Hobby Boss 1/72 Spitfire Mk. Vb - Part 3 (ish)

Having remedied my airbrush fiasco which is the underside of this model (finally applied the right blue), I'm on with the masking ready to begin the top-side of the fuselage. At least, this time, I am pretty darn sure I am using the correct colour - Vallejo Model Color 'Middle Stone'...

But, before I start spraying, I had to come up with a plan for masking the cockpit windscreen. I usually just use tape, but with the framework around the 'glass' needing to be painted I decided to give a liquid masking fluid a try - Humbrol's Maskol (this is a frst for me).

I have to say, it's a bit tricky to use as you have to work out the best dilution to make it flow. In it's 'neat' state Maskol is like a laytex gum (for want of a better word). Humbrol - in ther tutoral video which I will embed below - suggest that it be thinned for painting on using tap water. While this seemed to work - to an extent - I still found that it dried pretty quickly into small globules of gummy blobs. (Humbrol says it's suitable for airbrushing, but you wouldn't catch me trying it!)

Anyway, the canopy protected I got on with applying the upper-surface base colour. It's called 'Middle Stone' and I thought it would be a sort of sandy yellow, but instead - at least with Vallejo's take on 'Middle Stone' - I got something that was very 'caramel' (or diarrhea) coloured...

It looks a bit fudged...Hahaha, sorry, couldn't resist!

Now, onto the tedious part - masking out the camo scheme!

I'll  be blanking out the roundel positions, so no painted camo pattern shows through the decals (another first for me). Whether this is absolutely necessary in this case is debatable, the reason for doing this - usually - is so any paint pattern does not show through thin decals (especially if they contain white)...

This is a better representation of what the 'Middle Stone' looks like.

Still, it's interesting to try out new things. But, anyway, on with the rest of the camo pattern masking.

I'm using masking tape for a harder-edge pattern...

Many, more experienced, aircraft modellers go to the trouble of copy-enlarging the kit paint instructions so that they can be used as a 1:1 paint template. I will have to try this out at one point, but - again - as this is just a paint test I'm not going to go that far.

The second camo colour is 'Wood Brown' - according to the Hobby Boss instructions - and I have bought Vallejo's Model Air 'Dark Earth' [029], fingers crossed it is a good match...

Hmmm, very flat and hard-edged. Not sure I like this very hard scheme, a softer edge might have been better, which I could have done using the BluTack masking method (my airbrush is not up to fine free-hand work).

Well, that's that for now.  Next, I'll tidy up a few bits and paint the smaller parts (like the prop and the canopy) prior to glossing.