A green day in the paint shop

Three types of green, in fact.

First came two phases of work with RLM82. I had to get the color coat on the upper surfaces of the Ar-234, and the surface coat on the upper surfaces of the He-162. Some detail painting still to come on both (exhausts on the Ar-234 and intake on the He-162).

Then there was Zinc Chromate Green on all three cockpits for the trio of P-47s. Next up for these are assembly of the seatbelts and the completion of major construction.

Finally, there was the green tail and spine for the Eurofighter special scheme for 3 Squadron RAF. Although it had not been announced when I placed my decal order, Xtracolour has decided to produce tins of paint matched to this shade. On the instruction sheet itself, they were having trouble getting a color sample, so they suggested a couple of existing alternative (Humbrol HU03 and Xtracolour X151). As it happens, I have a tin of X151 on hand, and think it looks pretty close to the pictures I’ve seen on Airliners.net. At least, close enough for the Profoundly Average Color Matcher to work with. The paint seemed a bit grainy went it went on, so unless it evens out while curing I will probably buff it down and apply a second surface coat before masking it up.

Enough with green. The last remaining color of the session was Xtracolour Dark Earth for the top of the Revell Halifax and my what-if Bomber Command B-36. The surface behaved a bit strangely on the Halifax, and manifested itself in some bare patches in the paint that looked like water bubbles under a coat of oil. I suspect the surface might still have some mold release on it – though I’m not sure why the problem didn’t show itself when I painted the undersides Black – but my strategy to solve this is to buff down the paint to plastic and make sure those spots are under the Dark Green camo areas. If that doesn’t work I’ll just respray the Dark Earth.

And now a quick look at some of the others in queue.