Airfix 1:72 Avro Vulcan B.2 "Black Buck" (Part 13)

 Now that the decals were added I decided that it was time to add a panel line wash to the entire model. I like to add panel washes to my models as it's a lot of fun and it allows more details of the model to be seen.

There have been discussions on the accuracy of painting in the panel lines on models, but it's a great way to show off the details at such a small-scale replica. Plus, there is the argument that dirt gets into the panel lines from general use, and this dirt does show off the panels, so there is some accuracy in painting the panels.

Regardless of overall accuracy, it's a stage in modeling that I personally enjoy, and I hope that in this post I can answer some questions you might have the next time you decide to add a wash to your model.

Before I painted on the wash I decided I should finally add the bombs and bomb bay doors to the model, especially since the bay doors had panel lines that would be painted in with the rest of the model.

The bombs are built in two halves, and the fit was generally okay, I used the back of my hobby knife to carefully shave down the side edges to be smooth.

The pylons were painted with Tamiya XF-2 Flat White, and then each of the bombs was carefully hand painted with The Army Painter Army Green, which is also an excellent color for WWII USAF cockpit interiors. 

This was a very tedious process to paint each of these bombs, and I do understand why Airfix designed them this way, but after all of this painting and avoiding the white paint I do wish that each of the bombs were separate.

Because the bombs were all connected I decided to use the kit supplied decals for the yellow bands instead of painting them on myself. These were tricky to add as they were very thin but they only needed to look good from the underside as the tops wouldn't be seen once they were installed in the bomb bay.

It was tedious work to get all of those decals added, but they look really great now that they are stacked on top of each other.

Attaching the bombs to the interior was really easy, there was a small peg that the pylons fit around, and I secured the bombs with Mr. Just super glue.

Now that the bombs were fitted I could add on the bomb bay doors. I was really impressed with how easy these parts were to add to the model.

Thinking back on previous projects, I think that this is the first time I've ever built a model with the bomb bay opened, and I'm really glad that I decided to with this one. It won't easily be seen by the average modeler inspecting the Vulcan, but when you flip it over you can really appreciate all of the detail Airfix put into this section.

There are many different enamel based panel washes that you can use, and my preferred paints are the Tamiya Panel Line Accent Colors. 

Before I painted in the panel lines I needed to decide what colour I would use. Generally, when I paint an all or mostly silver based subject I use Black, as this color is dark enough to stand out against the bright silver paints.

For blue or grey models, I like to use Dark Grey, as this color has a nice balance against grey paints, and I could have used this color for the all grey underside.

However, I ultimately decided to use Dark Brown for the entire model as it will highlight the panel lines but not be as bold and stand out like the Black. 

I dotted the paint into the panels and the pre-thinned paint slowly flows along the panel lines. This is really the fun part for me watching the paint gradually fill in those panels. You might also recall that I added a gloss coat to the entire model before I applied the decals, and this will also help improve the flow of the Panel Line Accent Color.

Sometimes the Panel Line Accent Color doesn't flow as smoothly or at all. This could be the fault of the panel lines being too thin or not deep enough, which I did encounter a few times with this project. It can also be caused by too much paint being used and this fills in the gaps for the panel line wash. This was one of the reasons I tried to layer the paint on as thinly as possible.

 

I left the panel wash to dry for about 24 hours, and after I took a cotton swab gently dipped in Tamyia Enamel Thinner. I brushed the cotton swab against the panel line to remove the excess. Running the swab along the panel line you risk removing the paint inside the panel.

Here is a section of the wing with Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color -Dark Brown- added. The dark brown looks really great against the light grey and dark green camouflage and the model is now ready to have some weathering added. 

Well a lot of cotton swabs were used to tidy up this Vulcan, but it was worth it in the end to see those lines all filled in. In the next, and most likely final post for this project, I'll add on some weathering to the Vulcan using Tamiya Enamel Paints.

Once the weathering is done I can add on a few more small parts, and give the model a flat coat to seal everything together. I'm very excited now as I can't wait to call this project done and add Airfix's Vulcan to my list of completed projects.

-To be concluded...