Refinish a Foam Warbird Ep3 - FMS P-51 Paint Prep & PAINT!
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- Welcome to my how-to series on refinishing a foam warbird (#pimpmyfoamy). In this series we are finishing up our FMS P-51 "Lady Alice" Transformation! In this third video, I show the paint preparation process and discuss painting and markings. You can read the full article including links to the materials I used on my blog at wp.me/p5LuFX-er
See Episode 1 - • Refinish a Foam Warbir...
See Episode 2 - • Refinish a Foam Warbir...
See Episode 4 - • Refinish a Foam Warbir...
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“So that’s it” damn that’s sick bro, am humbled...again, thanks for sharing
Thanks man, you can do it too! :)
Beautiful Job. Stunning aircraft! Nice to see there are still a few craftsmen and actual modelers left in the world. Thanks for showing your talents and for showing the flyers what our actual hobby is about. Most people these days will never experience the joy of building, (Building is not assembling a foam model, sorry!) test flying, and then flying the model that they have built from scratch or plans or kit. The accomplishment and joy associated with it is something that you can only get from being a true modeler. Now, Before I get flamed, there is nothing wrong with today's foam arf's. I have several and love flying them. The foamie's produced now a days are so beautifully engineered and so scale, I can't help but buy and fly them.
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching! :)
@@Thercgeek Have you ever considered .05 glass cloth? I have a lot of experience using over balsa and regular EPS, but no EPO foam. You think it would stay down?
It’ll work, but it just takes more time to prep.
That came out fantastic! Thanks for the tutorial. I learned so much from that. Hopefully you'll Be bringing it to Big Jolt this year so We see it in person and see it fly.
Thanks for the feed back. I really like your P 51. Looks great
+Ronnie Jones Thanks you!
Simply amazing! Great attention to detail. I'm sure it flies as good as you made it look, especially with the motor upgrade. Thanks for presenting this video.
+Mark Lee Thanks! The airplane flies awesome! I've really been enjoying it a bunch and it looks awesome in the Lady Alice coat of colors, especially in the air. If you haven't seen it, my flight review vid is here: czcams.com/video/-PiIhCja23I/video.html and then the full flight video is here: czcams.com/video/S-G2rFokMfg/video.html
Thx. I'll check the flight link too. Building a DC-3 foam kit at the moment and will use your refinishing tips.
Amazing workmanship!
Thank you!
Really nice rebuild and thank you for the tips. I'm fairly new to the RC air hobby (November 2020). I have a Phoenix V2 that came with a plain white wing with decals on top. I haven't had to refinish any of my planes yet, but I have added paint for visibility. I found that an extremely thin 1st coat of Krylon (I used High visibility orange) works well. When completely dried, a 2nd heavier coat. Just don't try to shoot the 1st layer too thick or you may end up melting the foam. I'm taking notes of how you did this rebuild so I can try it out later! Thanks again!!!! Oh yeah.....Love that your kids help out! Keeping the hobby just that.....a fun family hobby :)
Thanks so much!
Impressive and inspiring work you've made! After seeing this tutorial I feel like I've learned more then one year googling. I'll try to reproduce your technics on my new F-16 wish comes all white (kit version).
congratulations and thank you for sharing your experience!
+Helder Ramos Thanks! I'm so glad you found this helpful! My whole goal through this channel and my blog is to provide quality information on building, finishing, etc. so I greatly appreciate the feedback. Good luck with the F-16, and let me know if you have questions down the road.
I had never been impressed with EPO foam planes, but this is a game changer. Thanks so much for this video.
Thanks for watching! 😊
Fantastic job pimipin' out that foamie!
Thanks!
Awesome video!! Thanks for bringing us along!
Thanks for watching!
Nice work. As a panel beater i can appreciate the time it takes. I'm have this plane and you have inspired me to re build mine 👍
Thanks! I look forward to hearing about your refinish results! :)
Sensational video series Chris. Your attention to detail is incredible and the aircraft looks amazing. I have a FMS 1700 P51d 'Ferocious Frankie' and need to do some patch work post some hard landings. It would be great to see some videos sharing your expertise covering repairs to damage including gluing, patching, priming and painting.
+Darren Pearce Thank you! I will keep that in mind. The difficulty is that I need a subject aircraft to show this on which I don't have at the moment. I am working on a video showing some basic repairs for a fiberglass and wood model though. Though not directly related to a foam airplane, much of the process is similar, but with different materials. I can help you through the process on yours if you need. You can email me through my website wp.me/P5LuFX-3J
Yes I completely understand you need the right patient to do a particular type of surgery. Your approach is clear and straightforward and the quality of your video is first class.
WOW that truned out beautiful Chris. Very very nice job. that was a lot of work but it sure was worth it, sure hope it fly's as great as it looks. I asked in the motion RC live chat today about how to remove paint from a foam plane and was pointed to your videos.
