I appreciate you all stopping by and taking the time to comment or hitting the "Like" button, thanks.
The masking of the canopy and cockpit has been completed and camo painting was started. I started with the application of black preshading over the entire model like this:
The rudder area was also hit with white as I'll be masking the stripes there rather than using the decals. The wheel wells are masked with the kit parts for the retracted undercarriage temporarily glued in place.
The AMT-7 Blue that I used was the same Tamiya paint mix as I used on my Il-2, namely 85% XF-23 + 5% XF-8 + 10% XF-2. The initial coat was applied to show some of the black pre-shading through but it turns out to be overly blue to my eye. The colour is not well represented in the below photo which looks a lot lighter than in reality.
With the original colour still in the airbrush cup, I added more XF-2 White and more thinner and went over the bottom again in a patchy pattern and then I did it again with yet more white to tone down the brightness. I ended up with the below finish which, in reality, is still much bluer than the photo shows.
I then noticed this blemish in the seam between the rad housing and the fuselage which I missed during prep. This will need to be fixed.
I'm experimenting with mixes for the AMT-11 and AMT-12 top colours on the closed cowl part and was going to show a pic of this but, once again, the camera plays tricks with the outcome so posting it is meaningless. One trial involved straight XF-82 RAF Ocean Grey for the AMT-11 (which I kinda like) and XF-69 Nato Black for the AMT-12, which looks too green and even greener on the pic. More work needs to be done on that front and I'll let y'all know what I come up with.
Talk soon.