The Little World

The painting stage for some models can be a beautiful and uplifting experience.

Car modellers may experience this as they apply colourful and glossy finishes. Railway modellers also have bright colours in the liveries. In the case of this Curtiss 75 the chosen palette seems to contain nothing but expired motor oil and dirt.

Of course this is deliberate, else I should not be doing it, but somewhere along the line I start to sag. The application of the rubber eraser snakes, masking tape, and Humbrol liquid rubber is deliberate but each layer of camouflage suggests that the airplane has been left on the side of the road…and the road is the one going to the tip.

Perhaps it illustrates the value of camouflage. Faced with this sort of sight, most enemies would veer off and try not to touch it for fear of contamination.

But the reveal is nearly always pleasant. There will be leakers and streakers where the masking has not quite sealed the paint, but by and large these yield to a little scraping and patch-painting. And unlike the car modellers, I can accept the odd worn spot in a service aircraft. Mine are not all rat rods, but some do have tails…