Next is paint. I have seen a few different photo references and decided to go with a light grey interrior rather than the silver that the kit recommends.
In case you are looking for any NMF paints for the exterior, I just recently bought/experimented/used the AK Xtreme Metal paints on a project. Very impressed. Dries quickly, easy to apply, no primer needed, and took “full strength” (no de-tacking) Tamiya masking tape without any lifting of color or finish. Easier to apply than Alclad, and tougher.
Did a test and under the conditions I sprayed (temp, humidity) the tape didn’t lift it after 12 minutes of dry time (though I didn’t mask the real project for 24 hours like I normally do, just to be safe). Was dry to the touch sooner than that.
I was really impressed with them. The different shades look good next to each other.
Thanks for the info. Ive been thinking on this subject and was not sure if it was going to use just what I had or do foil or alclad. I do believe I may follow your recommendation on this.
So other than breaking off the pitot tube things have been going together well. I got the fuselage and wings all together rather straight by gluing everything together really slow, section at a time.
The instrument panel and top doesn’t fit too well so I decided to glue it in after the fuselage half’s were together with the cockpit in place. I also packed the nose completely full of miliput to help is sit right after it’s finishe.
So I figure I’m just going to pain this one with what I have available, which is some Vallejo and some Army paints. I decided to use black Stynylrez primer. The photo doesn’t reflect this but I am currently polishing the ever loving crap out of it all now before I apply the top coat.
Thanks. It is a pretty good kit I think. The fit is relatively good but you can get the cockpit off angle a bit. Plus the top of the instrument panel is supposed to glue onto a ledge on the back of the panel but it is almost nonexistent.
Plus I’m not sure on how accurate the cockpit details are I only did minimal research but I can tell you there is not throttle. Other than that it has some decent detail.
You’re doing a great job on this classic kit. The moldings and detail still look nice and crisp on this one. Monogram was usually pretty good about their detail accuracy in the era when these molds were cut. They were the king of the hill at that time, and pushing the standards higher.
Well I guess it’s coming along ok. I have some spots I have to go back and touch up and still have a few rough spots to polish out but it’s ok.
I added a little extra detail to the canopy frame behind the seat. I drilled out the clear antenna bulb and mixed some brown and yellow up and painted it inside where I drilled. I also raised it up a little and added some wires. Nothing special or anything like that as I wasnt planning on doing much more than just buildi the kit as it is.
I am thinking about spraying it down with future after I finish polishing it. Then painting the yellow stripes on that, and then spraying it all down with future again. I feel it would add depth and make it look more like bare metal maybe? But I’m not sure.