Thanks, George (@pikofix), John (@johnb), @pikofix, and Spiros (@fiveten). I think we have all had those sessions when it seems like the modeling gods are all against you. I figured I would find the missing gunsight glass as soon as I sealed up the cockpit, but no luck so far.

I seem to make more mistakes the closer I get to the end zone, as I get eager to get it done and in the display case! Good to walk-away once in a while just to slow down!

From the start, I had pictured this model as a canvas for some new (to me) painting techniques. My next self-inflicted problem popped up as I was getting everything together to paint. I keep all of the separate parts for a model in an old plastic butter tub, just so I don't lose anything. When I went to gather the parts I would need to paint along with the body of the plane, I noticed one of the leading edge slats was not in the tub. I can't really explain how one of the slats jumped out of the tub and disappeared, but that is just another mystery of lost things in my house. I spent the next 2 days searching the floor with a flashlight in ever-widening circles from my modeling bench. I reluctantly decided to scratchbuild a replacement. It was suprisingly easy and quick to do, right up to the point that I realized there was a slight twist to the slat in the kit. I used a candle to heat the plastic and add the twist to my scratchbuilt slat.

The painting commenced with the white tail. I sprayed the tail with Tamiya white primer, and then masked off the location of the rudder's structure. I sprayed a light gray to deepen the recesses, removed the tape, and then sprayed very diluted white to pull everything together. I like this process because it gives you a lot of control over how much of the darker color you allow to show through.

I have seen several articles where the builder starts with an application of black primer, and then adds the appropriate colors over the primer. This gives greater depth of color, and also allows some really cool weathering effects. I wanted to try the same thing, but I wanted to use a darker version of the final color as the base. For the belly of the plane, I started by using Tamiya AS-8 Navy Blue sprayed straight from the rattle can. After this had dried, I sprayed RLM 78 by AK Real Colors from my airbrush. The first application filled the center of each panel, then a very dilute layer was sprayed over everything to reduce the stark contrast. Once this had dried, I randomly sprayed very dilute RLM 78 lightened with white over all the panels to add some splotches (this is a technical term) and further break up the blue. I am fairly pleased with this process, so far, so I plan to continue the process on the rest of the plane. I may go back over the belly very lightly with dilute RLM 78 again to reduce the effect of the lightened color sprayed on last.

Hopefully tomorrow I can use the same process for the upper surfaces. I plan to start with a base coat of dark brown, followed by the desert sand color. Everyone stay safe.

That's the spirit George , always learning , and this is the beauty of our hobby , every model we build , is something new and very different from our previews builds .
Your F-4 comes very nice , keep coming !

Yeah, this is looking good @gblair. The "toy" makes up into a good model.

Fantastic progress, George @gblair
The paintwork is indeed a work of art.
I'm definitely going to try this approach as well.

Today was painting day for the desert tan on the upper surfaces. I wanted to slightly vary the painting process to see how it might affect the outcome. In the photos I could find of these Spanish planes, it looked like there was a hard edge between the upper and lower colors, so I taped the bottom of the plane to protect the RLM 78.

I started by spraying Vallejo Beasty Brown straight from a rattle can. I like this Vallejo paint in the can because it goes on thin, covers quickly, and dries fast. I let the brown dry for about 10 minutes, then moved on to the next step.

AK Real Colors has two different shades of RLM 79, one for planes painted thru 1941, and a darker color for planes painted in 1942 and later. I started with a thin, mottled coat of the lighter shade applied mainly to the center of panels. I wanted to have a more mottled appearance than I used on the RLM 78 on the bottom.

AK Real Colors also dry quickly, so I waited just a few minutes before I started applying the final coat. For the last coat, I mixed the two different RLM colors 50/50, along with enough AK Thinner to make a really thin mix. I applied this coat making quick passes over the surfaces, building the color up slowly without completely obscuring the mottling beneath.

I like this process, which is quick and easy, as well as being very controllable. I don't know if I get any better results using base colors other than black, but I like the outcome. Next step is to do some detail painting, then put a clear gloss on the plane in preparation for the decals. Hope everyone has a great day. Stay safe.

Your paintwork looks very impressive, George, the mottling seems to work very well. Looking forward to seeing the decals.