I have the trump 1/72 f-107 kit. I want to build it, but it continues to sit in the stash because I just can't get comfortable with the painting sequence. Should you paint it overall red, mask it, and then paint the NMF. Or, paint the NMF, try and seal then mask and paint the red. I would really appreciate hearing from those who have built this kit and how you handled this.

Thanks in advance!
Karl

. . . except for the hot section of the engine compartment, so that might make you rethink.

I thouht that since there was just three prototypes it would have been bare metal except the red decorations. Do you have a good recipe for aluminum Lacquer finish using model master paints? I have played with this a little bit, mixing silver and aircraft grey on the weapons pod for my B-58. Hardly noticable from the overall flat aluminum on the rest of the plane. I do have a couple of other projects that are going to need aluminum lacquer finish, so it's a process I'd like to learn to master.

Thanks for your help.

way back before Model Master etc., I'd recommend doing the red last.

Red has a tendency to be a very persistent color, and it may very well bleed through the silver/natural metal.

Also, I have to practically tear my airbrush down to the frame to get it really clean after painting red. If I don't the following colors have a pinkish cast.

Jim

Retirement is so great, I don't know why I didn't start 20 years ago.

I hate airbrushing red. Recently I like to use red Tamiya spray can laquer after a coat of their primer white laquer. No clean up necessary.

After decades of study, it has become obvious that Murphy was an optimist...

My girl - well she's kind of an ugly girl. But,that's O.K. I like ugly girls. Because pretty girls can do anything, but ugly girls have to do everything.
-John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie

to paint the F-107 with red! Seriuoly though. I think it might be easier to use red decal sheet. I heard somewhere that Trumpeter released some of these with decals for the red. Mine didn't have it, and is main reason I got rid of kit.

A deal, deal! Maybe He's a Republican?
60 feet of bridge I can get almost anywhere. Schmuck!

. . . branding of the Trumpeter kit (for Japan?) that had the decals for the red areas.

I built one of these several years ago. I believe that the painting instructions for the red area were incorrect. Interestingly the artist's drawing on the box was correct
John

But IIRC, they don't match the artwork in the kit.

A deal, deal! Maybe He's a Republican?
60 feet of bridge I can get almost anywhere. Schmuck!

Hi Karl,

i have the F-107 kit in my stash, plus i've given the AMM article a good read. A couple of points. Forgive me if some of these sound a bit repetitive.

1) As Paul Boyer correctly pointed out, the F-107s were delivered in silver paint; much like a late F-105 Thunderchief. This greatly simplifies the masking and handling issues in terms of all the metal finishes available. Your 2 biggest issues are going to ruggedness (ability to withstand masking), and finding a silver paint with very fine grain. I'd avoid the Metalizer buffing finishes because of the risk of the fine metal particles getting embedded in the red paint by accident. The one exception to this is the "hot section" on the aft fuselage. The non-buffing finishes might work but i haven't tried them.

In terms of what's reliable, i'd suggest you take a look at Floquil Old Silver and Floquil Platinum Mist. I'm a strong proponent of SnJ although there's a very loyal following to Alclad. For the darker area on the aft fuselage, what i would suggest is sand the area down with maybe 2000 grit, and mask it off (although the whole model will probably be sanded down with 2000 grit). When all of the other painting is done, remove the tape, mask off the "hot " section and spray it with Model Master Gloss Black. When dry after maybe 24 hours, follow up by spraying one of the Model Master Metalizer colours, or more likely a mix between two. I have found that the buffing metalizer colours will "bite" into Model Master enamel, whereas it just sort of "sits" on bare plastic and lifts right off. i used this technique for the back end of my F-8, and once i came up with a shade of burnt metal i was happy with, it worked great.

If you stick (no pun intended) to Tamiya Tape i don't think you will have problems lifting paint provided the plastic is clean. Use latex gloves for handling the model, and i find a sharp pair of tweezers indispensable for laying down and lifting up the tape.

2) One of the comments made elsewhere is a glitch with the painting instructions for the red. One of the (few) issues with the F-107 kit is that the angle of the canopy sill is wrong, and it becomes obvious if you try to replicate the paint scheme exactly (or should i say, "properly"?) You're on your own with regard to how you want to deal with this issue.

3) The F-107 had an all-flying tailplane and vertical fin. During construction i'd engineer some pivot points for the empennage so you can install these items after painting, decaling and weathering. No glue required, and no nasty intersection seams to fill. Yay!!

4) In terms of painting sequence, i'd lay on the silver, and then mask off and lay the red on top of the silver. I'm not sure if a white undercoat is required, but what i would probably do is build up the red in several thin layers (a couple of painting sessions) so the red paint dries faster. Once the red paint is on and dry, i'd probably take a cotton t-shirt and some toothpaste and rub out the red paint a little bit before removing the masking. And, if you find a glitch or a booger on the metal finish, just carefully wet sand the affected area with 2000 grit (or finer) and re-spray the affected area.

Don't know if this answers all your questions but hope it helps.

Cheers,

david

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It's only a hobby..it's only a hobby..it's -

I'm likely the odd man out here, but I'd mask the canopy, paint the frames black, then paint the whole airplane white then red. After the red is fully cured, I'd mask and paint the silver using MM Aluminum non-buffing Metalizer and then seal the whole lot with Future (or whatever they are calling it now). Once that is done, I'd mask for the unpainted aft fuselage (low-tack tape or maybe the wet newspaper trick) and use various buffing metalizers for that area.

I've done quite a few 56FG P-47s over the years, and have used metalizer over red with coverage problems. The metal pigment is dense enough to shut down any tendency for the red to bleed through, especially if one waits until the red is fully cured before applying the silver.