Paint (Delta, F-102, Me-163B, Hawk T1)

I managed to sneak in another painting session the night before the Spring Show. It was a prototypical experience for me: one disaster, one omission, and a few successful paint jobs.

The disaster is still mystifying me a bit. Here is how it developed. As I was building the Ffrom Northrop Delta, there were a couple of seams that needed attention. One wing seam and the tops of the two landing gear spats. Plus a couple of instances of general seam cleanup. So I decided to do something I rarely do: apply a primer coat. As it happened, I just wanted to use a color that was already in the airbrush. I had just finished doing cockpits with Dark Admiralty Grey, so I did an overall coat on the Delta. I figured I would just paint the Alclad over the top once I checked out the seam work (which turned out to be fine).

And here, as they say, my troubles began.  As I sprayed the Alclad, it just absorbed into the Grey primer coat. You could tell there was some metallic sheen in there, but the color coverage basically disappeared. This led to a desire to spray a bit heavier, which led to runs, which led to a catastrophic finish. The only thing that looked correct was the engine cowling. And, no coincidence since I had added that piece after I primered the model, that was the only thing that did not have any other paint on there. I did try to take a photo of it, but my camera was misbehaving and I decided to move on. As I said, I typically don't prime before Alclad. And now I know why! (BTW, the photo below shows the Delta after primer but before I shot the Alclad). 

Other less traumatic paint work included getting the wheel wells for the F-102 in ZC Green, the cockpit interior for another Bae Hawk T1, and a coat for the cockpit of the RAF captured Me-163B Komet. I was planning to do the Trainer Yellow undersides for the Komet as well since this would not interfere with the cockpit, but completely spaced on it. Ah well, something for the next paint session to cope with.