Thank you very much Smeg and Ian. I used Hum61 straight as I wasn't going to make mixes and it was the only paint I had in my stock. In the past, when I could buy Testors here, I would use their Skin Tone Base. I wonder what Vallejo has...
Well, I've finished my Emil today. The kit represents "Blue H", of II./SG1, Luftwaffe, at Stalingrad, USSR, during winter 1942-43.
I used the kit's decals for insignia and stencils and, together with those of Print Scale (particular to this machine) behaved beautifully. The only tricky thing was aligning the two parts of the swastikas. I think they may be a tad too large. My only blunder was putting some stencils before the main decals especially on the starboard side where the "H" is.
As with the rest of the build, there were no issues adding the propeller and the bombs. I scratchbuilt the port underwing probe and added the radio wire.
Whilst working on the photos, I realised that I didn't get the wheel flats properly aligned. It was a bit tricky to get right and I thought I had made it. Oh well
! One thing I will do next time is make the fuselage strakes above the roots less prominent. While I was painting the exhaust plume I felt it stood out too much and was "in the way".
Despite these things, I am very pleased with the result and must say I enjoyed this build. Despite the panel lines, this kit is a delight and bodes well for future releases from Beacon Models and I really hope they succeed in pushing their massive project forward
. They have acknowledged our comments and there is always room for improvement. We must remember that Sweet's first kit was the Macchi 200, a nicely done kit with solid cockpit and wheel wells and see how refined their kits have become with time.
Thanks for looking
Miguel
