Painting decisions

As I mentioned earlier, the primary attention of the production line is shifting a bit from construction to painting. I’m still cobbling together cockpits when I don’t feel like setting up the airbrush, but most kits are waiting for their turn in the paint booth.

After having painted the International Orange band on the FJ-1 and Mauler a couple of days back, I was able to mask them and prep for the Gloss Sea Blue coat. Blue paint can be difficult to spray efficiently, as it can be naturally grainy. But the coat went on pretty smoothly. Examining the job later, I think it will require another coat to get a good uniform layer, but it didn’t look too bad.

Next came the Dark Sea Grey camo on the Meteor nightfighter (NF11). Again, a pretty straightforward job after all the masking.

The last job was overall White on the PV-1 Ventura. Although I do have the Carpena sheet for a Free French version (sort of in the lead since I’m currently reading “Allies At War” on the US and British relations with De Gaulle), I recently discovered a decal sheet I thought I had lost: the Zotz Ventura extravaganza with nose art including that famous green octopus. The paint scheme is more complex – Gloss Sea Blue, a middle Blue, with White undersides – but I usually will go with art if I have the option. Ah decisions.