The Build Part II

This section takes up the build at the painting, weathering and decaling stage

A bit more progress on the Takom, finally got the area where the kit and the printed WAC corporal join into a good place. It took about five rounds of fill, sand, prime and check to get it there. Thought I had it on the fourth go as it looked Ok under the workbench light. When I was packing up and turned off the workbench light, I looked at it again under the room light and a nasty looking “groove” appeared as if by magic. I decided to try something a little bit different to my usual approach on the fifth go, I just piled some filler straight on top of the primer instead of sanding the primer off and then applying filler. It worked a treat to my surprise as I thought the filler would not key to the primer well. I really am impressed with the Holts Cataloy knifing putty I have started to use, added bonus is that it is as cheap as chips at about £2.50 a tube.

Then I had a mini disaster, on the way to the paint shop I dropped the 1-72^nd Kora, its resin and two of the fins snapped off, so back to the body shop for that one

In between times a few more coats of white paint have gone on to the “Albino” Lightning, this is going to be the mule for the clearcoats, weathering and decaling

And few more experiments for the decals, I have been trying out the new decal paper for the laser printer. I decided to get a piece of styrene and make some rivet runs to see how the decals would settle down, and also how they would react to different combinations of fluids.

The upshot of all that was that if decals are printed on the clear paper, they need a coat of decal film applying prior to application as it is very delicate. The decals printed onto the white paper were pretty bombproof from the word go. The decals were applied with Microset allowed to dry, then Microsol applied, and Microsol again after a drying time. They all fared really well apart from the clear one that had not be firstly treated with Decal film, they settled down pretty well into the rivet holes. As a further test just to see what would happen, I applied a liberal dose of Tamiya X20A thinners with no ill effects. The next real test will be to try them on the Albino Lightning on top of some paint or maybe a clearcoat

Not much progress this week apart from more decal making and tests. The "Albino" lightning has been used as the test subject. I have tried two different types of decal papers, both reputedly for laser printers, and the instructions supplied with one of them indicated that the use of a fixative may be beneficial. As you can probably see in the photo below Microscale Decal fix and Microscale Micro Set come in fiendishly similar bottles, one is very benign to the paint job, the other acts like a supercharged paint stripper!!!!!!.

The decals on the underside of the wings have been applied directly onto the Tamiya acrylic paintwork, and then subjected to chemical attacks of varying forms. Paint used was Tamiya X-2 (Gloss white)

What i have taken away from this so far is that Micro Set and Microsol seem pretty safe to work with on the Tamiya paint. If they are used to excess there is some "staining" visible around the decal area. I have been trying a load of different printer settings, and in some cases have tried running a design through the printer twice to see if i could make a decal more opaque, this seemed to work to an extent, but very hit and miss with the lineup. My printer definitely seems to produce more consistent results if it has had a "warm up" with a couple of test prints before running the decal paper through.

I have had reasonable success with getting the decals to settle into panel lines with repeated applications of Microset, they definitely seem to be settled well on to the surface as i can see still my rough paint job !!

I did try cutting some black stripes directly from a black block, using a new Exacto, in an attempt to make a decal that has no clear film at the edge. No success so far as the knife breaks up the ink, so it looks as if cutting as close to the edge of the colour is the way to go at the minute. I did try abusing a couple of them with a liberal dose of Tamiya X20-A, not for the faint hearted considering its the thinner used for the paintjob, i does work, but does tend to leave a more pronounced stain around the decal.

I would like to try another make of decal softener that is more aggressive than Micro Set if anyone could suggest one

I have tried placing a couple of decals on the rocket engine bell you can see behind the plane, these was painted with Tamiya acrylics, then a coat of Winsor & Newton gloss varnish. Just wanted to see how the W&N would react with the decal solutions. So far in smallish doses the Microset has no effect on it. The Microsol when applied to it turned it a milky colour, and i thought oh dear that's not so clever, but when the Microsol dries the varnish reverted to the gloss finish

The next stage will be to give the wings a clearcoat to see if the staining and the clear film are hidden.

