Scale Aviation Modeller International – September 2019

nice hard wearing and smooth

inish for the all-white NASA

scheme. After being allowed to

dry overnight, I followed this

up with a soft cloth to smooth

the surface, and the model was

given coats of X-2 White. These

were applied in one session,

lightly for the irst coat, and

then second and third coats

were applied thicker until the

surface looked even. While

that dried overnight, I could

begin with adding details to

the undercarriage. Using some

thin wire, I added the brake

lines to the rear and a line to the

nose gear for the steering. The

landing gear was then primed

in black, then painted white

weathered lightly with a little

Brown and Black panel line

wash. Back to the paintwork,

I went over the upper surfaces

using the Tamiya Polishing

Powder and a paper towel,

which gave a inish a nice shine.

Next, some considerable efort

and time was required to paint

the leading edges, the no step

lines on the wings, and the nose

section in black. As there was no

mention in the painting plans,

nor a decal supplied for the wing

no step lines, this was done

as best as possible by photo-

references. After the masks

were removed some attention

was paid to the areas where

any black had bled through.

FINISHING TOUCHES

The landing gear bays were

weathered, irstly with watered

down touches of Vallejo

Model Air Of-White, which

I felt would match nicely for

a base to start weathering.

Next, I applied Ammo by MIG

Oilbrusher Starship Filth, and

spread and faded this a bit

with some White Spirit, before

adding some inal touches with

the Tamiya Black and Brown

panel line washes. The landing

gear bays then had some

additional detail added using

small pieces of electrical wire

to represent the brake lines

and cables that noticeably hang

down when the gear is down.

After painting the yellow panel

under the cockpit, another

quick polish was done, and it

was onto the decals. These went

on really well but are not to the

standard reached by the likes

of Cartograf. Unfortunately,

there are a few missing decals

I would have liked to have seen

a USAF serial number on the

nose of the aircraft. Afterwards,

I used a Black Tamiya Panel

Line Wash on the light control

panel lines, and the areas

that are dirtier on the lower

surfaces. The rest of the panel

lines were also treated with a

Light Grey Tamiya Panel Line

Wash, which only had only a

NASA have been using this highly

capable aircraft for astronaut training,

along with other missions such as

chase plane for the Space Shuttle

SEPTEMBER 2019 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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