Where I left off the last time, I took some sprues, stretched them to form the 5) Caliber machine gun barrels as the kit supplied ones are about 12mm too short! These were inserted from the front in their respective mounting ports. Each side having 2 pieces.
Overall the smoke shading makes the model very high in contrasts and as a starting point, it served a good basis for the weathering to tone down and even out the harshness giving it a little hit of panel disparity, which is what I have in mind, so, on went a lot of diluted Tamiya black paint in enamel thinners.
Care is also taken to try to highlight the rivets as much as I can so that it shows up and it makes the model looked more 3D than plain Jane.
One disgusting thing about this cheapo tooling and small machine injection kit is that the pressure is so low even for soft plastics that sink holes and overflowed ejection pin marks are all over the place, even in this odd part that is like 5mmX4mm in size. It is a criminal act to ask so much money for so much crap.
The undercarriage is marked to be painted in silver, which is what I did with Vallejo Chrome.
The fuel tanks were given 2 coats of Vallejo Aluminum metal paints and polished later to a shine.
The tanks were then masked and given a few coats of Tamiya Clear Blue to give it the metallic blue finishes with is instructed in the instruction sheets.
I took a 30 year old picture frame that my uncle didn't want anymore. Took out all the screws and nuts int here to form the fixtures like stand and position fasteners. Then I took half a set of Tamiya Epoxy Putty and kneaded them into balls to hold up the sides against being split apart. The frame was then pressed with tool box and books for 6 hours after being placed on a large piece of paper. I then measured and cut a matching cab and used Tamiya Olive Drab, Ghost Grey, Gunze Primer in grey and also the primers in white. Cracks are scribed into the tiles to form more interest. This is then done with some weathering. Since its to depict German Cold War relic, the model looks okay if we weather it too blandly too. This is superglue to the frame after that its been painted and weathered. The plastic card is then CA glued to the cardboard below, supported by the old man.
As I wanted the base to be no more than 30cm in width, I am happy the model turned out the way it does. The canopy was modified so that the aircraft can e air transported more easily, The frame is also very easy to pack. I am quite happy.The canopy sits well.What would be great is to be able to plug and pull the canopy at a snap like Lego for overseas travelling for comeption.
After some cleaning, its time for Vallejo Chrome to be dotted on to form chips from use,