Hi again.
Thanks for all the encouragement. The kit is really very nice and I've only let
it down in a few places.
Since last time progress has been quite rapid but erratic. I've started to paint various sub-assemblies such as u/c, spinner, main wing struts etcs in my choice of main aircraft colour. Still to be 'weathered'/highlighted. See the chopped-in-half oil tank!

Without wanting to spark off a long and contentious thread here I've decided on a basically 'white' scheme, i.e. one dominated by CDL (bleached or plain) but with a twist that I will mention next time. I am still undecided if the main fuselage structure was painted 'yellow-beige' or was unbleached CDL with 'yellow-beige' painted metal elements. The uniformity might suggest the former. In any case I have chickened out doing separate colours for these and have used Humbrol 103, slightly lightened with white - but will modify the fabric-over-wood areas to suggest some difference in underlying material/surface treatment. I think this is a great colour.
For the upper wing surfaces I am going with bleached CDL and 'yellow-beige' metal bits - here being masked off (once you have masked deck areas etc on a 1/700 ship you get used to this kind of thing). I've used Mr Hobby Aqueous 311 Grey FS36622 here. It looks very like some swatches of bleached linen, with a slight greenish cast. At a later date I'll paint the rib-tapes a brownish unfinished linen colour - then might apply a very thin overall whitish 'tinted dope'.

The fuselage is now sealed up and primed - the repairs to the rear are not bad. I've also added a small round port-cover (with BareMetal foil) under the fuselage behind the bomb apertures - seen on photos. Some later shots of the CIIa show a larger, more oval, panel (both perhaps covering a camera port?). Also an aperture/panel for the trailing aerial - again on photos and I've approximated it with two discs of 0.05 card. I will be doing the model with the two forward windows dropped down so have filled the openings with a piece of card and some liquid mask.


Getting quite excited now as it all starts to come alive and together.
Cheers,
GrahamB