Torsten's bench works

Torsten,
Glad to hear that all is well now. I’ve only gotten the Moderna shots all three times, although we had the option of another make for the booster. I never had any chills or body aches, just a sore arm, and like I said only from the booster.

that’s interesting about using regular glue for your putty mix. I would be worried that it would react to the plastic and could even melt and distort it. Guess I was completely wrong on that one.

joel

Never noticed any distortion, Joel, and the glue should react with the plastic at least so much that the gap is closed. I know others use CA glue for that, like some in my club.

Hmm, this looks pretty wild, doesn’t it? The clear tape is heavily battle damaged or is it just work weary? :grin:


… after some more sanding and polishing the gaps are closed. Some rivets didn’t survive the action on the left side. I think I’ll give it another smooth sanding but it looks worse on the photo than in real. Macro always kills …

… the right side was easier to work and all panel lines and rivets are still there …

Btw, was the F-80 painted in Silver or was it left in Aluminium colour? Hobbyboss says Silver but I’m not that sure about it. :thinking:

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The F80A Shooting Star Block 5-LO versions were all natural metal.

“Early P-80As had a overall light grey finish which was used to seal all skin joints. This finish proved to be too hard to maintain in service, and was deleted in favor of a natural metal finish.”

The registration in the kit of 45-85464 is a 5_LO number apparently:
“The next 218 aircraft in the contract (44-85337 to 44-85941 and 45-8301 to 45-8262) were built as the P-80A-5-LO production block”

All from the info is here:
http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/p80_4.html

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Thanks for the time searching, Peter! Much appreciated! So NMF should usually be Aluminium like here


… but can also be Silver like here …

indeed I would go for the 2nd option on the Shooting Star. Well, I’ll see - and you too … :grin:

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Torsten,
Looking forward to seeing your F80 in an all Aluminum finish, as mine is light gray, which looks pretty good to.

joel

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A bit more progess on the Shooting Star. Did some masking the last days. First the canopy with the Eduard mask EX418 …


… the underside also needs some kitchen paper. Doesn’t look much but takes time …


… and fresh from the paint bench today. I have cleaned the whole kit with methylated alcohol as good as possible. Will use Revell Black 302 as primer this time. The wing tips will be Yellow so White as a primer here, same as the tip tanks, which will have a yellow stripe …

Hope I can do some more painting tomorrow and then masking the black parts.

Have a nice Sunday!
Torsten :slightly_smiling_face:

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Torsten,
Your masking is always a joy to view. Same for the paper towel in the wheel wells. I never had much success getting the damp paper to cover every nook and cranny, and stay in place once dry. But you always seem to make it look so easy.

joel

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Thanks for the kind words, Joel! Getting the paper towel in the wheel wells is easy indeed. First I put the paper in water, wring it a bit and squeeze it in the wells. I use only tweezers and a dental instrument from my dentist for it. It only takes time. Leave it to dry over night. The next day it’s hard as paper maché (do you know this word in english?), Pappmaché in german. With a few drops of water it gets soft again to take out when no longer needed. Sometimes a piece of sponge also works but I find the kitchen paper generally more useful for me.

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Torsten,
I’ve always been a foam rubber or masking tape guy, but your methods will be put to use in certain car painting needs for sure.
joel

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Some more progress on the F-80 this week. First some masking with Tamiya Tape and Eduard …


… the tip tanks are masked with Parafilm and 3 mm Fineline Tape. These tanks are the optional, larger, ones. Yellow is Revell 310 (RAL 1028). It’s the same colour as the Eastern Front markings on my Bf 109’s :grin:


… no, the Shooting Star is not the new member of my growing Black Beauty Sqn. Here Revell Satin Black 302 is used as a primer … :slightly_smiling_face:

… and fresh from the paint shop today, the F-80 has turned into a Silverbird. I don’t often paint NMF, maybe also because it ruthless shows my mistakes in the prior assembling. Same here. I noticed some issues now that I haven’t seen before. In the end it’s just a plastic model and I’m no high end modeller … :wink:

… and the tip tanks. I guess I have to do some paint corrections with the yellow lines as the tape came off a bit at the rear …

… I thought a have Vallejo Silver in stock but I don’t. So I painted everything with Revell 90 Silver. A good alternative, I think … :slightly_smiling_face:

Now I leave everything to dry over night and have a closer look on the finish tomorrow. For now it looks good to me. Next step will be the landing gear.

Have a nice weekend guys!
Torsten :wave:

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Looks really good to my MkI eyeball too, Torsten! :+1:

Looking forward to seeing what you do next!!!

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Torsten,
Excellent NMF from what I can see. And yes, all of these NMF show every single flaw no matter how small that we can’t really see it pre or post primer.

joel

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Thanks guys! Yes, Joel, I’ve noticed some issues but I won’t go over them again now. Just leave it the way it is. The right side of the canopy has lifted a bit and I didn’t see it when everything was Black. Hope there’s not too much spray fog under the canopy now … :fearful: Do you know this feeling when you try to repair something and in the end it looks worse than before? :roll_eyes:

Didn’t had much time to work on the F-80 today so I just demasked the tip tanks. The masking tape did a better job than I expected. The yellow lines at the rear have nearly no silver fog. I thought this would be a problem zone but I can leave it this way … :slightly_smiling_face:


Took also a closer look at the rest of my paint job from yesterday and have noticed that there’s not enough Silver under the stabilizers, a bit of Black is still shining through. Should be a quick affair tomorrow after work.

Torsten :beers:

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Only every time I sit down at my bench Torsten!

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The very reason why we have survived to become old and wise modellers. We have learnt leaving things well alone: never turn that minor flaw or inaccuracy into a Major Modelling Disaster :grin:

Beautiful finish Torsten!

:raising_hand_man:

Magnus

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Torsten,
Those tanks look darn good in the picture. And like Magnusf said, I’m a professional at turning a small issue into a massive disaster time and time again.

BTW, it’s great to see a post here from Magnusf my old 1/72 scale buddy from Aeroscale.

joel

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Looking real good!
Steve

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Torsten, your work is inspirational, as always.

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Thanks for your kind feedback, guys! Much appreciated! :slightly_smiling_face: Hope I’ll do the F-80 justice.

Have demasked most of the Shooting Star yesterday evening and this is how the bird looks right now. There are only minor painting issues at the anti glare shield and the walk ways which I’ll correct later.


Now I must work with cotton gloves on for the rest of the build. Hm, I’m more the pigskin gloves type …

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Looks fantastic Torsten.

Over the years I have started some models that have made me hang up my gloves.
image

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