Working on the Wellesley

Work today included the camo on the Wellesley. Next comes the job of adding the landing gear and well doors, as well as doing some touchup on the painting for the wheel wells. Now I wish I had put a little framing detail into the wells; they are fairly large and stand out in their stark nakedness on the Black of the undersides. Ah well.

I also completed a very complicated masking job on the Karakorum K-8, the little Chinese trainer from Trumpeter. There are little pinstripe lines that were quite a challenge. It’ll be interesting to see how the red paint goes on – the contrast between the red and the white will be stark, so there is little room for paint sneaking under the masking. I had avoided this masking job for probably upwards of a year, and I’m glad to finally get this one into position for the next step. Plus, since the Katsuodori needs red fins, I can complete two paint jobs at the same time.

I’ve been working on the new Airfix Swordfish. I seem to be having more fit issues than most of the reviewers, but I will say the detail is very impressive. I’ve got the fuselage and lower wing stubs complete and will soon be starting on the main bits of the wings. I think I’ll be using one of the Xtradecal sheets, but haven’t decided which scheme to use. Which one will likely determine how much gets built before the first painting session. Unless it is a one-color scheme I wouldn’t want to be masking a spindly biplane after the wings are on. If I decide to do the Lt Aircraft Grey front fuselage and aluminum dope remainder (most likely at present) I will probably paint the grey while the fuselage is done but before the wings go on. Then I’ll mask the front and finish assembly. And finally I would shoot the Aluminum bits. That means I’ll be stripping the masking in between all those struts, but that seems the least dangerous of the alternatives. We’ll see how it goes.