Thanks so much! 😊
Wonderful work Sir. I like the fast forward, good idea. I'm looking forward to trying your methods. Thank you very much.
Thank you! And thanks for watching! :)
Hi Chris. Really enjoyed your series on pimping the P51. Great job, great video. Thanks.
Thank you and thanks for watching!
Scary to fly such a work of art.
Outstanding work! I have begun to research this hobby and looking at starting with an EPO aircraft. You made the hard work look like fun. I suppose your better half would like the garage back. 😀
+FACrazyCanuck Thanks! My wife entered our marriage with the understanding that the garage was my batcave...the rest of the house was hers, lol. This is an awesome hobby, welcome to the club! :) Know that we all started at the same place and try and find someone who can help teach you. IT'll make things go quicker and save you money.
love the ending!! you dork!! PLEASE do not crash that model. beautiful work! thanks for the vids!
+Eddie Gray haha, thanks! Gotta have some fun with it, right? ;)
Wow!!! just beautiful.
Thanks!
Your work is amazing!
Thank you for your kind words!
You are simply unbelievable. Love the work ethic and passion
Thank you so much!
I watched the yak one also last night with the chrome panels!! Omg man you are a true artist. I give you a lot of credit for patience I could not do that. I am attempting my first foam paint job this week just from watching your videos
Wonderful job, and useful tips. You're very talented.
+SmokeFlame1 Thanks, I'm glad you've found it helpful!
Amazing work.
Thanks!
I have the older version FMS P-40 I'm gonna try this on..I figure I'll try it first on a plane that's an "Oh Well" if I screw up..LOL..Thanks for all your videos to help us all.. :)
yeah man, give it a shot! :)
Stunning! Well done!
Thank you!
You are totally insane !! What a wonderful job !! Congratulations !!
haha, thanks!
HAND OF HEALTH...........
Dude, Your Definitely a Master at this! I learned lots Watching this Series!! EXCELLENT BRO! 🤘🤘
Tha is dude!
Great job, well done.
+Scott Connors Thank you!
Super sweet re-paint !!! Nice job !!🏆🏆🏆
Thanks so much man!
Great series, and what a diference it makes in looks!
+BelgianBush Rc Thanks!
Jeez...! What an oustanding job...! Awesome, a Masterpiece...! Congrats... ;-)
Albert Van Thournout thanks so much!
Fantastic Chris!
+Tony Accurso Thanks Tony! I love how it came out.
An awesome work of art!
Thank you!
One other thing during priming: you can use Bondo glaze (red stuff) to fill the valleys. It sands really well and smooth. I learned the trick from the master himself, Dave Platt. Good luck.
Yes, this is true. Just be aware that excess heat from the friction of sanding the putty can cause the foam to swell. So, avoid sanding too heavily in one spot for too long when using harder materials like that.
Superb job, gonna try this on a dynam Tiger Moth :)
Awesome!
Fantastic video with lots of tips, you can actually get white water slide sheets also for printing colours over 👍
Thanks! That is true about the white transfer sheets. The issue is that the carrier film is white, so if you don’t want that showing, you have to cut the artwork out exactly around it. So, the vinyl cut art under a clear water decal was my workaround for that.
Bravo thanks for sharing awesome 😎
Thanks for watching, I hope it was helpful! 😊
Well impressive, great job !!!!!
Thanks you! :)
Excellent Tutorial!! Definitely does not look EPO anymore. Beautiful Job.
Thank you and thanks for watching!
Excellent video. I hate painting so I don't think I'll be able to do anything close to the job you did on that plane. But I'm gonna attempt to fix up one of my planes. It deserves a little TLC. Very good tips.
Thanks! Let me know if you have questions along the way. 😊
@@Thercgeek Do you have any particular way you fix dents or hard hit scuffs? Or any videos on that already? I've seen other guys videos on that and have a pretty good idea in mind but I'd like your input.
All the prep time and you shortsheet us on the final refinish details. How'd you do the checkerboard, the decals, etc.?
I did cover the checkboard painting, that discussion starts at about the 9:40 mark. A discussion on the decals and markings then follows but is a little abbreviated in how I made them I did a separate follow-on discussion on just markings which discusses in more detail the process I take when I make my own markings (czcams.com/video/GrSj_Z_cFbY/video.html) Otherwise, I do have more information with links to the tools I use in my blog articles for the refinish here: thercgeek.com/category/how-to-refinish-a-foam-warbird/
Do you sand between polycriylic coats? I missed that somehow. Anyways, with this video series you took the foamies to another dimension! It looks to me that this process may open up the way to add scale details to any scale foamie that is missed during production. I am working on a 36" ws FW190 that lands on its belly, and I intend to add retracts to it. In order to dig the wheel wells, I use my soldering iron; but, I am finding out that it is not really a dependable process. You get only one shot to everything :-) If I can perfect this method, which means tracing straight lines and achieving controllable depth with the soldering tip, then it is possible to add torque rods for ailerons, flaps and elevator (I believe I can hide all soldering traces with balsa filler, or microbaloons mixed with epoxy). That way you have all hidden controls on the airplane instead of ugly looking control horns sticking out from everywhere. Do you have a process in place, or have you ever thought about one? Anyways, you got my blessing with your craftsmanship to this foamie, which I never thought possible. Now, I intend to spend more time to work on foamies after 40+ years of working with balsa. Keep up the good work :-)
Thanks! I only lightly sanded the final coat of poly before starting the primer process. No need to sand between the poly coats really. Epo Foam can definitely simplify things when wanting to add details and such since it’s easy to cut and such. I’ve not spent time hiding control horns on the foam stuff, but I do go to great lengths to do that on my larger builds. Just be aware that the final finish does need to be protected from the sun to avoid the foam beads from swelling. That’s the primary drawback to epo foam that I’ve found.
