More Mustang Mania

I think that it’s time that I faced up to the fact that this may be the one thing I do really well.

Big sigh.

Here we have applied a second coat and done the stippling to “feather” the edges of the camouflage. I explain how this works in this blog entry. I have seen this method gaining some traction in the usual places, so maybe a few brave souls are trying it. Like anything else, it requires some practice to get it right.

Question: Why do I apply two coats when one is good enough and it’s HARD?

Answer: That’s what she said. Also, no matter how good enough it looks, a second coat is always a good idea and usually more than two coats are needed. On this model, two coats did the job.

Question: Why do you paint the fish belly color (sky gray) last instead of first?

Answer: That’s what she said. Also, it’s easier to do it that way. The two colors on the top of the airplane meet the single color on the bottom. Having to paint the two top colors with no masking means that I’d have to exactly match up the two adjacent colors as well as neatly draw a line along the demarcation.

But…

If I just wait a darn minute or two and paint the green and brown first, then I can just draw the brush full of fish belly in a line along the demarcation and waa laa it’s done. Easier.

I put a coat of Future on there and applied some decals from my stash of old decals, and they gave me a little trouble. The glue on them had gone all yellow and pasty and I had to hustle to avert catastrophe.

That “silvering” on the roundel isn’t silvering. It’s old nasty glue, come to take it’s vengeance on the sons of man. Note that I did not paint the Future over the canopy. I’ve had enough trouble with the canopy I don’t want to mess with it.

I can’t explain how I solved the nasty glue problem unless I just explain that these decals are old but tough. I picked it up with a fingernail and used a tissue to wipe off the crud.

Try that with a new-fangled fancy thin decal!

I swiped the U.S. Army from the Monogram P-36 kit and just put it on there any old way. I don’t even know for sure that this aircraft had this but I put it on there for fun. That P-36 is going to go French or Finnish one of these days.

You can see I’m not aiming to impress the cracker barrel crowd on the forum.

I think it’s looking good. I want to give it a day to “cure” before I put on the clear flat and paint in some details and do a little weathering.

Ah, yes, the arrival of the first P-51. Back off, cute little foreigners. Big Iron is here.

 

2 Replies to “More Mustang Mania”

  1. Looks good to me. The feathering is noticeable, but looks like it is in scale. Someday, I’ll have the guts to give it a try. Thanks for providing the link.

  2. Seems those decals came down good. Funny thing to do the feathering this way; hadn’t thought of it till Dan mentioned on Airfix TF. Now try showing off a model with it done and don’t tell its brushpainted. 😀
    Actually stuff works as prescribed though painting the belly first is quite ingrained on me. Perhaps one day I’ll do it on auto.

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