Part 4: The "tale of the tape" or "Kabuki Theatre"

I started out by painting everything with several light coats of Tamiya Fine Surface primer straight out of the can. The primer gave me a durable semi-gloss white finish to use as the white base of the checkerboard pattern - this stuff is about the best rattle can finish that you could ask for. I debated about what area to tackle first and I decided to start with the crocodile's head. After painting the dark green portion and the rest of the cowling grey, I masked off the head outline. As I mentioned in part one, the head details are left to the modeler as only the mouth and eyes are included on the decal sheet; so I started by tracing the mouth decals and then used them as a frame of reference as I masked off the head outline. I then sprayed Polly scale Dragon Head Green - ok, it was actually just plain green, including the louvers over the radiator. Once dry, I swirled some details and streaks onto the head using the box top as a guide. After masking the front portion of the aircraft, I then settled down for a fun-filled Saturday of masking. The sheet of 'kabuki' tape is precut with 290 squares which come in 3 different sizes - small, for the top and bottom fuselage; medium, for the fuselage sides; and large, for the wings and tail. I also decided to cut my own masks for the roundels in case the decals were not opaque enough - it turned out to be a smart move as the checkerboard would have shown through. Even though it seems to be a straightforward process, it wasn't as easy to layout the squares as I thought. After locating a reference point on the instructions, I laid out the pattern carefully so that the corners were barely touching. Because the of the light color of the tape being placed on a white background, much squinting ensued. The masks for the wings and tail went on pretty smoothly as they were a straightforward application. That was until I noticed that I had been a bonehead for attaching the control horns and skids before painting (insert the sound of me slapping my forehead). I decided to work around the control horns but I removed the skids completely for ease of decaling later. The fuselage was more difficult because the squares were different sizes and, as a result, they did not line up at the corners. You can see on the photo that I allowed the masks to carry over the edge a bit so that I could avoid any potential bleeding under the mask. At the end of the day, I had everything masked and ready for some paint.

The next morning dawned red on the horizon … actually those were my bloodshot eyes, but that is another story entirely. I chose Tamiya Flat Red as my red color, which I thinned heavily. I did this so that the paint would spray as dry as possible, minimizing the risk of color seeping under the masks. I built up the red color slowly in light coats until I was satisfied and set it aside to dry. After waiting for the paint to dry overnight I started the unmasking process. I ended up with those little tape squares everywhere on my bench, the floor and even in my hair. For the most part I was pleased with how sharp everything looked. But being picky, I then proceeded to sharpen the lines using a sharp xacto blade to scrape off any overspray. I also used straight bits of drafting tape to mask off squares if I needed to straighten out the lines a bit. While a laborious process, I think that the overall product was improved. I also noticed that I had reversed the pattern as it was drawn on the instructions for the wings (insert the sound of me slapping my forehead except harder this time) - oh well, it still looked good and who the heck would notice … except for everyone who reads this review (insert forehead slap number 3). With that I masked and painted the doped linen portions of the wings followed by a good coat of future to prep for the decals as well as evening out the finish. I used alligator clips mounted on skewers to hold all of the parts and a block of floral foam made a handy place to hold everything as it dried. You'll notice that I tried to keep the wings horizontal so that the future coat spread out evenly.

While waiting for those parts to dry I tackled the main struts and the prop. I put down a base coat of Tamiya Desert Yellow first, followed by a thin stripe of Flat Earth only on the prop. Once the base coat was dry I then applied Citadel Miniatures Chestnut Ink in the direction of the grain using a triangular cosmetic sponge. This provided a nice streaked effect but it still needed something to pull it together. So I then sprayed a coat of Tamiya Clear Orange as I had done in the cockpit which really added a nice reddish depth to the prop and struts. End caps, prop hubs and leading edge bands were then painted on the finished surfaces followed by a coat of Future.

I let everything dry then for a couple of days before I was ready to apply the decals …… Since I had painted it first, I decided to start decaling with the mouth. The decals fit well and settled down nicely as they were very thin. Unfortunately that also meant that the colors were a bit translucent and fragile. In retrospect I probably should have left the mouth area to be decaled white. I also noticed that I had not painted the bottom 'lip' low enough as represented on the box art, but since it still looked good I decided to leave it well enough alone. I was extremely pleased with how the decals settled down over the louver assembly with a few applications of Micro-Sol. The next tricky area was the wing markings since I had to trim around the control arms that some moron cemented in place and trim the bottom wing roundels since it crossed the aileron in two places. Some patient trimming resulted in a good fit and the white areas masked under the roundel ended up being a good move. Since this is a WWI aircraft, there aren't as many stencils to apply compared to an F-4! But there were some small emblems to apply to the struts and a decal for the wheels - which ended up being the hardest to apply.

Once the decals were dry I then used a brush to touch up some areas around the mouth and head, cleaned up any other areas and them misted a light coat of Future over the decals to seal them. I decided at this point to insert the tail and attach the bottom wing. To my delight the alignment was 'spot-on'. I then dry-fitted the prop and wheels to check their alignment as well. Now, onto the top wing and rigging ……

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