Scale Aviation Modeller International – April 2019

SO TO PAINT

So, main airframe complete,
glazing on and masked and
the apertures sealed
with foam, it was
time for paint, which
in something of an
anti-climax, and was
relatively straightforward
ne. Halfords Grey Primer
formed the basic surface, and
was applied lightly to avoid
pooling or obscuring the detail.
This was then polished smooth
with 1000 grit foam-backed
abrasive. A conventional pre-
shading of the upper surfaces
using Mr Hobby H77 Tire Black
was followed by layered coats
of Mr Hobby H72 Dark Earth,
successively thinned with Mr
Hobby Levelling Thinner and
lightened with H318 Radome.
This was applied roughly over
the appropriate camoulage
areas to avoid too much paint
build-up or premature coverage
of the pre-shade. Having left the
Dark Earth to cure for 48 hours
the camoulage pattern was laid
out using Blu Tac ‘sausages’ in
illed with tape; I laid a hard
demarcation line along the wing
and tail plane leading edges
for the black wrap-around
colour. The Dark Green (H73)
was applied using the same
layered approach as the Dark
Earth and I chose to remove the
masking on the Earth within
an hour or so of the Green being
touch dry, to minimise the
risk of marking the paint. The
airframe was then set aside
for a further 48 hours to fully
harden before re-masking
the relatively straightforward
hard lines between the upper
surfaces and the undersides.
To my mind, painting a
convincing black surface ranks
with natural metal as a inishing
challenge. Pre-shading doesn’t

work at all, and black never

appears to be really black,

particularly in smaller scales.

My preferred approach is to use

Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black toned

down with around 15 – 20%

XF-7 Red, which adds some

depth to the colour, without the

blandness of the grey achieved

with simple lightening with

white or light grey. The amount

of red can be varied to add

some tonal variety. If there’s

reasonably sharp surface detail,

it can be enhanced by post-

shading with pure XF-1. Whilst

it’s readily available and easy to

spray, the Tamiya paint is very

matt and quite soft, and needs

to be protected against handling

damage, so I used Tamiya X-

Satin as an initial covering,

building up a gloss surface with

thinned X-22 where the decals

were due to be placed. The

decals themselves seem typical

of the latest oferings from

Airix, being well printed with

good colour density, but rather

thick and having a very matt

carrier ilm which is reluctant to

respond to Micro Sol. Once dry,

I sealed the decals and returned

the inish to nearly matt using

Mr Hobby GX100. The pre-

shading had survived quite

well on the upper surfaces, and

had some subtle efect on the

black, although it doesn’t really

show up in the photographs.

I did some light post-shading

with very thin Tamiya XF-

brown and a small amount of

panel chipping using Vallejo

Steel (rather than the brighter

Aluminium) applied with a tiny

piece of sponge to the leading

edges, some engine panels and

the bomb bay and dulled the

whole lot down with thin coats

of XF-86 lat clear. Pastel chalks

in shades of brown, black and

grey to add dirt streaks around

the cooling air vents and the

turbocharger exhausts gave

some interest to the inish.

FINISHING OFF

The kit’s undercarriage is nicely

rendered and needs very little

clean up, although it beneits

from the addition of the brake

pipework. Eduard ofer etched

brake lines in their exterior set,

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL • APRIL 2019

1/

11