Thanks a lot for the comments everybody, appreciate it
So, now on to the
fun part
. The winter camouflage of Luftwaffe aircraft on the eastern front consisted of a uniform white coat of paint that was applied over the standard camouflage. The paint was water-soluble and faded quickly, giving Luftwaffe aircraft a very patchy and weathered appearance after a while. In the photo below, for instance, you can see fading of the paint on the leading edge of the tail fin and other areas.
I'll be using the hairspray method to achieve the worn appearance of the winter camo. The finish of the basecoat is very important for controlling the size and appearance of the chips and here I want to achieve more of a worn look rather than large chips, so I sealed the decals with a coat of satin varnish (my custom mix of 15:1 Pledge:Tamiya Flat Base).
The other variable that is important for the hairspray method is drying time for both the hairspray and paint, so I tend to work across the model in sections. Again with the aim of a worn look in mind, once the varnish coat had cured the tail section was sprayed with 2 coats of hairspray which was allowed to dry for 1 hr. A 20:1 mix of Tamiya White:Buff was then used to slowly build up a worn mottled pattern with some random streaks and allowed to dry for a further 1 hour.
A stiff brush moistened with water was then used to chip the paint to simulate wear in the direction of the air flow. Fine grit sandpaper was used to create some more subtle wear.
The white paint and the chipping still looks a bit stark at the moment, but I'll tone that down and blend it later on. I also made no effort to mask the swastika and allowed a bit of overspray as this is how it was done by the black men in the field.
Thanks for checking in guys