Airfix Handley Page Hampden - Part I

On one side, the selection of my next subject matter is easily explained - I just love all these quirky French and British airplanes from initial part of Second World War and Handley Page Hampden certainly falls into that category. On the other hand, it may very well be questioned as voluntary subjugation to cruel and unusual punishment. After all, this kit is from 1968, how good can it be?

Well, the initial inspection discloses three things - the decals seem to be rather nice, interior detail won't win any awards and finally... the major parts actually do look crisp. OK, there is a lot of rivets and I know that some people frown upon them claiming they're vastly 'out of scale'! Personally, I don't really care about such stuff, or at least not just yet.

Sword Models Curtis P40 Kittyhawk III - Part V

As previous post probably indicated, there was very little left to do before the Kittyhawk was done. Flory's mud wash was wiped off before I brought out my box with powdered pigments. Previous misadventures taught me that when working with those, usually less is more. This time I've limited myself to areas around the engine exhausts - the pipes were first dirtied down and then a slight hint of rust was added in a final layer. Airframe below the exhausts was treated with black and brown pigments in an attempt to reproduce smoke residue. Finally, I applied irregular, very faint streaks of black, burnt sienna and raw umber pigments  all over the airframe, with upper wing surfaces and lower airframe gettin a little more attention than the rest of the model.

Then it was time to literally wipe out all those subtle visual effects. I love Testor's Dullcoat for its ability to bring everything to an absolutely matté finish, but I hate the side-effect of it wiping out 90 percent of those subtle effects that are achievable with pigments. This case was no exception - two coats of Dullcoat and most of the pigments were 'eradicated'.

Well, that's the end of yet another fighter project. Was it worth it? I think in this case it's a 'split decidion'. When finished, the model certainly looks very nice and the price of this kit should make it into a very attractive alternative. It was a rather frustrating build, but I was never at the brink of tossing it into the bin. I really didn't appreciate the fact that the decal sheet is partially unusable. Make whatever you want out of those observations and pictures below.

Sword Models Curtis P40 Kittyhawk III - Part IV

Final step of the paint job started in previous post consisted of dark brown disruptive pattern painted freehand with Lifecolor Dark Earth UA092. It was finished just before my vacation (thus a month without any updates). Freehand airbrushing is a bit unnerving at first, but once I've relaxed a bit, it turned out to be quite fun. Having now tried it, I'm absolutely looking forward to doing it again.

Once I've got back from my trip, work on the Kittyhawk continued according to what is slowly becoming my standard operating procedure - once painting step is finished, it's time a coat of gloss varnish and then the decals. Sword provides one set of standard stencils and three different decal options. Considering the fact that there are two model kits in the box, it is a little "ungenerous". On the other hand, maybe the fact that there is only single set of stencil decals it doesn't matter all that much, since as it turns out, the small decals are extremly fragile and pretty much fall apart at slightest touch once wet. After having all three stencils intended for the propeller blades disintegrate before my eyes, I've had enough and didn't even bother with the rest of the stencil decals. Application of larger decals proceeded almost without incidents - only one decal tore apart in the middle. Fortunately I was able to join the halves back together and the tear is now almost impossible to spot.

Done with struggling with what was hopefully the final act of resistance from this frustrating model, I was glad to seal the decals with a final coat of gloss varnish and let it cure for two days. Now I am at the final stage - the weathering. As first step I applied a dark wash of water-solvable oils to all panel engravings. However, the engravings on this model are quite shallow and didn't absorb much of the pigment, so I decided to wipe it of the model and see if I wouldn't get better results with Flory Model's wash instead.

The 'wipe-off' of the oil wash became an impromptu weathering step in itself, as I decided to have some fun and see what effects I would be able to achieve by smearing it over the wings and lower parts of the fuselage. The end effect was quite interesting discoloration, especially on the blue-colored underside of the airplane. I liked it so much that I've decided to leave it there for now.

Upper surfaces covered with the 'goo' from Flory Models

Belly of the Kittyhawk after treatment with oils.