Been slowly but steadily working on the final layers of paint. Unfortunately when I pulled the masking off after the black layer some of the PE bits came up along with some smaller areas of paint.
I had to go back in by hand and add some color. There are a couple of areas where the brushstrokes are apparent but they are more or less hidden from the standard views.
That and the weathering and top coats help to ‘distract’ a little bit.
After the touch-ups I went ahead and detailed the wheel bays. While I love the extra detailing and the color PE wires and such…they were a BIG headache. A few sprung out and got lost amongst the bench clutter and then some were just omitted. The bands that wrap around the actual struts were the most challenging so they were “simplifiedâ€. The effect is still there, enough for me anyhow.
Future was applied in a couple of coats to prep for decals, the decals themselves went on super-easily, then some more Future, THEN the load-out, then the flat coat.
Weathering is under way, beginning with a wash of MiG’s cool gray on the lighter areas with the Winter wash on the black. I think it will be a nice, subtle effect when all is said and done. I’ll add a little bit of scoring and streaking here and there to button it up.
Lastly, the base is a cardboard tarmac image on a wooden base, but it was pretty bland so I’ll be doing a nice little snow build-up using Tamiya’s flat base, peanuts and Woodland Scenics snow scene set. I used a little bit of plastic to give the "shoveled" effect but I don't know if I'll keep it...
oh, and the canopy