One new tip that i picked up from watching a few you tube videos was to use a makeup sponge to press down on the decal when it is in its final position, so far have found this a far better method than using a q-tip or a tissue

In my first spell of model making I (a long time ago) I didn’t really know about, or attempt any weathering, so all this is a bit new to me. You tube wasn’t about then, so these days it is a bonus that there is a goldmine of information there. But there is a rider inasmuch that sometimes there is a lot of conflicting information out there and sometimes you can be left confused as to what will or won’t work. I’ve reconciled myself to the point of view that watching a lot of videos on certain subjects will give me some ideas of how to go about things, then it’s a case of testing and experimenting to see what works for me.

Before I started these builds, I did a lot of googling and looking at other peoples builds and how they finished their V2’s and they ranged from simple pin washes to pre-shading with mist coats. Being my first go I am going the simple route and am following Andy’s Hobbies build. That being a bit of dry brushing on the firing table and some panel line accent added to the rocket stage.

All of the testing and fiddling about I have posted here has been done with achieving that finish. The only real decision to make now is to decide when to add the decals in the sequence. There are some more tests with the varnish side of things, including some VMS varnish. I’ve heard some very good words said about it, including that it sprays straight out of the bottle, no messing with thinning and retarders etc. I also want to try and find a more “aggressive” decal softener.

Where I am at so far with all of this is that so far when used in moderation, and in varying combinations, all of the products in the picture below have done the job as advertised and have not had any adverse reactions with each other

The top side of the left wing was glossed and then black and grey panel line accents added. The grey is quite subtle, the black very brutal against the white. The W&N low odour thinners works a treat for cleaning up unwanted panel line accent. That was after I discovered the knack of not using much at all, being patient and waiting for the panel accent to nearly dry, and scrubbing away at smudges with a tissue very slightly dampened with the thinner

A closer view of the wing, including bits of errant fluff. Since i initially sprayed the wings i have tweaked the paint/thinner ratio of the and have managed to get a nicer finish. Currently at 70% thinner 30% paint and a drop of Tamiya retarder per 5ml of the mix.

Next up with the experimental stage was to try out the Winsor and Newton matt varnish on the bottom of the wings to see how it would work on top of the decals. The varnish was thinned with distilled water at 80% varnish 20% Water, for every ml of mix a drop of flow improver added. The flow improver is premixed with the water prior to adding the varnish. Sprayed at 15 PSI. Two coats sprayed semi wet, with 30minutes between each coat.

The varnish sprayed and worked really well. A very flat finish was achieved and any staining from the decal chemicals was obscured. The clear decal film was also “obscured”

Here is a before and after, there are a couple of areas that would always remain visible near the leading edge. These were the areas that received the maximum abuse with x20-A thinner and the paint finish was damaged

Continuing on with the trial the next area to be attacked was the upper right wing which was at this stage coated with X-2 Gloss white. Here it was an exercise in masking, spraying X-1XF flat black, and topping it with a coat of Satin Varnish.

Wing masked using Tamiya tape

Two of the sections had a mist coat of white sprayed along the edges of the tape to prevent any bleed through. After I had sprayed thew black I watched a video produced by Paul Budzek and basically, he reckoned that with good masking discipline it is not necessary, and further shows how it is in fact a “bad practice” as it can lead to a less well-defined edge and excessive paint build up

Three coats of paint, which was thinned 70 thinner-30 paint, with 1 drop paint retarder per ml of mix. Sprayed at 15 PSI. An hour left between coats

Left overnight and the masking removed. Then 3 coats of Winsor & Newton Satin varnish, which was prepared 3ml varnish, 0.6ml Water, 4 drops flow improver.

The finished wing

The edges are well defined on the real thing, this is not a very good hi res photo

As a lot of the paints, varnishes etc are new to me and it is a big learning curve I decided to keep a spreadsheet to log all the paint thinning ratios, spraying pressures and any other relevant info

I have also found so far that the best results obtained with the Tamiya acrylics are gained when they are “Overthinned”, by this I don’t mean that too much thinner is used, it is a phrase I have coined for when a mix that contains more thinner than paint. This method is something I have picked up from discussions in Facebook modelling forums, notably the Scale Modellers Critique Group. By thinning the paint this way, the spraying pressure can also be lowered to around 15psi. My first attempt with spraying the white was carried out with a 50-50 mix sprayed at 20 psi, this gave a pebbly rough finish. Thinning the paint more and reducing the pressure gave a quantum leap in appearance and finish.