Great videos! Thanks! I hope that you plan on doing video on the finishing. I really wanted to see and hear how you applied the finish coat as well as how you made the transfers.
You fly at Miramar? I'm jealous! It's very restrictive for civilians and I hear that it is going to be even more so!
Again, good job!
SJ
+Sheriff John Thanks! I did a full series on the refinishing of this airplane which you can find here: thercgeek.com/RefinishAFoamy I plan on doing more tutorials on finishing once I'm to that point on my competition Skyray (thercgeek.com/category/frankel-f4d-skyray/). I usually use Corel Draw to make my artwork and then use the combination of laserjet printed decals and vinyl (usually I use the vinyl as masks) for the markings. I can answer any questions you have, so please feel free to ask away. You can also email me through my blog too at thercgeek.com. I do fly at miramar and was one of the few lucky civilian members. But, no more civilian members after the first of the year. :( They have a very open guest policy though, so should be able to continue to fly out there as a guest at least. It's such a nice field!
I used your method of covering the entire plane with Balsa filler, but decided to with Z-poxy instead of polycrylic. It is very sandable compared to polycrylic, and you can get away with two thin coats. The whole thing, especially control surfaces became very very rigid. I bet you can also use Z-poxy mixed with microbaloons, and brush it on - perhaps a single coat. The latter is the method I use as a flow coat on fiberglass. Take care.
Very nice! The z-poxy is a good idea and would create a little harder shell on the surface.
Have you considered tinting the polycrylic for a more uniform look prior to the primer so you can see more of what's happening between coats. I thought about doing this myself
I haven’t. I use the primer to show the imperfections and what needs cleanup.
AWESOME VIDEOS!!!!!
+Paul Randall “Randy” Hicks Thank you! :)
Great job looks awesome
Thank you!
*Looks great!*
*You should be proud of that one.*
Thank you! It was a fun project.
The RC Geek
*I really want to get back into the hobby. But I'm hearing so much about what the FAA is trying to do that will destroy the hobbyists now,... I'm not sure I can spend the money and time just to be shut down and grounded with no place to fly.*
*Still ... great job on that model ... she's gorgeous!*
I hear you, but I don't expect things to be shutdown completely, especially any time in the near future. The local governments are more likely to take flying sites rather than the FAA shutting them down quite frankly. I say just have fun, it's really not that bad and there are so many fun airplanes available these days!
The RC Geek
*The technology is completely different. So much mire than we had in the mid 90s.*
*Thanks for your input. Think I'll take that chance and finally decide oin which plane I want to start with.*
Absolutely loved this series; I probably have watched it a thousand times. Has the owner of Lady Alice seen the model that you did such an amazing job on?
Thanks so much! Yeah, Ken has seen the airplane a few times (I usually see him a few times a year at events and/or t my dad's flying field). He loves it! :)
The RC Geek I'm sure he does. He seems to be a true aviation enthusiast. You would just about have to be considering the time and effort you would have to put into owning a P-51!
I do miss the panel lines though and added detail of rivets.. it would make it pop
Yeah, that's easy to add back with a pencil. I showed how I did that on my kfir kit bash: czcams.com/video/d-tocRK8CXc/video.html
The original panel lines were as you say too deep but I don't like it with no panel lines at all. Great tutorial.
+Mick Emmett thanks for watching! I hear you on the no panel lines at all. I did a separate tutorial on panel lines and weathering here: czcams.com/video/d-tocRK8CXc/video.html. That’s the method I would recommend on a refinish like this.
Sterling work, Chris. Seriously brilliant! May I ask what you do for work? I see a lot of hours in the workshop there, and I'm amazed your wife and kids don't mind. How do you then find time to work to earn money to pay for the planes and your amazing shop?
Thanks so much! In terms of work, I'm an aerospace engineer and that's what I do full time. It's definitely a balancing act with the projects and the videos. Sometimes I balance it ok, sometimes not so much, haha!
Perfect ! Newbie question here : Why did you have to strip the plane before painting it ? Additional weight of the paint, or because you wanted to fix the panel lines ? Beautiful plane.
