It's always cool to see the final results of a painting session. This looks great George (@gblair). The stripes, the decals, and the camouflage go well together , especially on such a beautiful aircraft as the Spitfire.

Decals can be a roll of the dice.You've come along way with orchestrating a fine performance your, ready to close with a standing ovation and the decals go south. George, it looks like you pulled the rabbit out of the hat.

Hi, Stephen (@Stephen-w-towle) and Eric (@eb801): I always approach decals with a certain amount of fear. They come at the very end of a build, and if they fly south, there is sometimes very little you can do to recover. This is especially true because I like to build old Monogram and Revell kits. Some of those decals weren't great to start with, and after sitting 50 years in a box, they are fairly useless. I always plan on buying new decals when I build an old kit. I usually breathe easier after the final clear layer is on. Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks, John (@johnb). Let the weathering begin!

Looks very nice George @gblair.

Indeed, my friend @gblair, final bits seem to take the longest to accomplish.
Excellent job!

It might be going a bit slower but the result is great, George @gblair
You will cross the finish line sooner than you think.

I continued getting all of the small bits completed. I decided it was time to add a wash to accentuate the great details on this model. I used a dab of of Smoke from Abteilung 502 mixed with a lot of odorless Turpenoid. I like using this thinner because it it works well with oil colors and dries dead flat. The more I use oils the better I like them. They take a long time to dry, which means you can keep working them until you are satisfied.

This was a wash, so I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't weathering the model yet. I have found that using oils to weather models is extremely fun and I admit that I really look forward to the weathering step. Using a wash is fairly simple. I paint the wash over one section of the model at a time, let it dry for 10 minutes or so, then wipe the excess off using a paper towel dampened in Turpenoid. If you don't like the results, you can continue to slowly remove the oil wash. Remember to always use the paper towels in the direction of airflow. If the paper towel has too much Turpenoid on it, it will leech into the rivets and panel lines and remove the oils. You can repeat the oil application and removal process as much as you want until you get what you are looking for. I needed to keep reminding myself that this was a wash and not weathering. I wanted to start working on the cool effects you can get with the oils, but that will come later. I have never had the Turpenoid attack the Tamiya Clear Flat, but I haven't used it with other clears.

That's it for today. Cheers.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.