Scale aviation modeller international

handling and sanding, I masked

it with Tamiya tape. I sprayed

Gunze H58 Interior Green on the

canopy frames from the outside,

then applied a gloss black coat to

the front canopy joint – its shiny

and highly reflective nature helps

to detect surface irregularities.

To achieve a clean job on my

plastic patchwork, I applied Gunze

Liquid Putty sparingly with a fine

brush along the seams, and sanded

the areas repeatedly, gradually

using finer grades and constantly

checking against the light until

I had it as perfect as possible.

CHARMING THE SNAKE

I decided to keep one of the cockpit

doors open, and according to period

photographs they were mostly

opened on the right side. The left

door had to be slightly adjusted

with a sanding stick to fit inside

its respective opening before

gluing it in the closed position.

I had already painted the

undercarriage legs, though I did

diverge here from RS’ instructions.

These call out for silver gear legs,

but all photographs I’ve seen

show them in a darker colour.

I chose to spray them Gunze

H58 Interior Green (although

the legs may be neutral grey),

while the shimmy dampers were

brush-painted in Vallejo Silver.

Two shallow depressions

indicate the positioning of the

main gear legs in the wheel bay,

and they are not a very positive

fit. One of the landing gear legs

was slightly longer than the other

one, so it had to be shortened to

fit. The front gear has a better fit,

but a guidance diagram for the

correct angle would have been very

helpful. All wheels were flattened

to give them a weighted look.

At this stage I also painted the

propeller blades, using Gunze

H4 Yellow for the warning tips

and Tamiya TS-14 Gloss Black

for the blades. They are slid

into the pre-assembled spinner

and guided by pinholes into the

correct positioning. I found a

propeller alignment jig (for a

Bf-109) in my spares box and

used it as a guide for the pitch.

I had chosen the Soviet Air

Force option, Red 60, which

operated during the winter of

1942/43. RS Model suggest an

overall silver finish, so I sprayed

Assembling the propeller (with the help of a jig)

Almost there – decals are on

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