Thank you Alberto, it's progreesing swiftly, so shouldn't be long before it's finished.
I've started on the decals, and so far, I'm fairly pleased with them.
Having checked through my decals files, I realised I didn't have any Balkencruez of the correct style in 1/32nd scale - in fact, I probably had every style except those I needed! So, along with all the other decals needed, I made my own crosses.
These were scanned from an existing decal sheet, re-sized to the required dimensions, and then printed onto white inkjet decal paper. As you all probably know, unless it's an ALPS printer, ordinary PC printers, inkjet or laser, can not print white. So, any design which includes white needs to be made on white decal paper, and then closely trimmed as required. Those decals without white were made by printing on to clear decal sheet, and all the decals were either scanned from artwork re-sized accordingly, or from designs drawn by myself, or typed on the PC.
PIC 1. Shows the fuselage cross and the first stage of the 'Black 13'. The cross was scanned from an existing decal sheet, re-sized, and then trimmed around the periphery. Those areas showing small areas of backing at the edges will be re-touched once the decals have settled and been sealed. The 'Black 13' was made by scanning a 'Black18' decal of the same dimensions, and then editing this, by erasing the left-hand centre section of the '8', using 'Corel Photopaint'. Once sealed, the white outline will be painted-in by hand. The somewhat 'gritty' appearnce of the black characters is due to my being a bit too enthusiastic with the spray can of sealing varnish when making the decals! It isn't as harsh in 'real life', and should smooth out when gloss coated, and after the final semi-matt clear coat is applied. The first three frame numbers are in place, and were made by typing to the smallest font size available, using a typeface as close as possible to the Luftwaffe style, and then reducing the size slightly in the editing programme. These were printed onto clear decal sheet.
[Note that some of the paintwork and panel lines appear a little 'lumpy and bumpy' in some of the close up shots, which is due to the fact that this is the third re-paint of this models' 25 year lifespan. The panel lines will be corrected, and the rest, again, should smooth-out once the clear coats are applied. ]
PIC 2. The Werk Nummer decals, and the lifting point decals held their density well. The swastika is the only commercially produced decal used so far, being from an old Microscale sheet, and is slightly larger than it should be. Sod's law, I found two the correct size once it was too late!
PIC 3. I'm really pleased with the way the 'Tatzelwurm' decal turned out, as I expected this to lose a lot more density, once transferred, than it actually has. This was made by scanning a black and white picture, re-drawing the outline, and then colouring it, before printing onto clear decal sheet. The tongue of the creature will be painted yellow, and the black outline enhanced slightly, once the decal has been sealed. The factory data plate, on the right in this shot, was scanned from a picture of a real plate, and printed onto white decal sheet. Trimming this was a bit tricky!
PIC 4. The crosses for the undersides of the wings were made in the same way as the fuselage crosses, using white decal sheet.
PIC 5. How the model looks so far. There are still a number of decals to apply, and some hand-painting of other markings, before gloss coating and then applying a final semi-matt clear coat. Once this is done, then it'll be time to re-attach the landing gear, and work on the canopy, where the opening section will be adapted from that in the Hasegawa kit. The scratch-built canopy from this model will be used on another 'Emil', in the BoB Group Build.
There's still a fair way to go, but so far, I'm pleased with the way the 'restoration'of this old model is proceeeding. Thanks once again for your continued interest and compliments, and I'll post some more details and pics soon.