halifax update: painting stage almost done!
the painting stage is almost done. after the first decals were on, I coated them with future, and after that had dried, I masked off the markings
full invasion stripes were applied to glider towing halifaxes for d-day, but by the time of operation market garden in september 1944 the wing stripes had been removed. I did want to show a trace of them, so I also painted them on very faintly.
result
more future was sprayed on, and the other decals were added. following another coat of future, I applied a wash of pro modeller dark dirt.
I added paint chipping with a silver pencil, and I airbrushed on exhaust stains. first attempt at that, and didn't turn out bad at all I think. then everything was sealed a couple of coats of testors dullcoat.
unfortunately, the masking of the main canopy didn't work out as well as I had hoped, and because the previous months were much busier than I had expected the masking tape stayed on for too long too. so the frames aren't as neat as they could have been, and there was some residue from the masking tape. the latter I was able to fix quite well, but the canopy frame lines look only marginally better than they would have if I had painted them on freehand. I'll post a close up picture of that when I build up the courage :-)
all I still need to do is complete the landing gear, build the rear turret, add the bomb rails to the wing bomb bays, attach the bomb bay doors, wheel bay doors... aarggh! didn't think this one would take longer than a year ;-)
thanks for looking & I appreciate comments as usual.