Exterior paintwork
With the majority of the sub-assemblies all done it’s time to move onto the main scheme. As mentioned right at the start I’m doing a 3-colour day scheme so it’s time to make a start and this involves masking up the open crew sections with foam and masking tape. There’s several small openings also and the glass bottom window to ensure we don’t get any paint in the wrong places.
With this done I wanted to get a coat of primer onto the model. I initially used a new-to-me, but recommended by a few people, acrylic primer, but unfortunately I couldn’t get a good application to the model and ended up removing it (which took a fair amount of time and nervous moments) and replacing with my go to Halfords plastics primer, in white.
Now we were back to square one I sprayed the top with the darkest of the two greens and left it for a couple of days to dry off completely. Then it was on with the randomised lighter green. Studying the artwork and photos was the best way to try and get a grip on what where and how to build this scheme.
Once I’d done two or three of the shapes the airbrush and the hand managed to find a harmony and rhythm and slowly the scheme started to emerge.
The paints were Mr Hobby thinned approx 40/60 with Mr Hobby levelling thinner and a 10 psi air pressure. I like this almost transparent level of paint and pressure as it allows me to build the layer gradually and also tone it at the same time. Its also very helpful if the pattern goes slightly off as it’s not too heavy to touch back in with the previous colour.
Next up was the red/brown and final colour and the one that caused me a bit of concern at the start. I found it very ‘bright’ and considered changing but after thinning it 20/80 found it better to spray in a more softer manner.
After the red/brown I then went back with the 2 other greens to blend and fix any areas that needed attention.
I also masked up the metal wing sections under the engines and sprayed a flat aluminium layer. This was then hairs-prayed and the darkest green (same as I’d used for the engine cowlings) painted and chipped.
The un-cowled engine is added just to see the overall appearance.
