A warning! :( It is looking more and more likely that I will be giving up producing custom masks, again. If I do then this time it will be for good! :(

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I didn't feel that I could post how glorious the weather is here in Cornwall without posting a few pictures. It also seems prudent to remind everyone that we have have a caravan for holiday hire, based at the Park Dean site, which is only a mile from where we live (so the photos show you what the weather is like here :) Bookings can be made at www.jemholidays.com The gazebo in the garden is where I intend to be doing a bit of modelling. The view over the front wall is looking out towards RNAS Culdrose and the other 2 views are looking over the cornish stone wall at the back of the bungalow. Oh, did I say that I will probably be having a couple or three beers :)

My sincere apologies to anyone who is waiting for me to finish off their mask sets. The weather here in Cornwall is just too glorious, and has been for days, for me to be stuck in the man cave drawing stuff! All the windows and the door are wide open, and have been since 0700hrs because it is so hot. I will get them done, but not today, or while we have this actual Summer.

Espace CHSCT - Travail & Facteur Humain - Expertise

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Ralph Reise has sent me these photos, painting the wing Star and Bar on his P-51 Blondie (Masks for "Blondie" included in the set! Ralph always masks the edge of the mask (Maskol) but this is not necessary. I can only imagine that he does it because he is worried about over spray from the white? Even if that were to happen, which it can't if the mask is transferred properly, it would be covered when the blue is painted. However there is nothing wrong in doing it and it shows that there is not just one way of doing it. Ralph also lets slip his mix for the blue, which looks spot on :)

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Airfix 1/72 Curtiss Hawk AVG painting the markings. The red mask in the mouth was replaced and, to be on the safe side, I masked over both the white and red. I wouldn't normally do this as the masks themselves are sufficient but, as this is in 1/72 I was a little concerned, particularly as its difficult for me to see clearly 100% (I am getting on a bit!) I used tamiya mat black, again it sprayed fairly well. Then, when dry, I removed all of the masking. Not bad for the scale but next time I aim to do better (112 Sqn desert machine :D ) as, for some reason that I am not sure of, the top of the black lip on the starboard side has separated from the teeth? Not by much and it is difficult to see from normal viewing distances, but it can be seen in the photo! I don't really know why this should be the case, I can only imagine that I nudged it out of the way at some time? If I hadn't have masked off over the red and white masks this separated area would have been filled with black and even though slightly different from the port side it may have been more exceptable. I could of course re-do it, but I won't.

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Airfix 1/72 Curtiss Hawk AVG painting the markings. The red next, again I was out of my comfort zone using paint that I have never sprayed before, Tamiya but it went quite well :) The teeth are replaced in the shark mouth and the red mask weeded out. The white mask was weeded out of the kill markings, leaving behind the positioning box. The red Hinomaru mask was weeded and positioned accurately inside the positioning box. I forgot to describe this process for the Chinese markings when painting the blue but it is exactly the same. When the paint is dry all of the masking can be removed, which is the fun part! There are a couple of areas that need attention; a little red over spray on the fuselage band. Having thinned the blue for the second pass it has run along panel lines in a couple of places. Not a major deal, those areas can be either touched up or they will disappear when a panel line wash goes on. It is annoying though as I haven't had this happen before! So I'm gonna blame the paint! :D Overall though not too bad, considering that this is 1/72? Next up the black on the shark mouth.

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Airfix 1/72 Curtiss Hawk AVG painting the markings. So for the blue of the Chinese roundels and chevrons I had a bit of a problem, I only had Vallejo blue and white with which to mix the light blue and I absolutely hate using acrylic paint! Anyway I mixed the paint and added some water to thin it and sprayed it and yes, it was shite to spray! However I did, after some frustration get the paint on. I don't know what the actual colour was and searches on the internet proved pretty fruitless (of course someone will now point me to the actual mix!) It isn't an exact match for the Airfix decals but it looks quite good? Luckily I kept the mix, just in case it dried and looked shit (it went on very light). The day after I noticed that on a couple of small areas the paint was little thin and coverage wasn't the best. To be on the safe side I added a little more water to the mix, this thinned it too much and you will see the result of this on the starboard chevron and upper wing roundel! Did I say that I hate acrylics! :(

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Once the masks have been applied then its time for paint, first up MR Paint white. The material is only 80 microns thick so if you food the paint on and it bridges the mask then you will have problems when the masks are removed. Painting white over dark camo colours is not a problem, simply build it up in layers. When the white is dry masking up for the next colour can continue. The "47" is done, so that is covered to prevent it getting any over spray on it. The white masks for the Chinese markings are removed, leaving the positioning box in place. Then the second masks are transferred to the model, they are weeded first as weeding on the model may damage the white paint. The positioning box will ensure that the 12 pointed start is correctly orientated. When they are in position the mask elements are lightly burnished down. It is easy to see when this is achieved as the area darkens. Next up painting the blue!

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Airfix 1/72 scale Curtiss Hawk. Masking for the markings is pretty easy (I use Miracle Paint Masks exclusively :) ) The Chinese roundels on the upper and lower wings and the mask for the 10 kill markings are 2 part masks (more on that later). The first part is transferred to the model, including the positioning box. The "47" is a conventional mask and is transferred and when in position it is weeded, making sure that the centre of the "4" is left behind. The chevron mask is transferred without the use of transfer tape. For the red tail band a scale 6" strip of masking material is positioned around the correct position at the tail. When the Miracle Masks are in position it is then a simple case of masking around them, to prevent over spray. I use "Kip" tape. For the complicated shape of the extreme underside of the nose I used Blue Tack. Next up painting the white :)

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I am building the Airfix 1/72 scale Curtiss Hawk. As I used it to confirm the fit of my camouflage masks it seems wrong not to finish the model, particularly as its so nice :) The unpainted photos show the test fitting of the masks. The rest are the sequence and the result. The under surface was painted and masked off, then the upper surface was painted in dark earth (MR Paint). This is over a white primer pre-shded in black. The masks were applied an then dark green (MR Paint) was applied, then the masks were removed. I am building ship "47" of the AVG and the camo on the tails of these machines seems to be slightly different depending on the air frame. The mask set includes masks that can be applied or left off to replicate this but they don't cover all instances. To that end there is a small blank piece of material. I used this to produce the tail pattern for this aircraft. The set also includes blanks to mask out where the RAF roundels were painted out.

Timeline Photos

First test fitting of the Lancaster Camouflage masks, these are fitted to the Airfix 1/72 scale upper wings. There is a little tweaking to do, but not very much. There will be very much more tweaking to do with the fuselage ones but I'm pleased with these as they confirm that the scale is correct. I'll know more when I can get the model built to a point where the wings are attached to the fuselage and the engines are attached to the wings. Feeling chuffed, especially as no politics were involved :)