Doak VZ Session 4

Been busier building the model (ok not that busy) than writing the posts so I'm playing a little bit of catch up.

First off let me start with the Vallejo Plastic Putty (VPP). It didn't work out for me. When I sanded, the putty just started coming off in little sheets and/or left little holes - 

OK, their paints are terrific, why is the putty such crap? Doing a little more investigation online I found reviews that ranged from "It works fine" to "Do yourself a favor and just throw it away." There had to be a work around for this. Finally I found a guy (sorry forgot his name) that did a review of a number of puttys  for the International Scale Modeler channel on You Tube (ISM).  Here he mentions that the putty has porcelain dust in it and since it's water based it cannot be sanded when dry. 
So what has to be done is put the putty where you need it, and with a *damp* Q-tip/or cotton bud remove the excess to make it smooth -- and then leave it! That's it, don't work it anymore.  I'll give the correct technique a try ASAP and let you know what happens.. 

Before I get too far afield let me say that the ISM Channel is excellent one to subscribe. Beside how-tos, they have reviews of kits and tools, and results of group builds from their website. each episode is very entertaining. So subscribe. ;)

Now back to the build, the next thing I did was prime and paint the landing gear, and also masked off the canopy. You Tube, IMHO, is the best "book" for how-to techniques, and I found a VIDEO from Genessis Models on how to do it. The reason I like it is that Bobby has nice close-ups and keeps the subject in camera. ;) The thing with this Channel is that it's the free side of a subscription website. So you only get an episode or two of a model build, and other little tidbits. You're expected to subscribe for the rest of the content. The guy IS good but IIRC it would come out to $60+ a year. Too expensive for me (especially if you hunt around on YT there are other model channels willing to give you how-to video for free. So anyway, he was masking a 1/48 jet. My plane is 1/72, so even tho I have the 6mm Tamiya tape I had to cut it in 3rds, only using the straight edge sides. He gets around the tight curves by making little cuts in the tape. I've illustrated the cuts on a larger piece of tape so you can see - - 

After I got masked, I had something that looked like this, including my little handle - -

Next I hand primed it with Vallejo gray primer. Yes, it can be brushed on provided that the brush is dry. Then I brushed on some Vallejo silver paint. I'll let you see in a minute...