1/72 Airfix Pucara

[gnomemeansgnome]

Nice. I want to get my mitts on a Pucara now.

[dollar19]

Very impressive build. Great work on the cockpit and crew.

[Sunray]

Thanks chaps. Next I masked the canopy with masking tape and masking fluid.









Once the fluid had cured I could start adding the paint. As always I primed, then sanded down and then I added some pre-shading.





For the base coats all the references I could find mentioned that you needed 20% of this and 40% of another to get the right shade of brown, green and anodised metal. So I took my time and found matches for the colours I wanted already in my paint rack. They weren't exact matches but for me they were close enough and here they are.



The colour scheme I am using is for a Pucara used in the Falklands War (A-529) and I am using Xtradecals from Hannants. Anyway once I had decided on the colours on went the paint. I was going to mask the camouflage but for speed I did it freehand. Once dry I added a coat of Tamiya X-22 varnish ready for the decals.





There aren't a great deal of decals to go on but reading up about the Pucara as you do I found out the Argentine Air Force painted the camouflage on the aircraft once it arrived in the Falklands. To help show this I followed the instructions on the Xtradecal sheet to fade out the aircraft serial number. So I added the decals as normal.











I didn't need to use any Micro-Sol as they went down a treat. I waited until they were all dry and I made washes of the camouflage colours so I could fade out the serial numbers as per the decal instructions using my airbrush. Then I just sprayed over the numbers.







When I was happy with the affect I sprayed another coat of varnish to seal in the decals.





While this was drying I turned my attention to the props. I masked them with tape and sprayed them.





For the weathering I made up a wash from cheap oil paint and on it went.











I then gave it a coat of satin varnish to seal in the weathering and tone the gloss down. Then off came the canopy mask.















Just a few more jobs and it with be done.

[dollar19]

That is looking so good! Really excellent paintwork!!

[Sunray]

I have been going like the clappers to finish this today. One of the last jobs was to attach the antenna. To hold the model safely I used a car sponge with a few modifications.



This did the job.



Then using EZ Line I attached the antenna using CA glue.



Then I just cut of the excess.



I then made the stand as I have done a few times before from oak flooring and brass tube with a slight bend added. I joined everything together with CA glue and finally I added the props. Finished.

[dollar19]

That is looking so good! Really excellent paintwork!!

[Sunray]

That is looking so good! Really excellent paintwork!!

Thanks mate. I have just posted all the finished photo up at http://www.uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=15573