Semi-stylized Flames on a Mountain Models EVA

[Doozer]

Mountain Models EVA (Biplane) Semi-Stylized Flames

Vision and Supplies: I say vision because you need to be able to see in your mind what you want to paint, and then think about what you need to make that happen. If you're going to paint covering, the color of the covering becomes important. Certain colors "pop" when matched with a background that accentuates them. In this case, I am painting semi-stylized flames. Sort of a true-fire flames meets stylized flames. The idea is that the plane is moving so fast, and is so powerful, that the friction from the atmosphere heats the leading edges up and creates flames. So I want the leading edge of any surface that is cutting air to develop heat, and as the air travels past the leading edge, it becomes less intense and fizzles to smoke. I want it to look heat "hot." So I know that I'll be using a white, orange, and yellow.

You can paint true fire on anything, but the background that makes the flames stand out is black. I could paint them on grey, and that would look very nice, but black is best. So now I know that the covering needs to be black. Because I'm working with a black background, I'll need a good black, and this is key. Not all blacks are made the same. When you're painting true fire, the stereotypical fire, you'll be using some sort of yellow. Sprayed yellow, on a black that is made with a lot of blue, will make your flames look green. If that's the look you're going for then that's ok, but I don't want my flames looking green. A little is cool because flames will change color based on what they are burning, but in my case I have nothing green to burn.

Also when you're creating true-fire style flames, you'll need some transparent colors ("Candies") for layering. Some people use a transparent candy red. I achieve the red in my flames by using orange. So I'll need a candy orange, and a candy yellow. You also need an intercoat clear to spray between your candies so they layer rather than blend. So my color choices come from the House of Kolor "True-Fire" paint combo. That is: Molly Orange, Chrome Yellow, Basecoat White, Basecoat Black, Tangerine Kandy Basecoat, Pagan Gold Kandy Basecoat, Intercoat clear (this is your bread and butter), and last a clear top coat. I use a rattle can clear. Just make sure whatever clear you use is good for plastics. Of course you'll need urethane reducer, especially if you're only using one airbrush (like me).

Besides the obvious supplies like the airbrush, hose, and compressor, you'll probably want to use a mask (if you're using urethane), and you'll need plenty of paper towels. If you're worried about being "green" you could use shop towels. I stop and clean my airbrush, and the paper towels, dipped in reducer, are great for quick clean ups. You may also won't to use a portable table. I tape down a layer of wax paper first, then a layer of paper towels. The wax paper to keep the paint from seeping through to the table, and the paper towels to absorb the paint so it does just bead on the wax paper. You'll also want scuffing (sanding) materials. You'll need to rough up your intercoat clears so they accept new paint.

Prep Work: There's not a whole lot that you can do to Solite covering as far as prep is concerned. First things first though, you have to apply the covering first before you can prep it. Since I had never covered a plane, completely, I ended up reading the forums and watching a lot of YouTube videos. I didn't really find any videos that take the perspective of somebody who is completely ignorant, so I had to use the old trial an error method. I covered the fuse easily, but the wings and control surfaces were another story. There is definitely a bad way to cover a plane It's important to lightly sand the balsa as well. When the covering shrinks, especially black covering, it shows off every imperfection in the wood. So I made sure to sand excess glue, or any deep groove I could find. I used 220 and light force first, then switched to 400. Once, the plane was covered, I started prepping it for paint.

I started off using Scotch-brite pads to lightly scuff the Solite covering (the green ones you use on Teflon). I found that even with a light touch, it's hard to get that sanded look and feel. The Scotch-Brite would leave an uneven scuff - meaning, it would dig the occasional deep groove, and that will show up in your paint. So, I switched to scuffing with a folded paper towel, and that worked well. I had all the parts to the plane built, but I hadn't put them together yet. I hadn't even glued on the canopy. I didn't want over-spray on the plastic. Also, I kept the cowl uncut while I painted it so I'd have tabs to hold onto while I sprayed. I scuffed it with notebook paper.

Painting: I'm not going to go into how to paint true fire flames. I have an example on this site, on my site, and there are videos on YouTube. What I want to try and explain are some of the problems I ran into while painting the plane. My first problem, as explained above was scuffing, but after that, applying the paint was relatively simple. This plane uses tape hinges. I used "Ready Post" clear mailing tape that I bought at the post office. My thought was that if that tape can handle the way they treat packages, it must be good. Anyway, you want to install the tape hinges before you paint. However, this was a learned experience and not one that I inherently knew. The reason for this is because applying the tape after you've painted makes your paint job look like shit.

So after I installed the hinges, I needed to repaint. Well actually just touch up, but that led to adding another layer of flames. Before you start thinking I'm adding weight, which I am, I'm not shooting at a high psi, so I'm not slopping the paint around. There are places to shave weight in the build that will allow you to pile on the paint if you so choose. By the way, I shoot my basecoats around 20 psi and then go lower as my paint gets thinner. Anyway... digressing to when I started painting, the flames went on easy. It was only when I hit the covering with the rattle can clear that I became horrified. The covering became loose and wrinkled. It looked like your skin does when you stay too long in water. So I tried hitting it with my heat gun on low heat... nothing.... So I turned the heat up and that did the trick. Not only did it reshrink the covering, it also made the paint adhere to the covering better. However, if you are not careful, you WILL burn a hole in your covering. Don't stay in one place to long. You can't use a glove on wet paint, and this method has a bit of a learning curve.

After I taped the hinges. I used the same method of painting and heating the tape as I did with the covering. I didn't test this method on the work I had already finished. I tested in out on a couple of pieces of scrap balsa that I covered and taped like a hinge. When I tried to pull the hinges apart, the covering pulled off with a piece of balsa attached to it. So I'm confident that it is safe to paint and then heat your tape hinges.

Images:

[Doozer]

Here are some more images. I'm not going to resize them or add any captions. If you have any questions post them here and I'll try to answer them if I can. 

I loosely dry fit the plane together so I could get an idea of how the paint scheme flowed. The flames look a little more red than the actually are. I think this is due to lighting. In the sun it looks more orange than red (more flamey). Also I repainted the aft part of the fuse after these pictures were taken. You can see the new paint job above. That reminds me, I hinted at having an eraser in another thread. Actually, I fix my mistakes by hitting the mistake with black. Because the background is black, it looks like your starting with a clean slate. Once you hit it with clear, nobody's the wiser (shhh our secret). You don't want to do that too often though, because the more you paint, the more weight you add.

Here's the pics:










They look better in the sun. I hesitated posting these because of the red hue, but I wanted to show the process and the thinking. Remember, if you make a mistake, or you don't like the way something looks, you can always "erase."