Stripping the airplane down ensures that you have a good base for the polycrylic. Otherwise, you run the risk of the paint lifting underneath the poly as you mask the airplane.
AWESOME JOB.........one question, have you ever thought about using the polycyclic with paper for covering ? Would save a ton of sanding. Have been covering my foam aircraft this way for years and the final product is amazing.....started with white glue/brown paper and now have started using polycyclic instead of white glue, Polycyclic is much easier to use-no mixing required. Have even used rolled paper towels for the covering on my Surefite Piper Cub wing and tail surfaces.....looks like fabric weave. Just a thought....
+clhuke64 Interesting thought, I've not considered it. Are you talking about rolled brown paper? Or are you using tissue paper? I think either way, there would probably be a bit of sanding, but it would probably cut down on the primer coats a little bit.
+clhuke64 Very interesting. That's similar to covering with tissue almost. I'll have to try that out sometime. I can see that working well directly over foam, though I can imagine the paper might whisker if you sand too heavily into it. Thanks for the tip!
Great tutorial, Have you ever heard of a product called real metal foil? Used for chrome trim on car models.I used it to cover a 1/32nd scale plastic p-51 model.It turned out awesome I think I may try it on my dynam t-28.
+Martin Mccurley Thanks! I'm familiar with the product as I have used it on plastic models. For RC models, I've found that aluminum tape works a little bit better and is a little more durable. There is a company called Flite Metal that offers aluminum tape specifically for this application, but it is a bit pricey. You can get away with aluminum tapes, you just want something that's thin and has a thin adhesive layer. The Bare Metal Foil is really good stuff, but is extremely thin which will make it prone to wrinkles and it's and very finicky to pull off the backing from what I remember. Either way, metal taping an RC model is very time consuming, but the end result usually always looks awesome!
+The RC Geek Thanks,I was just wondering about the weight though,I used to work in a textile factory making different kinds of tapes from paper to pipeline coating and that experience gave me lots of practice in handling large sheets of sticky stuff.What do you think of Monokote and other plastic films for foam planes.
+Martin Mccurley The weight increase isn't usually much different than a full paint job. My experience is that these foam warbirds tend to fly a little better with a little more weight to them. They track and penetrate better based on the little higher wing loading. The mylar films are ok and I've used it on fiberglassed foam and low heat with ok results. The difficulty is the heat, so there's a good chance if you're covering EPO directly that you'll get popcorn (beads swelling) from the heat of the iron, even on low heat. It doesn't take much to get that with EPO unfortunately.
What about sealing it with polycrylic prior to using a film,might that stop the popcorn effect.? I would really like to get as much of a "scale" look as I can,Or should I just paint.
+Martin Mccurley The process I outlined does excellent at smoothing out and giving the surface a sheet metal like finish. However, dark colors that heat up quickly will cause the EPO foam to expand in direct sunlight and cause that "popcorn" texture. The issue is heat. The key is to just keep it shaded as best as possible. I'm not sure you could completely avoid it truthfully based on how the foam reacts to heat...even if the surface were fiberglassed, I still think it would pop through. I hate EPO, but unfortunately that's what we're stuck with on these foam birds. EPS doesn't react that way. Ultimately it's finding what works best for you, so you could experiment with it and see if it works. If you do, try it on a spare part, or somewhere inconspicuous first before committing to the whole airplane. I'm always trying new ways of doing things on my projects, even my competition scale stuff. You never know what you might stumble onto!
I'm a new subscriber great vids and excited about the maiden!
+Christopher Dowdy Thank you and thanks for the sub! The airplane has 13 flights on it now and it flies awesome and looks incredible in the air in its Lady Alice colors! I'm working on my flight report video along with the full flight video currently which I hope to have up in a two weeks time. Turns out getting video of my own airplane was much more difficult than I anticipated, lol!
great work
+Felipe Garcia Thank you!
After job is finished, set it on a shelf forever. Would be a shame to see it crash. Great job.
Such a great series of video's. Awesome work mate!What size vinyl cutter do you use or recommend? Would love to see some video of your work process, Looking forward to that. Cheers!
+RCWASPOVISION Thanks for the kind words! I will work on putting something together that explores making markings and paint masks more. It's been my intention to go back to that. In terms of the vinyl cutter, I have a Roland Stika SV-12 and love it! It cuts up to about 9" tall lettering.
+The RC Geek Love your work Chris! The Roland cutter looks like a great unit too. :)
Wow! And to think that was once a beer cooler! Holy crap! Really shows what some work and obviously skill can do to one of these planes!
My only question is: any problems with cracking due to the airframe flex during flight? Just curious how well the filler and poly coat hold up. Thanks, Jim
Thanks and thanks for watching! You can get some cracking, but it's not much and most of what I've experienced has been a result of handling. My dad picked up the airplane from the wingtip one time taking it out of the car for me and it made some hairline cracks. The polycrylic does harden up the airframe pretty nicely, so you don't get as much flex with the end result.
hey Chris, great job, looks beautiful, I especially like the end. I do that all the time!!!
any news on the Scale Dynamics AT6?
