Been a while since my last update. Combination of very cold weather and three feet of snow has brought most normal activity to a crawl. Not having a spray booth for my airbrush, I tend to not use it during the cold since opening the window near my bench and turning on the fan guarantees frostbite within about ten minutes.
The plane - its various assemblies - is ready for paint. I may forge ahead and brush paint the entire thing. Not decided, but I have a few days before I can begin anyway.
The last episode was an exercise in what Tom McGuane called "dire clownage". I primered everything with Tamiya fine primer. I then drew the ribs and spars on the undersides of the wings with a fine tip charcoal pencil and blended the lines for a "shadowy" effect. I had some Aviattic German light CDL samples, enough to do both wings, so I trimmed and began to lay these on. The effect was, I think, very nice – subtle linen appearance with the dark lines visible through the decals. Aviattic decals are very good for enhancing effects like this.
However, I had two issues: the decals would not stay completely bonded to the surface. Since I had previously used Aviattic Fokker loz on my group build kit and did not have this problem, I am convinced it was due to my insufficient preparation of the wing surfaces. They were not as smooth nor glossy as they should have been. To be clear, this was not an issue with Aviattic decals, but with this modeler's failure to use them correctly. Some day I will learn to RTFM and follow what is in there.
The second issue was that I didn't have enough German clear CDL to finish the job. One of my sample CDL squares was almost clear, not light gray. Of the five sample sheets I have, this was the only piece that didn't turn out as expected. Remember, it was a sample, provided by Richard for testing. I'm certain the production sheets will be as outstanding as the rest of the decals on my sample sheet, and the Fokker lozenge were.
So, given that, I stripped the decals and the wings are now ready for light coats of paint so that the ribs and spars will peek through.
I put this forward as a learning experience, which all of my modeling builds have been for me. I struggle to meet my initial expectations of producing a flawless and jaw-dropping build. A grail never to be achieved, but I'm finding the fun is in the trying.
I still plan to use Aviattic German CDL on my forthcoming Eindecker E-I. That should be quite an improvement over my airbrushing skills.
