Started 22 August 2009

Completed 02 Sep 2009

This is another of the new tooling from Airfix for 2009. Another quick construction build, with little filler required. After masking up the canopy, I laid down a primer coat of Tamiya XF-19 to check out any build errors I may have made. I had decided by this point I was not going to use the black decals provided, as I didn't feel confident enough in the application after my attempts with the Red Arrows boxing.

So I printed two scans of the decals and using a cheap lightbox, Tamiya masking tape and a new blade in my scalpel, I created masks instead. After I had painted the model with Tamiya XF-1 (Gloss Black), I sealed this in with 3 coats of Klear, and then applied my makeshift masks. Searching through my paints I found I did not have any Humbrol #53 (Gunmetal), so I used Tamiya X-10 (Gun Metal) which turned out to be a little too dark. I also applied the Humbrol #56 (Aluminium) which turned out to be very Matt. If I had known I would have added Klear when spraying. In the end it took about a further 3 coats of Klear to enable me to give the Aluminium area a Satin sheen suitable for decalling.

The decals I did use went on great, and were sealed with another coat of Klear. I removed the canopy masking, and then fitted the wing stores, antennas, attached the vertical stabs, and the tail and fuselage winglets. After applying some white decals to the canopy framing, I drilled some holes for the Airfix stand.