TOPIC: Sabre for L2HP

Wow. This attention to detail is staggering! Looking real good and an inspiration to us all to do "better next time".

Here is my temporary assembly of the Sabre wings and fuselage after painting the undersides with Oasis Super Silver floral spray paint. It seemed a long tedious session masking it all off as I had to avoid getting paint on the gluing surfaces and even though the parts were all painted separately it only took a few seconds! I think it has come out fairly well, it shows every tiny blemish of course, but it is the brightest and lightest sliver I have found and am happy with it. If it is good enough for Chris Starleaf it is good enough for me, if you know different let us all know. 40ml spray cans can be obtained through florists shop suppliers.
I did have trouble with this paint on my Stratojet profile model as it has cracked somewhat where the solid balsa surfaces have been flexed, it may be because I had sprayed it onto the Johnson Klear that I had finished the balsa with. So far my tests on Airspan and thin dope which I have done on this model look OK, fingers crossed.
I admit that there has been quite a pause in getting on with the Sabre due to distractions flying rubber models on the local R/C patch with a pal since lockdown started to ease. It was much needed, but had to spend some time with repairs and fettling to get them back into flying condition. Hopefully I will be able to get the Sabre finished by the time the Army lets us back on Salisbury Plain where it is big enough to fly Rapiers without worrying about trees and barbed wire fences, ouch.

Hi Howard,
this is looking good. Oasis silver is not something I've tried, but the texture and reflectivity look good. As to 'showing up every blemish' ... once you add control surface, panel lines, national markings etc these are inconsequential .... honest!

Like me, your rate of new model production is in the region of 0.03 'Rackstraws'. Daniel seems capable of making a new model in about three days: us old guys take three months, i.e. a rate of 1/31 = 0.03 Rackstraws (or, as we will now call it, the 'R' number.

What's next?

Wow...I wish I could build that well. Amazing work.

Thanks Daniel but I have seen your models close up and you are already there, no worries, I wish I could speed it up a bit though.

Due to other distractions I have been off this project for quite a while so am hoping to get back to it very shortly.
I had found the Oasis silver is very fragile and you cannot put any tape on it for masking with pulling off some of the paint, yuck, so I will airbrush on a thin coat of Johnson's Klear (my last few drops of it!!!) to protect it before I start masking for the camo in a week or so. Well that's the plan.

Very interested in the discussion of a silver/aluminium finish, as the FD2 will be finished 'au naturel, and I, for one have been dissatisfied with the silver models I have made so far. One of the most realistic metallic finishes so far I have seen was on an Aerographics Su-7. I forget who the builder was, but he had achieved a range of effects, from silvery to dull/weathered aluminium with a basic sprayed silver car paint followed by rubbing in finely ground pencil lead. I think this was sealed in with a coat of satin varnish.





Does this ring a bell with anybody else?

Ivan Taylor's EE Lightning is also quite realistic
Ivan's Lightning

achieved with (I think) artist's acrylic silver and grey brushed on.