Titan IV (USAF)
Photo of the subject rocket
I''m embarrassed to even document the current stage of this project, but I'm doing it in the hopes it will motivate me to salvage the kit. I pulled this out of storage in progress by a younger and less patient version of myself. I wasn't impressed with the quality of the kit, so I remember giving up and just trying to finish it. In my haste, I made it bad enough I just didn't want to display it. My plan is to strip, sand, and re-etch this to at least the point of being a "looks good from 3 feet away" kit.
This kit from Realspace had some serious issues. The panel lines separating the segments were very crooked, uneven width and depth. I initially tried to file them out, but that only made them look worse. I'm now going the route of filling them with putty, and I will apply black stripe decals in their place after I sand them smooth.
Sanded everything smooth as I could and primed with Mr. Surfacer 1000. This revealed a few more problem areas. Some I will fix with putty. The rest I plan to fix with some relatively thick decal bands.
Using Dymo labeling tape to try to get the putty in a somewhat straight line on this assembly.
I believe I may go crawl under a rock now... obviously the Tamiya paint did not react well with the primer. I must have put too much on and it saturated through.
I used oven cleaner to strip the primer and paint off the assembly. Hopefully it also stripped the curse that seems to be on this project!
Resuming my crimes against model rocketry... that's a lot of green putty.
Filled, sanded, and polished. Looks kind of ugly now, but looking forward to adding a nice coat of surfacing primer!
Primed the areas that will get a white overcoat. Will prime the metallic areas black after this dries.
First coat of white revealed a few more flaws. I applied some more putty... more waiting!
Commentaires
12 5 February 2023, 21:46
TreehuggerI think the many shiny bands could be made with a chrome pen and some thin styrene perhaps. Chrome pens will/might have different sized tips.
6 March 2023, 04:55
TreehuggerI can recommend Vallejo's white putty (water based) for smoothing out cracks and other blemishes on the plastic, easy to apply and not obnoxious like Tamiya's putty. Iirc, Vallejo putty is made with marble powder I think I read. A trick is to thin it, on a platter, but too thin and there is little filling power.
Vallejo putty is best removed with a sharp blade to cut off the top, then sand it flush with coarse and then fine sanding stick.
6 March 2023, 04:56
Dean HarpsterGreat tips, I haven't tried the Vallejo putty, only Tamiya white and I still have some Squadron green putty. I'm liking the Tamiya Mr. Dissolved Putty... not as toxic as sprue goo!
6 March 2023, 05:27
Album info
This model commemorates the eleven Titan IV missions launched from CCAS while I was stationed there. One highlight was the launch of Cassini–Huygens, a pair of probes sent to Saturn, the only non-military flight for the Titan IV.
