Beautifully done, Dmitry. I really admire your precision work on the masks. Wonderful, and I'm looking forward to seeing her finished.

Intermediate weathering results. I've applied a light gray filter to the overall model to slightly remove a contrast. After that I did something, which I don't know how to call, with Vallejo washes. This technique is pretty simple and time consuming, but gives a good results (at least, I think so): I wet some panel with a water, and then put drops of wash on it – wash starts to spread across the surface randomly, which gives some natural look of a dirty and used surface. All of this areas of dust and mud on photos are made using this method. And at the end I've applied black wash through the airbrush to create exhausts smoke. What do you think about such weathering?

Dmitry, thanks for the painting tip! I like it! The plane really looks great. You don't see the overall gray scheme too much. It was the first step to wartime camouflage, after the yellow wings era. To those who were paying attention, a warning about where we were going.

It's really gorgeous, and I'd love to see a video of your Vallejo washes technique! (hint, hint...)

@jamesb - we tried the 'Dmitry Method', still ended up with four kids...

This is an outstanding piece of work, D. I love the subtle changes in shade and tone. Beautiful.

Thanks, David! This is what I really tried to achieve – this small tonal variations.

And I'm calling this done after 2 years, 7 months and 15 days after my first post in this thread. A HUGE thanks to everybody who followed it, commented or just browsed – without you it will not be possible. I need to say a few more words about all of this, but I'm leaving it for the final post in the headlines.

And final photos in this thread, before I reach my camera.