Some more weathering
Now it was all assembled, decaled and with the first and second levels of weathering complete it was time for the final finish. The Haynes Manual shows ‘The Lace’ with a very dirty finish – looks like muddy Suffolk rain. I replicated this with a mix of brown and grey pastels bushed on in downward strokes the length of the fuselage. This included the decals of course. With this done I sprayed the fin and tailplanes with Alclad Matt Varnish and the rest of the airframe with Alclad “Light Sheen”. It was then time to remove the Maskol and the tape.
I found that there was some fogging to the dorsal central window and the two waist-gunners windows and the nose blister. I carefully removed each, polished them (it was simply dust) and replaced each with little notable damage. I had a similar problem with the B-25 and it’s because of all the silvers the pastels and the varnishes somehow finds a small gap somewhere and causes the effect. I suggest more tape over the lower turret opening and dorsal turret and bomb bay may cure this issue. I hope that with the majority of the work now complete on the fuselage you, like I, think that I have created a reasonable facsimile of the Real ‘Lace’?
