This is another of my seemingly endless line-up of Russian-made (and freebie) plastic kits that I have been amusing myself with over the last year or so. All my other military aircraft (all Russian freebies) have quite similar and very drab colour schemes, so I thought I'd brighten up the military shelf with a bit of showbiz razzle dazzle colour.
This colour scheme is from the Valley RAF base in Wales. It was one of the options on the decal sheet I bought on eBay to improve this kit. The original decals were ancient and too basic.
I learnt a lesson with the paint job. It was the first time I have used Mr Color paints for the white (via my new airbrush), but I made the mistake of using up an old rattle can of Tamiya Pure Red for the red sections. These two paints are totally incompatible, as I discovered. In just one or two little spots, a little bit of the Tamiya Red snuck under the masking tape. I thought I could just touch up the minor blemishes with a bit of Mr Color White brushed on with a OO brush. I let the paints dry fully overnight, and then next day, the moment the White Mr Color paint touched the red Tamiya lacquer, it turned pink. I ended up having to re-mask major areas and respray the lot white again. Live and learn!
For the record, here's the original box. Google Translate didn't help me find out which words on the box said "Hawker Hunter", or who the maker was. I just tracked down the plane myself, oddly enough realising that I had actually seen a Hawker Hunter in an aircraft museum here in Australia only a few months ago.
Anyone recognise the sprues? A few of my dodgy Russian kits have turned out to be old Frog kits, so is that likely to be the case here, as well?
