Research would conirm that this
was indeed the case, though the
colours in which the lower surface
lozenge had been printed were more
pleasing and fairly representative.
I had further misgivings about
the rib tape decals. One major
hindrance I envisaged to the
successful application of these
decals was the fact that the raised
stitching detail on the upper and
lower surface wing ribs was so
pronounced. Getting decals to
settle down successfully over them
seemed unlikely, and even if I could
get the decals to soften suiciently,
then the wonderful stitching detail
would be all but lost, and I further
surmised that silvering beneath
the decals would be unavoidable.
I decided therefore that my only
option was to paint the rib tapes.
Also contained on the large decal
sheet are lozenge decals for both
inter-plane struts, which instantly
prompted questions: were the
wooden inter-plane struts really
covered in lozenge-pattern fabric?
Or were they painstakingly painted
to match the fabric pattern? Both
possibilities seemed to me to be
unlikely, though colour proiles
in my reference books tended to
agreed with the kit instructions
that this was indeed the case.
Period photographs were harder
to analyse, however, though it did
seem that there was some kind of
patterning on the struts on some
if not on all of the period aircraft
pictured. I decided that these
items, and the inner surfaces of
the wheels, would need painting
whilst I was painting the rib tapes.
To replace the kit decals I
purchased a sheet of ive-colour
lozenges, printed in the correct
shades, from the Aviatic decal
range. Using this sheet as my
reference, I started by replicating
the pale green featured on the
sheet in enamels. I discovered
that Colourcoats ACRA08 Verde
Mimetico 53192 was an almost
perfect match, so this colour was
sprayed across the upper wing
surfaces. The underwing light blue
was a mix of several pale blues
and grey-mauve shades from the
Humbrol and Colourcoats ranges,
which closely matched the shade
on the Eduard decals sheet.
I masked the main wing
sections, leaving just the rib tapes
exposed. Over the base colours I
airbrushed a mosaic pattern of
blue, purple, grey, pink, and sand.
This was a slow and painstaking
process, but I believe the end results
more than justiied the time spent
repeatedly masking, unmasking,
and mixing paint to replicate the
colours on the two decal sheets.
The Eduard lozenge decals for
the upper and lower planes actually
come as single, full-length strips
that are designed to cover the
wings in their entirety. Having
decided to use the Eduard decals
on the underside of the wings,
this was obviously of no use to me
having pre-painted the rib tapes,
so I proceeded to cut the decalsinto sections, once again using my
vernier to take measurements.
These decal sections were
then individually laid onto the
wings between the ribs. The
end result looked efective and
the wonderful raised stitching
detail remained exposed, as it
assuredly would not have been
had I used the Eduard decals as
they were designed to be used.
As already mentioned, I chose
to use the faded, ive-colour
lozenge sheet, ATT48008, from
Aviattic with which to cover the
upper planes. This was printed on
a single, large sheet containing
both upper and lower plane
lozenges, and was contained in
a zip-lock bag with full-colour
instructions, a brief explanation
of the decal range and the research
that went into its creation.
It was immediately obvious
that these decals were of a vastly
superior quality to the Eduard
items. The colours were quite
diferent and obviously more
accurate. Indeed, I was very
tempted to remove the Eduard
decals that I had so painstakingly
applied to the lower wings and
replace them with the newly arrived
Aviattic items. I decided against
such an extreme solution, however,
and left things as they were.And so I set about measuring
and cutting out the upper plane
sections from the Aviattic sheet.
Unfortunately, it was not as simple
as merely cutting out seventy six
separate sections and randomly
placing them onto the wings,
as there was a deinite pattern
to the fabric which I needed to
replicate. I therefore limited the
number of pieces I cut to just four
at a time, securing these to the
kit before cutting out more.
It took some time, but I don’t
think I would have done things
diferently, with one exception:
Aviattic decals, unlike the majority
of decals, are transparent and
designed to use the underlying
colour on which they are applied.
Once I realised this I oversprayed
the light green with which I had
painted the upper wings with an
even lighter shade of green, but it
still proved to be slightly too dull to
bring out the vibrancy of the decals.
Nevertheless, they looked very
efective once varnished. (A small
note that in later issues of this
kit the decals have been changed
and are more accurate than in my
original release, though Aviatic’s
sheets are still more accurate.)WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • DECEMBER 2018 • 73
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