Scale aviation modeller international

time-consuming process than

conventional pre-shading, but

I did feel a bit more in control.

With the white masked, the

EDSG upper finish was built up by

laying down a series of patches of

Mr. Hobby H333 EDSG, H317 Dark

Sea Grey, and H337 Greyish Blue,

again blending the whole lot with

very thin H333 lightened with

about 10% white; the result is a

multi-toned faded finish typical

of the Navy Phantoms at sea.

The bare metal areas around the

tail and the stabilators were painted

with a variety of Alclad shades.

Several thin coats of Mr. Hobby H30

Clear gave a finish ready for decals.

DECALS

There are more than 300 stencils,

and a stencil placement map that

looks like a spider has run across

the page several times. In the

majority of cases, the stencils go

on over any national markings

or codes, but it pays to check.

The Airfix decals are well

printed, but are rather thick and

resistant to softening solutions

• not really a problem with the
  smaller stencils, but the big red
  flashes on the fin don’t settle easily
  into the panel lines. The Xtradecals
  are thinner, but quite grabby.
  The airframe I was modelling
  was XV590 001/R, which after cross-
  decking with the USS Saratoga in
  1978 was painted with the “Colonial
  Navy” legend. It also had a white star
  painted in as part of the fuselage
  roundels, zaps applied by VF-171, and
  its underwing serials overpainted
  in white (I imagine some of the
  fuselage and underwing stencils will
  have suffered collateral damage).
  In an attempt to replicate the
  time history of the aircraft, I set
  about weathering it before adding
  the newest decals. Given the rather
  heavy panel lines, I restricted
  myself to fading and streaking
  the EDSG by applying random
  dots of white, grey, and black oil
  paint, and blending them with a
  flat brush dampened with white
  spirit, using downward strokes
  on the fuselage and fore-and-aft
  strokes on the wings and tail.
  The white underside was treated
  to a similar, but more restrained
  process using browns. I had cut and
  applied the “NAVY”’ component of
  the side legend before weathering,
  but to replicate the final finish I
  masked a rectangle which I painted
  with straight EDSG and glossed with

“THERE ARE MORE THAN 300

STENCILS, AND A STENCIL

PLACEMENT MAP”

26 • MAY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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