Thanks for the nice comments! Always feel good when I read positive stuff about what I've done!
Hi john
Very good work so far, but this raised a question for me. Why is a thinner mask a "better" mask?
I don't think I stated that thinner was better. But thinking about it now, I'd have to say if all other things are equal, the thinner mask is better than a thicker one. Less chance of underspraying an edge. Another observation about the Tamiya masks... today, I noticed that the edges on some of the curved surfaces were lifting. Remember the comment I made about the masking coming off very easily from the backing? The adhesive might not be strong enough to hold down the mask, which is a very bad thing, IMO. I burnished the edges with a wooden toothpick and I'll check the masks again but right now, I'm not very confident about using them in the future.
Back to the build... Here are the landing gear components after painting and a dark wash over all the nooks and crannies.
The tail wheel is a tiny little thing. I'm assuming that the tire is the non-pneumatic type so I did not attempt to create a flat spot on it. Note the repair on the fuselage side from an errant rivet wheel.
The landing gear has not been assembled yet but here's what the main legs look like when they're put together.
I HAVE committed to a scheme and will do the solid green over metal undersides (#5262) as originally envisioned (Sorry Andy!). I was toying with doing a mottled scheme but I think this one, with the red tail and color stripes will be a visually interesting subject. The outside of the landing gear covers, riveted previously, have been painted in Alclad Aluminum and yellow. The last two digits of the aircraft number have been put into place. Lifelike provides white and blue versions of the "62". I assume that the white is supposed to serve as a backing for the blue but I just used the blue decal.
I've decided to give the prop blades a little bit of salt fading. I think I've learned to what NOT to do from my 109G-10 Erla build and kept the fading on the subtle side.
The prop spinner was given some gray and silver chipping, again using a fine sponge.
Here is the completed prop.
Thanks for checking in!