Greg (@gkittinger), the H&S fine tip will actually work in 1/72 I think - perhaps a bit of practice is needed, but it will be able to do the job. If you look closely at the dark patches on this one, I actually had a spot of trouble getting it to spray large enough! (I know - distance from the object helps, but I wanted to be able to hit where I aimed) Best of luck with your new toy when it arrives - I do not think you will regret it!

Spiros (@fiveten) so do I 🙂 actually I had some trouble today with the airbrush, but I think it was due to my suction taking all the heat from the room (we had a few days of frost, and my hose from the suction goes out an open window - chilly!)

63!

and other numbers and stuff

While I got impatient waiting for the spares for my airbrush, and the climate still too cold for my paintshop, I went ahead and added the SBSmodel decals. First I had to remove the white gum from the wheel wells. . .

It took a bit of time, and was rather tiresome, but I got it all out without a lot of trouble.

The markings went on rather well

And it looks closer to home by now.

The larger decals took a bit of time to release from the backing paper, but generally they performed very well. As opposed to the Spanish marks, these were rather thin, and could actually fall in without Micro Sol, but just to be safe, they got one go of the stuff

The very small decal for the nose was in perfect register – 3 colors and all fit! Remarkable for such a small decal

next up some stencils and small stuff will be sourced from the spares as the Zvezda ones are pretty useless

Looking really nice, my friend @airbum!

I totally agree with our friend's @johnb comment about the "modern" decals. And, may I add that, even reboxing a totally old/basic kit with an exceptionally good decal sheet, might breathe new life to this kit (as a "simple", nice looking rendition of thje subject it is supposed to represent).

I don’t know about any issues with your H&S airbrush Eric, but looking at mottle blotches it looks just you just need to thin the paint a bit more to get smooth cloud-like effect on the edges, avoiding that tiny splatter that’s only noticeable when I zoom the image. The rest of the 74/75 paint looks ok from here.
BTW this one is turning into a beauty!
@airbum

Mottle looks great to me, Erik (@airbum). I am still working up the courage to try such a paint scheme, but that is an adventure for another day. For now, I will live vicariously off your painting skills.

Awesome mottling effect Erik! Can't wait for the end result. Masterclass work as usual!

Thank you Morne and Greg. I have been laying low for a few days for various reasons, but now there is some time for modeling comin' up soon. @gkittinger, I like to use xtracolor enamels (and I did stock up before new year - Hannants still will not take the chance of sending parcels to the continent here 1½ month after "brexit"). Hope to get on with this one and a few others soon - thank you for stopping by @mornem and @gkittinger.

The way this build is looking Eric, I could wait as long as it takes!
I gotta say that the mottling looks REALLY GOOD!