opus999

Actually, that makes sense. I'll have to give it a try -- it turns out I have an opportunity as I just discovered one of my "Don't walk" stripes is in the wrong place! That was my first thought as well, but some very careful experimenting showed that the high spots were going to be sanded down to the black undercoat, so I quickly gave that up. Thanks Terry! I really like how this aircraft looks too. It's got me thinking of doing a "fastback" version... I haven't posted pictures just yet, but I put most of the decals on this weekend, and the blue stripes really look cool.

Adam, that paint work is fabulous! I also really like the weathering, the bottom of the aircraft looks so real to me. Great work!

Excellent paint work and weathering!

That looks outstanding. I think the metal finish looks very realistic.

Both the yellow-orange and the RLM 81 are Mr. Color. I probably could thin it down more, I think I had it at 2 parts levelling thinner to 1 part paint (That's my go-to thinning ratio). The trouble with the yellow orange is that it starts out very yellow and take many coats to get the orange tint to show. Which is a little frustrating, really.

I am truly happy that everyone has recovered. No one went to the hospital, so that was a win (an unpleasant win, but a win nonetheless). I have to agree with Terry -- the bread looks marvelous. My address is... That seat looks terrific, and with rivets too! It makes me want to get a 3d printer myself, but drawing the parts.... The teeny-tiny seat was amazing! After seeing how the tail fin turned out, it seems that the solution to your wing ribs problem was to print a new wing! *ducks* Seriously though, this is turning out to be a terrific build!

I take it that's Arthur working so diligently. It's a cat's life...

Pretty simple set of markings on this one, but it looks great. I really like the paint job you did too. Did you use Tamiya paints or something else for the camo?

Terrific work on that tail fin leading edge! This is turning out superb so far.

That's kind of what I'm thinking too... Interesting, but maybe not entirely satisfying... the finish on the wings is really bad. It's very sandpaper-y. I think its because I had to put so many coats of the yellow-orange on that the overspray built up unevenly. On the fuselage, the white only needed a couple of passes and right now it is very smooth. I tried sanding the wings a bit, but that was hard to do without affecting the stripes. The gloss coat helped smooth it out a bit, and in the end I don't think it will be noticeable. That issue is making me rethink the approach. It was much easier in some ways and maybe a little harder in others. Thanks Mark! I think its turning out well. I had my doubts when I first finished painting. I just don't want it to look toy-like. Thank you! Two more to go...

Oh, I like that! The insignia and markings look terrific against the hemp color. I have to agree with you that those blue stripes are nice (which is why I chose the Ki-100 scheme that I did on my current build).

Nice job on this one Dennis! I really like the color scheme, it really shows off the aircraft's lines. It looks fast!

Didn't have a lot of bench time this week. My oldest turned 18 on Wednesday so we took him out to his favorite restaurant that evening. He graduated from HS 6 months ago, when he was still 17. I still find it hard to believe I have a college student in the house, especially when I still act like I'm 13 half the time! I don't know who thought it would be a good idea for me to raise children, but they clearly didn't study my mentality very closely! Anyway, the little time I had on Monday and Tuesday was spent masking. First though, I had to glue the engine in and the front of the cowl on. The front of the cowl is a big check in the "cons" column of this kit. See, there's no alignment pegs or even a groove to make sure it's centered. So it's just a butt join. So if I wanted, I could do this: ...or even this: ...but I was good and tried to get it aligned perfectly. Which never happens so there was a little sanding required, but it was all sorted out quickly. Then it was time to mask. Masking the "don't walk" areas over the flaps was pretty easy since I just had to run the tape along the panel lines. The Ammo access panels weren't as easy since it seems that the yellow lines went outside the panel. So I created a "frame": Then I put the masking along the edge... And then pulled the frame off: The tape is somewhat see through, and the contrast between the dark green and yellow is enough that I could see if it was even through the tape, which was handy. I used a similar approach for the hinamaru. I measured the diameter of the white "framing" decal, cut a tape circle the same size and then used the outside of that as a frame: Then I put the inner part of the circle in the frame: and then removed the frame: As you can see it was off center, so I had to re-adjust after taking the picture. As it turns out, the tape is see through enough that I really didn't need to use the "frame" approach and abandoned it when I got to the starboard side. I ran into trouble there because of my circle cutter. The circle cutter is plastic and can slip with use, so I need to check it before each cut to make sure it is still the radius I want. I apparently didn't do this because the red circle on the starboard side was slightly larger than the port side. Nothing you can really see with the naked eye, but using the same size circle for the white "frame" would result in a thinner white border that would be noticeable. So I had to adjust my compass cutter accordingly. Well, another issue I have is that the cutting mat I use, and that the anchor point of the compass goes into, flexes, which can result in slightly larger, or even oblong circles. I wasn't having a good night that night because it took about 12 tries to get a circle the right size and perfectly round. After that, I ordered one of those Infini-models "Easy cutting mat"s with the circles. We'll see if that helps in the future. At any rate everything was masked and ready to paint last night: and I had enough time to paint the underside with my customary TS-30 silver leaf: That trouble spot where the wing meets the fuselage turned out pretty good for all the trouble I had! This morning I painted the topside and tried to make it seem only slightly worn. We'll see how that looks when all is said and dnoe. Anxiously, I took all the masking off and I am mostly pleased. I have a couple of spots to fix but nothing major. I am on the fence about the lines around the ammo access panels. They seem a little wide to me, and compared to the decals they are indeed slightly wider... but not much. They just seem wider than they are. Hmm. So I'm trying to decide if I want to try to paint some green to make them a little thinner or not. So that's where I'm at and I'm going to go make those little fixes now.

Thanks Terry it was nice to have you along! Yeah, this one is a new favorite on the shelf -- but it doesn't hurt to have a red and white on bare metal scheme to look at either!

Thanks! Yeah... the cockpit was fun to do, but I'm disappointed I can't really see it anymore. A pilot probably would've been an easier and quicker solution!