I will be attempting Revell's A400M as ZM406 in 70SQN 100th Anniversary markings. Decals are from Babibi.

Since I am in the throws of decoding Revell colour callouts to paints I can source here (and to see if I already have the equivalents in my paint racks and draws) I have started with the externals rather than the cockpit and internals which will need a bit of painting and masking.

Not that I can build anything truly OOB box these days I had to make some modifications. I have started with the flying surfaces. I am separating the control surfaces to show them in their powered off position when the aircraft is parked. At this stage, the wing has also been assembled and flap track fairings fitted. Well, that is a start!

5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Good choice Ray, will be watching your progress !

So after a great day at the Warbirds Downunder airshow yesterday, it is back to the bench to recuperate 🙂

I finished painting and decalling the cockpit and I also added a decal from the spares box for the load master's station.

Then some painting of the cargo bay was done and the wheel wells and sponsons were assembled and I started to paint them as well. There were sink marks aplenty on the lower sponson parts which I won't worry about since they won't be seen (I hope).

Then to some masking of the cargo bay floor and ramp which got some more paint, with some further masking to come.

Engine assembly and painting was commenced, I drill out a vent hole of each cowl piece. I started to separate the prop blade assemblies from the sprues, I did not pay enough attention and managed to hack one of the blades. I assembled one prop as a test and found the hub needed a mould seam removed after checking reference pictures. I will remove the seam on the remaining props prior to assembly.

I have found there is a fair bit of flash on a lot of the parts, something I did not expect for a newish kit such as this. Also, the sprue attachment points are quite chunky on a lot of parts and you need to be patient when removing them and then there is a bit of clean up required post removal.

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Thanks Paul,

Temora is a great day out, that was the second 'Warbirds' I have been to. I need to get along to one their normal flying days again, have not been for a few years.

Back to the build, or should I say masking, The cargo bay floor and ramp are now painted.

After laying down the paint for the main floor colour, masking that and then the metallic strips, I had to mask those off to paint the tie down points.

Fun fact of the day, it took me about an hour and a half to lay down 426 little bits of tape to cover the silver bits. Painting took about 3 minutes and tape removal about 5 minutes.

Was it worth the effort considering most of it will be down a dark cavern when it put it all together?

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

I forgot to add - it looks pretty faultless too!

If it wasn't for all the questions raised for me through modeling, and the answers I found and the new questions that got asked, I wouldn't be the educated person I am. You're entirely right about what you learn, Paul.

And this project is indeed looking good. I might not paint that cargo floor that way, but it's way cool that it was.

Thanks Ray for showing the airshow photos. Had no idea about Temora airshow.
The build is coming along really well. Much appreciate the efforts and sharing your experiences along the way.
About the interior efforts we do. It is always worth it if we perceive it to be. Such hidden efforts is for our own benefit _ for our own satisfaction. At the end, the sum effort is the heart value of the model. Mind you, if the model breaks for some reason, we get heart broken. 😉

This is going to be a lovely "Big Bird'.

Thanks gentlemen for following along!

The build goes on, The cockpit assembly has been attached to the cargo bay floor and the walls have gone up around the flooring. I decided to add some random wiring and some Nano LEDs and lo and behold there is light inside and since I was there the cockpit got a light as well. The engineering of the kit allows the wiring to be added fairly effortlessly, I drilled a couple of holes in the cargo bay roof for the lights and to feed the battery power out to the wires.

7 attached images. Click to enlarge.