Great filling and smoothing job, my friend @gblair! Acrylic putty looks good and you definitely are very comfortable with it, hence the excellent result. The test paint shot looks also excellent. Looking forward to the painting!

Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten) and John (@johnb). I have my fingers crossed that things will go well today.

Hi, Eric (@eb801). I always have a hard time keeping up with all the cool builds that are going on, so I am glad you found the build. I can always use another set of eyes. It is a game-time decision for the metallics. This is really the first time I have done a 1/48 all-over natural metal finish, so I am doing a little experimenting. I have had good luck spraying Vallejo metals, but never on big areas. I also got some Alclad II that I want to try. One of my other favorites is Humbrol metals in the spray can. I used Humbrol from the spray can on the cowlings and crew ladders, which came out pretty good. I am currently masking the 1256 panes of glass in the various canopies (not really, just seems that way), but I hope to spray the interior color on the canopies this afternoon. If I can, I also hope to spray the primer so that it can dry overnight. I added the markings on the props today using the kit decals. We'll see how the 50-year-old decals do. I am searching through my decals to see if I can cobble the markings together, or I may need to cut some stencils and spray them on. It's an adventure! More later, hopefully.

Thanks for the info, Eric (@eb801). I am leaning toward Vallejo Metals, mainly because of the problems I had heard about with Alcad II. I will do a little experimenting tomorrow with Vallejo, Alclad, and a couple more that I have and see what works best. It is really weird that for a long time I wouldn't use anything except enamels and lacquers (Floquil), and now I don't even like to put enamels in my airbrush. Times change.

If you have any troubles or questions about Alclad II, ask away as I have been using them since the 90's. I have never had any problems with using them other than the skin oil thing I mentioned. However I do not like their black lacquer primer. It takes forever to dry but I discovered Alclad metal paints adhere much better to acrylic primers anyway. Alclad Klear Kotes are very good, by the way.

I had a little time to experiment, so I used the quickest of the combinations I wanted to try. I used Vallejo Hobby Paint Flat Black in a spray can, which is more of a semi-gloss when it dries. You can also buff it with a soft cloth and get a little more shine. I got a piece of plastic and cut some simulated panel lines in it. I wanted to see if these sprays would obscure the panel lines. I sprayed the Vallejo on the plastic and let it dry. I then sprayed Humbrol Metal Cote Polished Aluminum from a can. I like how it looks. The two layers of sprayed paint don't obscure the panel lines at all. You can also buff the Humbrol and get more shine. I sprayed some Humbrol Metal Cote Aluminum in one corner, but I don't like how it looks. I buffed a portion of the Polished Aluminum to see how much I could increase the shine. It worked pretty well, but perhaps I could use something besides a paper towel as a polishing tool. Tomorrow I want to try spraying some Aqua Gloss on it, as well as trying some Vallejo Metals and some Alclad II over the Humbrol. Cheers.

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Great masking, my friend @gblair! You efficiently tackled the pre-cut masks missed spots.
Great experimentation with the metallic coats, as well, for which I look forward to see your choice implemented on the model.

@gblair, that's a great story which can be used if the final result of the paintwork is covered with fibers, George. Soft cloth will for sure give better results. Those old clothing isn't sad at all, I'm even still using my military clothing, which was back to the early 90's. Good quality back then.