Spindrift from Land of the Giants by Polar Lights

trekriffic · Post by **trekriffic** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 11:00 pm

Well the airbrush booth arrived a few days early so I assembled it this morning:

New Airbrush Booth by trekriffic, on Flickr

This is a portable booth and folds up into a case which I can't foresee me doing anytime soon so after unfolding it I snapped the LED bars into place and lined the interior surfaces with heavy bond watercolor paper which I taped to the walls and ceiling. Should make cleanup a lot easier:

Airbrush Booth Front by trekriffic, on Flickr

I gave the Spindrift a quick going over with canned air and, now satisfied it was free of dust, placed it onto the painting stage. I also got a set of these yellow triangular blocks to lift the model up:

The Spindrift Ready for Yellow Coat by trekriffic, on Flickr

Here she is after spraying the upper hull with Testors Flat Yellow. I'll give it a day to dry before spraying the underside:

Yellow Spindrift by trekriffic, on Flickr

After the yellow coats have dried and been lightly sanded she'll get her final coats of Italian Red.

Thanks for reading and sticking with me for all these months everyone!

Tesral · Post by **Tesral** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 5:20 pm

Woot! She is back!

Post by **WarpNein** » Tue Oct 23, 2018 12:40 am

ARISE, THREAD

Wow, a year in now. This has been a spectacular build. Can't wait to see the finished product.

trekriffic · Post by **trekriffic** » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:42 pm

Flipped over and preparing to spray with Testors Flat Yellow enamel:

Preparing to Spray Yellow by trekriffic, on Flickr

The underside oversprayed with Testors Flat Yellow:

Spindrift Underside in Yellow by trekriffic, on Flickr

Spindrift Canary:

Spindrift Canary - Middle Color by trekriffic, on Flickr

Canary on her nest:

Canary On Her Nest by trekriffic, on Flickr

Spindrift in Yellow Peril:

Spindrift Canary by trekriffic, on Flickr

She looks like Tweety Bird.

Next...

Final (?) Coats

MEATLOAFr · Post by **MEATLOAFr** » Sat Oct 27, 2018 6:42 am

Looking nice

trekriffic · Post by **trekriffic** » Sat Oct 27, 2018 2:30 pm

Here are the other photos from yesterday...

When my Italian Red "enamel" turned out to be acrylic (?) I went to plan B and used Testors Grapefruit, at least for the first "final coat". This has a slight brick red aspect to it so may need to lighten her up a bit. But a nice orangy-red I think:

Spindrift Final Coats by trekriffic, on Flickr

Spindrift Final Coats by trekriffic, on Flickr

Reversed vertical and horizontal-wise. Top to do next. Grapefruit dreams...

Spindrift Final Coats by trekriffic, on Flickr

trekriffic · Post by **trekriffic** » Mon Oct 29, 2018 3:19 pm

Flipped her over and sprayed the top Grapefruit:

Spindrift Final Coats by trekriffic, on Flickr

Spindrift Final Coats by trekriffic, on Flickr

Dried a day then wet polished with 8000 grit sanding film:

Spindrift Final Coats by trekriffic, on Flickr

Thinned the Grapefruit a little more to get a final smooth, even coat:

Spindrift Final Coats by trekriffic, on Flickr

Spindrift Final Coats by trekriffic, on Flickr

Next she gets gloss coated then I remove the masking tape.

trekriffic · Post by **trekriffic** » Mon Nov 19, 2018 10:34 pm

After more thought I decided to unmask the windows in order to do any touchup work around the frames before doing the decaling. All in all it went pretty well. Just some minor touchup was needed with the Grapefruit hull color. Also retouched the grills flanking the bow windows and the window frames with steel enamel.

Of course, with the tape removed, I powered her up and took some quick photos of the passengers and crew with the cabin lights on...

The kit passenger cabin window plastic causes some distortion but you can see the figures clearly if you look at the right angle. If I ever built this kit again I'd go with thin clear styrene like I ended up using for the cockpit.

Fitzhugh and Betty:

Fitz and Betty by trekriffic, on Flickr

Valerie, Barry, and Chipper:

Valerie, Barry, and Chipper by trekriffic, on Flickr

Valerie's arm and better view of Chipper the dog:

Valerie's Arm and Chipper by trekriffic, on Flickr

The much thinner clear styrene plastic I replaced the kit windows with for the pilot's cabin gives a clear undistorted view into the cockpit.

Steve Burton:

Steve Burton by trekriffic, on Flickr

Steve Burton at the Helm by trekriffic, on Flickr

Steve and Dan Lit by trekriffic, on Flickr

Steve Burton by trekriffic, on Flickr

Dan Erickson:

Dan Erickson by trekriffic, on Flickr