SPA Modeler

Thanks people for all the nice comments! (insert beer smiley) (Strange that one is still missing, tssk)

@mostrich: agree! The headrest was attached to the canopy which got ripped off in the slipstream and the pilot broke his neck. At least that's what the investigators concluded. As a remedying measure the headrest was attached to the back wall on all subsequent a/c.

@jeeves: this is the pole launcher not the test tower. The pole launcher, which was supposed to be used with the operations a/c, was a much simpler affair (fortunately).

And now back to the build.

After primer coat, a pic shot w/o flash with the model under the desk lamp to see where the shadows fall. The idea is to try and do a zenithal lighting modulation job.



Pre-shading based on the above reference pic.



Then it's a base coat of RLM 76 followed by more paint modulation to further emphasize the light and shadows.



The flash flattens out the effect. It's much better in real. Yes, it is, I swear!

Next I decided to up the level of airbrushing craziness by doing the entire upper side with green spaghettis.





Next decals. Easy, right? Not so! But more about this the next time.

M

Paint scheme looks killer on this Michel!!

Pretty impressive airbrush work!!

Medicman71 wrote:Pretty impressive airbrush work!!

Thank you guys for the nice comments!

Until now I've been using Brett Gooden's Project Natter as a reference book but I ran into a book in German in a local bookshop the other day, which I wasn't long in buying. Got it at a bargain price too!



Both books have a nice contemporary document with the markings and stencils of the operational Natter.



It clearly says the nose is RLM 23 Red, which I'm all for! Let's bring some color to this bird.



The red nose makes sense too. After all the C-Stoff was an alcohol-based mixture.

There are no stencils included on the kit's decal sheet so I ordered them from my favorite tailor-made decal provider. He's good but a bit slow so in the meantime I turned my attention to the launcher and base.

The pole has hooked spikes for the maintenance crew to climb but I didn't like the kit's over-sized plastic ones so i removed them and replaced them with new ones made from copper wire.



I also added a piece to the bottom of the pole to insert into the base (a piece cut from a pen of the right size).



Choosing the right shape for the display base bugged me for a while. The launcher was erected on a slab of concrete that was round. Choosing a round shape for the display base (round on round) would have been ugly. Square or rectangular were equally out of the question. Using a random shape works, though. (My wife said it's shaped like a heart... )



I used cork sheet to make the substrate for the concrete slab.

The German book came in handy here. It explains that although the concrete slabs are 4m in reality, contemporary documents show they were supposed to be 8m in diameter. I decided to go with the size shown in the document which fits the length of the pole's swing arm.



More to come...

MichelC wrote: The red nose makes sense too. After all the C-Stoff was an alcohol-based mixture.

The randomly shaped base is a very good choice! It takes the symmetry of the composition and makes it more pleasing to the eye.
I also like the meander camo. Well done!

mostrich wrote:
The randomly shaped base is a very good choice! It takes the symmetry of the composition and makes it more pleasing to the eye.
I also like the meander camo. Well done!

That base shape was a great idea.

Thanks, Mostrich and Portman!

The decals sheet I ordered has arrived!



I knew from the start that the the kit’s decals sheet would have to be discarded as it has crosses, although the Natter didn’t have any markings, and lacks most of the stencils. As already mentioned, I decided to do my own research using contemporary documents as found in several books and designed my own decal sheet based on what I found. BTW, the swastikas seen on some pics of the Natter were most probably applied after the a/c were captured by the Allies, so I omitted those too.



The sheet includes all of the Natter’s stencils, and I believe it is quite accurate. LM Decals did a good job of making the decals for me and applying them gave me great satisfaction, knowing that I have done some original work.



Decals were applied over a coat of Future using Micro Set/Sol. Cutting out of the individual decals was done as close as possible to the design because the carrier film extends over the entire sheet. Despite that there was some silvering on the edges that did not entirely disappear even when Daco Strong was applied. If one discounts this and the fact that the yellow is pixelated, the decals were OK and exactly as ordered. Thanks, LM Decals!









More soon!

The decals look good to me. Nice work!

Thanks, Medicman!