In this times of internet we all live in a global village. And what’s nice about the villages? Everybody knows everybody… or at least it appears so. And so it happened – I posted in one of the Facebook’s many modelling groups and I got in contact with Don Hinton – ‘Thor’s Hammer’ Mel Hinton’s son! He was kind enough to email my several photos from his personal connection, that you can’t really find anywhere on the internet.
I once again thank you, Don, for the enormous help!
Anyhow, we move on on the decals. Although very thin (no need for decal softeners) they lack a bit in print quality – the edges are a bit soft and font’s appear a bit too thick.
Reference photos show that the Olive Drab was much darker, more brown like, than the paint Model Master sells as such. Having already unmasked everything and with decals applied, I went for a dark brown oil paint wash. Liberally applied all over the front part (tail boom appears slightly lighter on photos) I let the oil paint dry a bit…
…and after an hour or so, I removed excess paint and was left with darker OD than before. Unfortunately it doesn’t show very well in the photographs. Next I repeated the same procedure with replacement panels, which appeared a little bit too greyish, so I used a green oil paint.
Tail boom was last, receiving a coat of Burnt Sienna oil paint and after some drying time it was removed.
Final results of the oil paint washes/filters.
There’s a number of little things to be added, before finishing this bird. I have to decide on the final finish as well. Although I like the flat look of the weather beaten birds, Cobra’s often appear to be quite shiny. As a Cobra Crew Chief explained to me on Scalemates, they would often put Johnson’s Floor Polish on their birds to keep them clean.
VVS modelling 