Paint (Me-163B, Eurofighter, Hawk T1 and some cockpits)

The paint session seemed to go well enough, and gave me the opportunity to start clearing out the queue that has formed up in the last 2 weeks. I didn’t get quite everything taken care of, but I did make some significant progress.

A clear matt coat was shot over the Daimler armored car. It is now complete, and should show up in the completed column shortly.

The fuselage coat of RLM76 was put onto the Me-163B as captured by the RAF. When that cures I’ll add the RLM74/RLM75 mottling and it should be nearing completion as well. I do need to paint the detachable wheel/skid undercarriage and apply decals.

I got a coat of MRP Italian Eurofighter paint onto the – well, the Italian Eurofighter. I’m of two minds about the MRP paints. They do have a number of colors that are not available via my usual source, Xtracolour. However, they don’t cover very well. Let me rephrase that. They are mixed for airbrush use and are therefore extremely thin, and will pool and run at the slightest opportunity. One thing I do not like is that they are pretty matte, which just adds another step or takes the finish quality down a notch when compared with the gloss Xtracolours. Like any paint, they take some experimentation, and I haven’t been using them for that long, so I’ll reserve final judgment for a while yet.

I also took care of three cockpits: the Valom DH-91, the Mikro-Mir Miles Aerovan, and the Special Hobby Trent Meteor. Some detailing and I should be ready to seal up the fuselage on the latter two. The DH-91 is stalled until the Avalon masking set is released. I don’t think Eduard is going to do a set for this type. The Aerovan comes with a masking set, which while it adds to the cost of the kit, I think that is an excellent upgrade. Some canopies are not that difficult to mask, like the Bae Hawk T1, but others are much improved with a precut set of masks. 

Finally, I shot an overall coat of US Sandy Yellow (Xtracolour 812) on the M1117 armored security vehicle. I need to paint the tires, but they came in rubber, not styrene, so I’m not sure what pitfalls await me there.

In the next few days I hope to spotlight some recent completions.