Managed a bit more bench time this evening. One of the perks of not caring about football one iota.

After measuring out the area needed to be covered by the invasion bands, masking it off and painting the whole area white, (last post), I was ready to get one with the fun part.

First job. Put the Miracle Masks in place for the national insignia.
Once I was happy with this, then the outside part of the mask was removed.




Next job, mask off the invasion bands ready for painting the black areas.



And once that had been double checked, paint the black bands.




Everything I paint "black" on a model is actually a 50/50 mix of Tamiya Flat black and Red Brown. I have a large glass bottle which came with an old airbrush in which I store this "scale black". when it gets low, I just tip a jar of each colour into it.

Masking off...( for this part)


Final part of this will be to replace the outside part of the Miracle Mask, mask around this and then weed out the area to be painted insignia blue.

Looking nice, even if I say it myself.





I suppose I'd better get in touch with Mal and order some code letters and the serial numbers masks at some point.

Looking very nice, and I'm sure you and I won't be the only ones to say it!

Thanks for the SBS tutorial. Have you tested the insignia masks to see how many times you can re-use them?

Cheers, D

You guys won't be, very Purdy so far, the masking is awesome, painted wins over decals any time !

I've never had any luck reusing the stars and bars masks as a whole, although I do save the star/bar inserts which come in handy for tidying up the occasional booboo.

Fusalage insignias are now finished.
I'll be using the open intercooler door option as usual so I'll have that small section to mask and paint but thats the easy bit.

Nigel,
I'm more then impressed with both your invasion stripes, and how you went about using Masks for the National Insignias. The final results certainly speaks for themselves.

Joel

Paint wins over decals every time 😀😀😀

Code letters and serial numbers ordered from Mal at Miracle Masks.

Nose art decal applied.

A dry fit of the undercarriage and Anamosa stands on her feet for the first time.

Finally,, a couple of days off.
Thanks to Mal for the masks.
Code letters painted at last.



Ordnance will be a 108g droptank under each wing.


On the starboard side, one of the panels had been replaced with a one from a NMF 62nd FS P-47 making for something a little different.

Nigel,
Just top flight work. Masks came out fantastic. As for that replaced panel. Looks incredibly realistic.
Joel

Almost there.
Matt varnish went on today.
A couple of days to cute completely and then it's time to add the fiddly bits and she's all done.

Hi Nige

Very tasty! The replacement natural metal panel is a very neat touch.

All the best

Rowan

Looking really nice Nige, and the replacement panel makes for a unique point of difference.

Happy birthday BTW.

Cheers, D

Cheers

Well here she is,, all finished.







Time to get that Tamiya Mustang finished now, and the BIG Airfix Tiffie

Very nice build Nige, great work! I'm really glad that you got 3 more 56th aircraft on the display shelf during this Group Build.

Looking forward to following the P-51 and Typhoon builds now, you must be stoked to be getting some bench time again.

Cheers, D

Cheers Reg,

As things settle down here at home etc, I'm loving being able to get some bench time in!!

Nigel,
What a absolutely impressive build. Your camo scheme and weathering is just spot on.

Joel

Thanks Joel

Fine as frog's hair Nigel. The painted markings looks great.

Black and red/brown? Gotta try that one.