rattle can, I attempted the initial
paintwork. To represent the overall
colour I made up a custom mix
of grey and silver using Tamiya
paints, mixed with their lacquer
thinner (although making the
paint more toxic, it does spray
beautifully). I think silver dope
tends to appear as a solid, even
finish on real aircraft. It certainly
seems that way from studying
period pictures; you just don’t
seem to see the same highlighted
ribs as on other finishes.
That said, I wanted some
variation (artistic licence to a
degree). Therefore, I highlighted
the ribs, having masked them off
with pre-cut rib masking tape,
followed by a little post-shading.
This looked slightly overdone,
but I hoped that it would mellow
with the further weathering and
varnishing processes. I finished by
very gently sanding the top surfaces
of the wings to reveal the dark
primer below, highlighting a littlemore detail. I also experimented
with some very subtle pencil
work for some of the rib detail.
Then came the fun part of
masking the insignia and squadron
codes. This is a part that’s hugely
satisfying - the process of
peeling back the mask to reveal a
perfectly formed roundel is one
of my little pleasures (unless of
course I find bleeding under the
masks, when it then becomes
one of my little nightmares!)WINGS
The wings on this kit are heavy
pieces of solid plastic, and my
initial concern was, would the
undercarriage kit struts be solid
enough? The lower wing on
the Brisfit, unusually, “floats”,
and attaches to the fuselage by
struts, and I was thinking about
reinforcing these. I had a dry run
with the undercarriage and found
the main axle would bend no matterwhat I did, so I decided to replace
the axle and its supports with more
brass tubing for rigidity. While I was
at it, I thought I may as well carve
off the moulded elastic bungees and
replace them with modelling string
to give a more three dimensional
appearance. Suitably weathered,
I think this adds a lot to the
realism of the completed model.
With the numerous little struts
involved, I found this section quite
tricky. I managed to snap one of the
trailing legs and ended up having to
pin it, since a butt join was just not
strong enough. It is also quite a job
to make sure everything is lined up
and symmetrical, with the wings at
the correct angle. Again, this is not
the kit - just me and my fat fingers.
So far I had managed to drop
the fuselage twice (causing
damage twice), snap the
undercarriage leg, and cover
the top wing with splashes of
airbrush cleaner, causing a near
total sand-back and repaint.
We now moved on to my least
favourite part of the build - the top
wing. I again had concerns due to
the weight. The top wing comes in
three sections and I was considering
attaching the top mid section, then34 • JANUARY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
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