Thanks! I have the t6 kit on hand now, but I haven’t started it yet. I’ve working on finishing my freewing f4 project first. Once that’s done, I’ll have the t6 on the bench.
@@Thercgeek Chris where are you located? I am also interested in buy a scale Dynamics T-6 as I built and flew the original Midwest kit back in 1993. Did you build it, and if so what did you think? Looking forward to talking to you!
Thank you for the video!
I was gifted an extra 230 96” 70cc gas engine, reallyyy old plane from the 90s, it is extremely well built and heavy with full balsa coverage all the way around, but it is in a bad state, full of dents, marks, tips, the paints is on its lasts days. I’ve started a process to sand it back to bare wood so i can fix all the broken supports and start from there. I have no idea how to paint and give it a nice gloss look as it deserves. My plan is to make it yellow/black Extra 330SC Breitling scheme. If you have any tips on how i could achieve this result from bare balsa wood i would be deeply appreciated. This plane cares a good sentimental value to me. I want to make it perfect!! Thank you for everything!!!
Thanks for commenting! What is the model covered in currently? And is it fully sheeted balsa? Or are there lightening holes in the airframe? The best means for preparing a balsa airframe for paint is to fiberglass it truthfully. But, if there are lightening holes in the outer skins, that’s a difficult process and will requires an iron on Mylar covering.
Alclad paints would have given your 51 a more scale appearance. Great job in any case brother, a true master.
Thank you! I love Alclad paints btw. The reason I didn’t use them on the whole airplane here is that the full sized lady Alice is actually painted silver, not bare metal. The silver spray paint I used was a pretty close match to the real airplane.
Have you noticed if the foam will still try and gator after a day out at the flying field in the bright sun? I have found that it really depends on the final base color of the model. The lighter the better of course.
you do have to keep it in the shade as it will popcorn up in direct sunlight. It really depends on the color, the darker colors can swell up pretty quickly.
@@Thercgeek Thanks for the reply.
Hi, I see your aileron gap is so neat.
What kind of hinge you use for that ? Is it transparent tape or what ?
I didn’t do any cleanup on the hinge lines on this, it’s all stock out of the box.
You mention laser print decals. Where do you get that printer paper from and do you need a special printer for it? Great vids, I'm going to use this info on my 1700mm PC6 Porter. Thanks for all the info.
+Pete Stanford Thanks for the kind words! I usually get my decal paper from decalpaper.com. There's paper for inkjet and laserjet printers. The laserjet is what you want assuming you have access to a laser printer. What's nice about it is that you simply print to it and it's ready for application without any additional preparation. They go on really thin (I recommend using microset and microsol in the application process) and can be clear coated with any number of clear coat mediums. Avoid the inkjet paper if you can, it requires an accrylic clear coat to act as a carrier film which causes a really thick carrier as a result. Also, if you apply a heavy solvent clear to the model after the inkjet decals are applied, the ink will run. Have fun with the PC6! Do you have a paint scheme in mind?
Nice job! Can you be a bit more specific about what type of non-yellowing clear-coat you used to seal everything in? Again, great job!!
Thanks! On this model I used a lacquer clear through a spray gun but of late I’ve been using the 2x rustoleum clear which I’ve really been liking. It’s non-yellowing and gives a really nice sheen and being in a spray can makes it really simple.
Perfect, thanks for the quick reply. I've got a Cub on floats I'm going to repaint in "cub yellow" next winter. It's never too late to think about next winter's projects, right? :-)
True story! One thing to note, I’d recommend skipping the paint stripping process I did on this. Just do your prep work directly over the stock paint. However if there’s bare foam, I’d recommend burnishing it down with some acetone still though.
That's what I was thinking of doing. There is some factory-applied red on the vertical stab/rudder, nose/cowling and on the wingtips of the model. That will be removed with acetone and at that point I plan on wiping the whole model down to ensure I'm starting from ground-zero. I can't wait to get rid of the foam dimples too...
I'm a new subscriber and really liked what you've done with the P51. My son has a FMS 1700MM P47 and I may try this with an old wing we have first and see how it does. Did you notice if this process maid the plane more ridged?
+Ronnie Jones Thanks for the sub! The polycrylic does add some rigidity, certainly better than the bare foam. It also helps make it a little more ding resistant too.
I noticed on your P51 you didn't add panel lines or rivets, can you add those things to the finished surface like you can with a balsa plane?
+Ronnie Jones yeah, panel lines can be added to the finish. An easy way is to just use a pencil with a medium lead. Too hard of a lead may require pushing too hard on the surface and cause some trenching. Another option could be to scribe the panel lines into the paint.
I know this video was a long time ago, but I think probably still provides good info. Thanks for providing all of quality content. I had a question for you after watching your video. I am working on a foam plane project, and I'm curious.
