Lakeroadster's F-79 Lone Wolf

[kuririn]

Inkjet decal paper needs to be clear coated before dipping it in water.
EDIT: I may have misunderstood. The streaking is produced from the printer?
Try cleaning the print heads or using a new cartridge.

 

[mbeels]

Try cleaning the print heads or using a new cartridge.

I was going to suggest that. I remember our inkjet printer had a "clean" setting, it would supposedly automatically clean the printer head which maybe helped a little. I also remember that different inkjet cartridges were better or worse than others.

 

[Greg Furtman]

1) Yep.. Testors Decal Paper
2) No paper settings on this printer.... but I do use the manual rear feed slot so the paper doesn't have to curl.

@lakeroadster See if there are different setting in the printer software. That's where for most printers I've seen the paper type settings are. And run several head cleaning sessions to see if helps. If not you may need to replace the printer heads. Also, look down into the area where the heads are cleaned. If it is all gunked up use some isopropyl alcohol and q-tips to clean it up.

 

[lakeroadster]

Inkjet decal paper needs to be clear coated before dipping it in water.
EDIT: I may have misunderstood. The streaking is produced from the printer?
Try cleaning the print heads or using a new cartridge.

I've been using regular Rustoleum Clear Semi-Gloss... seems to work.

The streaking is from the paper dragging across the printer as it feeds through.... there are no settings in the software, regular or advanced, for different paper thicknesses..

 

[Greg Furtman]

I've been using regular Rustoleum Clear Semi-Gloss... seems to work.

The streaking is from the paper dragging across the printer as it feeds through.... there are no settings in the software, regular or advanced, for different paper thicknesses..

I'd try setting the printer for photo gloss paper. On my inkjet it slows down the feed rate so the ink has a chance to dry more so things don't get streaky.

 

[lakeroadster]

I'd try setting the printer for photo gloss paper. On my inkjet it slows down the feed rate so the ink has a chance to dry more so things don't get streaky.

Gloss paper... that's not an option on our printer either...

 

[Greg Furtman]

Gloss paper... that's not an option on our printer either...

@lakeroadster What type of computer do you have? What OS?

 

[Greg Furtman]

See if this helps.
https://support.brother.com/g/s/id/...#GUID-4ED95FDF-E3C4-4F35-808E-8AAEA2D5ABBF_30

 

[lakeroadster]

@neil_w @mbeels thanks for the tip on painting a coat of base color, then the top color. I tried that on the red nose cone tip today and it worked pretty good.

 

[Greg Furtman]

@neil_w @mbeels thanks for the tip on painting a coat of base color, then the top color. I tried that on the red nose cone tip today and it worked pretty good.
View attachment 420526

Now that is purdy!

 

[Nytrunner]

I bet it'd look cool if you took some sharpie or black paint to those gun ports in the nose

 

[lakeroadster]

I bet it'd look cool if you took some sharpie or black paint to those gun ports in the nose

You know it! Plan is to paint the cannon ports Gun Metal...

 

[lakeroadster]

Added the blue to the nose cone... and left a white stripe between the 2 colors.

 

[mbeels]

Wow, excellent masking job! That is not an easy shape or location.

 

[neil_w]

Wow, excellent masking job! That is not an easy shape or location.

Indeed, really well done. Did you use any particular technique to do the curves? They look very clean from here.

 

[lakeroadster]

Indeed, really well done. Did you use any particular technique to do the curves? They look very clean from here.

I layed a strip blue painters tape onto my plastic cutting board, then used an x-acto knife to cut a strip just a little wider than 1/16" wide. I used that to lay out the curves, putting the fresh cut edge toward the area that was to be painted. Using the cut edge ensures that nice clean non contaminated edge that you folks discussed earlier.

Next I used regular 3/4" wide masking tape over that, but ensuring the blue tape edge was exposed as the edge sealer.

Then anything I didn't want painted I masked with newspaper.

Headed out to the barn, chucked the masked nose cone in my wood lathe.... With the lathe turning at it's slowest speed I applied a light coat of white, waited 15 minutes, applied a light coat of blue, waited 5 minutes and applied a final coat of blue.

After waiting 20 minutes I removed the mask.

 

[lakeroadster]

I revised the decals and printed them again. They came out a lot nicer. Also included a decal for the air inlets in the side pods. Hoping that will give them the effect of being jet engine intakes.

I'm thinking I'm going to paint the red and blue stripes on the wings... the decal colors are just too light and not really the right shade.

 

[lakeroadster]

Painted the red stripe on the wing yesterday, and the blue stripe today.

Using blue painters tape, cut longitudinally with an X-Acto knife, seems to make for really crisp paint lines. It provides a very clean edge on the tape. This is my third use of that technique and thus far it's worked great each time.

Next up... applying decals, then I'll finish up by painting some details with a brush.

 

[lakeroadster]

Applied the decals... next up, some hand brush painting of the cockpit, tail and some other details.

 

[mbeels]

Very nice! Looking really good with decals on. Hopefully we'll see some flight shots soon.

 

[neil_w]

Looks lovely.

 

[Daddyisabar]

Purdy!

 

[lakeroadster]

Knocked out most of the hand painted details yesterday. Need to let the paint cure for a few days, then spray on some clear.

 

[kuririn]

Nice work.
Not a criticism but wondering why the "5" on the side is upside down?

 

[Greg Furtman]

Really purdy!! Can't wait for a video of its first flight.

 

[lakeroadster]

Well.. it's done. Applied some gloss clear and did a broom handle video shoot.

Just in time for the 4th of July..

 

[neil_w]

Beautiful results!

 

[kuririn]

You need to build five more by tomorrow.

 

[lakeroadster]

You need to build five more by tomorrow.
View attachment 423090

I'll toss it in the replicator once it finishes with my Romulan Ale... ;-)

 

[Greg Furtman]

It turned out beautiful. Very impressive!