David, you are more than redeemed by your Enterprise did, to be sure. But your story pained me greatly. Why is there something inside of me that says such experiences are somewhat salubrious to the soul?

Perhaps it's the masochist in me...

Davids, I tend to agree. The time well-spent and the learning get me going way more than the end product. Mine all end up in a photo file and on the kids’ ceiling! Truth be told I’m reasonably antisocial - occasionally I muse on whether in another life I’d have been a hermit! Probably because I spend my days surrounded by thousands of people! The connection on here is genuine and committed. We struggle and succeed, or commiserate together without revealing too much of ourselves outside of wrestling with the plastic. And I would wager that for many it is an ‘atypical’ connection, as we start as strangers and most likely will meet rarely, if ever, in the flesh. In some respect the friendships are quite pure as they ask nothing.

Louis, your suggestion is the perfect example of that. I’m facing a challenging paint job and you are straight there with a solution. I will be trying different approaches and that one is definitely in the mix! You will get to see the outcomes as they develop! Thank you so much for the thought!

I have the base colours on the plane now.

Most people put down the sandgelb and then the hellblau on top as ‘squiggles’ - as it would presumably have been painted ‘for real’. I have some metal ‘Luftwaffe blotch masks’ and I wondered about reversing the process to paint ‘gelb over blau’. I think that might throw away the ‘look’ that could be achieved by mimicking the way the plane was actually physically painted. I will also go back to the photos of this fairly famous Storch and check how well Tamiya have prepared their illustrations. More later, but for now thanks for the interest and the very welcome (semi-)divergence!

I miss that over-populated city a lot!

Here is another version of the said plane - the camo 'squiggles' look even 'more so' here. Tamiya seem to have it about right...

It is the density of each colour that makes it tricky, I think. The 'squiggles' can't be too tight or loose!

David, your Junkers loss, and our discussion of it, takes on an entirely new meaning with the death of Bernie Hackett. Let us give thanks to G-d above for the loss of plastic things--even plastic things into which we have poured time, money, and passion--because it grants us that priceless thing there is so little of in this world: perspective.

I had pondered a passage from Qoheleth for your Junkers trauma...

And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. ~Ecclesiastes 2:10–11

But after the Bernie thing, perhaps the better one would be...

A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. ~Ecclesiastes 7:1-4

Truly, the friendship I've enjoyed here weighs more than my stash fully realized in museum quality ten times over and then some.

Fantastic. Even more for showing your 'working' as we can all learn from it. You know, there are some interesting subconscious patterns and images emerging in those squiggles...

The Storch is looking a million dollars and I really appreciate you sharing the painting work. I know it's a minefield as everyone uses a (air)brush in a different way but it's so helpful seeing actual posts of how others organise and execute their work.

Excellent. Nearly there now!

Ah. Figure painting. I could write book on figure painting. It'd be called 'How not to Paint Figures'.

Thank you Michel - it is not a reference work I'd live and die by!

David - I am going to be suitably philosophical from the outset with the little men. It is a learning curve I may ride but the once. I am still in love with airplanes enough not to feel the call of the sprawling narrative quite yet. The Rommel element makes this different because it is his 'Taxi' and this was his last campaign - so DAK reference is necessary. While not aiming for mediocrity, I know that the big picture won't float or sink based on a couple of figures, and that a relaxed approach will get me further than losing sleep! Glad you enjoyed my Rorschach test - let me know what the algorithms say!