As previously mentioned, the main painting stage was a bit here and there. I first pre-shaded the undersides of the wings with Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black before using their fairly new XF-85 Rubber Black for the main colouring. I also mixed in some XF-69 NATO Black, just to add some interest to the overall colour.
Undercarriage
Next up was to paint and fit the undercarriage. The components were sprayed with Alclad Aluminium before brushing Vallejo Model Air 056 Black Grey on the black areas. Assembly of these into the wings was very simple, yet very sturdy. The main legs slot into the forward face of the wing spars, with the drag braces and retraction struts being positive fits into slots on the rear spar bulkhead. The fit of the nacelle/leading edge inserts was alright, but they went in with just a bit of Microscale Kristal Klear to fill any gaps.
Upper camouflage
XF-52 Matt Earth was used is the base colour for the upper surfaces. I added a small drop of XF-64 Red Brown to this before covering the top sides in their entirety. I varied paint depth to break up the monotony of a single tone and also over sprayed some areas with pure XF-52 to vary it some more. After a few hours to dry (I use cellulose thinners, which speeds up drying time among other things) I buffed over the surface with a soft cloth. Silly putty was then used, rolled into thin “worms”, to mask off the camouflage pattern. XF-81 RAF Dark Green was then used, coupled with a drop or two of yellow in some areas to again break up the monotony.
