Detail work begins with the anti glare panel and a black band that surrounds the nose. The Hasegawa decal is a multipart affair the Samueldecal sheet doesn’t even include one so I have to mask and spray it. I also took the opportunity to paint the inlets on the fuselage. It was also at this point when I realized the canopy frame needed to be black also. Note to self: always look at references.
As you can see, the work isn’t very done very cleanly. So I ended up redoing most of it.
After a layer of Future, decaling begins. The Samueldecal require me to cut as close as possible to the markings to reduce the amount of extra decal film. The red Macross logo also came with a white roundel so I had to stack the colored decal over it to make sure the white colored sections are opaque. I then carefully cut the decals wherever they cover panel lines with a sharp knife so when I do the panel line wash it will still flow down the panel line.
The decals are robust and thin but the markings themselves ‘chip’ off quite easily as can be seen on the photo below. Otherwise though, they are surprisingly easy to use and they snuggle down very well with some Mark Softer.
In the photos the decals still look wrinkly which should cure smooth. Once they are all cured I will do touch-ups with paint.
Build Log
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6