I spoke to soon. Unlike Kevin my next attempt at thinning using the Humbrol acrylics ended in failure and meant an hour or so of cleaning the airbrush at a later date!!!!! So it was back to the hairy stick. Firstly RLM 73 was applied and once dry this was masked ready for the RLM 72 which is the darker of the two greens. Has anyone else noticed that at times side and plan profiles for the painting guides don't match up? This caused a bit of frustration in the area of the middle engine. Once dry the masking was removed and because I'd used the hairy stick there were some ridges to be removed using one of Tracy's old nail buffers. Some touching up of the paintwork is needed in places before I can varnish ready for decalling.

Thanks chaps,
Back to it with this one.
Now painted the airframe. The upper surfaces were painted first, using Tamiya Light Ghost Grey from a rattle can. This sprays very nicely if you give lights coats until an even finish is obtained. When fully dry, the uppers were masked off and a couple coats of Intermediate Blue were sprayed on. I mixed my own shade using Tamiya Middle Blue, White, and some Tamiya Clear. My mix was roughly 30% blue, 60% White, 10% Clear thinned appropriately using Mr Hobby Levelling Thinners. Because of the Clear being added to the paint mix, I ended up with a smooth semi gloss finish.
The undercarriage bays were masked and given a blast of Tamiya White.
When I painted the airframe I painted the main undercarriage legs the same under surface colour, only to find an unnoticed seam line running the length of each leg. This was filled and sanded and will need repainting before final assembly.
Some pictures follow:-
Thanks for looking, back soon.
Kevin   

It?s coming along nicely.

Bob c

Yes, some nice painting there.

Back to the 'Clog'. The wings and booms have been added to the fuselage, this took a lot of sanding and filler to look something like, followed by the elevators, rudders etc. When I came to fit the cockpit canopy I found that the instrument console still prevented it sitting correctly so it was 'gently' removed and sanded down until a good fit was achieved. The canopy was then masked with Tamiya tape and sponge. The area around the turrets had been brush painted RLM 73 Grun just in case I didn't get in correctly when airbrushing. These were then covered in Maskol. The undersides of the fuselage and floats along with the leading edges of the wings and propellers were brush painted Tamiya Dull Aluminium and once dry chipping fluid was applied. RLM (Humbrol) 65 Hellblau was then applied after having been thinned with Mr Color Levelling Thinner 400. I must have got the mix right as for once it didn't clog up the airbrush. Whilst I was away I trawled through the Help postings on here and read the comments re paint and thinners, which were useful, but as I didn't have any Humbrol thinners I resorted to the 400 which did the trick. The propellers and spinners have been brush painted Xtracrylix RLM 70 Scwarzgrun.