Plastic Thunderhawk Gunship

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the reassurance! The damage/chipping/weathering will be the final step, once I get the whole thing assembled and painted to more-or-less the level in the previous photos.

 

I think I might've gotten a bit overzealous yesterday and made my life - again - slightly more difficult. I 'installed' the rear landing gear without finishing some of the details on the underside so now, I'll have to watch out for the 'prongs' while handling the model.  But I count it as something positive, I'd even dare to say passion-driven :D

 

If time permits, I should finish the bottom plate today and glue it on. That'll leave me with some minor plasticard work (gap-filling and greebling).

 

As you can see, the original model has a 'frame' or 'skirting' (I don't really know how to call it) along the edges of the bottom that I still need to recreate and will cleverly use to hide some of the misfits (yeah, it would've been more clever to avoid these issues in the first place).

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

I'll echo what @TheArtilleryman said.  

 

I think it's one of those things where taping the surface to get a crisp line for the stripe probably won't work? (I'm thinking of Tamiya's modelling tape)

[MetalFingers]

This hasbeen an insane log to catch up on, incredible build!!!

[Brother Christopher]

On 3/5/2025 at 1:19 PM, Firedrake Cordova said:

I think it's one of those things where taping the surface to get a crisp line for the stripe probably won't work? (I'm thinking of Tamiya's modelling tape)

 

I've already tried some masking tape but it was a bit problematic since sometimes the paint got under it and other times the glue ripped bits of paint. I'm postponing the decision till I get more done. Right now, it isn't bad. I think that my mistake was to attempt to paint a brighter grey line along the edges to set it off from the black; while the stripe is quite okay, the line is more way more messy.

 

On 3/5/2025 at 3:25 PM, MetalFingers said:

This hasbeen an insane log to catch up on, incredible build!!!

 

Thanks for your time! I'm glad you liked the build!

 

***

So, in terms of progress, painting has stopped and I got back to finishing the fuselage, i.e. adding missing details, dealing with the remaining gaps and trying to refine/fix some of my previous mistakes. Surprisingly, the process takes longer than I expected and is a bit draining and annoying. Unsurprisingly, while doing it I'm messing the paintjob up. 

 

The extremely good news is that the landing gear is sturdy enough to support the weight of the model. That was one of my two biggest concerns, the other being the connection between the front and back sections of the craft. Since I built the cargo bay all those years ago and it's a hollow construction, I couldn't find a way to properly reinforce it. Luckily the reinforcement/support structures I've added seem to be enough - the entire thing appears to be sturdy.

 

I'll post photos after I finish this stage of plasticard work, hopefully today or tomorrow. The next stage is to paint and attach the tail.

[Grotsmasha]

25 minutes ago, Brother Christopher said:

I've already tried some masking tape but it was a bit problematic since sometimes the paint got under it and other times the glue ripped bits of paint.

To prevent the paint seeping under the tape, paint the original colour over the tape first, this will seep under the tape, then do desired colour, leaving the top coat with crisp lines

[Sir Clausel]

1 hour ago, Grotsmasha said:

To prevent the paint seeping under the tape, paint the original colour over the tape first, this will seep under the tape, then do desired colour, leaving the top coat with crisp lines

Why have i never thought of this before?! Genius!

[Brother Christopher]

@Grotsmasha That's what I tried but it didn't always work out. I suppose it might have something to do with the fact that this is a scratch built model and the plasticard, well, was exposed to different kinds of treatment - maybe there is the very slight unevenness that somehow affected how the tape adhered. For example, I noticed that I had more problems with sections of the model where the top layer was a 0.25 mm layer of plasticard glued on top of the main model. I don't remember having similar issues when doing stripes on GW's original kits.

 

Regardless, thanks for the advice!

 

Here are the promised photos of the updates and fixes. I figured that this is the best moment to post them since they're still white and it makes it clear what I added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for the white balance, which is all over the place, in the photos. I used auto settings without giving it much thought and, well, now I see that it struggled. Then again, these should do as WIP shots.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Looks great!

 

In regards to tape that doesn't remove your paint job, I find painters tape works better - its typically green in colour and available at home improvement type stores like Home Depot and the like.  That said, I too have had problems with the paint seeping to where I don't want it, so generally find it easier to use the painter's tape and a pencil to draw the line, then paint carefully up to it.  That's how I did the straight lines on the top of my maulerfiends, for example.

[Brother Carpenter]

It is a thing of beauty.

Unmatched ZEAL

 

I've had problems with paint adherence when plasticard / resin model was not degreased enough.

 

Maybe that's your issue.