ok I'm back after a longer period than normal, finished my shift then took the wife away to Singapore for a week....I love that place.
Well as always it's a bit hard to get back into it but I have to try unfortunately I won’t get this one finished in time for the GB but will push on anyway.
Waiting for me when I got home was a nice set of Ultracast wheels, which look much better than the kit ones!
The wheels are nearly there and the new ones look so much better.
…same with the Turbo bits!
I have pretty much finished with the cowling mod/correction, it’s better than it was but with time……
The nose section camera openings were not clearly defined so rather then cutting into resin and hoping to get nice clean openings, the opening were made into 5 thou sheet then glued to the nose. Much better solution and what is recommended, just a wee but of tidy up to do.
I threw away the Montex canopy masks as they didn’t fit, they were made for the Hasegawa version and I thought they might fit…was I wrong, none of them fitted! Makes me wonder how far out the Academy canopy is out?? So out with the Tamiya masking tape and new masks made…..after I totally stuffed up the side panels. They have the cross bars, which I thought were even top and bottom, but as it turns out they’re not. I discovered this after I finished one. And of cause I had used a fresh scalpel, so nice clean deep lines in the wrong place!! Not happy, but not much I can do now, I’ll just have to see if I can hide it some how.
Fitted the internal PE bits the undercarriage doors, they of cause didn’t quite fit but look ok painted.
The drop tank with salt and in the middle of painting.
Finished off all the sanding bits and prepped her for painting. First on the pre-shading, which turned out to be a bit of a waste of time as once I had applied the next coat of aluminium you really couldn’t notice the difference!
Once the aluminium was on I found a couple of joins that needed a little bit more work, they were quickly sorted and touched up.
I also decided to try out the “salt chipping” method on this model, so salt was applied….just have to see how it turns out!
Now the main colours, I went for a new acrylic paint for this model, Lifecolor. I have read some good stuff about this paint, plus they have a range of RAAF colour available in two packs…which of cause I had to get.
First the under surfaces, these are Sky Blue. I made a slight mistake in thinning the paint, as in not enough (I had read you need to be a bit careful in getting the mix right), and it didn’t go on quite as I had hoped. But looking at it this morning it does look nice…maybe a very light touch-up required here and there.
Next up the upper surfaces, Olive Drab and Foliage Green, have them nicely thinned so hopefully no issues!
Next time painting fun!!!