Fly2XS,
Thanks for the nice comment.
On my P-51C "Dody" I painted the monokote. The panel lines were made by etching the lines in with the sharp end of my Coverite trim iron and a flexible straight edge. Pressed hard enough to dent the balsa but not cut the monokote. For the rivets I used brass tubing in a pencil soldering iron. Some of the rivets I simply used the brass tube without heating it. Practiced on an old monokoted wing panel. I weathered the rivets and panel lines with Apple Barrel acrylics from Walmart (.99 cents/bottle). Then I sprayed the entire model with Krylon Flat Clear. While the Krylon Flat Clear makes the plane look nice it is NOT gas proof. I will have to touch up any area raw gas gets on.
I do not recommend and WILL NOT BE USING the above techniques again. The problem is when the monokote wrinkles it is very difficult to get the wrinkles out. You cannot use an iron to get the wrinkles out as it will damage the paint. With a heat gun you end up chasing the wrinkles (and new bubbles) around.
Next time I will be removing the monokote and fiberglassing and painting. It is probably just as fast and a whole lot easier to keep looking nice.
If you have any more questions, I will try to answer them.
Thanks,
Ralph
