Model Airplane International - June 2018

The wing to fuselage joint has been well

thought out. You’ll note that the wingroot

cannon covers are moulded as part of the

upper wing ( they are separate parts in the

older tooling) thus avoiding the traditional

seam across that panel. It’s a neat engineering

idea and the fi t is lovely but I did use some Mr

Surfacer for belt and braces. Next, the lower

cowling goes on. The fi t is not Tamiya levels

of precision so a little Mr Surfacer helped

out here too. The armoured cowl ring is also

a fl awless fi t but in hindsight not gluing it on

the JG.1 chequered nose model would have

saved a masking job!

Tailplanes fi t with no gaps and some

modellers may elect not to glue them on until

after painting however, I prefer to run a bead of

the ever useful Mr Surfacer in the joint to make

it perfect. Again, others will be happy with the

95% join and an easier masking job later - as

indeed was the editor on his build.

The windscreen fi ts well, just be sure to pick

the correct one. I prefer to mask the inside as

well as the outside of my clear parts, which

can be a tricky job but I much prefer the look

as just painting the outside looks odd in my

opinion as the internal frame looks glossy and

there’s an optical illusion (I even do it on 1:72

models). The main canopy was left off and

an unused 'closed' canopy tacked in place for

masking purposes.

Painting, Decals And Weathering

Painting began with a layer of Tamiya Grey

Surface Primer. This has been a game-

changer for me. Though I love Ammo’s One

Shot Primer as I feel it is by far the best acrylic

primer on the market, Tamiya’s lacquer-based

product is superior. In order to use it on this

model, I chose not to spray it straight from

the can, electing instead to decant it and then

airbrush it on to the model. A few drops of Mr

Hobby thinner and the result was a silky-

smooth fi nish thin enough to show all of that

beautiful surface detail, but opaque enough to

provide a uniform undercoat.

As I mentioned in the introduction, I prefer

Mr Paint is extremely thin which is ideal for

models with fi ne surface detail such as this. I

fi nd their paint is very authentic, however the

RLM75 could weather and fade quite a lot so I

prefer to lighten it a little with white.

No, this isn’t the mad riveter, its what you see under

extreme close up with my new macro lens!

The RLM 74 was sprayed freehand, an easy job with

Mr Paint as it’s so thin.

ROTTE LOVELY COLLECTION.indd 27 04/05/2018 15:01