81-er

That's looking really nice there, Pete James

It's a shame about the bleed, but the colours do look good, Pete. Good luck with the fixes! James

Thanks Alistair. I do remember your issues with the wing step, so I'm prepared for that. Thank you for mentioning it though. I've got a plan of action involving thin shims of plasticard, sanding, and filler, all used in the areas most appropriate. Having tried the glazing for the ventral gun position in place, that is slightly too narrow along one edge. Unfortunately that back edge is pretty much frameless, so I can't put a support or spreader behind it. My options now are shim it out to the correct width and apply a little heat to hopefully encourage it to stay in the new shape, or to carefully sand down the fuselage sides to disguise the join. I think option two is probably the better of those. James

I don't believe that your username was tongue-in-cheek, your mottles are looking pretty good to me! James

Whether it's patience or stubbornness, it's doing the trick Pete James

Very nice work on that, Walter. It really does look like it's been used to hell and back, and the gallery pictures are superb James

That's shaping up really nicely James

Thanks Craig. I have a plan for those, so it should all be good. I'm 90% sure the issues are mostly down to errors on my part, but I'm aware of where I think I've gone wrong so I won't make the mistakes again (I hope!). James

I've definitely seen many photos of Corsairs far more battered than this one, John, so I don't think you've overdone it at all. Thanks for the history lesson @Pete in Lincs, I had no idea that's how they built the runways. Every day's a school day! James

Thanks Pat. And if a few more sign up for it, my Luft '46 proposal might make it through and give you the chance you need to build yours Thanks for the tip on the silvered decals as well. I may be a bit late to try that as I've given it all a clear coat now (which did solve a fair number of them), but there's a couple that could be candidates for that method. I haven't abaondoned this either, I'm trying out some weathering techniques on some paint mules before I commit to using them on this. I wouldn't want to stuff it up so close to the end. James

If that doesn't work, another option could be the transfer paper used on vinyl graphics (as I had a go at having my own graphics business a few years back). Very much like a thinner and stronger masking tape, but with less tack. Available in a range of widths, and generally semi-transparent like baking paper is. You probably wouldn't have much luck running it through a printer, but if you've got the plan printed to scale and a decent sized bit of clear plastic you could lay over it, you'd probably be able to see through the masking enough to draw it out on the back. James

That's very definitely looking "pre-loved" now, John, really nice work there James

That sounds like an interesting project, John, I'll be watching this with interest James

The images work, Adrian. As an Imgur user myself, if you hover over an image and click the three dots in the top righthand corner it'll give you a menu. Click "get share links" and use the BB Code link, and it'll embed your images directly into your post James

I just realised I forgot to include the photos of the tailwheel well. As well as the silver dry brush, this got a good coat of Citadel Agrax Earthshade and the Nuln Oil to make it look really grimy, I limited the dry brushing on the support structure, as that will be entirely hidden by the tail gear: James