Paint session (DC-3, Eurofighter, Skyvan bits)

I finally got around to a paint session, though I probably should have waited. I was really run down today, and that in my case often leads to impatience and sloppy work. At least one of the jobs will likely need to be redone, or at least touched up.

First came an overall Matte coat on the Academy Kubelwagen. Once I demask the windshield, this one will be complete.

Next came a surface coat of Barley Grey on the latest anniversary Eurofighter. This seemed to do its job and it should be ready for additional work once the paint cures.

I also did a number of items with various Alclad paints. The DC-3 (undersurfaces, wings, parts of the horizontal tail) was not entirely satisfactory, using Dark Aluminum. I thought I had purged the paint room of those bad batches of Alclad that I unknowingly bought a few years back, but I apparently missed this one. It didn’t cover terribly well, and will likely need another coat to get everything up to a consistent surface color and texture. That is very rare for Alclad, in my experience, but once you get a bad bottle, trouble always follows.

I also painted (using another Alclad, White Aluminum) the props and engine covers of the Skyvan that is in construction now. Just trying to get a jump on work that will need to be done once the major assembly is complete. I also painted the exhaust cans of the Eurofighter. Next, I used Engine Manifold to highlight and put some contrast on the exhausts of both the Eurofighter and the Skyvan exhausts. It really does make a qualitative difference to take this extra step.

I often use Testors spray cans to put the first coat of grey onto cockpit areas (in this case, the Meng F-102, Ffrom TWA Delta, and the Italeri Eurofighter, first of the Italian AF specials). But I discovered after about 2 seconds of spraying that I was out of both greys I typically use. Looks like it’s back to airbrushing, but that will be a project for another day.