DONE DAMMIT!
For a frame of reference, three of the squares on the base I used to shoot these pictures is about an inch.
Everything was brush painted with the exception of the yellow theater markings on the aft fuselage and underside of the wings, those were airbrushed.
The decals were aftermarket 1/144 scale that I picked up off eBay. The carrier film was bit thick, but the decals were nicely printed and durable.
From the previous pics I posted, I airbrushed the model with Future. This was the first time working with Future and was very pleased with the results, I'll be using it on all my subsequent builds. After airbrushing several coats, the finish was nice and glossy and because it was self-leveling, it definitely evened out a lot of the brush marks. Not all, but enough of them. In applying the decals, I would first soak the decal in water to get it to slide on the backing paper. I then blotted out the excess water and then dipped the decal in Future before applying it. They went on without a hitch- no decal set or Micro-Sol needed and absolutely no silvering at all if there was any imperfections on the gloss coat underneath. I used a Q-tip to blot out any excess Future so the decals would stay put. I think brushed a quick coat over the decals and let it cure overnight.
The following day I rattle-bombed it with a coat of Testors Flat, just enough to further seal the decals and dull the finish to the desired flat appearance. Last thing I did was attach the prop and the guns- one on each wing and one in the spinner, those were just simple styrene rod painted steel and a dab of black on the tip.
The right landing gear angles out more than it should, Chicklet 004 conducted a nuisance raid on my workbench and that was the best I could get with my repair efforts and my 41 year old eyeballs. This is 1/144 scale, after all.
Markings are generic and not specific for any Luftwaffe unit, but my back story would be Nakajima engineers being dispatched to Germany to work with Focke Wulf on a Shoki-Hayate hybrid with a supercharger in the belly that would have the performance to take on the B-29 Superfortress at altitude. Operational testing might have been done in Germany but the war situation meant that the prototypes and Japanese team never made it back to Japan before the end of the war.
This was my first build after being away from the workbench for several years, it feels real damn good to finish something, learn some new tricks (Future) and was a total blast. No more real world shit for me unless I'm dying to have it. It's WHIFF or nuthin'.
