Rick K

very clever and well executed scheme. love the eagle wing treatment.

One of my fav high flyer Luftwaffe livery. Looking good. I aspire to build this as well as a Bf109H conversion for a pair of high altitude interceptors.

While the gloss cures I'll work on the Prop. Roy 's Prop Assembly Jig is brilliant on many levels. The measure for 4' yellow tip is accurate. To assist in masking the tip I extended the tip color break just beyond the blade outline. I primed each blade with Gunze 1500 Black then applied a shot of light grey (to decrease yellow paint build up) on the tip area followed by yellow. After paint cure I placed each prop on the jig and carefully placed tape at the 4" mark. Each blade gets a coat of MRP77 NATO Black. Mask removed...all good. Interior of back plate gets a shot of Alclad116 Semi-Matt aluminum. For me I wanted just a peek of unpainted metal at root of prop blade. Is it accurate? Not sure. I'll get a nice color break from the prop hub and blade. Using 15 minute epoxy i set the blade in position and carefully adjust according to the jig. I let complete cure before I move on to next blade. The prop spinner got painted with MRP255 Black Night Camouflage. This gives a nice contrast between the prop spinner and blades. After near complete epoxy cure I slip on the prop spinner to double check alignment. All four blades mounted and cured the prop hub is carefully glued in place. The prop spinner easily fits on the back plate after all blades glued. Test fit of complete prop assembly. You can see the contrast black between spinner and blades. Pardon the dust. Look at prop root and you can see the aluminum color inside of back plate.

National markings, sn and codes painted. Time to apply gloss. I've tried many gloss varnishes and I'm frequently trying others. Thing is I always keep coming back to Tamiya x22 gloss. I mix 1:1 ratio with Gunze Mr. Leveling Thinner (MLT). The results are always consistent. I also get to use my new Creos Procon Boy PS290 .5mm airbrush with fan tip. This is my new full coverage primer and varnish weapon. Love the nice wide spray pattern and great coverage. Was not sure about using a trigger airbrush. For full coverage this is the bees knees. Gloss applied for stencil decal work. Look forward to cut and place over 60 of these little fellas. While the gloss cures I'll work on other parts and bits.

This build will represent the mount of RNZAF ace (20+ kills) Wing Commander Evan Mackie late May 1945. I chose this scheme for several reasons. I have a few Kiwi modeling friends. The scheme is absent of DDay stripes, small fuselage codes and absence of any ordnance will show the beautiful lines of the Tempest. Masking serial number and fuselage codes. Using Maketar masks and MRP NATO black the serial numbers are added. It's always special when I spot a seam well into the final finishing stages. Fuselage codes Mackie's initials are MRP Sky. On Deck - Gloss, stencil decals more gloss and weathering.

Mask off. Happy to report no lifting or bleeding.

Cheers Nick. More plug than play indeed. Roy's nose is direct replacement. A little putty and some basic scribing/riveting was needed to make it work. Certainly easier that the kit assembly nightmare issues. This was binned to SOD several time as the kit shortcomings just killed my MoJo. Thanks Brian.

MRP110 Dark Green. Hard to show up on the black base. It really is marbled! Look close.

Ocean Grey going down. I use black base marbling technique. It works for me. Considered using putty worms for Ocean Grey/Dark Green demarcation. I'm going in freehand. MRP115 Ocean Grey. 2 sessions needed as fatigue on trigger finger set in. Blending

Cheers Kev Lovely play on words.

More masking. Did I mention how much I do not like masking? Undersides get the full mask treatment.

Oh, I just cleared a hole in the mmiddle of my bench. Thanks Troy. Thanks Alain - That is the plan. Stay tuned. Cheers Richard. Masking and sales reports are very closely matched on my Loathe Meter.

Underside painting MRP112 Medium Sea Grey applied. I did marbling and I lost the images before I blended. After paint cure more masking fun.

Cheers Kev. Thanks Troy. I was cross-eyed for a few days.

I have long ways to go on this. Thanks for the kudos. Cheers Vincent.