Page 53 - Model Airplane International - Issue 175 (February 2020)

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aluminium, then burnt aluminium and
then jet exhaust to give a look of used
metal that has constantly been heated
to extreme temperatures. With the base
coats completed I went on to paint all
the wiring and plumbing different colours,
such as rubber black, copper, yellow and
red. I then gave the engine a wash of Citadel
Nuln Oil and then a small application of AK
aircraft Kerosene. I was not at all happy with
the result of the engine. I later went on and
repainted some of the areas where I was not
happy with the wash. The wash didn’t weather
the way I thought it would, it just looked like a
blotchy mess rather than greasy metallic like
I intended. Another bit of test fi tting with
the engine nacelles to ensure that there
would be no issues when it was time to
add the engine to the wings.
It was now time to add the canopy
section which was made easier to
thanks to the fact that the canopy has
some fuselage moulded to it helping create
a more natural and seam-free canopy join.
Unfortunately, the front canopy was a poor fi t,
there being a gap either side of the frame and
it sat slightly too proud. I used an F-clamp to
hold the canopy down as well as I could and
used Mr. Hobby Cement S to glue the canopy
down. Once the canopy had dried, I fi lled the
gaps with my homemade sprue goo. After 24
hours of drying I applied a second layer of
sprue goo and once that had fully cured after
a couple of days I sanded and blended the
canopy into the fuselage.
The canopy was then masked off with
the HGW mask set and then the fault
checking began. I loaded the airbrush
with Mr. Surfacer 1500 Black and
Cement S. With all imperfections polished out
the model was looking as good as I could get
it, I applied a fi nal primer coat of overall 1500
black.
Painting and Weathering
It was time to start my favourite stage of
modelling: the painting and weathering. I once
P46-55 STORMBIRD.indd 53
Oil work was done using
a technique called ‘forced
contrast’; I used thinned black
oil to add some shadows and
depth to the model and around
access panels.
sprayed all again bought the specifi c MRP paints for this
seam lines, build as I am loving them more and more. If I
joints and sanded could, I would use MRP on every kit, but my
areas to check for pockets aren’t that deep! The undersides and
any imperfections. fuselage sides were painted fi rst with RLM76,
Many areas needed this being the standard, late-war underside
to be sanded smooth colour used by the Luftwaffe. This paint covers
and I found some beautifully without having to use too much and
panel lines that needed it dries extraordinarily quickly.
to be re-scribed. I added Before beginning on the fuselage and
back a few panel lines mottling, I decided to get the wings painted
using a JLC razor fi rst. I fi rst sprayed the RLM 82 (Hellgrun) and
saw and then then masked off the hard edge camo patterns
softened the using Tamiya 10 mm masking tape. Once
line with masked off, I then sprayed in the RLM 81
some (Braunviolett), I still cannot get over how nice
Mr. these paints are, from colour match to fi nish,
these paints are marvellous. Now, a choice
that I know was always going to invite critique
and criticism was the decision I made to hard
edge to camo and mottling on the side of the
aircraft. No, this is not historically accurate
and no, this is not how mottling should be, but
I did what I knew I would be happy with and
used a technique that I am familiar with. I
fi rst attempted to do a freehand, soft-edge
mottled camoufl age but I was never happy
with the result, so hard-edge it was. For the
wavy line I used my Gyro cutter, which is one
of the best tools that I have. You use it like a
pen and the blade follows the movement of
your strokes, creating very easy curved lines.
I cut a long wavy strip of Tamiya masking tape
and then painted the RLM81 and RLM82 paint
colours. For the mottling I cut a lot of small
blobs, ovals and shapes using the gyro cutter
and then applied the cut-outs to the side of the
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