This was another of the bagged kits I bought as a bundle. I was originally going to use it as a testbed for Vallejo or AMMO by Mig paints, but I ended up using Model Master Enamel. It was a breeze compared to my previous build.

Having assembled several Hasegawa 109's before, the build process wasn't difficult. The kit decals had a pinhole in them, so I used EagleCals 16-48. (For some reason, I have three sets of this decal sheet.) I am trying to use up my stock of enamel paints, so I used WEMCC ACLW02 RLM 70 and Model Master Enamel RLM 21 for the spinner. Painting the spinner and propellor blades was a bit more awkward than it should have been. I was originally going to use the kit decals, and the subject had the spinner and prop blades in RLM 70, so I assembled the whole thing and then painted it. Then I discovered the pinhole in the decals and decided on a different subject, so I had to mask and then paint the RLM 21. It ended up looking fine.

For the RLM 04, I first sprayed Mr. Color C-113 RLM 04, but, as in the past, it had a bit of a green tint to it. I need to toss this bottle so I don't inadvertently use it again. I ended up covering it with my Tamiya mix for RLM 04.

The exterior was primed with Mr. Surfacer 1200. The external colors are Model Master Enamel RLM 76 on the undersides and RLM 81 and RLM 83 on the top. As is well-known in the modeling community, Model Master mislabeled RLM 83 as RLM 82, and vice versa. I masked the wings when I painted them, but I freehanded the fuselage, using my Badger Velocity airbrush with thin paint and low pressure. I was very pleased with the way it turned out. As well as looking better, it was actually easier than masking. The mottling may be the best I've ever done. The decal sheet showed the mottling as something of a transparent coat, so that is the effect I tried to reproduce.

Although I did not use Vallejo or AMMO paints as planned, I did try something new. I routinely have lots of silvering when applying decals. A fellow I sent some decals to mentioned the use of Future as a decal setter. I have heard of this many times of the years, but was always afraid to try it. I think of Future as being rather sticky, and I feared I would not be able to position the decals after applying them. I did a dry run with some old decals, and found I was able to move the decal as I usually do, so I used Future for most of the decals on this build. There is still some silvering, particularly under the 22 on the port side (although it doesn't show in the photos), but much less than usual. Perhaps the reason the 22 silvered was that it is one decal placed on top of another, and I didn't use any setting on the second decal, for fear of disturbing the first. Next time I will try using Future on both layers.

Page last updated June 15, 2023.