***DONE: Bell p-39N Airacobra 42-18393 "Millie" 350th FG 346th FS Group Build

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Thanks guys

Terry, no Bugs is printed on white, which I again trimmed as much as possible. Bugs is about the size of my thumbnail, making that exercise very tricky. I used surgical scissors and took more attempts than I care to recall. Even with careful trimming I could not get close to trimming things like the ears, because when I did get them waterlogged, they would flop all over the place, curl and basically self destruct! The answer was to actually leave a reasonable perimeter around the more fragile parts like ears, arm and carrot then touch these areas up with Olive Drab and a 000 brush. Did you spot this?

I've had little success with the clear decals, especially printing yellow. They end up transparent, like a stained glass window and show through the underlying colour. Placing yellow serials on the OD surface, a much darker colour shows no yellow at all, for example. I'm wondering if they would be useful at all actually. White works best.

This is all on Inkjet by the way.

Cheers

Peter
 
Some nice work Pete,but are you saying You Made Bugs?I have yet to try making decals really just wondre if my old inkjet could even do it.Cheers Kevin
 
Thanks Wayne.

Yes Kevin, they were printed on my HP inkjet. I would think you have the capability also. You need inkjet decal paper and a "fixative" so the ink doesn't run when you place them in water. It is however a tremendously fiddly process and it is far better to use commercially available (or the box set) decals where you can. It's only for the masochistic and stubborn - like me for e.g!

Cheers

Peter
 
Thanks for the info Peter. The RAF Dull Red codes I made for the Beau were a bit transparent on clear decal sheet, but sort of worked. I think I'll have to do Jan's yellow serial numbers, for his B25, in a deeper orangish yellow, and hope they work on clear sheet, along with the nose art on clear too. The rest I can do on white, and trim/paint as you have.
 
Thanks Dan

All the painting is just about done. I finished off this by doing some light grey exhaust staining back to the stars and bars. Time to add all the small pieces that I have pre-painted. Wheels, guns, pitot, antennae,exhaust prop and such. Millie is just about complete. I've added some paint chips with silver paint and pencil at the wing roots, leading edge and seams at random - not too much. Soon i'll do a water colour wash and some pastels for mud and grime and such, followed by a dull coat, then finish off with position and recognition lights.

Wait up! - I forgot a base!

Cheers

Peter
 

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Thank you Dan, Karl and CR

Well, a productive day today. I need to get this build out the way to start another! 8)

Just a few things remaining and a bit more weathering here and there, colour position lights, and redo some of the wash on the underside, I wasn't happy with. I painted the cannon and machine gun barrel tips "buff" to simulate tape placed over the ends. After that Millie will be ready for her photo shoot!

I've sorted out a base, and it will be ready soon.

I enjoyed this build just as much as the P-40N in the PTO and learnt quite a lot about the 350th Fighter Group along the way. Finally I need to say thanks to Kieth Vizcarra, the 350th Archivist, Al (Shuford) Alexander and his daughter Janet for their assistance with material and information.

Cheers

Peter
 

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