I want to build one more plane for the group, and I found this kit lurking in the garage. I hate to admit it, but I always thought the MS.406 and the D.520 were just different versions of the same plane. Now, of course, I know that their only connection is that they have similar appearances. This Dora Wings kit appears to be very nice, and includes PE and canopy masks. I bought an Eduard PE set for the model, and I found some decals on Ebay for the kit. The color diagram for the kit markings was so dark that it was impossible to tell the difference between the 3 camo colors, so I got the decals to give me some choices. I think the real challenge for this kit will be painting the camo. Most of the camo schemes used during this period are very complex and haphazard, and it appears that no two planes had the same camo. Like the last build, I will be mixing the required colors using Tamiya paints. I hope to get started on this tomorrow. Cheers everyone.

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Excellent entry, my friend @gblair! Looking forward to it!

Good morning, John (@johnb), Spiros (@fiveten), and Felix (@fxrob): (or probably "good afternoon" where you all are). Just got back from the gym, so now I am awake and ready to go. Hope to get a good chunk of the cockpit done today. I am not looking forward to the camo. It is very complex on most of the 406s I have seen, and the camo is very different from plane to plane. Should be interesting.

Hi, Gary (@gwskat). Glad to have you riding along on this one. I think I will need some guidance and motivation. I jumped into this kit without realizing the camo was a jigsaw puzzle.

Excellent progress, my friend @gblair! Small bits flying to the unknown: the story of my modeling life 🙂

Great start, George.
It's nice Quinta even has a set for this kit. Not to offend French aircraft lovers out there.
The only 100% way to find lost parts is to finish this build and start the next one...at that time, those elusive parts will show up.

George R Blair Jr (@gblair)
This is an excellent choice ! Sign me up Captain, I'm on board too. 🙂
I don't like using the tiny PE parts. I looked for the missing part on the instruction sheet, and never would have found it had you not mentioned it being near the staple. I do however like to use the larger parts, as I think they are easier to handle and less likely to be lost...plus they usually just look good.

One time I lost a 1/48 scale Tamiya F4F Wildcat propeller. Naturally I lost it only after it was painted and ready to install.

I think my German Shepard ate it... seriously. I think she did. Maybe in a previous life, she worked at Chance Vought as a guard dog, and was not too keen on Grumman products. 😉 Thankfully I had a leftover prop from one of my childhood builds that came off a P-61 night fighter. I needed one that had cuffs near the hub, and this one had an extra blade in case I messed one up, so it was perfect for what I needed. I was able to carefully sand the blade profile down to match another Wildcat I have in the display case.
The new prop hub was fairly easy to build, and now my Wildcat doesn't look like it was surrendered at the end of the War by the Japanese... 😉 Following General MacArthur's order of removing all aircraft propellers, which was a smart move considering Kamikaze attacks and all.

This is going to be a very nice looking model, and I like the interior colors used on the various French aircraft during this era. They used mostly Blue like you have shown us, and a Light Gray, depending on the manufacturer.

I think I would roll out some snakes of adhesive poster hanging putty to make the demarcation lines, and tape off the areas that you didn't want to get overspray on. I have also had good luck using home made paper masks. They allow a little bit softer edge along the color lines and are not too hard to do. Only you will know if you have a mistake or not, and this paint scheme may work to your advantage, simply because there were no two alike.

I'm sure whatever you end up doing, it will look fantastic.

Speaking of painting, you made me laugh with the paint crew comments about going to the club the night before...

I'm looking forward to your next installment.

Thanks for stopping in, Louis (@lgardner) and John (@johnb): The camouflage on these planes almost changed my mind about building the model. It looks like every plane had a different paint scheme, and most of them are very complex. Because of the complexity I want to try free-handing the camo. We'll see how it goes. Tamiya paints are my "go-to" paints, with AK Real Colors a close second. I don't mind mixing the colors I need, but there are a couple of drawbacks: First, you have to know what the color is supposed to look like before you mix colors, otherwise the mix might be way off. Second, if you have to repaint something it can be difficult getting the paint to match.