Hey gang,
My next session involved rigging the fuselage framing. First I lined up the fuselage halves for a sense of how much would actually be seen. The image below also shows how translucent the fuselage sides have become. For the rigging I used strands of dark-grey hair from a wig bought at a party costume store over near Central Park. I used this 'wig rig' method several times in the past and remain happy with it. Simply snip one strand and gently stretch it before use. The 'wires' were strung through the 'hairline' joints between the woodwork then tautened using super glue applied with a snip of steel guitar string. The glue also acts to fill the joints which can then be retouched with paint if needed. One minor setback here - because i currently don't have much by way of supplies I used regular crazy glue from the corner hardware store. This proved too thick and tiny amounts accumulated in the corners (visible in 2nd image), so I've since ordered thinner hobby glue. I suppose for the future I could also attach the hair strands to the ends of the wooden elements
before glueing the framing in place. This would eliminate about 1/2 the later glue application and lessen any need for paint touch ups.
Then I revisited the wings, which were recovered with Tamiya 'Deck Tan' and corrected rib pencilling. I still needed to rectify Roden's pooly molded under surfaces, which have indentations where the raised ribs should be. To emulate ribbing in the past, I've laboriously glued styrene strips then sanded and filled accordingly. It's a common technique that must be rendered subtly in 1/72 scale. Alternatively, this time I chose to try applying dry-transfer decal strips directly over the pencilled lines. The concept of accenting scale rib-taping and underwing surface highlights/shadow has really evolved since I was last active. Theoretically, because this particular build is to be finished in PC-10, there should be no sunlight coming through to create shadow. As such, I opted for white stripes to emulate the direct appearance of actual rib tape over doped linen. The dry-transfers were sourced from Woodland Scenics, which offers them in varying width and color. I've never tried this technique before, and as you can see in the second image below my work started off rather sloppy, with some transfers off register, nonparallel, or unevenly applied. Good news is, before burnishing them into place, the transfers can be removed by lightly scraping with a knife. I kept experimenting with how to apply the stuff and eventually got to a point where I was satisfied for this test-bed model.
My next move was to apply a light coat of the custom clear-doped-linen pigment concocted during my previous session. This was not only thinned but mixed with a Tamiya cleat coat to create a proper glaze. Here's where another big blunder occurred - my Tamiya clear proved to be lacquer and, instead of enhancing the acrylic mix as intended, it coagulated into an ooze that clogged my near-virginal airbrush. I'm not smart enough to understand the hows and whys of it all but after unclogging the airbrush I attempted a new mix, which applied properly. After drying, the surfaces were gently rubbed with two varying grits of a buffering sponge that removed some paint imperfections and raised areas. A second thinner coat was applied, which brought the contrasting tones of the canvas and tape to a harmonious balance. The aim being to achieve simple visual variance of intensity... like wearing a white shirt while being able to see a white undershirt beneath it. Following this was a thin warming coat of clear yellow to suggest the 'doped' effect.
Rather than overaggerating the wing effect I want this build to look clean, and the subtly raised thickness of the dry transfer suggests a three-dimensionality that water-based decals can't achieve, while covering Roden's casting flaws. Looks like I need to go back with a touch more of the clear yellow to even out my inconsistent airbrushing. Halfway through I questioned if the rib tapes looked too wide for scale but they look to match up acceptably with those on the actual plane (third image above). Overall I'm happy with the results of this untested approach.
