Weathering

Well I added some pastel weathering to the airframe. I started by adding some black to the exhaust area with a cut down soft brush. I then added some red brown to the black to get a little colour variation for interest.


Turning my attention to the middle fuselage, my references showed a distinct dark black staining eminating from a small diamond shaped panel over the engines. To try to replicate this I started out with black pastel powder and again brushed it on with a cut down brush in the direction of the air flow. The result was nice but not as distinct as on the reference photos, it needed to be blacker and bulkier....

Not quite knowing what to do I decided to try a new technique. I have 'borrowed' some waste toner from the office photocopier. I again brushed this on carefully concentrating more on the areas closest to the panel and streaking back.

Surprisingly this added the required 'bulk' and 'mattness' to make the stain stand out enough. The technique was successfull enough that I will be trying it again at least!

I also noticed at this last minute that Tamiya has left out a small white blade aerial on the upper fuselage.

I made one out of thin sheet styrene and mounted it to the spot (Tamiya include a panel in the shape of the aerial) with thin super glue.

Well there you have it, just the fuel spill staining to do. I'm still unsure of how best to go about this so stay tuned to find out... it will either make or break this kit.

Cheers,