Dang...I guess I've been slacking. I left off at assembly. The fit was quite good, only some minor issues at the port wing trailing edge. It was probably something I messed up in there. The rear stabilizers are a one piece insert that slides in the back, so it's impossible to mess up getting them level...genius.
Like their new Gustav 109, the landing gear goes in as one piece and the lower panels in that area go in over it. I blue-tac'd these in place temporarily for painting. You can see where they are proud of the surface by the carb intake.
Alclad Grey Primer to check the seams...easy work on this kit. I primed the port wing root as I will spray Alclad Aluminum here in anticipation for some chipping later (which I decided not do).
After a black preshade, I broke out the Montex.
I sprayed the fuse codes XF-19 Sky Grey then added the letters.
Next I sprayed the lower surface XF-21 Sky. I added a touch of XF-3 Yellow to tone down the green a bit (forgot to snap a pic). The upper Dark Earth was then done in the Tamiya recommended 5 parts XF-52 Flat Earth to one part XF-49 Khaki. I added a drop of XF-64 Red Brown too for good measure. I then did some random fading and streaking by adding XF-57 Buff. Nothing crazy at this point.
I used Tamiya's color profile sheet as reference then used Blue Tac "worms" for the camo pattern.
Time for XF-81 Dark RAF. Tamiya recommends some funky green mixture in their instructions. Did they forget they made XF-81?...lol. I faded this with a bit of XF-57 as well.
Everything removed. I have to mention the faulty Montex adhesive reared it's ugly head once again. Like my 109 last year, these left residue behind when I pulled them off. I can't explain it. This time I tried taking the mask I just removed and went back and tried to rip off the left over adhesive (Like taking lint off clothing). Fortunately it worked pretty well. Note the gloss red. I accidently bought The X-7 (gloss) instead of XF-7 (flat)......duh.
I then began the weathering by doing postshading and streaking with diluted XF-69 NATO Black and XF-64 Red Brown.
I noticed in photos that the underside center line got pretty grody from oil streaking. I sought to replicate this without getting to carried away. I used diluted XF-69 NATO Black.
I was going for a patchy, sun faded look for the hot summer of 1940. Like I said, a reverse black-basing technique. I started out with straight dark earth, lightened it with buff, then marbled it in randomly. I did the same for the green. I threw in some streaking too. Here's the overall effect.
Exhaust stains......It took me two hours to get these right to my eye. I used XF-57 Buff first for the heat fading then I feathered in some XF-69 NATO Black for the soot. I finished them with a touch of XF-19 Sky Grey at the base to simulate extreme heat. Again, I was going for subtle.
I added a gloss coat of X-22 cut with Mr. Leveling thinner. Once dry, I added Tamiya's stencil decals. These worked surprisingly well, even the wing walk lines. Maybe their decals are improving. Here you can see the Micro Sol on gun port tape was still drying when I snapped the picture.
Time to start on the wheels and stuff.