Hit a road bump that's going to slow me down for a few days. Not model-related thankfully but my Iwata airbrush is out of commission.
More on that later.
Now that the airframe of the Hellcat is basically complete, I can start on the painting. Since cowling is a snap-on fit, I popped off the exhaust pipes and will add them later... one less thing to retouch. I've decided to add some multi-layer chipping effects on the upper wing and fuselage. A base coat of gloss black is laid down in preparation for the Alclad metal shade.
Alclad Polished Aluminum goes on top of that. I experienced some "burning" of the Alclad... spots that came out with a "rough" texture due to uneven application. Not a big deal when its on the bottom of the chipping layer so I'm ignoring it.
A couple of coats of aerosol hairpray decanted into the cup of the airbrush is applied and left to dry before putting on the zinc chromate.
The chromate layer is chipped using a water-damped paintbrush. I did the chipping on the same day as the chromate was painted on and the chromate came off VERY easily so I had to be careful and not get too aggressive with the wet brushing.
After the zinc chromate has been chipped, another layer of hairspray goes on top of that. Once dry, I can start my preshading. First are the panel lines in black.
I gave my Iwata airbrush a full cleaning after this step. When I tried to re-attach the tiny fluid nozzle using the supplied tool, it sheared off completely, dropping to the floor. To my horror, the threaded part was left in the airbrush. I found an appropriately sized drill bit and carefully backed the broken thread out of the airbrush without damaging the threads... big sigh of relief.
Obviously, the nozzle is toast and needs to be replaced and they ain't exactly cheap. It's gonna cost $30-$40 to replace and delay my build for at least a couple of days.