Today's paintwork (Ju-287, Tsar Bomba)

Just a quick painting session tonight followed by some impromptu construction.

I did have one failure while painting. I couldn't get the bottle of Model Master semi-matte open! I don't think I can blame that on the airbrush though. I'm still searching for a pair of pliers (which seem to go to ground when they know I'm looking for them) so will have to put the matte coat on the XP-56 at my next session.

More successful was an RLM65 coat on the lower surfaces of the Ju-287 jet bomber. I've decided not to attach the RATO units to this one in order to preserve the purity of the airframe shape. Still, some complex masking will be required when it comes time to paint the upper surfaces, since all of the wheel spats are in the upper dark green as well.

Lastly, it was time to paint the center portion of the A Model Tsar Bomba. Good Lord, the construction was surprisingly difficult on this considering the relatively small size of the weapon. This mostly came from about 40 pieces of connecting hardware that surrounds the rear of the bomb and the fins. You can see what I mean if you access photos of the kit. Dozens of hellaciously tiny bits, which A Model, as a short run manufacturer, doesn't do terribly well. Trimming the sprue spurs off these bits is a trial in itself, but magnify that by the number of pieces. Later A Model kits have seen better moldings on large pieces, but the smaller ones still have some issues. The airbrush was spitting a little bit during this part of the session (maybe the paint was not correctly thinned?) but seemed to even out when I moved to the next color.

I've also noticed a rough spot on the red coat of the Red Arrows Hawk I'm in the middle of. It appears I'll need to do a bit of spot buffing and respray that portion. A job for next time.

Also, added to the front of the production queue is a Hasegawa AH-64 Apache helicopter. Just working on the cockpit at this point. Plus I've started work on the new Revell BAe Hawk, and will be putting it in 2015 Red Arrow markings (with the stylized Brit flag on the rear of the fin/rudder). This will be the third of my short Red Arrow Hawk variations project. I've finished a traditional Red Arrows Hawk, with Roundel Blue fin, though I am considering redoing that model since it is an ancient one. I've got a 50th anniversary season Hawk as well as a 2015 version in process. And then, once I get around to it, I'll do the 2000 season special. I think that is the four major variants seen to date on Hawks.