Applying Aluminum Part 3: Details, details, details 

Thanks, Carl!

They were given to me by another club member so I'm sorry but I can't recommend an exact product. What I CAN do is recommend that you reach out to Callie at Callie Graphics. I have no doubt that she can cut you something that will work but you may have to specify the distance between each hole as well as their diameter. She is always super fast with her custom work and prices are exceptionally reasonable.

Unfortunately rollers only produce little holes and not round circles. While the rollers can save quite a bit of time, the detail is better with a tiny tube. Should you choose to use a roller at the expense of detail at 6" viewing, you will want to search for a sewing tracing wheel.

Having owned the TF Texan, you'll likely need to do some balsa planking and blending on the wings to do this. Given that you'd be flying a 4-stroke, the mess would not likely be that bad. You may experience some higher amount of oxidation from the exhaust but my follow-up video on maintaining the finish would serve you well if it gets too bad. I suspect that it would not be an issue for the seams of the foil and the glue that come on it. You'd likely just have to be careful about what direction you wipe the paper towels/cloth during cleanup so that you do not accidentally pull up the foil. I've been using the same site for years to get my reference drawings. They ARE drawings so do not take them as gospel or as a technical blueprint. It's a Russian site but google translate does just fine. www.airwar.ru/other/drawe.html

No clear coat. I opted to have the paint "self-weather" and chip over time. A personal preference but you don't have to do this. You can prep the surface with cleaning. A good degreaser and then some rubbing alcohol or acetone. Apply your mask and before you apply any paint, apply a layer of self-etching primer. The primer that bonds to metal is what you want. Let this fully cure out for at least 48 hours before applying any new paint or masking. Be GENTLE with this technique. As you are only working with a chemical bond, the paint is more likely to pull up with any masking. You can try and prep the surface with some scuffing for a more mechanical bond but you run the risk of the paint looking inconsistent with the rest of the surface. If you want to apply any sort of clear coat make sure your masked off well after the paint cures. I'd suggest a liquid masking film that you can score and then remove the mask from where you need to.

You may want to watch part 2 when I'm actually laying it down. :)

I did try a buffing compound similar to Mothers. It did not have nearly the cutting power that this compound has. I would have used three times the polish and four times the work if I went with that. If it works for you then GREAT! I'm just showing what worked for me, and it worked very well.

I talk about this in the maiden flight video but in a word... Minimal... I'd say next to none.

My thought was that since you are going to have to use the smoothing technique anyway to make sure the adhesion is uniform, you are going to have to polish again anyway. Just do the messy job once.

@@JoshuaOrchard Our 12 How2 videos and George Maiorana's How2 on preparing the Flite-Metal surface make finishing and applying much faster with continuity of the aluminum surface. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-a0_VbCELWXU.html Here is another video wherein Flite-Metal is applied with a waded scrap of soft cloth then trimmed along perimeter then burnished down with a "soft" artist stump. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8VTQsI6vNLs.html The surface of the aluminum should be sanded to reduce its original texture and patina to that of the 1:1 being replicated using photographic documentation. This process will reduce the texture of the flow coated adhesive on the back of the aluminum. When it is sanded the grain of the extruded aluminum remains however it is rendered to a more bluish (natural) scale finish when polished with high pumas content automotive or marine grade polishing compound to rapidly bring the surface to a proper reflectance.