I haven't posted anything on this build for a couple of months after a disappointing setback while painting. I finally got around to fixing it over the last couple of weeks so here is the illustrated story:
Shortly after my last post, I carefully masked the entire model and did the RLM 70 Black Green segments with the MM Acryl paint I had on hand.
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1. Nice clean masks applied just before spraying the awful MM Acryl RLM 70.
While painting, I noticed the shade was odd - more grey than green and very low contrast with the Gunze 71 I had already applied. It was not until I had completely finished and removed all the masks (!) that I came to the conclusion that it was not an acceptable color and was barely visible next to the 71. Fixing it would require masking all over again and respraying, and I also had to wait for Gunze RLM 70, ordered from Taiwan on eBay. So, after the new paint arrived, I finally I got up the gumption to remask, partly using bits and pieces I have saved from the last time to avoid wasting Tamiya tape.
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1. Second time masking with new Gunze RLM 70 now sprayed on.
The Gunze RLM 70 went on nice and thin and smooth and was the perfect color so the entire model was saved after all. One pic shows a bit of the original color next to the repaint, before I did touchups on the splinter. Othewise I chose not to photograph the ugly first effort overall.
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1. Here you can see the ghost of the previously applied MM Acryl RLM 70. The darker shade is the new Gunze. I fixed these patches with frrther applications of Gunze paints later.
With the main camo done, I masked off and sprayed the white fuselage stripe.
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1. White fuselage stripe sprayed. Lots of masking to avoid overspray on the camo.
More awkward and elaborate masking allowed me to spray the yellow panels under the cowlings.
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1. Crazy how much you need to mask to do small details after main camo!!
I had to use similar layers of masking to paint the prop spinners yellow but did not take pics of that process.The spinners are just partly inserted in the overall views that follow below. They have tabs to lock them in place when fully inserted (a weird idea from Monogram) so I am must partly test fitting them for now.
After the camo was done, I moved on quickly to clear coat to leave a nice smooth decaling surface. I then applied an oil wash before decaling to bring out fine detail. The Eagle Cal decals went down very nicely. To my dismay, however, Eagle Productions did not supply the very large underwing crosses, instead recommending the use of the kit-supplied ones! These were terrible and splintered badly but I fixed them with careful brush painting, followed by gloss and flat coating. I thing they look pretty good after all.
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1. hard to tell these came apart on me - the repair work paid off.
. Here are the overall images with gloss coat, oil wash and decals applied:
So the last pics for this posting are after I applied the MM Acryl Flat coat. I generally spray it thin so it comes out an eggshell semi gloss. I think, the Flat Coat also brings out the details of the pre-shading and oil wash quite well.
So, next to work on will be the landing gear and lower gondola details. While I have the model flipped over, I will do the underwing exhaust stains. I will do he upper gunner's position last. I have a nice vac version for the transparency which I will need to paint with the mixed RLM 04 I have been using. BTW, the tub-like fitting for the seat and gun is a friction fit to just pop out to work on separately and pop back in again.
It will be nice to finally get the masks off and push this over the finishing line. I am pretty happy with it so far.
More soon.