With the canopy in place I could start doing preshade lines after adding a little RLM66 on top of the frame.

I noticed that I missed a few spots, but got that sorted when I touched up the black on the Mirage cockpit.
and other artistic stuff
With the canopy in place I could start doing preshade lines after adding a little RLM66 on top of the frame.
I noticed that I missed a few spots, but got that sorted when I touched up the black on the Mirage cockpit.
After getting the canopy in place, I could start doing preshade, and then start painting.
Then some RLM65 on the underside.
After having some problems with my airbrushes, I finally got the top cote on.
I’ll let this dry a while and then mask for the next colour.
Masking the canopy parts took a while. The frames is barely visible, which I guess is due to part of the frame sits on the inside. Anyway, this made it very hard to follow the frames with a blade when cutting the tape. Instead I had to work with thin stripes and put along the frame lines and then fill upp inside to mask all the small window pieces.
Next I will paint the frame colour and then lay a cote of primer. Mainly to see if there’s any visible seams that needs to be sorted.
I filled and sanded down the shims and putty in the gaps, and now it looks pretty decent.
I also added a bit of plastic rod in the wheel wells to act like a part of the gun barrels.
Just need some gun metal on them to look the part.
Still need to do some touching up on the seams on the underside and perhaps on the wing joints too. A lot of detail gone though, but not sure how to get it back or if I just should leave it be.
The fit of the wings against the fuselage/wing root isn’t good as can be seen on this test fit.
Quite a gap on both sides. The underside is a bit better.
I glued the wings on the underside first and let that dry for a while. Then I tried to glue one side while pushing wing and body together. Closed the gap alright, but tilted the body and did the other side worse.
I cut some plastic sheet as shims to put into the gap on each side, and that way lessen the gap and make it easier to push the wings to the body. I decided to give it a try.
Still a gap, but not so wide. Maybe I can put in a bit more plastic, and then cut and sand to shape. The rest I will cover with putty later.
Other builds like the Stuka has taken attention away from this kit. I finally got the engine assembled and then mounted in the fuselage.
I then just placed the canopy in place and glued the guns.
My plan is to have the covers removable. Still not sure if I’ll cut away the lids and glue the top part in place, having the lids open.
I have also started planning how to do with the wings. The instructions tells you to glue the bottom wing part first, insert the gears, and then glue the upper wing halves.
I’ve checked an it seems possible to insert the gears afterwards and that way avoid having them in the way. Also I think of glueing the upper wing halves with the lower part before glueing it to the body. I just hope it turns out well and that I can make the wings fit as they should.
Now I also got the stabilizers on and the wing joint is taken care of.
Next up is sorting the landing gear and canopy parts before getting ready to paint.
The back of the propeller hub is glued with a cap on the inside of the nose, which was a bit fiddly to get in place. Once that was done, it was quite easy to glue the nose in place. Fit is very good so no problems there.
Once that was done I test fitted the wings, which had a very tight fit.
There’s a slight gap on the topside, but a little pressure while glueing will close that gap quite nicely. I might need some putty to close up the last teeny wee bit, but that’s all!
A few bits more and I can soon start thinking of masking glass and laying a cote of primer.