The bird was completed in 4 sittings in whatever spare time I could muster this last 3 months. Most of the tedious work went into the modification of the pilot figure to a seated on and the separation of the cockpit glazing panels.

Tamiya excelled in the ease of construction in their kits and this is no exception. The parts came together quickly and there was only some minor filling to the fuselage.

The entire kit was basecoated with Tamiya semi gloss black and finished with Gunze RAF colours. After a light toning spray in the centre of all the different coloured patches, a coat of Future was applied and Raw Umber turpentine wash was coated after decals were applied.  Before the oils dried, a clean brush was used and streaked along the airflow direction to create interest.
Some pinhole washes were added with thicker coats and also with lamp black.

One final coat of Future was applied and minor wear and tear was simulated with a HB pencil.

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The glazing separation was the trickiest part and this was done carefully with a razor saw from Crazy Modeller. The kit came with a masking set to colour the canopy and extra care is needed as the material is soft and easily distorted. A bit of adjustment is also needed because the parts are not in perfect symmetry.

All in all, this is still a must build if your interest is in the Malaya campaign. Big T has a passion for Malaya and this is evident in their recent release of the Repulse in 700 scale, completing the collection for Force Z in that scale. Hopefully they will soon come out with the Tropical Hurricane mk2C and the Blenheims to complete the main RAF planes.

 Please visit our modeling society SFTPMS at  http://malaysiascalemodelling.com/index.php

CK

Happy 51^th Merdeka Day Malaysia .

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