and a coarse sanding stick used to reduce the back wall diameter. Several test fits later and the joint was good A clamp was used to hold the fuselage pieces together and allow the glue holding the various cockpit pieces to dry overnight.
Next morning the fuselage pieces wouldn't separate when the clamp was removed. Either the fit was so snug the parts were trapped, or some had glue seeped out and bound the two halves together. Several small details still needed to be added to the cockpit, so the fuselage halves were gently pried apart. Unfortunately, the attempt failed, the sidewalls and back wall sections popped off again, and it was necessary to reconstruct the cockpit. After adding the missing detail pieces, the cockpit subassemblies were reinstalled, and the two fuselage halved brought together again to test fit. Something must have changed as the fit along the bottom of the fuselage had improved. With that, glue was applied to the fuselage halves and the assembly set aside to dry. Even with all the challenges, the cockpit looks pretty good.
Photo 1 - Cockpit close up
Photo 2 - Fuselage ready to be joined.
Not really a lot of progress to show for the last couple of weeks. Hopefully the stomach bug is behind us and the mojo returns. The weather isn't supposed to turn spring like until next weekend so it will be indoor activities for the next few days. That's it for this week. Stay safe everyone!
Comments