Greg, @gkittinger
I think if you give the foil a try, you will like it. It looks much harder to use than it actually is. Thanks for the compliment !

Hello Pedro, @holzhamer

Thanks for the kind words about the BMF. You might want to consider using it on the underside of a Late War Bf-109 or FW-190 D. I have seen some late war Luftwaffe aircraft with sections of the wing left unpainted... something to think about. Previously I used the BMF on a 1/48 Hobby Boss Ta-152 C-0 "V-7" in the same manner as I described to you. Here's a link showing the model.

Focke Wulf Ta-152 C-0 V7 werk no. 110007

Check it out when you can, and think about using the BMF. I sincerely think you will like it. It comes in various shades and Matt Aluminum may be more to your tastes. I really like the stuff... however for some it just may be a little "too" shiny. "It looks like metal because it is real metal" is in their advertising... Hey Darren, @darren-d In all of my years of building I never thought too much about seat belts. But as I try to improve my models, seatbelts are definitely an area where I can stand some improvement on my builds... Thanks for the excellent tip... I'm going to have to do something, because as I was drying the model off with a blow nozzle using my air compressor, the kit supplied seat harness disappeared ! Now I'll have to scratch something together... Thanks again . I have the 1/32 scale Hasegawa in the stash and it's a wonderful kit. I almost built it instead of this smaller Tamiya one... I'll be looking forward to seeing your Hien. If you don't mind please post up some pictures... 🙂 I have another installment just a few minutes away... Hope you all enjoy it.

Thanx for sharing - now I really feel challenged with the two I keep in my stash.. - amazing work, super pictures, AND extremely helpful text! Well done Louis!

Hey buddy, it looks great with the BMF. I really would be a shame to cover your work with all those swiggley green lines.
I thought I had read recently about a new decal set for a bare aluminum Tony? Which would certainly be different!
Anyways, great job my friend!

Well it seems to me Louis, that you are spoiled with choices, albeit most are NMF with green mottling, they all look terrific.
Very nice work so far, but there is one question that pops my mind when I look at the foil and that is how it behaves to oils and washes if you want to weather the look of it?

Over the last two nights I have continued on with the BMF...

Now the upper wing surfaces and 99 percent of the fuselage are complete.

I really like how using the different shades catches the light and accents each panel differently.

It's a little more work and takes more time, but I think the results are worth while.


I still have to cover the majority of the underside of the wing, and the underside of the fuselage just below the engine.

Once I get the entire airframe covered in BMF, I will apply the decals. The overall finish is a little too shiny for my liking on this one. I will have to do something to tone it down just a little and reduce the shine.

This would look great on a F-104 ! I have plans to build a NMF Airfix P-40 in the near future. I think it will look good like this too... 🙂

I have seen some restored planes that are highly polished. They would also look good like this.

I will spray on the green squiggles after the decals are applied. This might tone it down to exactly how I want it to look.

For the undersides, I might try giving it a coat of Model Master Dullcoat... but I will experiment on my "shelf of doom" AMT 1/48 scale A-20 Havoc first to see if I like how it looks before I try it on this one...

I just might build up my larger Hasegawa 1/32 kit like this using BMF on it too. It would look good as a plane from the Akeno Flying School in overall NMF...finished up just like this one, (minus the "bandages"), but only larger...

I will be building a 1/48 scale Tamiya Mig-15 for the "MiG Group Build", also using BMF on it, but I will have to tone it down a little too.

As usual,
"Comments are encouraged"

Today I added most of the larger decals on the Ki-61.

The smaller stencils still need to go on the model. Once they do I'll start spraying on the green squiggles...maybe.


Part of me wants to keep the plane as is, and not spray on the green. I'll still tone down the shine some, as it looks too bright as is when you compare it to period photos of the type. The bare aluminum finish tends to look as if it has oxidized some on the real ones.


Maybe tomorrow I'll add the smaller decals and see what happens from there. I may decide to leave it alone, but probably not.

There was a very similarly marked Hien that is left in natural aluminum, without the green. However this one is a short nose version. It also has a wide "presumably" red fuselage band just ahead of the stabilizer.

When I look at the Aero Master decal sheet, it looks as if the green was sprayed on after the markings were applied... So I guess that "theoretically" I could leave the green off... and say this is how the plane looked just before the green camouflage was applied...

Anyhow,
Thanks for taking a look at the latest progress, and please stay tuned for another installment...

As usual,
Comments are encouraged.

That's really looking nice buddy, exceptional work indeed. You may want to try semi-gloss overcoat on that A-20 to see how that looks versus a flat coat. Worth a try.

Ok, so I've been away from iM for a while, and over the weekend I logged back on to catch up. Louis, this is absolutely sensational! Your idea to use one of your favourite techniques to pick out the different panels in different shades of NMF is just a master-stroke! The decals have gone on perfectly, too! You must be very pleased, it is brilliant!