A New Look for the ViVi.

I decided it was time to give my beloved ViVi a new look.  She has the perfect plain white body to be able to create a masterpiece, and so off I went to make it happen.

First... Here is what she looked like.

You do get a stack of decals in the box with the ViVi, but they are all pretty boring.  Just some shapes of various sizes and colours.  I wanted something unique and like no other.  After much deliberation I decided on an Australian theme and went to work to design the top wing.

I came up with the Union Jack flanked by two Southern Crosses - One on each wing tip.

I don't have the blow by blow pictorials on this, but all WAS going well... I had masked everything properly, sprayed the blue, painted the Union Jack etc, until I shot the clear coat.  OOPS!!  The clear coat just ate the foam and ruined my day! 

Below are the photos of what it looked like, and an up close of the foam.

SO... It was back to the drawing board.  I sanded the wing back and had to use some filler to bring the wing shape back from the dead.  I then sanded her back and repainted the blue background.  I shot Cobolt Blue with an overspray of Metallic Blue.   This time I used Vinyl Decal sheet to cut out the Union Jack and the Stars, and now I have a much better result.  I then shot some Foam Safe clear coat over everything to lock it all down.

If you look close, you can see where the old stickers were in place.  This is because when you remove them, the take a small amount of foam with them, and I did not sand it enough to remove the affect. 

OK So now that the top wing was complete it was time to move on.  I decided I would attack the cowl next, and move back along the plane to the tail.  I decided I wanted some bling, So I went out and purchased an airbrush!  God knows how I was going to use it, but I was going to try.

I decided on hotrod flames, and after some research on the net on how to airbrush these babies, I went hard at it.  The result was great!  I then took some of the decals that I had still that came with the Vivi from Ultrafly and well... here is the result!  

I am pretty happy with how she turned out, and she looks great in the air.  I have fallen back in love with this aircraft now.  It is amazing what a new look will do!

Cheers

The Mongrel