proportioned fins is that each
of the thirty-two are separately
moulded and require a considerable
amount of patience to separate
them from the sprues and prepare
them without inflicting damage.
Once the Sparrow fins are
cleaned up and cemented into
place, work can then begin on
the thirty-two Sidewinder fins,
which are equally delicate. Care
should be exercised when selecting
these, as alternative fin options for
different versions are included.
Once assembled, the missiles
were airbrushed in white enamel,
once again over a dark base coat,
and sealed with a coat of gloss
varnish before the wraparound
decals were applied. These latter
items proved problematic, however,
as they refused to conform to the
tight curves of the missile bodies,
despite using copious amounts
of Micro Set and Sol. Brute force
and patience finally triumphed,
followed by a sealing coat of gloss
varnish to keep the decals in
place. (I have noticed of late that
my rather aged bottle of Micro
Sol no longer softens decals as it
should and as it once did, and Ican only assume that it has long
since passed its shelf-life).PREP AND PRIME
There were some noticeable
gaps that required filling on the
airframe before painting. These
included slight gaps along the
wing roots and wingtip dihedrals,
gaping seams around the poorly
fitting intakes, and a slight ridge
and gap along the spine insert.
As I also suspected that there
would be problems with the vertical
fuselage seam, especially around
the nose wheel housing insert, I
coated the entire airframe with
several generous coats of Alclad
Grey Primer, concentrating on
the areas of most concern. (This
versatile, high-build primer/filler
dries rapidly and can be wet-
sanded to a very smooth finish,
enabling the modeller to eradicate
small imperfections. If abused,
however, it can also result in the
loss of fine, recessed detail).
When I was satisfied with the
appearance of the airframe, an
overall base coat of black enamel
was applied, and once dry, theunderside camouflage colour
was added. I used Humbrol 147,
airbrushed in a random, marbled
pattern over the black, beginning
in the centre of each panel and
working out towards the panel
lines, leaving a hint of the basecoat
remaining. A light overall dusting
of the same colour then sufficed
to give the undersides a uniform
but weathered appearance.
Masking tape was used to create
a hard-edged demarcation line,
against which the upper surface
colours were applied, beginning
with the lightest shade. Having no
authentic U.S. colours amongst my
paint stocks, I improvised, basing
my mixes on reference pictures
downloaded from the internet. I
created the appropriate tan colour
by mixing Humbrol 94 and 63 with a
small quantity of black. The lighter
of the greens was a mix of Humbrol
150 and 30, while the darker
green was created from Humbrol
116, 149, and a spot of black.
These shades were applied
using the same marbling process asdescribed above, then highlighted
by adding paler mixes of the
original colours. Black and brown
enamels were then used to add
exhaust staining, airframe dirt,
and oil streaks over the entire
airframe, using a brush dampened
with white spirit to soften the edges
of the streaks. Further dirt was
added to the undersides with an
airbrush. No commercially available
weathering products were used.
The unpainted titanium
fuselage section aft of the tailpipes
was created using various Alclad
metallic lacquers. Over this,
yellow, blue and purple hues
were applied by way of colour-
tinted enamel varnish mixes,
and finally, exhaust staining was
applied to complete the effect.
Several generous coats of gloss
enamel varnish were then applied
to the airframe, which when
thoroughly dry, were wet-sanded
smooth and polished in preparationWWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • OCTOBER 2018 • 33
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