P 47's Part 3

The P47's are finally completed. I've weathered the models with Tamiya weathering master, and painted the canopies.

The canopies have been painted, with a further coat of Regal Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Ice Blue and finally Space Wolves Grey and finally a touch of Skull White to give a final highlight.

For the weathering I used Tamiya weathering master Grey and Green (which I surmised are aimed at weathering armoured vehicles), these lightened the paint quite effectively, then on the upper Sand, then Light Sand, then Soot around exhausts, weapon ports. The underside had the same but with Mud used first (and not the grey and green obviously). Definitely feeling more confident using the weathering powders, they have taken a little getting used to, but practice makes perfect. And less is definitely more.

Once all that was done the models were sealed with Army Painter matt varnish, and where the decals were to go a painted those areas with GW gloss varnish. Decals then applied over the gloss varnish. I read on a forum that applying over gloss varnish would hide the surrounding decal paper, but I think this has been only partially successful. The planes codes were painted yellow to represent the correct squadron colours (more on this latter). Decals were then weathered slightly, and two further coats of matt varnish applied.

The decals, which once upon a time I'm sure were called waterslide transfers or just 'transfers', were not that easy to use. I don't recall the decals which came with Airfix models ( I distant memory!), being that hard to apply from backing paper to model. The decals I used on the M4's were also a bit of a pain. They need to be soaked for a long time and then do not want to come off the backing paper, which results in tears. Oh the trials and tribulations!