How durable is the paint job is vs. coating the plane with a monokote film?
My current plans are to "glass" the plane with a layer of thin fiberglass. Would you advise against this?
Lastly, would the coats of primer (and sanding) work out the level of "hanger rash" that occurs with foam planes, or does that need to be done at the filler stage prior to priming?
thanks again for any advice you (or anyone else here) can provide.
First question would be, what is the project? Is it an epo based airframe? I’ve not used Mylar to cover a foam airframe, only wood and it doesn’t really add much in the way of durability. Glassing is by far the strongest, but is also the most labor intensive. The method I outlined here is mind of the best mix between the two. The poly does stiffen the airframe but epoxy resin and cloth are the strongest. For the hangar rash, deep dings need a filler. The multiple primer coats really only smooth out small deformities.
Wow~~~~!!!
Good jop~~~!!!
+Antonio Kim Thanks! :)
“Quick and dirty” 😂😂😂😂
😉
Chris, I bought a second Sonic Binary. 1st one I left in the Coast Guard scheme, the 2nd I primered and painted USAF matte gray. Looks pretty cool, if you’re color-blind. Once it’s decaled up and loaded with long range FPV gear I’ll send you a pic. One question- (As usual....) What would you sand or wet sand with? The primer and spray paint left a very rough finish.
You could try a scotch-brite pad, and if that's not cutting it down at all, then I'dwet sand with some 600 grit wet/dry sand paper. Those are my stand bys for rough finishes.
I’ll give it a try tonight with the scotch-brite tonight. I don’t know why I’m going all OCD over it. The plan is to fly it at 399 feet, 5-10 miles away. Who’s going to see it other than the FAA or a curious UFO?
I’ll hit it with some water based clear coat after I sand and one more layer of paint. It’s a gray plane with 10 black decals, how good does it have to look?!?!
I think you’d like the build on the Binary. No directions, trial and error on how it goes together, trimming out the clear canopy and LED covers, build your own front wheel compartment including the tiller to servo. If there’s any upside to this plane it’s all the access compartment covers. Wiring is a breeze.
Home Desperate had 400 grit. A couple more coats, a last soft sanding and some “finger and palm” rubbing and it’s smooth as a baby’s butt. Just put the 3rd coat of poly-acrylic(water based stuff) then I’m gonna flip everything and do the bottoms. The poly-acrylic really darkened the gray and gave the whole thing the color i was looking for. (My Life Story- I’d rather be lucky than good)
@@jeffhenderson934 that works!
awesome job ! btw
Thanks for the comprehensive series on painting foam. At which point does the texture of the foam surface disappear? After the 6 coats of Polycrylic? After the primer coats? Thanks again.
So, the poly merely seals and stiffens the surface. What smooths it out is the multiple layers of primer sanding in between each coat. The primer builds up in the micro voids while the high surfaces get sanded down which levels it all out..
I can't find your video where you address the control rod was flexing and you fixed it, can you elaborate on how you did so, I have the 1450 and the elevator push rod bends quite a bit making for sloppy handling.
It's in my second episode. Check halfway down at this link: thercgeek.com/2015/08/refinish-a-foam-warbird-ep2-fms-p-51/
If you sprayed the evercoat primer directly on EPP or EPO foam, it would melt it, right? It's the Polycrylic that's giving the foam protection?
With EPO, I haven't had any problems there with or without polycrylic, but definitely test it first and apply in light coats. I don't know about EPP.
Rather than priming the wings and tail pieces, would you ever consider mono coating them ?
I suppose you could, but foam is pretty temperamental to heat which could cause even more issues. Plus, the mylar coverings require a significant amount of scuffing to get paint to stick and that's still no guarantee that it will.
👍🏼
Any special attention to the creases between the Wing & Tail’s control surfaces. Isn’t the polyacrylic dry stiff?
You do have to be a little careful not to build it up in the hinges, but foam hinges it’s less an issue.
@@Thercgeek I had the thought of using a thin layer of rubber cement or white liquid electrical tape on both sides of the hinged control surfaces to protect the foam. Then I was going to apply the polyacrylic several times lightly sanding between coats. Then spray with primer, multiple coats wet sanding with 800-1200 each coat. Then spray base color and secondary paint colors. Good game plan?
Nice job, a lot of work! But why fill in the panel lines? Don't that take away from the detail?
The problem is that the panel lines are just massive and too pronounced on the airplane which detracts from the looks IMO. Filling them in really cleans it up and makes it look more scale since on the real airplane, the panel separations are very small. I could have taken this a step further and added panel lines back on top of the paint, but I didn't do that on this one. I did that on my kfir project though: czcams.com/video/d-tocRK8CXc/video.html
@@Thercgeek Understood. If your going to put in all that time in prep and paint you might as well put in the detail and make it look really good. I will have to check out your other video's. Thanks for the response.
have you ever used the matte / semi / gloss polycrylic spray as a final coat after all your paint and weathering ? thoughts ? i pretty much air brush or use a rattle can, i dont have an automotive sprayer to use.
