David H Autor
This won't be in FAA colours as I don't have any more FAA decals for this era of phantom so it's going to have to RAF.

Mr D
Hi Dave pain in the but when something like this happens to paint..?
It's all a learning curve.
I snapped a canopy in two recently.
Don't let it put you off, Velejo paints are very reliable and don't let you down.
I purchase a basic colours set when l first set out and never looked back.
Good luck with sorting it out..👍👍

gorby
Shame about the crazing as the model was looking very good. Do you know if it was the paint or the top coat which cracked?

David H Autor
Mr D , nothing puts me off, as you say it's all a learning curve. Gorby, I "think" it was too heavy a paint coat,. I've stopped using pure acrylics. I now use Tamiya acrylics thinned 50/50 or more with cellulose thinners (and a mask) gives a super smooth finish and no primer needed to key

gorby
I've not heard of Tamiya acrylics being thinned with cellulose before. Normally I use the Tamiya thinners and find that works very well.

David H Autor
If you thin with cellulose (and leave it for a few hours) it breaks the particles down and gives a ridiculously smooth finish as well as etching into the plastic.

Mr D
Hi Dave 👋
It's bit to Harsh for modeling Cellulose.
Isopropanol alcohol or Tamiya thinner is better and safer.
Cracking can happen if X2 paint coats are drying at quite different times.

David H Autor
Whatever works for you…with pure acrylics I've had issues with " lifting" ymmv. Just don't try it with anything other than Tamiya. Tamiya is NOT a proper acrylic . "Proper" ie water based acrylics just turn to jelly 😉
BTW the FAA phantom was done with Tamiya acrylics thinned with Tamiya thinners.

Patrick Hagelstein
Wow! That's quite the save. 👍🏼 Really nice repaint. 👍🏼 I like using lacquers like Mr. Color, MRP or SMS and occasionally thin Tamiya 'acrylics' with lacquer thinner as well. They spray fabulously and if I need to touch up anything I just come in with brushes and use water or acrylic thinner as to have the same color.

Mr D
Well done for pulling it back Dave, l like the new scheme..... Great aircraft 😃👍

Desert Marlin
That's going to be some work... GOOD LUCK!!!

Gary Victory
Nice work David. I've done something similar on a Tamiya Spitfire because of the decals. Looking forward to seeing the finished result.

David H Autor
Thank you for the support guys 😎

Mark Sherwood
Outstanding turnaround. 🤘🥸🤟

David H Autor
Cheers Mark 👍🏻

Geoff Murphy
Nice recovery. Hope the rest is easier

David H Autor
So, checked my references and realised that none of the RAF phantoms that had the RWR fin tip had the slotted stabs. I decided it's easier to remove the fin tip than redo the H stab.

David H Autor
I have a set of RAM decals for the early phantoms that I'll be using on this. That's the next step . Not a fan of the way they've split the roundals. Blue and white as one but add the red centre separately??? Never understood why decal companies do this 🤷

Patrick Hagelstein
I actually think this is a good thing because of potential misalignment from the decal printer. Printing presses print every color separately and it's quite a hassle to align all the different colours. By splitting decals this way the printers shift responsibility for perfect alignment to the modeller instead of themselves. 😉 But seriously, I'd rather center those red dots myself than have to look at a botched decal coming off a sheet.

David H Autor
Hadn't looked at it that way. I seen too many unusable decals because of misalignment so maybe I should think good idea.. that said the revell tricolour rounded I have are perfect 😉 thinking about it, if the blue and white aren't centred , as long as the overlap is enough it won't make any difference. I can see the third colour has to be spot on or issues arise 👍🏻