Reich Defenders V: Hunters of the Dark

Talk about time-consuming... Before Christmas I tackled the wheels of this SOB and found that the styrene parts did not fit into the vinyl tyres... I ordered up the Aries resin wheel set and it's now painted up and ready.

The etched parts in the cockpit and under the canopy were a paint, I ended up ditching the canopy handle loops and the instrumen t panel that goes inside the forward canopy, there is simply no way I can see to fit them, not with my eyesight and dexterity. It's a bitter thing to acknowledge your limitations but I think I've reached mine.

Here she is, looking like a 262 now. I need to fill some gaps around the windshield with white glue, polish out the finger prints and inexplicable blemishes that appear the moment the canopy is attached, then get to the masks.

This project was been a PIT U know what, which explains why i spen the last few days finishing an armour kit instead...

M/TB379

Good to se you sticking with it Mike, lok forward to seeing some paint on it.

Do you have any plans for an RD VI GB.

Hi guys, a little more progress to report. The canopy is on, as reported last time, a prominent gap was fixed with white glue, then the engines were masked and the model was washed overall and air-dried. Then I applied the eduard mask set and corrected a few places with strips of tape:

The target for tomorrow is to have the painting well under way. Ay this time the 66 is on over the canopy. I need to make a call on rescribing panel lines across dressed joints, then preshade the top surfaces and very possibly go on and apply the 76 base colour, including the nose gear well.

After that I need to get the nose and main gear bays masked before laying on the black, trying for acceptable soft demarcations against the 76. Then the fine 02 squiggles, and into the clearcoats and the run to the finish.

M/TB379

And today's progress -- canopy interior grey went on yesterday, today I added the antenna fairing behind the canopy and preshaded the airframe upper surfaces, then immediately added two light coats of RLM 76. Next up, mask the gear wells and continue to the black. I will be soft masking the demarcations, with luck.

Honestly, I just want this one off the bench -- if one more thing crops up that prevents me from finishing, it'll enjoy the dubious honour of being the fist model I have ever binned in my life. So if you see shoddy filler here and there, that's why!

M/TB379

Great to see some paint on Mike. Nice work.