I was just reading in the B-17 Group Build that this kit has a problem with excessive dihedral in the wings. Hmmm.. When I dry fitted the wings, it did look like there might be too much dihedral. I checked a build review on one of the other sites and they thought the dihedral was fine. I just found a thread on one of the British sites and they mentioned the dihedral problem. Well, I didn't correct the dihedral on this build, so if it is wrong, then it is permanent. I am thinking that these ferret aircraft were so old that they started to sag in the middle, giving them more dihedral than a factory showroom model. That's my story, and I am sticking to it. :o)

Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten). I probably couldn't have done the painting without expert supervision.

@gblair For me looks OK. It's quite old kit, so build it as it looks like 🙂
PS. Good paintwork, and good supervisor!

We were gone most of the day, so my goals were very small. I wanted to paint the flying surfaces a faded green to match their faded appearance in the photos. I also wanted to try my portable airbrush again. I mixed a faded green using Tamiya olive drab, white, and buff. I added a lot of X-20 to make a thin mixture. One thing for sure with this portable airbrush is that the paint needs to be thin. I got everything loaded up, but the brush wouldn't spray. After several rounds of really gnarly words, I calmed down and took it over to the bench. I discovered when you pulled the trigger back, then needle wasn't moving. I tried everything I could think of, but as I have said before, dual action airbrushes are still a dark art for me. I gave up and started to get my Paasche single action ready. I dropped the empty (thank goodness) paint cup on the floor, and when I retrieved I also found a piece that belonged to the portable airbrush. Apparently it fell into the carpet when I was cleaning it after its first use. I figured out where this part went, and it appeared to fix the needle problem. I am happy to report I painted all of the upper control surfaces using the portable airbrush with no problems. Yeah. I still need to log some practice time with the dual action brush, but I think everything went well. I think mottling will have to wait for another day. Tomorrow I will mask the control surfaces and paint the upper part of the plane. Things are finally moving along. Everyone have a great night. Cheers.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten). Don't you ever sleep? It must be around 4 or 5 in the morning. Anyway, it is obvious I need more practice with the dual action, but it has promise for small jobs. I think I will stick to my Paasche single action for the big stuff for now. Cheers.

Waking up courtesy of my 7yo son's recent habit to wake up at 4am, needing company to sleep again. Of course he immediately sleeps, guess who cannot sleep afterwards, my friend @gblair 🙂

Fired up the airbrush for the upper surfaces. Most people freehand the demarcation between upper and lower colors, but I like to mask the transition when I am building a 1/72 plane. I this scale, I don't think the smooth transition between colors seen on 1:1 planes would be visible. I also know that my airbrush skills won't allow me to paint a smooth scale transition, so my solution is that I simply mask the transition. I freehand the transition when I am doing 1/48 or larger.

I filled the center of each panel with a color mixed from Tamiya olive drab, flat white, and yellow-green. When that was dry, I sprayed the entire plane with a very diluted layer of the same mix I used to highlight the panels. I was able to build up the color slowly so that I could preserve the pre-shading I had done. Keeping with my usual practice, I will let the model rest overnight, and then go back and make sure everything still looks OK.

This model is presenting some interesting opportunities for creative airbrushing. The actual plane was a war weary B-17, so I figure the paint was probably faded and chipped. I addition, some of de-icing boots had been removed, so how to best depict that on the model. The plane had broad black stripes added after it became a ferret. The black paint would be newer than the olive drab underneath, so another opportunity for some airbrush magic. It will be important to plan the painting for all of these adjustments to the basic colors.

Hopefully more tomorrow. Cheers.

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.