You can, yes. I’ve also found the rust oleum 2x clears are really nice and have been using them mostly these days.
hey rc geek, what would be the least amount of work you would need to do to just turn a plain white epo jet and paint it a basic two colour camoflage scheme. im not worried about paint sticking forever or being a perfect finish, so could you get away with sanding priming and painting without all the varnishing and wet sanding and such?
yeah, you can just paint the bare foam directly if you wanted. All the filling, varnish and primering is to get rid of the foam texture and smooth out the airframe.
You did an excellent job! It inspired me to repaint my Eflite Corsair 1.2 to the NAS Olathe bird. One question though. As far as panel lines, will enamel washes used for plastic models eat the EPO foam?? Thanks!
+RCsportflyer22 thank you and congrats on the refinish, that's awesome! Enamel washes should be no problem with the foam. Epo can handle some pretty heavy solvents surprisingly. I would recommend testing it in an inconspicuous place first just to be sure though. Oh and please send some pics when you're done, I'd love to see it!
I'm waiting on a few supplies to show up this week then it'll be time to get to business! Thanks for the tip and I will most definitely send some pics!!
Fantastic job, beautiful plane. Is there a fuel proof clear coat that is safe on foam?
That's a good question. The difficulty is that the foam isn't fuel proof. The lacquer clear coat that I used is fuel proof for everything except glow. Fuel proofing for glow requires a two part epoxy clear.
Thank you
Nice work and explanation of the process. Now you need to weather this bird, other than the painted nose, invasion stripes and green turtle deck, it looks like it still has not rolled out of the North American factory. You have done much work, now make your 'glads', 'DAMN HAPPIES' with some weathering and aging.
Haha, thanks! This was as far as I wanted to take this one. The full sized airplane is immaculate actually, but I do hear you on the panel lines. I did a separate series that covers weathering and panel lines which is at thercgeek.com/kitbashing
Hey chris amazing job on that beautiful warbird. My question is how did you sand and paint between the crevasses of the wings, flaps ,rudder etc.. I'm wanting to repaint my fms Cessna 182 . Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks! I mostly just hand sanded with sand paper. If you curl or fold it the right way, you can usually get into those weird areas.
Hello great job thanks for the videos. How much weight was added once you were done?
Unfortunately, I forgot to weigh the airplane before I started the conversion, so I can't say how much specifically. The thing with these foamies is that they actually tend to track a little truer with a little more weight to them. The refinished airplane flew fantasticly!
When is the waterslide decal totoral coming? Thanks
+Brian pitts I have my flight review vid for the Freewing F-14 coming next and will try and work it in sometime after that. There are a few things I could probably expand on from the Refinish a foamy series.
Really hope your still checking your channel. I started doing all these steps on my Freewing F16. Problem is it came as arctic camo paint scheme and that black seems to have dyed the foam itself. I used a combination of Acetone and Lacquer thinner to get down to bare foam. Problem is the black is off but seems to have soaked into the foam. I got it smooth and all the holes filled in with foam filler. Should I go ahead and do polycrylic sand poly steps? I've tried going back over the whole plane with a foam brush and laquer thinner and it didn't do anything. I don't want to go to heavy on it cause it will pull out the foam filler if I do. I figure the primer over crylic going to hide all that black stuff anyways so shouldn't be a big deal I would think.
No need to try and remove the staining, it will be fine. Just continue on as you won't see the black and the paint is removed, so you're good to go.
@@Thercgeek I got 6 coats of polycrylic on there it's smooth as glass when I go to apply the primer I can pretty much see everything through it. Everything that was covered up by the polycrylic is seen through the primer no problem. I am up 2 coats of primer at the moment and did a wetsand with 800 grit on the second coat. It is a white base primer so I wonder if that is causing it to be seen so easily. I have another grey primer that I will likely use for 3rd coat should I wetsand the next coat with a 320grit or keep using the 800?
@@zeroxzero8348 so the primer/sand/primer process is what really smooths out the whole surface. The poly merely seals it all and hardens up the airframe so that you can work in it similar to a glass model. So, when I treat the surface, I'll spray with primer, sand it down with some 180 grit and then primer it again and see what it looks like. I'll repeat this as needed until I get the desired smoothness on the surface. It'll take at least 3 times doing this usually on a foam model. Once you're happy with the finish, then wet sand with 600 grit and then start painting it up.
ok Chris. I have done a Bob Hoover tribute Stang and it turned out sweet. after several flights I have noticed stress cracks in the paint. any suggestions on how to prevent this. maybe some flex paint. I did use rattle can Rust-Oleum. I guess it is what it is but for my next adventure with costom painting my plane this is a concern for thought. any awesome suggestions from the Master. thanks GEEK. 😎
Unfortunately it's hard to avoid this since the poly does stiffen up the airframe a good amount, but not completely and these models still flex in flight. Mine developed cracks also, but they weren't visible unless I picked up the airplane from the wing a certain way where the wing flexed. Interestingly, my kfir hasn't had this pop up at all. Part of that is there's less flex on that model due to the short and stiff wingspan. In terms of paint, latex paint may be less prone to this but I'm not sure.
