primer I had used at the outset
added a further blue-grey tone.
With the minimal masking
removed, I now sprayed a light
coat of AK Interactive Chipping
Effects solution on the wing root
and cowling areas, anticipating
that I would expose some wear in
these areas. The RLM 76 Blue (Mr.
Hobby H417) final colour was built
up in thin coats so as to not fully
obscure the pre-shading or the
RLM 75. I didn’t do any highlighting
with lightened H417, but I did add
some shadows from very thin H69.
Before glossing with Mr. Hobby
H30 in preparation for the decals, I
scrubbed away the top coat colour
on the wing roots, using an old
cut-down toothbrush and water
to reveal the RLM 75 beneath.
This is where the chipping effects
solution scores over adding scuffs
with a brush, the effect appearing
more random and softer-edged.
The decals behaved themselves,
as usual with Eduard offerings.
Eduard always goes the whole
nine yards in terms of stencils,
but I reasoned that late in the war,
with expedient paintwork being
applied, the niceties of fuselage
frame numbers and some of the
other warning notices would go
by the board, so I added only those
stencils that had some significant
operational importance.
With the decals done, I gave
some thought to whether or not to
highlight the panel lines, which is
something I blow hot and cold over.
On darker schemes I can usually
see the point, but on an overall pale
scheme like this, I shy away from
overemphasis, even with
panel lines as fine as
Eduard’s. Humm-
ing and Haa-ing
done, I decided
against panel liner
and went for some
post-shading using
dilute Tamiya X-
Smoke instead. The whole
scheme was blended with a fine
filter of H20 Matt tinted with H417.TWIDDLY BITS
The final airframe details were now
added in order of least flimsiness,
starting with the undercarriage,
which is straightforward. I chose
to replace the main legs with
metal ones from Scale AircraftConversions for their finer
detail, although I used the kit’s
plastic scissor links rather than
the thin PE items. I also added
a brake line from lead wire.
I had built up and painted the
drop tanks separately, so these were
attached now, with the addition
of some wire fuel lines to the wing
undersides. A few other bits and
pieces to finish, and finally, the
SN-2 and the tail warning radar
antennae could be added. I choseto paint the lower part of these
red and white for effect, although
there’s no overt evidence that
Johnen’s machine had this detail.
To finish, some exhaust
stains were added using various
diluted brown and tan tones, with
some black and brown pastels to
suggest gun stains and mud.RLM 75 on the upper surfaces, patchily
obscured by RLM 76 overspray18 • NOVEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
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