1/72 Italeri C-47A Skytrain

Gallery Article by Jia Wei Lim on June 6 2011

D-Day Anniversary

 

For my second post on this fabulous website, I present to you my latest build, a Gooney Bird built OOB with the exception of some extra wires in the engine to represent fuel lines. This model is typical of Italeri's usual mouldings, with heavy recessed panel lines and some simplified details. However, the kit is simple to build, despite requiring some putty on the main fuselage joint, and some work to clean up the steps and gaps at the wing root. This is the first time I tried having peeling paint on the model, using a preliminary coat of Humbrol aluminium and maskol to make it show through the main coat of olive drab and grey. The effect is not as good as I hoped, but a first is a first.

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Painting the D-Day invasion stripes (also a first) was possibly the most challenging part of the build. The cycle of mask, spray, remask, respray, strip, mask was repeated about 2-3 times. Looking back I should have put my perfectionist mindset aside, as many C-47's during the invasion sported some rather hastily painted stripes. Alternatively, maybe Italeri should supply the stripes as decals? Speaking about decals, the kit decals lacked opacity, and the white areas of the decals (i.e. the stars) allowed the demarkation lines of the D-Day stripes to show through. This was remedied by masking the problematic decal areas and spraying another layer of white over it. Weathering was done using a pastel wash and pastel dust.

I dedicate this model to all the Allied soldiers who fought on D-Day. Their bravery and courage will serve as an inspiration to all mankind.

Jia Wei Lim

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Photos and text © by Jia Wei Lim