Ive completed the decalling process and have started to fit the guns, gun sights and some other bits and pieces becfore final seal. I took one look at the gun sight and 7.5mm gun barrels and basically ditched them. No matter what I did with them, they were bent, or droopy and really did not give much benefit in terms of detailing. Ive made up replacement barrels from thin gauged (8A) fuse wire, and am making a replacement gun sight, from very thin lightlly tempered steel rod (not fuse wire, I want a perfectly straight and rigid effect) . Having a few issues making the sight mounts, but I might now have a solution made up. Ill reveal them once I have a result.
Ive decided that this paint job is just too rough even by my standards. Its a bitter disappointment, because i thought it looked okay to start with. For the most part it IS okay, but its ruined by some imperfections here and there. ive tried to just man up and live with it, but its driving me nuts. So, I decided to use a brush to try and fix up some of the oxiding and texture blemishes that are really getting to me.
On the starboard wing the grey element of the camo is badly oxided, ive started the repair by putting a light (thin) grey wash over the top. I think it looks better. there were also some scratches (or something) affecting some of the brown and green elements. Ive used a a light wash over these as well, hoping not to lose too much of the nice even texture that I achieved with the airbrush for most of the model. this is risky, but I have to do something, or this modl will end up with lighter fluid on the clothes line.....
Hopefully this works, but I know that i could not live with the result that I started with. I might regret this, i know, but i needed to try something