Well, I got the white bands on the horizontal stabilisers done and the black bands on the wings sprayed easily enough, Miracle Masks are winging their way in my direction and should be here anytime, so just the checkerboard around the cowling to paint.. that shouldn't be too hard...........should it????
Somedays, I begin to doubt my already slender grasp on sanity even more,, I must be off my head attempting this, but decals just wouldn't look right...
First thing that jumps out is that the "squares" on the checkerboad cowlings aren't really squares at all, so each mask is going to have to be cut individually.
Modelling being what it is, we always seem to strive for straight edges on checkerboards and invasion stripes etc. In actual service, the painting was very different.
Check out the variation on these two 55thFG Mustangs cowlings....
Makes you feel a bit better knowing you haven't got to strive for that perfect checkerboard, especially as it ain't going happen no matter how hard you try.
So, after a couple of days messing around with Tamiya tape and being very close to giving up on painting the cowling and using the decals I think I've found the best way ( for me) to nail this.
First I traced the decal
Then marked out the edges of the "squares". Using thin strips of tape I cut a piece which, going from top to bottom on the photo, covers 2 squares. After checking it was the right length I then cut it in half leaving the "green" part of checkerboard exposed.
I did this for 3 or 4 "squares" to see how it was going to work out.
I reckon thats going to do the trick, so off with the temporary masking and on goes the yellow base coat.
The next few sessions at the bench are going see much more cutting of Tamiya tape and general cursing, but fingers crossed it'll turn out ok in the end. So far so good anyway.
Right,, My brain hurts......I'm off down the pub..have a good Christmas everyone
Nige