I have also been paying more attention to spraying pressures, and accurately setting them. I have found that to achieve consistent results when spraying paints that are very well thinned an accurate and repeatable pressure setting to within one or two PSI is very helpful

This firstly got me looking at the pressure gauges on the outlet of my compressor and seeing the increments were in 2.5psi. A gauge graduated in 0.5 PSI increments was sourced and I started with adding a quick connect to the inlet and plugging it on to the end of the flexi line to set the pressure regulator.

This method is ok, but a bit of a fiddle as some airflow is needed after changing the regulator setting so that the new setting takes effect and settles down to a steady pressure. This meant taking the gauge off and allowing some air to flow and then putting it back on to check the new setting. The other thing I have noticed is that there is about a 3psi pressure drop from the static setting to when there is flow in the system when the airbrush trigger is depressed You might say why didn’t you just put the new gauge on at the regulator end and be done with it. A couple of reasons really, one being pressure drop which even over a 3m flexi pipe may be negligible but I was still interested to take it into account. The other being that there was quite a discussion in a FB group recently about the use and function of a MAC valve. The discussion was about the differences in a regulated pressure/airflow provided from the spring adjusted regulator versus the throttled airflow/pressure upstream of a MAC valve. This has tweaked my interest enough that I have ordered some adaptors and intend to mount the gauge on a tee piece and quick connects in such a manner that the gauge can be mounted at the end of the flexi with the airbrush as well. I will then be able to regulate the pressure and know with absolute confidence what pressure is being applied at the inlet of the brush whilst the trigger is fully depressed. I can also mount a MAC valve and place the gauge up and downstream of it and see what effects it has.

It’s four or so days later and the fittings I ordered came and were used to make up the set up as below

And it works a treat, the tee piece and gauge sit between the end of the flexi and the airbrush. The pressure with the air flowing can be set within 0.5 psi. Then I remove it, as it is on quick connects, and carry on painting. It may seem a little over the top, but as I am relearning techniques and using different paints than previously, I feel the need for accuracy and repeatability in my set up. Hopefully if I can set everything up exactly every time then any problems I may have may be just down to technique, and this should help me troubleshoot things.

Now at the stage where it’s time to start thinking about getting the black sections painted. With the help of Excel and some screen shots the dimensions of the pattern were worked out as ratios. Then the model is measured, and using the ratios from the pattern calculated to a dimension applicable for the model

All set up and ready for a masking session

Masked up and being painted

All good, just a few minor repairs needed

I also needed to carry out the calculation for the vertical dimensions of the black and white sections on the tail fins. So out came the trusty excel spreadsheet, and basically printed out a screen grab of the graphics, measured all the dimensions. A table is made containing the dimensions. Then each dimension is turned into a ratio of the overall length. Then a second table is then made for the model and the known dimensions are put in, and are also expressed as ratios. The only gaps in the model table now are the dimensions that will determine the decal and painting demarcation lines. These can now be calculated. The easiest way I can explain this is to work through one example, that being the height of the top band from the mid-section datum line. I know the distance measured on the printout was 84mm which works out as 33.1% of the overall measured length of 253.5mm. The model measures in at 514mm, and 33.1% of that is 162mm. This was repeated for the rest of the missing dimensions. A further “sanity” check was done using a table from an old model rocketeer magazine. This table has taken dimensions from 13 different sources, compared them and produced a “Recommended Dimensions for all V2 Models” column. These were expressed as 1-35^th and then compared to the Takom sizes, they were all pretty much within a couple of mm or so, the only slight difference was the profile of the fins, but nothing too far off.

The important dimensions were plucked from the morass of numbers and placed onto one handy graphic

This was then combined with quadrant views of the rocket to give a visual aid for masking and painting

Is all of this completely necessary, probably not, I could probably have just looked at it and used the mk1 eyeball to get it somewhere in the ballpark. But it is something I enjoy doing, and when your eye tells you something is amiss and you can prove it by calculation, I think it is a worthwhile exercise

Masking and painting next up

The boatail was a wee bit grainy here and there as can be seen, this was down to the white coat. I will give it a fettle up prior to the clearcoats

Overall, it turned out really well apart from the white paint peeling off in a couple of areas when the masking was removed. This was totally down to me and overzealous masking, wrapping to many layers of tape around a sharp fin edge.

