The Little World

I don’t know about you, but I am in an agony every time I go to the colour section of Bunnings – the paint store. The variety of paints and finishes overwhelms me – what I once knew as a cheap tin of paint is now the price of a suit of clothes and the number of combinations of materials is too much for the senses. And that is even before you get to the colour cards on the wall racks.

I’m a little better in Hobbytech as the pots of paint are smaller and if I stick to one brand I can get pretty much what I need before the dizziness sets in.

When it comes to choosing a paint scheme for a model I am pretty well guided by the colour call-outs that appear in the boxes. But then I may decide to do a different plane and the internet is my next resource. Carefully avoiding the IPMS and Britmodeller doors ( I can hear the arguing going on behind them…) I look at real pictures of real planes…or failing that, profiles drawn by artists.

And occasionally I have to make my own decisions. The MS 230 for Ruritania is one of these cases. I am on my own. So, as I like silver ships and yellow wings, and the two main colours will go well with the RRAAF roundel red and black, I have opted for a simple two-tone job. It’s all very well deciding this, but then there is always the fear that I will have fooled myself.

Thankfully, once it is in the actual paint, all the fears subside. I’m airbrushing more these days to a Flory pattern with light coats and low pressure, and I think the results are all the better for it. I did not pre-shade this one as I like my trainers clean and pretty.