The Little World

Before you start to wonder if this has turned into a porno site, let me assure you it always was. But we were using code-words. If you didn’t get it, you weren’t the one the code was intended for.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, look at the two pink airplanes. They are both 1:72 scale Polish PZL planes from the WW2 era – one a dive bomber from Heller and the other a fighter from PZW 72. They are vastly expensive – one being a gift and one costing $ 1.00 AUD. Perfect candidates to join the VVS for a library diorama.

The roseate hue is the result of the materials drought in the local hobby shops. I normally use Mr. Surfacer 1000 in the grey shade. The covid 19 disruption to shipping has meant no fresh supplies and the particular 1000 grade of undercoat has vanished from the shelves. I tried Mr. Surfacer 500 and found it too gritty for aircraft in my scale.

The pink was the only 1500 grade surfacer in the shop. I purchased it in desperation, but now am congratulating myself. The finer grader is perfect for the small scale, and the pink colour means that I can spray white or grey over and see exactly where the colour coat is going. The finish it’s given to the underside blue for these aircraft has been superb.

It will be interesting to see what effect is produced when a silver or metallic layer is sprayed over it. I’ve got a CF-104 Starfighter that will need a polished aluminium fuselage and it has the pink undercoat.

Note for future reference. The experiment of using Supercheap Premium Lacquer thinner to thin paints for spraying directly on plastic has been tried again but ICM plastic is ever so slightly affected by the solvent nature of the material. It will still be a good idea to undercoat before this thinner.