So off to the repair shop, luckily both were in small areas where a single panel could be sanded, masked and repainted.

Whilst the primer was drying the WAC second stage needed some detailing, a black tip and one black fin were needed

Bumper 5 & Number 13 had been receiving a lot of attention lately, and since the RUD incident No 47 was feeling a bit left out.

The fins were reattached, and some of the scribe lines were filled and redone and it was painted white.

The same jiggery pokery as used for the Bumper with an excel spreadsheet was employed to produce a set of dimensions for masking up to paint the black & silver sections

The Silver was painted first, using Vallejo White Aluminium. I know that Vallejo paints are like marmite, and certain sections of the modelling fraternity seem to absolutely detest them. I like the metallic range and they serve a purpose for me.

The nosecone masked and painted

Of the three models this is definitely the “weakest” of the three in terms of finish. Partly down to the quality of the kit, and partly down to my current skillset. It’s the first “full” resin kit I have tackled, learnt a lot and think I can definitely turn out improved work in the future.

This is the Blossom variant of the V2 and differs from the standard V2 by the addition of an extension to the fuselage. It was lengthened by an amount that was the same as one diameter. This extra length was used to install a parachute recovery system. Flight 47, or to give it the full title Blossom IV-B also carried a monkey onboard, called Albert II.

If I was to build this variant again, I think I would use the Revell 1-72^nd kit and graft an extra section into the main fuselage. I do have a Revell kit and it is very well detailed and looks like a nice kit to build.

If you are looking for information and references about the White Sands program, I can highly recommend the Beggs Aerospace website called postwarv2

http://www.postwarv2.com/

The bottom section masked up and painted

In between times some more work on the Takom-Bumper 5. The second stage WAC also has a silver stripe on it. One edge is close to the spin motor cowlings, and coupled with the fact there are two cable ducts in the area as well masking it successfully looks very tricky. I decided to see what a decal would look like instead. I have a spare WAC, so duly printed off some stripes and had a play. By the third attempt it looked OK, so I think that’s the way I will go with.

The aft section has had the repairs done to the white areas that peeled from the unmasking, just a couple of minor touch ups to the black areas and it will be ready for a coat of varnish

Been pretty much hopping between the three models over the last ten days and here is where I am at.

No47 has had the decals applied, and a coat or two of Winsor & Newton Galeria. I am pretty happy with the Galeria and have got the hang of using the Matt and the Satin. The gloss is a different story, as of yet every time I used it I made a right pigs ear of it, good job it was on the test model

Hopped across the No13, this was dirtied a little with some panel line wash, I used Tamiya grey panel line accent

The firing tables had a slight amount of weathering. Just a little bit of dry brushing, and few faint streaks added to the tapered sections. It has just broken up the uniform grey

The B-5 decals added to the Bumper, and a coat off matt clear

No13 with the camera reinstalled, and a coat of satin, is pretty much finished

As I have touched on previously the aftermarket decals, I had for the Bumper were originally designed for a different kit, so some tweaking was required. It has “forced” me into learning how to use Inkscape to a higher level. Previously I had only used it for importing, resizing and reprinting stuff. Now getting up to speed with a few more basic functions, and so managed to import a scan of the decals. Then trace them and pull out the single piece I wanted to modify.

In this shot the original is the bottom stripe, the new larger one above. Some of my methods are a little unconventional for resizing, still learning.

I then printed the new stripe, but unfortunately, I still am getting a few erratic results when printing larger black areas. I did invest in some microscale clear decal paper, and luckily on a whim I also bought a couple of sheets of matt black trim film. Using the “failed” decal I had printed as a pattern and a new one was cut from the sheet of trim film

Setup and ready to go for the Bumper stripes

Horizontal stripes applied to the boat tail and main sections, only leaving the vertical stripes to go

Vertical stripes being applied. They were also cut from the Microscale trim film. Through all of this I have been using Microset when initially applying the decal, and the UMP decal setting solutions to get them to conform. I cannot speak highly enough of the UMP solutions. The extra strong is very aggressive, but in no way has it damaged the paintwork or the varnish.

So that has nearly wrapped things up on the rockets, just a few minor dings here and there to repair, a bit of clearcoat and they are done. The firing table on the Bumper still needs a tad of work.