The Little World

I am going to learn every trick in the painting book by making every mistake in the painting book. But this build’s blunder was a very minor one  that yielded to the simplest of repairs.

I needed a red fuselage band just in front of the tail assembly for the AVG P-40. Loathe to try a decal, I decided to mask it and paint it. The masking exercise was easy; put a band of 2mm Tamiya tape round where the red was to go, then edge it with two more bands of 2mm tape and peel out the centre strip. I was too lazy to mask the rest of the area off for spray painting so I decided to brush paint it.

The dull red Tamiya went on well and I left it to cure for a decent period of time. But I discovered after I peeled the side strips off that red paint had run into the panel lines either side of the fuselage. Not too far, but far enough to be visible. They became invisible after I took to them with a paintbrush of camo paint.

Lesson? Mask either side and spray the lines or letters that are to be painted – no overspray and no liquid runs.

But that was it – the rest of the job went to my satisfaction and I now have a Flying Tiger for my June exhibition. Plus a live model to be the nose art for it.

Note: One incipient mistake was to use masking tape under the wings and fuselage that was just on the edge of leaving glue on the paintwork. I think it is a case of the hot weather – I may have to look for a tape with lower tack.