James' Minicraft 1/144 Hercules C1 *FINISHED*

[Bissyboat]

Nicely executed. Looks great, James.

[beany]

Fantastic work on this James.

[iggie]

The paintwork looks very neat and tidy indeed.

[JamesPerrin]

Thanks chaps. I've not had a lot of time since getting back from a work trip but have made a start on the decalling. First, though I painted the extremes of the nacelles black - there are panel lines about 0.5mm back and as the props are moulded flush with the rear of the spinners this gives the allusion that the spinners have a bit more depth.

I'm using generic decal sets (of which I have a lot) to complete this model but cribbing from both the Xtradecal and Drawdecal releases. However, both of these have errors (AFAICT) in the paint scheme and decal placement eg Drawdecal have one low viz roundel under the starboard wing but I've not found any pictorial reference for this. I'll be missing a couple of stencils but I can live with that.



I've got to place some tiny serials from individual letters next - deep joy.

[RayS]

Ah the joys of making up markings, looks good with the decals on

[DavidWomby]

Does look good, James.

David

[Stuart]

That looks excellent James!

[Britwit]

Excellent camouflage, like the "shine"! LOL

[JamesPerrin]

Teeny-tiny serials done, but that left the underwing serials. Two problems

1) They are 40" which means I can use 20" 1/72 serials, only ModelDecal did 20" and I only have the numbers #60 in white the letters #58 sold out years ago
2) the underwing serials are light aircraft grey not white

I could have lived with white serials but as I still needed the X and V I was going to have to make masks. I don't have a stencil cutter so this is going to be by hand. I printed them to scale on paper and stuck them on some Frisk like masking and traced around with a fresh blade. The centres of the 9 and 0 were punched out separately.





I'm happy enough with the results, and a sharp cocktail stick has already tidied these up further.

[DavidWomby]

That's amazingly well done. I'd really muff up something like that.

David

[Britwit]

Sharp looking stencils! Like the black underside, sets it off nice!

[Stuart]

Very nicely done James - you've obviously got a very steady hand!

[RayS]

great job on the serials James

[JamesPerrin]

I'm on final approach now. I've resprayed the radome matt black with a hint of brown to differentiate it from the underside. I also used this to add some faint exhaust and weathering marks. I've made the various aerials from wire and scrap PE. Added panel wash to the control surfaces. Just need to make some exhaust stubs and then final assembly. I'm only have a couple of days though at home in the next week so you'll have to be patient

[Stuart]

I'm on final approach now. I've resprayed the radome matt black with a hint of brown to differentiate it from the underside. I also used this to add some faint exhaust and weathering marks. I've made the various aerials from wire and scrap PE. Added panel wash to the control surfaces. Just need to make some exhaust stubs and then final assembly. I'm only have a couple of days though at home in the next week so you'll have to be patient

Nice one James - looking forward to it!