That looks fantastic.  Great job!

I especially like how the colors and layout on the stab are the inverse of what's on the wing.

-Mike

hmmm thought I had posted a reply on here last night, how very strange,,

anyway, Randy, I like it, it is in fact simple, your masking methodology worked out well and I bet it really sped up the masking process for you. It should look pretty spiffy all cleared up, and weight sure doesnt sound like an issue.
Hope the Avenger works out as well for me,,

Thanks Guys.

>>I especially like how the colors and layout on the stab are the inverse of what's on the wing.<<

Mike,

Yea, if I would have expended a bit more effort, I would have moved the whole scheme onto the elevators, sweeping it up onto the stab, but I didn't want to mess with matching setup exactly. Probably just laziness on my part, but this should work out OK. I plan to test mount the elevators and I'll see what I have. may have to add something, but I think it will be OK.

BTW, that wavy checkerboard is really easy to do. I used some vinyl adhesive material from Office Depot and it is very easy to work with. I took some paper and traced out the outline using the rudder and bottom block shapes. then drew out the checkerboard I wanted. Transferred that onto the vinyl and cut it out with a No. 11 scalpel (they are a lot sharper than hobby blades. A lot). Then I laid down vinyl tape for the outline (Finesse Pinstripping tape) and stuck on the vinyl paper cutouts for the checkerboad. Shot a thin coat of clear over it to seal then shot the colors. Pretty easy, really. Better than doing it all in pinstripe tape, that's certain.

What you can't really see in the pictures but I hope shows up in the sun is, the checkerboard goes from a GM color called Blue Steel to a medium charcoal metallic to a silver metallic in a fade. It's pretty subtle. Maybe too subtle. Has the same thing out on the wing tips. I had intended to continue the theme (fade checkerboard) on that dark color on the wing as it went out to the wing tip, but decided that I didn't want to get the thing too busy, so I just used the fade out there. Oh well, I learned something in the process. If you're going to do a fade, use colors that are more dissimilar. I think these were a bit too close and it may be that it is subtle to the point of invisible. Sigh... Nice idea, anyway.

I'm debating on outlining the blue and red in black (or possibly use a dark red and dark blue for the outline). We'll see.

Mark,

This is the first paint scheme I've done in awhile where the colors don't butt up against each other. This allowed me to tape the scheme all at once. Usually, when I do stuff that has colors bordering each other, you are stuck with taping and masking, pulling tape, re-taping and masking, pulling tape, etc. and it takes forever. this is a bit easier. In the future I may try laying down paint color, taping and masking, laying down color and taping and masking over the top sort of process. Man, I have watched way too much Overhaulin'

I thought about inklines, but now I'm really thinking I'll just leave it be and shoot clear. The name and number are on and I think that may be about it. Simple, clean and relatively light.

What's the name?

I'll shoot a picture when it done (which should be soon).

And Steve, Slider is in the name.

Well, I had a setback on this plane. What I get for shooting lacquer in the cold, I guess. Too much thinner in the clear over the decals and they crinkled up. So I'm going have to peel them off, sand the area and reshoot base color. Sigh.... Not a bit deal, but frustrating.

I did find out that there is a new sign company in town here and the guy can do vinyl masks. He's pricing me some masks to redo this right now. If he's not too steep, I'll just do that. Looks better anyway.

Hi Randy,
Just to make you feel better, let me tell you a little story about something that happened to me yesterday:
The wing of my plane was already painted, with trim colors, lettering an all. The masking stuff was removed -except for the lettering vinyl masks- and everything came out just perfect. No paint bleeding, no touch up needed. Really neat!
Next I began to remove the vinyl masks from the lettering and noticed -to my despair- that all of the vinyl adhesive got TRANSFERED to the wing. An absolute and complete DISASTER!!! My blood pressure went down to ZERO for quite a while...
I found NO WAY whatsoever to get rid of that NASTY adhesive.
To make a long story short: I'm RECOVERING the wing on those areas again in this very moment! Which means...doping again...re-shooting base color again...etc.
Frustrating? YOU BET! A major mishap for me.

I must tell you that I always use the same vinyl brand -the lettering on my Voodoo and other planes were done this way- but OBVIOUSLY they DECIDED to change the adhesive this time!

If you plan to use vinyl masks PLEASE be sure to do some tests BEFORE putting them on the plane.

Back to the shop now...

Claudio,

Really sorry to hear that. I know I had some trouble getting adhesive off before without taking the paint off, too. Can be pretty frustrating. Hey, everything has it's drawbacks, I guess.

Mark,

The stuff they guy looks sort of like a more flexible version of Frisket or a thin vinyl of some type. According to the sign guy, the stuff releases easily with a bit of heat. He suggested a hair dryer, though I have a heat gun I can use at low temp. He's cutting the masks right now (and pretty reasonable, too). We'll see what happens.

Randy,
What kind of vinyl do you use for the masks? Brand/type/part number?

Thank you,
Claudio.

Claudio,

For the stencils I cut myself (such as the checkerboard on this plane), I use a vinyl stenciling product sold by Office Depot. I'll have to look up the name and part number. It's out in the shop. But it doesn't seem to be bothered by lacquer.

