The Little World

The dragonfly is ready to go into the collection and I am delighted with the choice of ROKAF. I shall complete more for this division in the future.

The scheme for this plane’s upper works is as much a nuisance as any other tri-colour pattern. Whether it is French, Soviet, or whatever, I always instinctively avoid that choice – knowing that it means more masking than the standard two-colour one. In this case I decide to experiment with the idea of masking with the eraser worms and then filling the interstices with a rubber paint mask – the Gunze one in the blue bottle.

I’ve come foul of liquid masks in the past – Micro, Gunze and Humbrol in their turn. Sometimes they would cover superbly and sometimes leave troublesome pinholes or pull back from vital edges. I also saw some discolouration of a paint layer with the Humbrol in the early stages, but that may have been just user error.

This time I was successful – the progressive occlusion of patches of the plane in between putty worms went smoothly, and when the time came for removal, there was no creep or leakage. The liquid is probably a lot more expensive than little bits of masking tape, but the ease of use is worth it.

The practice of coating the entire surface with a gloss varnish before decal application will now become standard in the Little Workshop. The decal application is entirely without silvering anywhere, including several clear patches.

One note: I do look forward to return of rattle cans for final varnishing – they seem to do a better job than my concoctions in the airbrush. Let us hope for a more normal trade in the coming months.