Scale aviation modeller international

blowover of gloss seal from a rattle

can, as this makes the paint so

much more robust for handling.

Then using the two greys

above I proceeded to break up

the demarcation between the top

colours and blue on the fuselage

sides by applying some gentle

mottling, which extended to the

fin and rudder as well. Another

squirt of gloss seal followed

and then it was time to mask

and paint the black ”exhaust

eagles” either side of the nose.

Precision is the key with

any masking, but when a colour

demarcation coincides with a

decal which is just 1 mm wide, it’s

time to break out the Jameson’s.

This seemed to work (other

Irish whiskeys are available),

and soon I was applying some

more thin coats of gloss in

preparation for the decals.

The fit of the tailplanes was

so perfect that I had avoided

any masking by painting them

separately and attached them at

this stage, or would have done,

only... I discovered that I had

painted the starboard side ones

but not the port. ”D’oh!”, as the

yellow man would say. An irritating

repaint followed this spectacular

own goal. And more Jameson’s.

MANY SMALL DECALS

The decal sheet is surprisingly

compact but it nevertheless

contains everything you need to

appropriately decorate the Butcher

Bird. With the exception of some

tiny red lines which go across each

and every Dzus fastener, (and which

I gave up on), they were robust

and docile, sticking well once

they had been eased into place.

Decals are included for the red

trim tabs (a feature of Luftwaffe

aircraft of this period), and these

are designed to wrap around the

trailing edge – not a hope! I tried

one and as I anticipated the edge

of the wing was far too thick. A

quick mask and some red paint

soon sorted the problem, along

with the use of just the half of each

decal (the bit with the writing

on). Sadly even some of these fell

off soon after being applied.

Swastikas are not supplied,

I do understand the political

sensitivities in Germany that

surround these ancient symbols.

So I needed to raid my spare decals

file to sort out this omission.

FINAL DETAILS

With the airframe painted and

weathered, it was time to add the

peripheral components, such as

the pilot’s step, lights, and many

aerials. These all attached to the

holes designed (or drilled) for them

without problems. Then I came to

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