Thanks again Alfred (@alfred), George (@gblair), Spiros (@fiveten), and John (@johnb).

I decided that the tail needs a bit of touch up for the upper and lower thin lines, so this was covered over with primer and I will add these after the main aircraft is painted. This is partly because the area between the green lines is also the aircraft color (as well as a black stripe) and I think it will be easier to mask these later.

I wanted to see if the kit decals for the jet intake warning text would work on the red I chose for the intake color. I found out that the text was a bit too large to fit on the triangle I had originally painted. Not too much, but enough where it would have been a problem. I bought a fine point white marker to see if I could write this out by hand. I experimented on some scraps and I can get somewhat close, but not as crisp as the printed text. It's very small text which means all of this has to be done under magnification.

So I thought about it for awhile, re-evaluated the existing red triangle I had and decided that I could add a small additional sliver of red on the top and bottom edges, effectively increasing the size of the triangle. I did that this afternoon and it should be large enough now. And the red of the decal is a fairly close match to the red paint.

Putting the text decals on is going to wait until after painting. If it is still a problem, I can try to slightly increase the triangle again, or if nothing else, write it with the white marker.

However, the real test of my patience came later today. I had sprayed white on the areas where the national insignia stars and bars will be going and then started applying the masks for these. The fuselage masks were first and both had to conform a bit to the lump of the cooling intakes. It took a few tries but I managed that after awhile.

Then it was onto the real bugger. The upper wing fold on the port wing, splits the star and bar insignia in half. Since the wings are going to be mounted folded, that meant that each mask half had to be installed separately from the other and still look lined up when the wing is folded. That is difficult enough, but there was the added complexity of a wing fence in the middle of the mask! It took me three tries and about an hour just to get this one mask down.

Thankfully, the bottom of the starboard wing doesn't have a wing fence in the way, and I had the good sense not to install the pylons yet. Also, it should be a bit easier to line up the too halves of the mask. I decided to stop after applying the topside mask and continue with the bottom side one later after my blood pressure goes back to a normal level!

Thanks George (@gblair), I was pleased with how they came out as well, especially given the amount of difficulty I had in making them in the first place. The good things about cutting masks like this is the same as with 3D printing, if it doesn't work the first time, it's relatively easy to create another.

All came out beautifully, my friend @clipper!

Thanks John (@johnb) , Spiros (@fiveten) and Alfred (@alfred). This scheme definitely has had its share of masking requirements.

And speaking of masking, in preparation for the main event, I have now gotten the Fury masked and ready to start applying the underside white. I am going to try a new (to me) technique of spraying through used (cleaned and dried and ironed) dryer sheets for a mottling effect on the underside before applying the white. If it works well enough, I will carry it over to the topside light grey.

In other news of the build, I've been struggling with a continued effort to solve the white lettering on the red jet intake warning on the nose. I had previously mentioned that I was going to piece together the lettering from the kit decals, but had run into issues with it being a bit on the large size. I had then slightly increased the size of the red triangle to allow this to work.

However, I found that it still was not quite there. Trimming the white letter decals very close and reducing the spacing between words, I could almost get there.

But before going that route, I decided to see if I could produce my own lettering in the form of a decal. Since the lettering is white, it cannot be printed directly, but has to have a red background. This means that the red background has to match the red paint I have applied. Of course it also meant having to dive back into fr***in software that I use infrequently and struggle with the overly complicated steps necessary to do this.

That took several hours with a break in between to walk my dog because I was ready to toss the computer through the window. I also thought I could use a red border on the lettering instead of a red back ground.Long story short, the red border was difficult to print in that small size without obscuring the shape of the text and I could never get the red to print bright enough.

So I went back to my original idea of using the kit decals and I've slightly increased the triangle on the nose yet again. It's about as big as I want it to get and is just large enough for the lettering now as long as I shorten the distance between lines and between words. This whole episode has really soured me on this lack of research and quality control coming out of Trumpeter / Hobby Boss. I'll leave it at that because for some subjects, this is the only choice of manufacturer.

Sorry to hear about all those frustrating moments, Carl @clipper
Seems like you had one of those days that nothing went right.
Good idea to follow your original idea now.

I have the same problem with kits, Carl (@clipper). I take it for granted that a manufacturer will do the required research to turn out an accurate model before they spend the money to create the kit. But I have seen that Trumpeter seems to make mistakes that adequate research would have prevented. I know there are problems with some HobbyBoss kits, but perhaps not quite to the level of Trumpeter. I have had similar problems with markings that need white as one of their colors. I would probably do what you have planned, which would be to print the red portion on some white decal paper, along with the required lettering. My daughter tells me that you can now buy a white ink cartridge for laser printers that will print white lettering. My laser printer died several years ago, so I really haven't tried to gather more info on the cartridge. Good luck on the lettering.

I have finally been able to get started with the main painting. There is still more colors to go including black lettering, the bird motif, and the black spine, but the main base colors are down. I am trying to give a slightly weathered look, but there are more weathering layers still to come.

Excellent job so far, my friend @clipper. Nice weathering approach!