The Little World

Not for their politics or their agricultural policies.

Not for Gen. De Gaulle or the ludicrous Bardot. Not even for their car designers…

For their camouflage artists. The maniacs who wanted to paint three-colour camo schemes on a series of miserably inadequate aircraft. The only thing good about these decisions is that it made the Maginot Line look good…

The HB model assembled splendidly and the wing seams were filled overnight. The primer coat used up the last of a can of Tamiya fine primer, but that was alright – it covered beautifully before the paint ran out. I got good value from that can.

The HB instruction sheet that listed the scheme in Mr Color and Mr Hobby terms was referred back to the master Creos sheet and the three shades determined – none of them are in my paint rack at present but there were enough shades around them to permit some custom mixing. If I do a model of a Dewoitine or a Bloch I will have enough paint for that as well.

The Mr. Colour light blue-grey went on like a dream – the new airbrush and lacquer paint are great. A warm day, two hours curing, and it was ready for the masking. The underside was done with masking tape easily, because they painted a straight waist line.

The first masking on the upper was to permit that blue-grey to remain undisturbed. Humbrol Maskol again, though I’ll be shifting to the Creos equivalent when this bottle is finished. Then the brown paint area was lightly pencilled on the plane and a careful freehand paint shoot done to just over that pencil line. You really need to turn the air pressure down to restrict the paint for this one. then back into the curing box for 90 minutes.

Then the brown section was masked on top of the mask that was already on the grey. With that done the final green could go on freely.

I will admit to being impatient for the cure so that the masking could come off. It was well within the three days that Humbrol set as a working limit before their material goes too hard. The result is pretty much what I had envisaged – see heading image. I’m not using the British markings – if it is going to have French camouflage it might as well have French roundels and tail flash. They are brightly coloured enough.

And I have plans for distinctive art on the side of the fuselage…