Starting
today's completion came about as I was prepping for my return to active
modelling duty post-surgery in January. I knew I was going to start with the
two remaining Eurofighter single seaters as soon as possible, and was studying
the decal sheet to look for any pitfalls that would trip up the inattentive
modeller (ie, me). I came across the option for a Shorts Tucano T1; a rather
garish scheme of poppies that was put together as a tribute on Remembrance Day
(equivalent to Veterans Day to us Yanks). And garish is right up my street, so
I made a stash dive to see what I had in
the way of Tucano kits.
I
found an Airfix kit that, if I remember correctly, came out at around the same
time as the Concorde and TSR-2. These are all pre-Hornby kits, and it shows.
Nothing really terrible, but the fit in detail and engineering between these
and the current crop of Airfix releases is gargantuan. I took a leisurely
attitude to this model, working on it when the mood struck and ignoring it the
rest of the time. Eventually I got to the painting point - which wasn't a trial
because the aircraft comes in overall Black.
And
here my troubles began. And can't remember the last time I had as much trouble
with a single small part as I did with the Tucano prop. This was a combination
of its size - tiny - and its paint scheme - complex. There are five colors, if
the spinner is included, on a piece about 3/4" wide. And most of those
colors require masking. Black, White, Red, Yellow, and a Panzer Grey that I
typically use for basic prop color. The front of the prop was Black and White.
The rear was Panzer Grey with Yellow tips. And of course the Red hub. I tried
masking and spraying, hand painting some repairs, managed to break off two of
the blades due to fumbling, and even two layers of paint becomes an eyesore on
something that small. At length I got to the point I seem to arrive at with
many models, when the returns for continuing diminish dramatically and it is
time to finish and move on. So I did.
It is
still an interesting scheme. The lower "Lest We Forget" was tricky
since it crossed over the landing gear doors, but came out ok in the end. Most
of the decals came from Xtradecal 72216, though I tried using the supplied kit
markings for a couple of small stencils. This was not a success; this was
before Airfix started working with Cartograf, and the markings were thick,
didn't care about setting solution, and milky to boot.
As an
aside, I discovered that Tucanos have a surprising number of paint schemes,
many of which have been done on 1:72 sheets by Alley Cat, Airdecal, Combat,
Model Alliance, and of course Xtradecal. They come in Jubilee markings, desert
colors, Battle of Britain markings, Roundel Blue overall, and Red/White
training markings (including the one with a toucan on the tail, which I have
already built). And the RAF likes to paint one up for the airshow season, so
the unusual color schemes will probably keep coming. If I can figure out the
proper approach to painting those damn props, I may have to make some more in
the future.
This
is completed model #449 (#13 for the year), finished in March of 2016.
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