Another update. Got all the seams cleaned up with good old Aves and began painting and it seems I’m taking more of an experimental approach. The whole thing got a base coat of camo gray, which has a nice little warm undertone then I hit some of the raised areas with a thin coat of white to pop them out a little bit.
I also test-trimmed some areas of fibers and it’ll look reeeeally good when it’s all done.
The engine array was masked off and got a coat of gunship gray, which in hindsight is too dark when comparing it to studio model pics. That area will get a little more love later on.
I used a bunch of small squares of masking tape to mark off the hull for the random shades of paneling but I won’t be doing a big overall coat again. However, I did hit the whole thing with some semi-gloss after those squares just so there is some variation with the overall finish of the paneling.
Once that was dry I placed bits of torn masking tape semi-randomly over the entire hull. The next steps will be added the splotchy areas of rust and gray. THAT is where all the masking will come in handy.
The engine inserts were dipped in Tamiya clear yellow…not quite satisfied with the choice of white LEDs for the engines…but too late now/better luck next time/live with it…
Onward! I want to finish this up before the end of the month!