The Little World

I never claimed to be normal.

Thus the heading image – my take on masking the airliner to add the black nacelles and nose. The silver finish was exemplary – Mr Color Super-Metallic Stainless Steel – and even in the channels and pits of the horrible surface it looked good.

Other modellers would have painted the black first and then masked it for the final silver, but I knew the black would be hard to edge up to – so I did it this way. No, there were no paint leaks and no, it doesn’t glide if you throw it.

The nose masking was done with a large sheet of Tamiya masking paper onto which the design of the scallops could be drawn. They were first mocked out with regular masking tape and a card pattern but eventually the thing was symmetrical and firmly down.

The decals are a substitute set from italeri – the Rodin wing letters started to fracture. I have since conducted a Stupid Science test to find out how to strengthen them for future use. This will be a godsend for eastern European printing. The material used to coat them is the local Supercheap Auto clear acrylic lacquer thinned with regular Mr Color thinner. It sprayed well and after three coats Roden decals could be applied easily on a test wing with no tears.

Wish I had known that earlier.