F-104A - 83rd FIS (Hasegawa 1/72 custom)
Comments
39 21 December 2022, 05:28
Ogre-TromboneI used Micro Metal Foil Adhesive. It brushes on regular aluminum foil quite neatly. Once it's dry, you cut an appropriately shaped piece and burnish it into place with a cotton swab. Then you can use a rounded toothpick to press it into details like rivets and panel lines. The glue is pressure activated and bonds quite well, though the edges can be fragile. It's painstaking, patient work, but it's satisfying. There's a pretty good tutorial here: finescale.com/online..e-with-aluminum-foil
I did have some trouble with the varnish. Someone had recommended applying a layer of Quick Shine as a Future replacement before placing the decals. This was a mistake. I've since had better luck with GX100, but I've also read that you can forgo the first gloss layer and just apply your decals over the bare foil. I think I'll test this out next time.
27 May 2023, 05:27
Robert BarkoskiThank you for the info. The process reminds me of vinyl application. I've used Quickshine before with cars. What did it do to the foil?
29 May 2023, 05:12
Ogre-Trombone@Robert Barkoski, the Quick Shine was very fragile and tended to flake off, leaving some odd jagged edges.
29 May 2023, 15:37
Album info
I wanted to build the short-lived interceptor version of the Starfighter, the F-104A. I had a bunch of discontinued Eduard photoetch kits for the Hasegawa 1/72 kit, so that's the one I chose. The ancient decals I'd bought disintegrated, so I printed my own. The natural metal finish was achieved with household aluminum foil. It's not 100% accurate, but for a first effort I think it turned out pretty well.