I don't know the brand that the sign guy is using to cut the stencils. I'll ask when I pick them up tomorrow.

Claudio,

For the stencils I cut myself (such as the checkerboard on this plane), I use a vinyl stenciling product sold by Office Depot. I'll have to look up the name and part number. It's out in the shop. But it doesn't seem to be bothered by lacquer.

I don't know the brand that the sign guy is using to cut the stencils. I'll ask when I pick them up tomorrow.

Thanks Randy.
Please pass me that info when you can.

Thank you Randy.
I think I can get that product here, maybe not the same brand, but something similar.
Good tip!

Thanks again,
Claudio.

Just a note. I shot clear today. Someone please remind me next time to never paint a plane in the middle of winter. Trying to shoot catalysed polyurethane at 51 degrees and 84% humidity is a pain. Didn't come out too bad overall, but I can see a lot of sanding in my future. It's got some serious orange peel. But there's enough clear on to allow me to level it. But still a pain.

Totally experimental finish in that it is easily the lightest finish I've ever done. Looks to come out in the 6oz range. But, like Sparky's last plane, the base color is pretty thin.

When I get it rubbed and assembled, I'll post a picture.

Mark,

Yea, I wienied out and used decals. But they came out pretty good. Just a lot of orange peel. I was afraid to put any more reducer in for fear of a bad reaction. I used a 2 to 1 clear and used 1 part reducer as it was (2-1-1). I was afraid any more than that and I'd have problems.

The moral of the story is don't do finishes in January.

Edit

Went down today and picked up some sandpaper (Wet or Dry 800, 1000 and some 2000) to start sanding (perhaps this evening). Also picked up some rubbing compound, finish compound and finish glaze/swirl remover (was just about out). Now the fun starts. It's a lot easier to do before the plane is assembled.

My two cents worth,
on urethane clear, its a generally bad idea to sand with anything courser than 1200 IMHO, UNLESS you have huge amounts of orange peal or edges to deal with. It takes so so long to sand out the 800 scratches. I try to use the finest paper I can on clear. I also find that when you sand with course paper, it kind of changes the "structure" of the clear, it never seems to polish as easy. I do use 800 to remove runs, big dirt chunks or whatever like that. but only locally.

One other not about sanding, except on clear,, ( although it does apply to some extent) the coarser your paper, the straighter and flatter the surface will be. If you sand with to fine of paper, it just follows the contours and wont cut it flat. Thats why if you have major orange peal or surface texture, then 1200 or in extreme cases, lightly with 800, to cut the tops of the texture, or flaw.
when I cut and polish a car that hasnt any major issues, I will start with 1500 and go to 200o before polishing

I also agree. As I noted, it's a bad idea to shoot clear when the temp is riding near 50° and the humidity is high. I got some wicked orange peel. Even at that, I'm only using the 800 for really bad spots (and, of course, already sanded through on one spot necessitating a reshoot of the cowl - sigh ...) . Most of it is being done with 1500 or 2000 depending on what the area looks like. Then the areas that got 1500 are getting 2000. But so far, it's coming out OK. No show piece, but serviceable.

"No show piece, but serviceable."

Sure, yeah right, we believe that don't we guys?

Randy,

Serviceable is the word. Will look pretty good from 5 feet. It's a pretty uncomplicated scheme and the execution is probably in the not bad to good range. But not excellent. It has the benefit of being light, so that's something. I am promising myself that I will never try to finish a plane in the winter again. That's certain. If I build it in the winter, it goes in the rack to await spring for painting. Unless it's all done with iron on.

Mark,

It should be a good flyer if straight (and it certainly appears to be). A bit heavier than I'd like (aren't they all?) but not at all bad. Certainly in the ballpark (about 55oz on 590 square inches - 2 oz or so lighter than the Ringmaster Deluxe and it's essentially the same plane).

>>Oh by the way, my employment situation is now going to allow me to have more building and finishing time as well<<

Is this because the hours changed, reduced or because you don't have any anymore?

Mark,

Well, I've had a week at my new job. It's OK, but I'm likely to go crazy as it's not very complicated (though others there complain about the work load). The pay is not bad though the hours are longer. Sigh.... I really need to hit the lotto.

More work on the plane. The cowl is repainted and not horrible, but some other problems have come up. Minor, but the paint is so thin, it's not easy to fix. I suspect I'll just move on and finish it up. It will likely be a good flyer, though it will never be a beauty queen. But hey, I've had beauty queens that didn't fly worth spit. I'll take the good flyer that is not as pretty.

Mark,

Yep, started on the 11th. It's 8am to 5:30, so I get a bit more sleep than I did (working 7am to 4pm), but I get to stay up to watch the news. It's OK and it's nice to have a job where I only have to worry about me and my work and not supervise anything or anyone. I can concentrate on models more that way.

I was gone all day shopping with the spouse today (jewelry store, IKEA and the video store - woohoo, I got a new TV finally), so no work on the beast. But I'll be back at it tomorrow and I'm off for MLK day so I get Monday to work on it, too.

Uh...Randy...c'mon, let's see it!  Steve