Diminishing Doom / Continuation Challenges

I made progress on several projects this weekend, assisted by an Indians blow-out loss that occurred early this afternoon, along with very limited work and domestic responsibilities.

For the task of diminishing my Shelf of Doom, my Italeri AU-1 now has nearly all its decals in place, along with the ever-challenging Corsair undercarriage. Panel line enhancement had been done previously with artists oils over a Future gloss coat.  The prop is also now painted up, but yet to be mounted.  The gear doors and some detail painting are next up.

I provided a little love to my erstwhile Fathers' Day blitz-build Mustang in RAF reconnaissance colors as well.  I sprayed it with Xtracrylix PRU Blue, which was an absolutely gorgeous paint to work with.  It's a tad dark for 1/72 perhaps, but, hey, these were freshly painted for 541 Sqn in June 1944 and I'll be showing full invasion stripes, so pristine paint is not out of the question.  I did rebuild the prop, finding the Hobbyboss piece too chunky.  However, the Academy blades I put in place of the HB parts now seem a bit anemic.  It too is now standing on its own legs (two of them at least).  
Next up, gloss coat, decals, and panel line treatment.  Main and tail wheels will also come from the Academy donor kit.    I haven't yet decided between the Academy and Hobbyboss exhausts.

Perhaps the most frustrating challenges of the weekend came with another aborted blitz build, my Tsukuda Skyraider.  I have been through multiple iterations of trying to get the broad expanses of white to look right, especially in the complex exhaust paths behind the cowling and around the not-so-great-fitting air brakes.  The leading edge of the wing also provided headaches.  I'm not sure if it was molding error or modeler's error, but there was a nasty bit of mal-alignment, with steps and open seams, along much of the upper to lower wing joint. Hence, I leave today with an overall white Skyraider, much as I left July 9th...
Tsukuda Skyraider on July 9th
Tsukuda Skyraider on August 6th
However, I did make real but barely discernible, progress in that interval.  You'll note that the canopy is on, and both it and the black antiglare panel are masked.  I added the tiny, but strangely prominent exhaust glare shields between the cockpit and cowling, and trimmed away the scale 6-inch-thick antennae from the spine.  At the same time I added a new canopy slider rail from inverted T-section Plastruct. The coloring on the airframe is subtly mottled Alclad white primer, Tamiya Flat White, and Vallejo Off White over black panel line pre-shading.  The mottle and pre-shading are sufficiently subtle that I predict that no one will be able to tell they are there. At least I can't, which means I simultaneously met and defeated my goal of subtlety.  The prop is painted up, too.

Next up, hi-viz International Orange.   (Yes, that's right, I'm painting both white and orange on the same airframe.  At least I own my masochism... ) And, as an added bonus, I am reminded why I haven't attempted any of those half dozen or more RAF Coastal Command ASW aircraft in my stash since college.

Stay tuned...

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