Scale Aviation Modeller International – April 2019

that Day-Glo colours get
much in the way of straight
identiication, but one source
possibly identiies the colour as
FS 18915. This is in fact Humbrol
193, which straight from the
tinlet looks like the colour of
an angler’s ishing loat! The
same source also possibly
suggests FS 12199, a red-orange
colour. After consulting FS595a
on-line I thought well this
looks more like it, and I now
realized I needed a redder
shade in the mixing jar. So, I
put together a mix of Xtracolor
X104 FS12197 International
Orange and a Gloss Red; not
much red was required to get
a halfway house between red
and orange. Day-Glo colours
often fade, sometimes badly,
on upper surfaces on exposure
to time and sunshine, so I
inished the airbrush session
with a yellowed mix, which
was then frisked onto the
tops of the tanks, a couple
of seconds each only.
The last formal outing for
the airbrush, apart from the
inal varnish, was an ivory white
colour for the tip of the nose,
and the noses of the tip-tanks. I
used white with a dab of khaki.
The same colour was also
required, as a narrow strip, at
the leading edges of the wings,
tail planes, in and ventral
ins; this was hand painted
to avoid masking the whole
model, but even with only local
masking was only moderately
successful. I achieved the black
engine intake lips using narrow
strips of black decal, teased
into place within the intakes
with a cocktail stick, and then
externally hand painted up to
the decal strip. I had planned all
along to use the Italeri decals;
they were in perfect register
with many tiny stencils and,
yes, gloss inished but I would

inish anyway with an overall

matt varnish. Unfortunately, the

Italeri instruction sheet wasn’t

put together or printed with

the same rigour as the decals

themselves, the sheet missing

several decal placements and

showing a few errors, which I

didn’t notice until it was too late.

The decals performed absolutely

lawlessly on top of three hand

brushed coats of Johnson’s

‘Klear’, and with the usual

Micro settling products. Not a

trace of silvering, anywhere.

The illers and drains set along

the centerlines of the tip tanks

were from my ‘spares-box’.

Having already pre-shaded, I

inished the weathering with

thin washes into the panel

lines, and a light pass or two

with the airbrush, loaded with a

medium sand colour, suggesting

build-up of grime trailing

backwards over the wing from

the wing fences, etc. Next was

an overall airbrushed coat of

Humbrol Matt Cote, and then

attach the canopy. The inal job

was two minutes spent with

some weathering powders,

replicating the grime often seen

around the rear fuselage area,

between the cockpit and the tail.

CONCLUSION

A sensible path towards a

1/72 scale MB.339A would

be the Italeri kit, on its own

and re-scribed! However,

my method has several

advantages, in particular

the excellent Aeroclub bang

seats and their ultra-thin and

clear canopy, plus of course

the avoidance of much of

the re-scribing. But, either

way, the AerMacchi MB.339

makes a pretty little model.

The decals performed

absolutely flawlessly

SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL • APRIL 2019

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