Thank-you Glenn.
Today saw severe air quality warnings due to wildfires so I cancelled out of my golf game and stayed inside. This was taken this morning and it's not got any better (Source CBC News):
I think I'll move to Beijing.
Anyway, indoor life allowed for some bench time so I set about preparing the model for paint. I decided to do the major painting with the wings detached from the fuselage owing to the need for good access and angles to do the wave pattern. The various struts would have made for frustrating airbrush sessions and given that the fit of the parts has been stellar for the most part I figured I could get away with it with minimal grief.
Here the undersides have already been painted in RLM 65 which I made from two parts Tamiya XF-23 Light Blue to 1 part XF-2 White
Before I hide it, here's what the cowl area looked like after considerable filing and sanding which resulted in loss of detail. Here I have already rescribed the panels and replaced the circular fasteners using a small sharpened bit of brass tube clamped in a pin vice and pushed into the plastic
Paint started with a coat of XF-61 Dark Green in the areas representing RLM 71. The glazing in the upper fuselage is masked but just pressed, not glued, into place to prevent spraying into the interior.
I then began masking the fuselage splinter scheme after deciding to glue the flaps and ailerons into place on the wings, seen in the background in the below pic. This allows easier line-up of the splinter masks.
The fuselage and tail planes were then sprayed with Tamiya XF-27 Black Green and the masks removed.
I found these two greens, straight out of the bottle, to be excellent matches for the 70/71 colours based on Merrick's paint chips.
I'm taking a break before tackling the wings and will post again when those are done. Thanks for looking.