Revell Horten Go229 V3 1:72

Once the painting of the base colours in the wooden and metallic panels was done, then the laborious process of applying the Uschi van der Rosten wood grain decals followed. For each panel, it started by making a vinyl template (Uschi’s set for the Ho 229 includes a sheet of grey vinyl). Then, reducing the stickiness of the vinyl glue (I applied it to a dusty surface), it is pasted on the decal sheet. The vinyl elasticity allows to produce a flat template that conforms with the three-dimensional surface of the model, which on top and below the wings is not that complicated, but on the leading edges, or in some parts of the centre section, making the templates and transferring them to the flat decal sheet is a tricky process.

With the template attached to the decal sheet, then it was trimmed using scissors (Tamiya’s scissors for decals worked just wonderfully) and a sharp hobby knife. Again, the Suder Tools punch and die proved handy on making the holes for the rounded metallic caps. I started on the easy ones on the wings, and as my learning curve climbed, I proceeded with the more complicated ones. A lengthy and laborious process which demands patience and perseverance.

With all the wood grain decals applied, I wasn’t fully satisfied with the result. Looking closely to the decals, they showed some pixels. And, to my dislike, the plywood panels with Tamiya’s XF-55 Deck Tan as base colour looked too green. I strongly suggest not using this colour as base for Uschi’s wood grain decals. But, again, Herr Glass advices at Uschi’s website, gave me some ideas to fix the problem. First, I sealed the decals with a coat of Tamiya XF-86 Flat Clear. Then I tried to give it a glaze using oils, but with no substantial or satisfactory effect. Herr Glass also suggests to apply filters, and I started to make some tests. I got very good results applying a filter with very thinned Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow over the greenish panels with the problematic XF-55 Deck Tan as base colour. This must be a very careful process, in order to not obliterate the wood grain, and try to unify the tones, without losing the tonal and glaze variations. With the filters applied, I felt fully satisfied with the result, as with this treatment, as Herr Glass recommends, Uschi’s decals look just wonderful and proved its value, with a nice contrast with the metallic parts.

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