Model Airplane International – August 2019

Issue 169 - http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com 43

1:48

The airframe is now
complete and all seams
sanded, polished and
redetailed — time for
some paint...

These Spitfi res, like a lot of the RAF’s post-war aircraft, were painted with an

aluminium fi nish (often referred to as High Speed Silver) and so I painted mine

using my preferred option of Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver, dulled down with

around 30% Mr. Color Light Aircraft Grey.

Here is that mottling in place, lighter and darker shades

being added with neat AS-12 and then the basecoat

darkened a little with black to create further variation.

Once done, the darker shaded was used to created the

illusion of dirt around the panel lines, before overspraying

the whole model with the basecoat colour to blend

everything in.

Prior to the application of the decals, the model was

airbrushed with several thin layers of Mr. Color GX Clear,

thinned with Mr. Color Levelling Thinners.

Happy with the base coat, my now familiar system of FX

stencils was used to added a random pattern of mottling

over the surface of the paintwork.