Another kit that was purchased to try some new techniques.

I have built this kit four times before, but have not done "Blue 15" before, so I decided to go with that option.

The spinner and propellor were primed with Krylon Colormaxx Gray Primer from a rattle can. The spinner was painted with Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black, thinned with Quick Shine. This was one of the techniques I wanted to try. It turned out well. I think I used XF-27 Black Green for the propellor blades, but I did not make a note, so I can't be sure.

The main airframe was primed with Dupli-Color white primer, which went on well. The RLM 76 was my Tamiya mix, which is equal parts XF-23 and XF-2. The top colors were XF-54 for the RLM 75 and XF-61 for the RLM 83. All three of these were thinned with 91% alcohol. I've thinned with alcohol before, and it has worked fine on small areas, but usually turned out very rough on large areas. This time, I tried to stay close the surface, and it turned out much better.

Another new technique - or rather, one I haven't tried for a while - was to use rattle can clear. I used Krylon 51301 Gloss Acrylic Crystal Clear. Other than taking longer to dry than I'm used to, it worked well and left a nice, shiny finish. However, I must have handled the kit too soon after gloss coating, as there is some white residue on the cowling (most visible in the second photo).

Another thing I did that I haven't done in a while was to use Mr. Mark Setter to set the decals. In the past, this has left a white residue on the kit. This time, it didn't, and it set the decals nicely. I'm thinking that the reason it left residue in the past was because the surface wasn't glossy enough. I did have a problem with the bands on the fuselage - the decal broke at the top (which is most visible in the third photo). One drawback to the fact that the gloss coat worked so well is that it took more than the usual flat coat - AMMO Lucky Matte - to remove the sheen.

As much as I like the 190, I always have trouble getting the landing gear right, and this build was no exception. Although not as bad as some of my builds, the starboard side is a bit lower than the port side.

I created a mask for the canopy. The SVG file can be downloaded from here). It includes both flat and blown canopies.

Page last updated September 14, 2025.