added, again from the Mr. Paint
range, starting with RLM-75. I
thought this was a little too dark,
though, so I oversprayed it with
some Model Master RLM-75. Then
the RLM-74 was added freehand for
the camouflage. The black panel aft
of the exhausts was also masked
off and painted at this stage.
The entire model was given a
gloss coat of Tamiya Clear, thinned
with Gunze Mr. Leveling Thinner
and allowed to dry overnight.
The decals were added to the
upper surface and I also added the
fuselage crosses just in case they
would show through. If I had I to
do it over again I would have not
added the crosses and swastikas.
Now came the time to figure out
how to do the black camouflage. I
decided to brush-paint it like the
real thing, which sounds good
but didn’t work out as well as I
would have hoped. After applying
masking fluid and some salt to
various panels, and to capture
some key camouflage points, I
set about using Hataka US Army
Midnight Black from their US
Army Helicopter paint set.
I used an old worn out brush and
tamped it in the paint, then added
it to the model. If I had been paying
attention I would have noticed
that it didn’t level out as well as I
hoped. I should have thinned it and
applied multiple coats. I did get the
look of the camouflage the way Iwanted it in regards to shape, but
not to texture; my paint was very
clumpy. I should have thinned it
with water as opposed to straight
out of the bottle. (Note to self:
Don’t try an untested technique
on a model for a magazine).
I now allowed it to dry and
then proceeded to try and sand
it level, which had the benefit
of removing all of the masking
mediums I had added. This worked
out pretty well but it still wasn’t
perfect, not that the real thing
was beautifully painted either,
but I still wasn’t happy with it.
I thought maybe a coat of clear
over it might help. Ahhh, no. It
didn’t. Breathe deep, drink beer and
wait. So instead of continuing to go
down the path to destruction I let
it dry and tried sanding yet again.
Sadly it did not work out as
well as hoped. The sides were good
but the bottom was lumpy still. I
decided to just strip it and start
again, which was messy and smelly,
but it worked out pretty well on
the belly. I was also very careful
to leave the top and sides alone as
they looked OK. Hopefully I could
keep them without too much pain.
I now repeated the painting
process for the lower fuselage:
primer, touch up, more primer,
RLM 76, mask, and then the RLM- This was followed up with some
masking fluid and salt. Instead
of using the Hataka I went with
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