Getting started
Construction started by removing all the major parts from the sprues and cleaning them, removing all the attachment points.
As in the Academy kit, the front wheel well and cockpit assemblies are essentially the one piece, and both have to be done simultaneously. That is where the comparisons with the Academy kit end – this kit takes the detail to another level- all the main hydraulic pipes and cables are represented in the wheel well and is just begging to be detail-painted. I used Hataka Lacquer Orange Line Traffic White for the base coat, thinned with Hataka Lacquer Thinner (HLT). This paint gives really good coverage- one or two coats gives a really smooth base coat to work on. I used Hataka Blue Line colours- Traffic White, yellow, red and dark earth to add the cable detail and placards in. I gave it a wash of my home made mix concoction, credit going to Roy Sutherland for discovering it. It’s made up of a few drops of Klear, a few drops of water and some Tamiya XF-1, which when mixed, gives a really good wash with a superb capillary action. This wash was run around all the shadow areas leaving all the raised areas standing out.