the white sections, as opposed
to the bare metal parts of the
aircraft. I used Tamiya’s Fine White
Primer rattle can spray for the
white sections and their Fine Gray
Primer rattle can spray to mark the
upper wing/fuselage grey strip.
I used Testors Red Enamel,
shot through an airbrush, to do the
tail (with the white logo sections
masked). Then I re-masked and
sprayed Alclad’s Gloss Black
Primer for the metal sections. After
masking the already black wing and
tail de-icer boots, I then sprayed
various shades of Alclad Metalizer
paints for the bare metal sections.
The aftermarket decals went
on fairly well, except for one
major flaw. The side cheat lines
are about a half inch (about 12-13
millimetres) too short for the
nose portions to meet properly.
Thankfully, the decal sheet was on
a clear (not blue) background, so
I was able to scan and copy them
on clear decal paper with my ink
jet printer. Then I cut out small
extra sections of the side cheat line
to close up the unexpected gap,which I cut and patched between
the windows and the cockpit. Not
perfect, but close enough. (The
extra set of decals also helped to
fix some goofs in other spots).
Once painted, I removed the
kit-supplied cockpit canopy that
I’d used as a mask and replaced it
with one of the much nicer (and
more correct) vac-form canopies
included with the aftermarket
cockpit kit. I opened up the side
and top cockpit windows (seen
in many Caribou photos) to make
the cockpit more visible. I also
imagined that those openings,
as well as the open side door and
open rear cargo doors would have
provided some needed ventilation
on a hot New Guinea airstrip!CORRECTING THE STANCE
Because I had canted the wings
slightly to increase the dihedral,
the landing gear struts, if installed
without modification, ended up
slightly canted as well. I cut down
one side of the two-legged struts
slightly to try and compensate. ButWWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • APRIL 2018 • 71
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