red Dog

you nailed the difficult colours perfectly Well done !!

Getting ready for masks: For the roundels I used a set in kabuki paper initially bought for the Typhoon in 1/24. There are enough masks to paint multiple aircraft. I checked the masks size against the airfix spitfire decals and they all matched except the top wing roundels being just a tad smaller. Something I can live with! First step is to find the correct spot for the masks Then I always prefer to base coat in white, I use straight XF-2 from Tamiya. I also always mark my masks accross all the different parts to ease up the alignement process often needed when removing and replacing masks: The red paint is a mix I made for the previous spitfire in 1/32. I made more than necessary knowing I have quite a few RAF subjects in the queue that may benefit the colour. Because of the scratching effect applied previously around the wing gun bay doors, I elected NOT to mask the blue part of the wing top roundels. The red part was sprayed in the centre and I had to find a way to ensure that the red mask was perfectly placed back in the centre. Usually I do that by aligning masks against each other, but here obviously I had no guide. I thus used the diagonals I always draw and by marking the edge of the circle on two strips of tamiya tape, I could ensure the mask was positioned back in the centre. To avoid the kabuki to be too sticky, I repeatedly stuck it on the desk, hoping that would be enough to prevent the paint from lifting upon mask removal I thought I had MRP marking blue but all I had was insigna blue, so I had to revert to H326 from Gunze with a bit of colour variation for the large blue area Removing the masks damaged the initial camouflage paint around the gun bays, which was expected. But I'm glad the paintwork for the masks wasn't damaged at all. Repairing the camouflage bits is a no brainer and will be done after fitting the tail which will need a lot of putty anyway Final result of the fuselage and tail work. IMHO it's always better than using decals, especially in this scale where these decals are so huge and hardly of good quality

that's quite an ambitions project. Hat's off Chris. It's going to be … wow

Lovely pose I foundly remember doing the same with an academy legacy hornet, the extended gear in flight really gives the hornet model a very original stance You captured it perfectly, Can't wait to see the final result

Usually I have the base colour in my airbrush and I dip a brush in white and add it to the cup and mix it. I also add a bit more thinner (Mr colour levelling thinner) and lower my PSI. Depending on how visible I want the effect to be it is 1,2 or 3 drop max. I also tend to block my trigger on my H&S airbrush. That prevents me from pulling too far aft and have too much paint getting out on the same spot.

and the chipping frenzy got worse on the other side: I usually use chipping fluid with tamiya or gunze acrylics, it is the first time I use them with MRP, and I'm happy to report that (as expected) it works fine. Maybe even too fine - probably a consequence of my 3 layers of chipping fluids, I won't do that anymore) For the chipping effect, I apply water with a brush where I want the chipping, let it soak for a bit then scraxt with the two sponges or the needle and rub accordingly. IMHO it's much better than any result I can get with a fine brush and silver paint. Next step was to paint the yellow ID bands and the propeller tips. Masking the ID band and the prop tip wasn't a problem and a base coat of white was airbrushed. I still prefer airbrushing the light colours on a white coat otherwise I Always end up with too thick a coat of paint which tends to have a step effect from the camouflage colours. After white paint was applied on the prop tips, I discovered yet another air Bubble in the resin, which screamed to be filled For these corrections, I usually use water based Vallejo putty which is not very good for large correction because it sinks a lot. But it quickly dries and two quick applications of putty each being wiped with a watered Q-tip made short work of the hole The ID bands and the prop tips where then sprayed marker yellow Previous to that the wingtip lights were added and sanded flush with the wings. That removed paint but I will correct that later on. I'm sure I will have many other paint correction soon... To try to keep these to a minimum I coated the model with semi gloss MRP twice, hoping that would prevent the paint to lift too much during the masking sessions. Now I realise that using 3 coats of scratching effect was Indeed overkill and that it would have been better to plan ahead and avoid scratcing product where masks are supposed to be applied at later stages …

Some colour depth for the grey and green added. It's too visible on purpose for now as I expect further treatment to tone this all down: First the grey: with a drop of Medium seay grey added rather than white looks like my 3 coats of scratching effect are already working, paint comes off even with no scratching …. i have the feeling it may have been a bit overdone Then the green: (base colour + a drop of white.) Minor chipping started as I couldn't hold it any longer

Thank you very much for sharing these.

Splendid, no other words

Thank you all for your very nice comments. Well, unfortunately I built this one knowing I had no room to display it. The original idea was to display it at the local hobby shop in Brussels, plans were made with the owner and it was built for the dimensions of his display cases in the shop. Unfortunately the LHS closed as I was building the Corsair. It was already a long while ago. I could have abandonned the build but that's not me. So I pressed on but had to find an alternative way to display the models. I have multiple bases for the 2 aircraft. The one you see above when I want to display the models together in their AAR scenario, which happens from time to time without dust protection But each aircraft also has its own base when I want to protect them in my own display cabinet. The problem with my cabinet is they are homemade under the slope of a roof and if I have the depth for the wingspan I don't have the required height for the intruder when it refuels the A7, So I had to lower it making the AAR scene impossible to display. Once again, many thanks for all your feedback along the build, It's a pleasure to do WIP on LSP with you guys

I realised I never posted picture of the finished setup. Sorry about that. With both model finished, I needed to make the link between the two. The basket was done with different parts from the scratch box (rods, guitar wires and photoetch parts initially meant for a EF2000 exhaust fan,...) The guitar wires are a bit larger than what the real part should be but at least give proper structure to the basket. The PE part for structure was then hidden under strips of paper towel washed in PVA glue + water and let to dry and the process was repeated until I was happy with the texture of the basket. The A-7 probe fits nicely into the basket allowing proper connection between the 2 aircraft. The fuel hose is a metal hanger cut to length and painted black. distance marks were painted light brown every 10 feet scaled down to 1/32 The metal rod is inserted into the KA-6D reel The base is made of black painted MDF. I wanted the base to be sober not to attract too much attention from the eyes of the viewers. Getting the support transparent rods angle right took a few attempts The 2 aircraft are offset from each other as clearly seen from the following picture: Pictures of the finished setup: First the final intruder: Then the A-7 And the finished diorama: Attempt on a blue background: And a photoshop essay on a sky background Sorry for the time it took to uplaod final pictures, after finishing the model, I discovered dust inside the A6 canopy and had to remove it, clean it and reassemble it in place. It took me quite a while to get there. But this one is finally complete. And it was quite a journey !! Thank you all for looking.

Very original subject and nicely done. I should check these GB section more often. Looks like a lot of jewels are hiding there Well done !!

I didn't even realise until you made me look closer Unfortunately i don't think removing this at this time would be a good idea. This windscreen is really a nightmare Painting started with specific areas coated in MRP silver metallic . Then 3 light coats of MIG scratching effects to allow chipping at further stages: As a sidenote, notice the effect of sanding the front of the windscreen when the canopy is closed. The underside were given a preshading in black and was then painted with MRP Medium Sea Grey (I didn't mask the wheel wells, I haven't decided if they should be left interior green or medium sea grey) Topside, I started with the MRP Ocean grey following pattern A: I usually paint the camouflage freehand but this time I decided to have a try at hard edges and scalled pattern A with paper masks to protect the grey before spraying MRP Dark Green This provides the base for further fun. (All the previous work was made to get here and start enjoying the painting and weathering process

Excellent Stuka

Nice work Quang. That gladiator sure looks like a nice kit to build