81-er

Looking very nice, John, I don't think the weathering is overdone at all James

Having checked a few photos, it's definitely a bit small. This one was the "540mm" version from an Xtradecal Swastika sheet, and to be fair they do say on that that it should have been the 650mm one. I compared to the ones included in the Me 410 sheet, which is why I went for the smaller one. No big deal though, it'll be easy to remove and replace them. I think I'd have been less irritated about the spiral being wrong if it was a 3rd party decal, rather than coming in the kit. It also does about 2.5 revolutions of the spinner, whereas the Airfix profile shows just over half a revolution, and period photos seem to show around 1 to 1.5 revolutions. I’ve not found a photo of the actual aircraft either, but I have found photos of 410’s with the white segment spinners, so I may just paint them like that as I don’t think I’m good enough to mask & paint the spiral. I’ve got to repaint the one I tried to apply the decal to anyway as all of the decal solution I used to try and get it to confirm has knackered the paint. James

I don't doubt you will James

If the jig works, it works. I'm looking forward to seeing this get some paint. Nobody likes the W-word, and I am sadly much further from retirement. I worked out that due to starting work early and the retirement age going up in this country, I've not actually hit the halfway point yet James (Currently looking for any long-lost rich relatives to bump off)

That's a good mottle job, Pete, especially by brush James

She's a lovely build, and the gallery photos are superb. Well done, and thank you for joining us James

It's definitely going to take a bit of work to sort, but it's going to be one hell of a model when it's done, Alan, especially with your skills James

If you can scratchbuild all of the added detail on this, mould & cast it, and sculpt the astronauts, the airbrush should be a walk in the park. The main thing is to get your paint properly thinned, to around the consistency of skimmed milk James

I see what you mean there, Tim, just a tad overscale. A bit of brass rod instead? Other than that, she's coming together nicely James

Touchups done, and the decals have started. I’ve got all of the decals on the top side on, with just the stencils down the flanks to do before I flip her over to do the underside: Although I copied the Swastika size and position from the Xtradecal set (I know, I know), it looks a little small, so I’ll probably replace those with something larger. I also have a new most loathed modelling task, spinner spirals. I spent a considerable amount of time trying to make it work, and came to the conclusion that it’s at least 30% too long for the size of the spinner, and with the notch they’ve handily supplied to locate it around a prop blade, not easy to make it fit. I’ll spare you the horror show of the photos but suffice to say the best “fit” I could get still looked iffier than a politicians credibility. I’m quite happy to live with the inaccuracy of having spiral-less spinners on this one now. James

Very nice work, John James

Sounds like a great plan, Adrian James

Thanks mate I'm very glad I picked up the Infinity now, as the different air cap design to the Evolution makes it much easier to see where the paint is heading. The thinner 0.15 needle size was also a big help James

A really fantasic result, Alan, well done inded with this one James

She's looking very nice, George James

This one's going to be a stunner when it's done, Alan James

She looks absolutely fantastic, Tommy, well done! James

A very fine pair of props, and I think you've got a very good chance of making the deadline James

Nice work with the PE additions to the gear bays, John James

You're making a very fine model out of this one, with all the added details being nice touches James

That looks very nice indeed, Pete, well done! James

It's good to see this one edging closer to paint, and that's a great base for some variation there James

Thanks everyone. I have a plan to one day do a WHIFF scheme or a sci-fi build with this kind of finish for the camo, as it does look good. Yesterday was a very productive day. I started off with the base colour painting, masking the splinter with tape, but freehanding the boarder between the splinter and the RLM 76 on the body, and the RLM 75 & RLM 76 on the engine nacelles: After a bit of tidying with some RLM 76, it was time to have a crack at the mottling. I’ve only done this once before, a couple of weeks ago on a Bf 109 that’s still in progress, so I was a bit nervous about committing to this one. In the end, it didn’t come out too badly. It helps that the Airfix profile showed a pretty dense mottle, so I could hide the worst of the spider webs: I’m quite happy with that. There’s a couple of areas that need touching up now all the masking is off, but after that it’ll be time for the gloss coat and decals. James

Thanks chaps James

Nice to see this one's still moving along There's 5 weeks left, so I reckon you can do it James