During the build I had to try to recreate the shape of the intake as in the kit it was just two parts of the cockpit tub which left a gap, This was firstly filled with Evergreen strip then Perfect Plastic Putty was built up to try and get the correct shape, It's not perfect but I'm happy with it. The underside was painted with acrylic Humbrol 24 Trainer Yellow and once this had cured it was masked ready for the upper surfaces to be painted. This was done free hand and with a hairy stick (my airbrushes went on furlough!!!) using Humbrol 29 Dark Earth, and 30 Dark Green. As seen in the photo the box illustration doesn't match the paintwork on the original, which I've tried to match. A point to watch out for is that there were two air-frames built and the paintwork isn't the same for both a/c. Close but no cigar!!! Another thing that became apparent is that the decals are for later markings when the Dark Brown was over-painted Dark Grey, so the Prototype marking wasn't used if doing it in Brown/Green. Also the kit doesn't supply the correct canopy for later nor the small auxiliary fins added near the tips of the ailerons. All these faults are corrected in the Clear Prop kit. The more I look at the kit the box has it right when it says 'Frog painting guide', the a/c looks like a frog!! Upon removing the masking it became clear that a small amount of touch-up work will be necessary before varnishing and decalling.
