Hello my modeller friends:
Back to the kite after a really stimulating week. But here we are with more progress.
Several dry fitting works were performed during this period to confirm that the subassemblies fit. The main theme was the glazed canopy that could fit with the MG, radar equipment and the cables that were located also during this period......
The glazed canopy has received several future baths after having began the masking works with Tamiya tape and a AMMO liquid masking that fogged completely the glazed cockpit.
After the cleaning works this piece was restored to its original condition with Future liquid and several glass cleaning products. So far everything fitted quite well and behaved properly
.
Also the ventral gunner was located along with his MG as can be appreciated in the following images:
Then the complete fuselage received a preshading works, basically where the rivets were previously located in order to begin with the paint works. These paint works follows the camo info that were found in the web:
First things first. RLM 65 on the undersides with enamel (I found some old Master Model paints hiding in my paint stash).....
Also the clear display arm was located satisfactorily in the bomb compartment.... (and improves the handling of the kite quite a lot
)
Very thin layers of paint were applied in order to take advantage of the preshading works....
And finally some diluted RLM 65 with some white added for contrast. Also it was considered that more weathering works will be applied on the belly of this kite (that considers also the use of this kite on the North Atlantic), so the finish must look more clear to avoid darkening much the complete underbelly.....
Some of the previous preshading included some aluminium paint that was then masked with the Ammo product in order to proceed removing these paint dots for the weathering works (once the complete paint works are completed), as can be appreciated on the following image:
And after finishing these paint works, the following outlines were applied on the rest of the fuselage in order to receive the RLM 70 and 71 basic colours.
Does anyone here knows the colors of the late F5B torpedoes (around 1945) employed by the KG 26 in Norway?
(Black in the front and the rest of the body in aluminium?)
Please have an excellent week as see you soon my friends
Gerry