Your cockpit is terrific, Carl (@clipper). The gunsight is really well done. I know this project has taken a while, but it will definitely be worth it in the end.

Thaks John (@johnb), George (@gblair), and Spiros (@fiveten).

Last day of 2024 and I have worked on the cowl vents. After all that previous effort to do this with PE, and no success, using the micro chisel to make these was the way to go. I was originally going to just dive in and make them on the model, but the rational side of my brain said, practice a few times on scrap. I am glad I did because getting the distances correct (or as correct as I could), get the depth correct (as I could), determining a satisfactory way to lay out the marks for guides, and being able to judge the amount of pressure needed were all things I learned while practicing.

Even at that, when it came time to do the actual detailing, I had some difficulties. However, I feel like at the tiny size of these things, that those small difficulties won't be too noticeable. For anyone trying this in the future, be sure to practice first, including using the same type of styrene used on the model. My initial practicing was on a harder plastic, but I tested the technique on some of the kit plastic to get a feel for it (because it is somewhat softer).

Anyway, there are also two small bumps on the top for the cowling area, which I attempted to duplicate with talc thickened CA glue. Those will be acceptable as well.

After thinking about it a bit, I believe the vents and the bumps have something to do with the two cowling mounted machine guns.

Hi Carl (@clipper): It looks like those louvered vents will be a tough nut to crack. I thought maybe I could find some files to 3D print them, but no luck. They look good now, and will look better under a layer of paint.

Great progress, Carl @clipper
Those bumps on the cowling are superbly done.

Thanks Spiros (@fiveten), George (@gblair), John (@johnb), and Colin (@coling). It's been a fun project for the most part.

I am now starting the painting process. After doing the cowling area vents I needed to do bomb racks. The real aircraft has these fragmentation bombs (20 pound bombs) handing on simple shackles as best I can tell from photos. But at the size of these bombs and the supporting shackles, I knew that I would never be able to properly do them. So I opted instead to make some small racks which will hold the bombs. Call it artistic license, I suppose.

The next step before painting was to test the decals because if they were a problem, then I wanted the option to paint the markings. Well I tested one of the roundels from the ASK decal sheet I had. They felt somewhat thick, but not too bad. Using Micro Set and Micro Sol, I did the usual routine with decals, but they were not settling into the detail on the test mule. I tried rolling a cotton bud on them and repeating the Micro Sol, but still no luck. So I took out the heavy guns and used Solvaset. The decals just laughed at me and said "Bring it on!"

Okay, so I am going to paint the markings. I scanned the decals into my Silhouette Studio software and prepared to cut the masks. The markings on this model are fairly simple so this wasn't too much trouble. I tried finding a font to use in the software for the serial number on the fuselage sides, but no luck there either unless I wanted to spend a bunch of tie modifying the existing letters and numbers to match the decals. I'll use the decals for these but everything else will be painted.

Next, I painted the main landing gear wells with yellow green.

I masked the wheel wells, the engine, the cockpit, and the landing light and applied MrSurfacer 1500 Grey primer. For the painted markings, I sprayed those areas with AK Real Color Insignia White. I intend to paint the markings first, then do all the main painting. This eliminates any risk of white outlines showing.

The aircraft also has yellow wingtips and outboard leading edges so these areas were painted with Tamiya Flat White as an undercoat. Once the yellow is applied, I will mask them off. This will also be done before the main painting. The same thing was done for the fuselage stripe near the tail, which is Sky color. Only after doing all of these will I start on the actual main aircraft colors. I'll post pictures as I go. I used this same process on my A-20 build and it worked great.

Some really nice progress on the painting, Carl @clipper

Looking good, Carl @clipper
Those seams always seem to pop-up at the last stage, with your skills this is an easy repair.

A little more work on painting. The areas that have yellow and Sky paint (wing tips, fuselage band) have been masked off and then I applied the final blue for the roundels and the fin flash. Once this dries sufficiently, I will mask off the blue areas of the roundels and fin flash and then touch up the primer covered with overspray in the remaining parts of the model. Then on to the actual aircraft colors.