I masked the tight, wavy line on the cowl with Tamiya tape spaced up (out!?) on crappy painter's tape. I never would have been able to do that freehand, no matter how much caffeine and nicotine were in my system. Isn't that panel line right in front of the windshield just totally in the wrong place?
I shot low, hoping to get a good feather edge.
Which I didn't. I thought my line was too tight. Bollocks. Whatever. I unmasked that schnoz and painted the rest of the upper surfaces. Shooting over the cowl and down onto the wing minimizes overspray on the fuselage sides and helped me get the inboard side of that bulge a happy grey.
I like Model Master semigloss...yes I do...
I freehanded the fuselage and tail. If I get it right at this stage I'm pretty happy but I've resigned myself to the fact that this rarely happens and touch-ups will be forthcoming.
Card stock keeps the grey from going wherever it pleases. By this stage I'd fixed my yellow/black stripes - see how the masking line on the black is slightly aft of the panel line? "Pay attention next time, Harrison," said my old English teacher in my head. That poor photo-etched Flettner actuator is already looking all bent-up.
I hard-masked the rudder. Hasegawa's tailwheel looks nice, I think.
Now we're getting somewhere. I decided I could live with this, considering the mottling was still to come. And the weathering...
But still! I'd wanted a softer line. Sigh...