Looking more "natural" now, my friend @airbum!

The posture looks VERY realistic, my friend @airbum!
The final result will be wonderful and I am looking forward to it!

Interesting approach on the floats, Erik (@airbum). You could use the same technique when removing the bottom of a full hull ship to put it in "water". Looking forward to the rest of the build.

@holzhamer, @fiveten, @johnb, @gblair and @lgardner, thank you all for kind words and comments. I think it is only fair for a floatplane to have the “tires” weighted, after all they were likely to be in the wet between flights when in use? Some progress has been made on this one lately, but it has been small steps that were too small for updates, so here we go

Primer!

Japanese red oxide primer that is, but first lets assemble and mask the Rufe

There were some considerable gaps at the roots, so out came the evergreen strips

they were left to set before they were sanded flush, and the fuselage installed.

Then the canopy got installed and masked

the instructions caution you not to install the antenna before you are ready for the canopy. Guess what – I broke the antenna even before installing it, then butt-glued it. It was first later that I discovered it is now the wrong way around! Oh well, maybe it will snap before I am finished, and I can fix it the right way?

Now, the Rufe in particular was famous for its primer.

and the plan is to add a bit of salt to do some weathering, perhaps even just add a thin layer of the top-coat to depict one of the famous Aleutian “purple” planes. I do like the way the paint-filler has deleted the raised panel-lines - but sadly there is no trace of the wet-transfer rivets so far.

not sure if I am up to this kind of weathering, but as it has turned into a learning build, why not? I might even build another with some more details thrown in (PE etc). As always, time will tell, so do tune in again later.

Was not aware of the red primer but it looks great, Erik @airbum
Wondering about the reappearance of those rivets as well, let's hope for the best.

@gblair, happy to join the club! @johnb and @fiveten, I have a nice “combat colors” magazine dedicated to Zero/Rufe colors – it is starting to be rather worn, but lots of good stuff in that one. Now, the Rufe operated from the sea, så lets get some salt out!

Salty!

After the relative success with salt on a pair of props, it is time to do the entire airplane.

first, some demineralized water. The grooves are great to have just a tiny bit of water on the surface – this is actually overdone here and should have been wiped.

after watering a small bit, just pour the salt onto the surface.

then add water to another area – this time I did experiment with a wet toothpick followed by another generous amount of salt.

When you think it is too little, it is already overdone!

Let me show you

The left wing got far too munch water, and therefore salt. It was all rubbed off with a cotton bud and plenty of water.

The red had dried before adding the salt. after the salt had dried, the treated areas were painted, the salt was then removed when the paint (enamel) was still sticky. That also means you have to take care not to get the odd loose flake of paint adhere in strange places.

Not entirely sure I will repaint this one – It will serve as a reminder not to overdo the water. Also let me recommend the use of some sort of tray for the salting bit – saves the bench form lots of stray grains.

Very nice results from the salt effect, Erik @airbum
Still want to try this technique as well, only problem is we have no salt around because a family member being forced to a saltless diet.

Thank you @fiveten, @johnb and @gblair. I did go back and re-visited the left wing as I still had to do the shadowy side of the right one and the floats, and took advantage of George’s trick – worked very nice!

More salt – and paint

The salt came out . . .

and a few drops of dishwashing soap in the water, to weather the remaining parts.

The floats had some lines of salt, as did the left wing

and then Xtracolor IJN grey were sprayed – sparingly in order to achieve a somewhat sun-burned look.

The fading and wear on the Rufes are said to have rendered them “purple”, wich todays researchers mention might be due to the grey being worn so thin that the red could be seen through.

The decals for rivets are nowhere to be seen!

I suppose they might work a lot better with thin layers and very careful sanding. At least I have to say I am extremely happy with the result of my paint-filler session effect on the fuselage, showing the overlapping sheets of skin to full effect.

Now some details and decals? - oh, and some grey rudders and moving parts too