Hobby Craft Sopwith Camel

[Suffolk Lad]

Gregory - the vinyl came from a sign makers business. It comes in various thickness's and I'm pretty certain this is near the thinnest. It has a very high 'stick' rate once settled in though it can be lifted and repositioned if attached lightly in the first instance. Once it's burnished in place it's quite permanent. Unfortunately my friend became very ill and had to retire - I may see him this evening at our club night if so I'll ask if if he still has any.

RAG - The vinyl cutter is a Graphtec 'Craft Robo' or 'Robocut'. It's a small plotter type device that cuts masks incredibly accurately and to very small detail too - I've cut letters down to 2.5 mm so far - it will go much smaller but does have a tendency to remove the cut part instead of leaving it in situ. It's cost was just over £200 so by sharing it between four of us it made it a very viable option. Having used it for several aircraft now I can safely say its a great asset and one that I would now certainly consider purchasing for myself. I prefer to model weathered subjects and this of course means markings can be dealt with the same as the model.

Ian - The markings look a bit stark at present - They'll get toned down to blend in once the rest is done.


Any one know why the top image in the last post is larger than the others? The file size is the same on all images taken - sent from camera to My Pictures then sent to Picasa then to the thread. Why would that happen? I prefer to see the larger size but had previously thought that the web set up had resized previous pics automatically. Is there a way to ensure images are posted in the larger format?

Regards - Tug

[Des]

Images cannot be posted in the larger format, they are regulated by the forum and posted at 600 x 600, a click on the image will bring it up to the full size.

Des.

[Suffolk Lad]

Thanks Des - hadn't twigged they could be enlarged  .
I guess the larger one in that last post was an aberration of some kind.

Tug

[Des]

I just repaired the image that was posted full size, for some reason the URL address was split in two which caused it to be large, it is now back to forum size but can be enlarged simply by clicking the image.

Des.

[GAJouette]

"Gregory - the vinyl came from a sign makers business. It comes in various thickness's and I'm pretty certain this is near the thinnest. It has a very high 'stick' rate once settled in though it can be lifted and repositioned if attached lightly in the first instance. Once it's burnished in place it's quite permanent. Unfortunately my friend became very ill and had to retire - I may see him this evening at our club night if so I'll ask if if he still has any.

RAG - The vinyl cutter is a Graphtec 'Craft Robo' or 'Robocut'. It's a small plotter type device that cuts masks incredibly accurately and to very small detail too - I've cut letters down to 2.5 mm so far - it will go much smaller but does have a tendency to remove the cut part instead of leaving it in situ. It's cost was just over £200 so by sharing it between four of us it made it a very viable option. Having used it for several aircraft now I can safely say its a great asset and one that I would now certainly consider purchasing for myself. I prefer to model weathered subjects and this of course means markings can be dealt with the same as the model."

   Tug,
Thanks very for the information. My wife and I owned a sign shop here in Hattiesburg up till late 2013. I say my wife and I owned the shop but actually she did,I just put up the money to buy the shop and took care of the books and payroll . This morning I showed Cheryl your post and she of coarse knew exactly what you were referring to. Friends of ours from church bought the shop from us , so I still have a local access to the vinyl wanted and the cutter/plotter.Must get a sheet run off for myself before leaving to our new home in Texas next week.!
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[Suffolk Lad]

Hello 

That sounds like you will be well taken care of there Gregory  - the stuff I have is very high gloss but it cuts back well with wet and dry paper used slightly damp to give a better surface for painting.

Had a successful day so thought you might like to see the results of the masking





Still to be toned down a little in the weathering stage apart from a couple of tiny but easily overcome witnesses I'm very pleased with the outcome particularly the thin line around the outside of the roundel. Something that looks ok on the model in hand but looks a bit thin in the image is the serial no - it's basic Arial  - might have been better in bold type perhaps.

Managed to make a start on wiring those spark plugs in too - a mite tedious for sure

That's it for today - I'm now off out for my model club meeting.

Regards - Tug

[radio]

Very great painting, Tug.
Cheers
Martin

[Alexis]

You do beautiful work sir 




Terri

[RAGIII]

Beautiful results Tug!
RAGIII

[Suffolk Lad]

Hullo 

Martin, Terri, RAG - thanks for looking in and your kind comments.

Not much done today due to interruptions but I have managed to wood grain the fuse with which, for a first attempt, I'm pleased and encouraged for things to come - no pics yet as it's still wet. I'm not used to having to wait before the next stage so I need to exercise (for me) some real patience here. Building this type of model compared what I'm used to from a planning ahead point of view is a completely different ball game.

I have a couple of questions regarding the graining which I hope someone would answer for me.

I have used oil paint over a Tamiya base and once dry (is a week long enough in a warm environment?) intend to apply a couple of layers of Tamiya Clear Orange to seal it. My main concern however is ...

Is there any likelihood of the oil paint layer lifting when any masking is removed? To date I've never had this problem with Tamiya paints directly but the thought occurred that the oil may not bond to it well enough - Any comments on this possibility before I get to the next stage would be most welcome.

Regards - Tug

[uncletony]

the oil paint should bond very well to a matte Tamiya undercoat. Pretty much the recipe for every oil painting I ever made-- matte acrylic gesso base, acrylic wash underpainting, oils over top.

[KiwiZac]

That looks great, Tug! Nice work!

[Suffolk Lad]

Thanks for the answer Bo , I'm familiar with oil painting as you describe too but that was quite a few years back besides I never did have course to mask any of my paintings let alone remove it  so I'm still a bit in the dark - has anyone tried masking over oil painted surfaces and if so does it lift ? I have used the paint neat but reading Des's and David Johnson's guide see from a drying point of view it would have best been thinned. I can see some testing is required to see what's best - I was just trying to save a bit of time 

Thanks for your kind comment Zac.

Not much progress today even less this afternoon - off for a funeral.

Regards - Tug

[uncletony]

so I'm still a bit in the dark - has anyone tried masking over oil painted surfaces and if so does it lift ?

sorry for being obtuse -- yes I have done this many times. It won't lift*.

*caveat -- assuming acrylic layer is matte, oils of good quality & properly applied, due care used with masking etc etc etc. If anything lifts it will be the acrylic layer on plastic.

[Suffolk Lad]

Thanks again Bo - that's reassuring. As said I've never had Tamiya lift - I always use Alclad grey primer first - so it sounds like every thing will be ok. I still have some stock of 'Betto' masking tape, sadly no longer available but it is very good with just the right amount of adhesion but even so I will be careful

Thanks again - Tug