The RC Geek yeah I guess I will have to live with the cracks. do you know what paint the factory uses on these planes it doesn't seem to crack as much it seems. and oh yeah the filler you smashed with the hammer is garbage. I used it and when you paint it it just looks like shit. so thanks for the filler tip. I have a crazy project going. right now. I am trying to make a YAK 110. it's going to be a beast. hopefully it all works. cross your fingers for me. thanks 😎.
great job, defo gonna try this on my dynam spitfire as its got abit old and tatty. How much weight did it add and did it make the air frame any stiffer?
It doesn’t stiffen you the airframe a touch which is nice. It’s only to some extent as I recall the dynams can be pretty flexy, but it should help a little. I don’t recall the weight gain, but every foam aircraft I’ve done this with has flown better following the refinish.
@@Thercgeek Awesome, thanks!
Wow
What's the video on Paints to use on EPO Foam? Thanks for your time!
You can use pretty much any paint on EPO. It's pretty resilient stuff. I haven't a specific paint types vid, but I've talked through painting EPO quite a bit and have used numerous types of paints and primers. All my foam refinish vids are in the following playlist: czcams.com/video/FXSSPvyPfVs/video.html
Lot of work but a super nice result. None of those stupid panel lines.
Thanks! Truthfully, it's not that much work. Fiberglassing is a loner process than this is.
Hi Chris, it's me again, I've removed the paint and put on 4 coats of polychrylic on my FLRC Spit, will Tamiya or Mr surfacer primer eat the foam as I've got plenty of those lying around
Nice! I don't think that it will, but test it out on the inside face of a hatch or something like that just to make sure. I've not used either of those over the poly, so am not sure regarding the adhesion you'll get. I would expect it should be ok.
I have tried several things to try to get a smooth finish for repainting the tailcone on my Flightline F4 Phantom. I have tried green Tamiya putty, Beacon Foam-Finish and Beacon Hobby Coat, and this last round a very fine spackling compound. For each try I sanded with 2000 grit sandpaper before airbrushing on the paint. No matter what I have tried, I can still see the filler or spackle once the paint dries. Can you please share with me what primer you are using before you apply paint? Thanks!
With the spackle, it always has porosity and so really needs to be sealed with polycrylic. Then, once sealed apply a little primer, sand it down and repeat. Then the final primer coat wet sand with 600grit. That should help blend the different materials together a bit better. For primer, I’ve been liking this dupli-color filler primer of late: amzn.to/2YD0zIE
@@Thercgeek Thanks!
Hey RC Geek, firstly I love watching your RC reviews and everything that you get up to modelling in the shop! I have a couple of questions which I would really like your help with if possible:
1) I have the Eflite P51 1.5m and would like to change the blue to the original Olive Drab - my question is would you prime the blue before airbrushing it Olive Drab and if so, and I would like to know the answer anyway, what primer do you use? Ive looked at Vellejo Polyurethane primer, but wasn’t sure if it melts the EPO?
2) When it comes to applying a clear coat at the end, which brand / type do you tend to use? Again I have seen Vellejo have one but similar to above I have no idea if the model will start melting in front of me!
Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks
If all you’re doing is painting over the blue and keeping the silver, etc. then I’d recommend just simply airbrushing over the stock paint. Primer isn’t really necessary in that case. For clear coat, most anything should work. I’ve been liking the rustoleum 2x clear of late. Keep in mind that these airframes are made of epo foam which is extremely resilient to solvents and will take most any paint medium. I haven’t found a paint that won’t work. The caveat is that some paints/primers can induce a slight amount of gatoring if applied super wet.
@@Thercgeek this is fantastic and invaluable advice, thank you dude! I’ve got some spare EPO lying around so I think I will buy a couple of products and see which works best for me then on the clear coat.
Would you only really prime the surface when you have done some repair / filling? I wasn’t sure if the airbrushed acrylic Tamiya might peel off the stock paint? Sorry these are no doubt dumb ass questions!
Many thanks!
No worries. Yeah, no need to primer if you’re just touching up a single color as it is actually a really good base for painting and will give good adhesion. I leverage primer mostly when I’m smoothing out an airframe as it helps fill in small voids. Also, it helps if you’re painting bare epo foam too.
What was the weight difference at the end once completing the model?
+TOPHAT1966GS Unfortunately, I forgot to weigh the airplane before I started. I don't think that it was too significant truthfully. I actually find that these foam warbirds fly better with a little higher wing loading as they track better and are less affected by wind, etc. Here's a link to my flight review video if that helps -- czcams.com/video/-PiIhCja23I/video.html