roots display wear patterns and
bare metal underneath them.
This leads me to think that it was
the Light Grey RLM 63 and any
shine seen in photographs was
probably from the ground crew
polishing the inish to get the
most speed out of the aircraft.
Assuming this was the case, the
model was now wiped down with
Testor’s Plastic Prep and given a
little bit of Mr. Paint RLM 02 around
the canopy area, followed by a coat
of Alclad Grey Primer. Some touch-
up was required but surprisingly
not much. A few panel lines had
to be deepened slightly but this
was quite easy. Once I was happy
with everything I pre-shaded with
Tamiya Dark Grey, as I had decided
that my normal black would be too
stark under the light grey paint.
The wing tips and the rudder
were sprayed with Alclad White
Primer and masked of. The model
was then given its pre-war colour of
RLM 63 Light Grey. There were two
versions of RLM 63: the irst was a
pre-war colour of very light grey,
and a later version that was nearly
identical to RLM 02 Grey Green. I
used Model Master Acrylic 4777
Lichtgrau RLM 63 on my model.
After this had dried the front
panels by the engine were masked
of and painted Tamiya Flat Black.
Since it seems slightly lighter
in the period photos the actual
exhaust panel was given a coat ofTamiya NATO Black to produce
a slight variation. The masks on
the white were now removed and
then the whole model was given
a coat of Tamiya Clear thinned
with Gunze Mr. Leveling Thinner
and left to dry overnight.
While that was drying I went
to work on the prop. The Schwarz
wooden prop was painted silver
on the front, black on the back,
with a light-grey middle colour
and apparently a nose cap in a
slightly diferent colour. I used
Alclad Aluminium for the front
and Tamiya NATO Black on
the back, then masked of the
center and painted this with
Tamiya Sky Grey. I masked of
the tips and painted them the
same as the airframe colour.
The kit decals were used for
most of the markings. After
looking over my reference photos
I determined that the wing
markings were a little too small
for my machine, so I sourced some
decals from the Aeromaster 48-
Spanish Civil War sheet. Both the
kit decals and the Aeromaster ones
worked well. (After I had inished
the model I realized I should have
had the wing decals a little furtherback on the wing so that the circle
was slightly over the aileron instead
of the slat. Oh well, there will
be others.) A coat of Alclad Matt
Finish was applied over the entire
model, which sealed the decals and
prepared the model for weathering.
Weathering was challenging
since the basic single-colour
aircraft would have to remain
interesting without being
monochromatic. I started of with
a very thin wash of burnt umber
artist oils in the panel lines and
then a slightly thicker wash around
the exhaust areas. Photos showed
the exhaust staining would reach
back beyond the wing and also
built up on the wing walk area. It
took two applications, but in the
end I was quite happy with the
result. Better slow than wrong.
The fading was kept to a
minimum with dots of titanium buf
and white added to the uppermost
surfaces. This was then blended
in with turpenoid and streaked
accordingly. Next a silver pencil and
some Model Master Aluminum were
applied with a sponge to indicate
worn areas. A very light dustingof heavily thinned Tamiya
Buf was added to the upper
surface and slightly extended
across the exhaust area.
The actual exhaust buildup
was done with Mig Pigments and
a large lat brush. I used Vietnam
Dirt and Smoke Black for the
variation in colour. Some oil streaks
were added on the belly with AK
Streaking Grime and artist oils
streaked back with a brush thinned
in turpenoid. Some minor mud
was added to the lower surfaces
and the weathering was done.
Finally, the masks were removed
from the canopy and the landing
gear legs. Some cleanup was
required but it was simple. The
wheels and landing gear doors were
added, as was the hinged portion
of the canopy. The propeller was
simply pushed into the mounting
hole and the model was done. The
whole thing looked great to me.10 • DECEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL