An update..sort of....
When I first recived the Meng kit I was halfway through the build of the Merit 1/24 DR1, ( I think it goes by the 'I Love' brand now). Anyway this was relegated to the shelf of doom as I progressed with the Meng kit.
As readers of this thread are aware that went into hibernation for a while and I have been progressing it the last few weeks. I was at the point where I had to think deeply about the Fokker streaking and read up the various threads ( thanks again for your excellent thread RAGIIII) and elsewhere and asked questions on this thread.
So I had a thought, why not practise on the Merit kit and Voila!..I did !
Not only that I tried a couple of different base colours ( Tamiya XF55 Deck Tan and XF60 Dark Yellow ) to see what if any effects and I also mixed in different shades of red to the olive green oil and even some Prussian Blue..again inspired and intrigued by RAGIIIs thread.
Results are attached , the right side of all aprts are base coloured XF55 and the left are XF60, the top wing has olve drab oil with no red but the merest hint of Prussian Blue dabbed on after the olive drab was streaked on, the middle and lower wing and the fuselage has olive drab mixed with a touch of red before application ( again a tiny amount) and on the left fuselage side some Prussian Blue.
My first conclusion is the Dark Yellow XF60 is the base colour I want when I compare to the painting by Russell Smith I am referencing against, theres not much differnce but its tehre in real life.
The most noticeable effect is when you mix the red in with the olive drab it becmoes notciable darker and again more in line with the painting and with some other models I have seen.
I will also add Prussian blue but tiny dabs very sparingly as its effect is intense but it adds to the mix I think.
The other learning is using a damp brush needs care as even if you think its almost dry it can take a lot of the oil streak off. One of the critical points from RAGI's thread is the use of a soft clean and dry brush to blend the raised oil pigment together.
I am quite happy with it, the process was fun and it looks better in real life than the photos, so much so that I will be finsihing the Merit kit in parrallel !!
Anyway, tell us what you think....The last photo is the Meng kit base coated and ready for its turn at streaking !!
