Thank you Ryan, Rick, Andreas & Alistair
Progress continues apace...
Fuselage together. As usual it took me ages to get rid of the seam line- I seem to have a modelling block over these. Even now there’s still a faint line visible...
I was planning on cementing the struts after painting - fearing I’d hamfistedly break them off during painting, but after dry fitting everything I figured the cowling would need to be glued in place before painting; meaning I’d have to glue the struts in situ regardless. The cowling on mine seemed to be a very tight fit and I realised I’d have a bit of a fight on my hands to glue in place - meaning I’d really have to do it pre painting to prevent a gluey mess. The fit, I’m sure, is fine, maybe it was something I did. I ended up having to epoxy and clamp in place. Having glued it all, I think I had to take that approach. It may well be different on your model...
I used the top centre wing section (not glued) to make sure the struts dried at the right angles. I found the strut attachment points not quite as a click fit as I was hoping, so it’s obviously important to get these right.
So, I primed with Mr. Surfacer 1500 grey, then a light coat of Alclad Aluminium on the (aluminium) cowling, followed by a squirt of hairspray before an overall coat of Vallejo light grey green. I then sprayed freehand a rough lozenge (with a little imagination!) pattern with a further 4 colours (blue, dark green, red brown, mid brown). I figured it didn’t have to be too accurate as it would be ‘blended’ with the stippling effect to come.
Stippling next. I just followed the guidance given on the WWs website for this and found it worked perfectly; that is adjusting the air pressure down until you get a light, but consistent, splatter. I was expecting some issues with this method but I didn’t have any - it was actually pretty straightforward; for a change! Just make sure the paint is suitablely thinned. I used a mix of yellow and light green. Great fun!
Then, armed with a tooth pick - I scratched away at the edges of the cowling. This always looks so much more realistic than a post application to me...
Finally done and quite happy with the overall effect
Guy
