Today I made a last minute discovery... and was able to fix things before it was too late.
Please read along and I'll explain.
Previously I mentioned that the Avenger had several different sizes of US National insignia. As it turns out, there were different ways they were painted too. Specifically I'm talking about the three color schemes. Dark Sea Blue, Intermediate Blue and White.
Norfolk was a place that repainted / repaired and did final upgrades to various US Navy planes during the War. They did their own thing as far as how they painted planes too. In particular I'm talking about the demarcation lines between colors.
I'm not stating that this Cosgrove Avenger was a Norfolk plane. But it did have a slightly different approach on how the lower demarcation lines were painted under the cowling.
In this next photo you will see what I'm talking about. The first Avenger has the lower white color that stops short of the front cowling opening. The Intermediate Blue is rounded and comes down lower. However if you look at the next plane in line it has a fairly straight line and the white color extends up to the front of the cowling.
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1. Notice the colors under the cowl. They curve and the white does not meet the front opening.
2. This next Avenger has a straight line between the colors. The white extends into the front cowling opening.
This is how I had originally painted my Cosgrove Avenger. You can see it here. The White color goes all the way up and all three camouflage colors are on the cowling opening. If you look close you will see where I was penciling in how I wanted the line to go.
This is a photo of the Avenger that is the subject of this build. You can clearly see the number #93 is in white on the lowest portion of the cowling. It also only has two colors (Intermediate Blue, and Dark Sea Blue) on the cowling opening.
So I made a choice and decided to mask off the nose and correct the problem.
Then I sprayed the Intermediate Blue...
While I was cleaning the air brush, I had a brain storm of an idea. I took some highly thinned Intermediate Blue paint and lightly dusted the hand applied "353" numbers on the cowling. This toned them down perfectly, and now they look as they should. I am very pleased with how they look now. This was the icing for the cake... Now I'll have to touch up the exhaust pipes.
It was time to start adding the decals... So I added a 93 to the lower cowling. These smaller 93 numbers were present on the inside of the wing fold too. So if you're building one with folded wings, don't forget to add them. You can see them in this picture. They're at the very leading edge of the wing, and are located at the lowest point when the wing is folded.
I used some decals that I had for the 93 numbers. I sliced the 9 and the 3 in various places to make them look like the stenciled numbers did on the sides of the plane. The #93 on the fin is a little too big, but not by too much.
Here's how the Avenger looks at the moment...
I'll have to do some touch up work on the "Interior Green" as well. It has some white overspray on interior portions of the bomb bay doors and actuators.
Tomorrow I'll try to add the smaller stencils. Once they dry I can spray on a sealer coat of clear to even out the overall luster (or lack of).
As always,
Comments are encouraged.
Good night.
1 additional image. Click to enlarge.
