- The first color is the Model Masters Green Zinc Chromate.
- It’s hard to tell in these pictures, but I’ve highlighted worn areas with Tamiya Yellow Green.
- Next I go over the parts with a watered down mixture of Model Masters Interior Black. It seems to show up real well in this picture, but in person it’s not as dramatic looking.
- Now we need to paint all of the little black boxes and things. Keep in mind that not all details must be painted. I use a small fine tip pen to add the smaller details. It looks shiny when your done, but since everything is going to get a final flat clear coat of enamel, it doesn’t matter.
- After everything has its basic colors we can start to add the smaller details. Cut some of the smaller black wire to make the fire extinguisher hoses.
- This is how they look finished.
- In order to glue the fire extinguisher and heater to the wall behind the gunners position, you will need to remove the paint. They will not stay on if you glue them with the paint over the plastic.
- This is the finished piece, notice I also painted the fabric door cover. I used a small amount of Burnt Sienna and Olive Drab.
- Paint the manual hydraulic hand pump Flat Black. I painted the foot troughs a mixture of Burnt Sienna and a small amount of Olive Drab. Also notice the silver control rods.
- Sand the paint off of the areas to be glued on the control wheel. If you want you can add two small wires to the control yoke. I drilled a small hole into the yoke and then drilled out the marked hole on the column.
- This is the completed control yoke and column.
- Again, sand both surfaces to be glued. I dumped a small amount of Micro-Balloons in to the control column before gluing to help anchor the parts. Apply some Medium CA and glue the parts together.
- Here is how the Radar Operators station should look after painting but before weathering.
- Radar Operators right forward wall, heater controls and oxygen regulator.
- This is after I added some weathering to the parts using the dry brush technique.
- With a silver pencil you can add some nice details. If you don’t like it then wipe it off and try again. Draw the small gauges in the gunners area. Notice the weathering I did with the pencil on the gunners controls.
- This is probably the easiest way to get the most dramatic effect in weathering, but like most other things you can over do it. Good thing is you can use a soft cloth to wipe it off to whatever degree you want. Make some powder using black charcoal, and with a brush add shadows the sharp corners and under boxes where shadows might be.
- Here you can see the placement of the gauges for the Radar Operators station.
- For the right side panel you only need to add three pins. Two red pins for the oxygen regulators and one small black pin as shown. To hold the pins in place I just add some Micro-Balloons to the back of the part after the pin is inserted and wick in some thin CA.
- For the left side pilots panel add the pins as shown. For the throttle use two short black pins, two short red pins and then two longer black pins. For the flap lever at the top, I just used a sliver of thin plastic glued to the pin with medium CA to get a better look. You can do that with all of your levers, but the throttle levers are so short it’s not really noticeable. Finally use one of the larger placards next to the throttle quadrant.
- Cut the instruments out just inside the marked outline. I recommend using 30 min epoxy to glue the gauges to the back of the instrument panel, just add some glue to the open areas on both the panel and the gauge sheet. If you think you are fast you can use 5 min epoxy.
- Cover all of the open areas that you can on both the panel and the instruments with epoxy using a small balsa stick.
- Here is a picture of my finished panel. The last pin you need to add is for the landing gear lever. Use a red pin, and for mine I added some thin plastic to the base so it looks more realistic.
That’s it for assembly, now on to Page 8 for installation into the aircraft.