To sum up so far…
Slow progress has been made recently… lots of sanding, the intakes in particular have received a lot of attention; progress also on the figures as you can see. They actually have come up better than I expected. The wheels (all 5 of them) have received their basic colour coats with appropriate masking.
After talking with one of my friends, Mark, at the last IPMS meeting about a technique he used on his AFV’s to simulate the non slip surface, I thought it may work for the thermal ablative coating applied to all USN/USMC GP bombs. I intend to do a full article on this technique soon, but for now here are some progress pics oof the GBU-12 that will be fitted to the port inner pylon of the AV-8B.
In preparation for the ablative coating, I have masked the nose and tailfin and the coating has been applied and left to dry overnight.
Masking has been removed and a coat of Olive Drab applied; I’m pretty happy with the result and should look good once painting and weathering are complete.
The aft nozzles on the AV-8B are unpainted. Here you see the shiny finish left from the Alclad. Not realistic yet but after a coat of flat and some oil washes it should look closer to the real thing.
