Hasegawa 1/48 Bf 109K-4 (1 Viewer)

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Looking terrific John :thumbright: That paint lifting can be a real PITA sometimes if no primer has been used. Only thing to do is try using low tack masking media and then remove it really sloooowwly...
 
I have that issue a lot with Vallejo paints, I started sticking the tape to myself, the back of my hand or arm, several times to de-tack it a bit first. Seems to have helped. And I ALWAYS wear gloves now when handling parts or the plane itself. Saw the de-tack tactic several places not my own invention. Since then I have had almost zero cases of lifted paint.
 
It looks beautiful that painting work and what was achieved with the crosses, John.
I really liked the tip about using Alclad Aqua Gloss thinned with 91% iso alcohol. Annotated in my notebook :idea:

Attentive to the stage of the decals !!

Saludos :thumbup:
 
Thanks guys! Always appreciate the comments.

Looks great. Watch for the field applied areas. The stencils were probably oversprayed as well.

Any areas that you've noted in particular Andy? It's had to distinguish the factory paint from the field applied areas. I need to extend the dark green on the bottom half of the fuselage beyond the green band. And there seem to be some paint repair marks that I might try to replicate. The Eagle decal instructions state that "some" stencils were present on Blue 16 but doesn't specify which. Most obviously is the yellow fuel triangle partially obscured by the "6".

I've decided to address the light color on the nose of Blue 16 with a repaint of the engine cowling after all. I haven't seen any online builds capture this possibility so I'm not sure how this will turn out. Fingers crossed! First I mask off the cowling.
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The cowling is given a base coat of Tamiya Neutral Grey.
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Preshading is applied next.
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RLM 76 is applied on the lower half of the cowling. The RLM 77 is replicated by a random shade of Gunze Sangyo grey that I found. RLM 75 is applied as the secondary color.
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While it is still masked off, I decided to do a little preliminary weathering on the cowl, similar to the rest of the plane. I'm hoping that there is a mismatch between the masked areas and what I've painted previously to help the cowling stand out, indicating painting at different factories or possibly a replacement.
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I give that a quick coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss and pull of the masking. Doesn't look too strange!
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Pretty satisfied with how the camo came out. Exterior painting is still not 100% complete but the essence of what this build is going to look like has been established.
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Thanks for checking in with this build. A bit of detail painting that might be for naught. A punch and die set make small circular masks a breeze but this one might get covered by the "16" numeral.
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Working on the decals now. Slow going on the blue numbers especially since they are two-part decals (white and blue) and I'm trying to make sure the white is fully seated into all of the recessed details before putting on the blue. Repeated applications of Microsol and trying to muscle decals into place can result in decal distortion, wrinkles and other fun stuff that need to get fixed.
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With some effort, the port side decals have been completed. Forget about the rivets showing up in the blue decals... I just couldn't make that happen without too much risk of damaging decals.
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Another view of the port side fuselage. You can see that I've extended the dark green on the bottom of the fuselage out beyond the green ID band. And a few paint repairs have been replicated.
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The starboard side is coming along now. I thought I'd be doing weathering by now but no need to rush as the finish line is in sight.
 
John, the field-applied paint, I assume, would be the dark green stuff that you've added at the rear fuselage. I would therefore consider not adding the stencils for the frame numbers, the step on the port side, and any others located in these oversprayed areas. I think the fuel triangles tended to be reapplied, as it was important that the right fuels be used.

Looking very good.
 

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