#039 Hasegawa F-22A Raptor "Ghost of Langley"

Adam Gudynowski
Following

Clifford Keesler
I'm in.

e p
Watching.😎

Bryn Crandell
Watching.

Erik Leijdens
Nice, in too. No doubt you will make another fine model Michael 👍

Michael Phillips
Thanks guys! This one will most likely fall sometime late 2017. The plan is to do this one in-flight, with some cool weathering affects and attempt the "Raptor sheen". Should be fun!

Michael Phillips
BTW, I also want to attempt to recreate the iridescent affect of the canopy, looks like it has a gold/red cast depending on the viewing angle. So I had this crazy idea, thanks to my wife... What about chameleon/holographic nail polish, highly thinned, and misted over the canopy? I wonder how that might work. For reference, here is the polish I would use:

[img1]

What do y'all think of that idea?

Dave Flitton
Try misting it from inside the canopy, that way you won't see the paint spray on the outside, but make it VERY THIN, try on a scrap first

Michael Phillips
Good call on misting the inside. I have several scrap canopies, so I will most definitely test on those first. It will be VERY highly thinned with just mist coats. I am eager to test this out!

Clifford Keesler
If it works, it will look fanstatic.

Glenn
Michael, Years ago i made a F-117 and used a mixture of Tamiya clear yellow and a very small amount of metallic gold mixed into it and brushed it on very carefully on the inside of the cockpit glass and everyone thought it looked great! BUT be careful nail polish may attack the plastic and turn it white! Try it on some scrap plastic first! I would only use acrylic paint not enamel or lacquer! GOOD LUCK!

Michael Phillips
Thanks for the tips Glenn. I had not considered how it might attack the plastic, but I definitely was planning to use a scrap canopy to test. Going to HEAVILY thin it, so that might help. Will try many mediums of thinner, future, alcohol, etc to see what might work best.

Glenn
Like you said "mist it on in light coats" A friend of mine used to paint his 1/25 scale car models with nail polish to get some crazy colours but he had to be very careful and mist it on in light coats then use a gloss over the top to give it a nice shine. The worst part was being a guy buying nail polish and explaining to the female staff why he was buying it! He got some odd looks! 🙂

Glenn
What type of nail polish is that one you want to use? Is it acrylic? or Lacquer? because you might be able to mix some of that Tamiya clear yellow with it?

Michael Phillips
Haha, I bought this on Ebay, so no crazy looks for this guy! I am not really sure what type of polish it is, it just says "varnish". I will play with it and see what I can add to it to get the best effect. Also, I was thinking if I dip the canopy in future first, it might be less likely to attack the plastic.

Glenn
Maybe? Not sure about the dipping bit? Good Luck I'll stay tuned! 🙂

Spanjaard
I will certainly follow this one, I am specially curious about the use of the nail polish.
What about alclad prismatic? I think there was a transparent that could be use to thin it, and it could be applied over a cote of future as primer....

Michael Phillips
Interesting idea Spanjaard, I am not so familiar with Alclad prismatic. I will do some research on this. Keep the ideas coming, this is a great discussion!

Spanjaard
the truth is that the prismatic range is a bit shorter than i remembered... only five colors. alclad2.com/finishes/prismatic-holomatic/

Taarna Eckart
If you want to thin nail polish you would have to use "nail polish thinner", yes it is a product lol. Here is a U.S. product, but it contains; BUTYL ACETATE ,ETHYL ACETATE & HEPTANE . I have NOT tried it on a model.
sallybeauty.com/Nail..3400,default,pd.html

Spanjaard
all those chemicals sound like nice ways of melting plastic.... maybe it can be used over a layer of future (dipping the cockpit several times in future).... but yes, better make sure it is an old cockpit that you do not mind seeing melting in front of you

David Barclay
That polish Idea seems like a great idea! I think you will be alright with it if U use leveling thinner.... I tint my hornet canopies with a mix of Mr color lacquer smoke and clear orange thinned w leveling thinner..... Doesn't harm the clear parts at all. Also if ya want to try to add the tamiya acrylic clear yellow, It should mix well with the the others just fine.... I mix tamiya acrylics all the time with the lacquer paints all the time..... No issue whatsoever

Glenn
I just brought some of the alclad prismatic "reddish" color along with the clear yellow and some other colors as well. When i get a chance i will give them a try on some scrap clear plastic! and hope it works well? 🙂

Michael Phillips
Oh, please let us know how that works! I am really curious of your results. I am still waiting on my nail polish to arrive from China. I can't complain since I only paid .75 shipped. LOL

Glenn
Arh yes cheap chinese shipping takes a few weeks to get here.

Michael Phillips
So I decided to experiment with the nail polish and an extra P-51 canopy that came in my Tamiya P-51 kit is just completed. I would say it was a success! Put some regular Laquer Thinner (Hardware store bought) and put some in a cleaned, empty gunze paint bottle (about 1/2 full). I then took the polish brush and dabbed polish into the bottle until I had what looked like a nice mix. I then shook it up, and put some in my airbrush and sprayed inside the canopy. I put in two coats to get the results that are in the album attached to this project. You could go darker if necessary, but two coats looks just right to my eye, and still able to see inside quite well!

Taarna Eckart
Very nice effect for sure! So, no problems at all then with plastic softening or the paint not drying?

Michael Phillips
The polish was dry almost instantly, a byproduct of the mixture being mostly Lacquer Thinner I assume. As for the plastic softening, everything seems to be ok so far. I will report back after some time concerning whether the plastic is adversely affected.

Spanjaard
it looks certainly good!