SPA Modeler

[quote="silentbob33"]Thanks guys!

Most of the main assembly is done. Now on to paint



That was quick! Looking great!

So I got quite a bit of painting done before the new school year starts. The masking for the invasion stripes isn't perfect, but I like the way it looks since they weren't perfect in 1944 either


The spinner gave me a little trouble at first, but I think the second attempt looks all right to me

Unless you have a good reference photo (not an artists profile) that says otherwise, if you have the upper wing invasion stripes on, they should also be present on the fuselage spine. The upper surface ID stripes were ordered to be removed about a month or so after the initial landings, from both the wings and fuselage. The under surface stripes were not ordered to be removed until late in 1944.

Thanks for pointing that out Stik! I guess that's what I get for following the instructions . I did a bit of looking around and found a picture of Pappy's Answer and sure enough there are no invasion stripes on the top wing.



Would they have gone through the trouble of painting the data stencils back on? I don't imagine they would have put the stencils on over the invasion strips since they were so hastily put on, and I can't imagine it would have been that high of a priority to put them back when they covered up the invasion stripes. But, it is the Army so I can definitely see the possibility of someone saying those stencils needed to be put back.

I seriously doubt that anybody put the stenciling back on... I doubt that the ground crew for the squadrons had the stencils themselves on hand to re apply them. My gut feeling tells me that is a higher level, like a forward depot that does overhauls, that would have such things on hand.

The invasion stripes where just hand painted and often in a hurry. Black and white photos with the amount of grain in them plus the distance they were taken at make them look better than they were. Restored aircraft do the invasion stripes too good.

Found some pics!

Those are some cool pics!

I spent some time fixing the stripes before decals and panel line wash. Some of the decals gave me some trouble, especially the checkerboard around the nose and "Pappy's Answer" which shattered on the model. A bit of patience got most of it back together and I painted what couldn't be repaired.

That is Beautiful!!!

That's looking really good