Aircraft Edition PAINTING
I have always liked Gunze’s Mr Color lacquer
range for its smooth coverage, fast drying
properties and tough finish. However, I used to find
the Mr Color left a trail of dried paint that looks like
spiderwebs, especially when the paint has been
heavily thinned or when it comes into contact with
masking tape adhesive. Recently, this problem has
been completely solved by thinning with Mr Hobby
Mr Color Leveling Thinner 400, which retards the
drying time of the lacquer paint.
The lower surfaces were sprayed Tamiya AS-
Medium Sea Grey, straight from the spray can. This
part of the job took about two minutes!
The painted lower surfaces were then masked
with Tamiya tape. The fuselage, wings and
tailplanes received a base coat of Mr Color 362
- Ocean Grey, lightened with approximately 25%
Medium Sea Grey and once again mixed with
40% Mr Color Leveling Thinner 400.
The camouflage plans included in the kit
instructions were scanned and scaled to 1:32 in
Photoshop before being printed onto a full A
label sheet. The patterns for the fuselage, wings
and tailplanes were cut out with a pair of scissors
then the self-adhesive masks were stuck straight
onto the model.
A few tricky areas where the masks did not meet - mainly on the fuselage spine - were masked with
Tamiya tape.
Mr Color 361 RAF Dark Green was used for the
upper surface disruptive colour.
When all the masking tape was removed, the
overall picture was revealed – a nice hard-
edged clean camouflage finish.
The model was sprayed with two
coats of Future floor polish.
Markings were sourced from
Xtradecals' 1:48 scale decal set
X48100, Hawker Tempest Mk.V.
The model received a base
coat of Tamiya Grey Primer
straight from the can.The wings were masked in preparation
for the leading edge markings.The area received a white primer coat......followed by Trainer Yellow.The fuselage, wings and
tailplanes received a base coat
of Mr Color 362 - Ocean Grey,
lightened with approximately
25% Medium Sea Grey.The grey upper surfaces
were mottled and streaked
with a paler shade of grey.The lower surfaces were
sprayed Tamiya AS-
Medium Sea Grey, straight
from the spray can.