Painting continued…
I am at that stage where the body of the model has been painted a base coat of dull silver followed by intricate masking designed to produce the effect of interlocking panels. This effect should be subtle, which will be a challenge because the tendency will be to exaggerate the contrast between colors when the desired effect should be very slight.
The yellow vinyl masks are from an aftermarket provider (called Aztec Dummy) which has made the process for the disk portion much easier than otherwise would be the case. I am not really using any references for this model, and my intention is to use a bit of logic when applying these masks. For example, panel lines should not bisect portholes and access doors and umbilical attachment points should make some degree of sense. One of my pet peeves is randomly applied panel designs, about as annoying as randomly flashing control panel lights, impossible-to-read text graphics on view screens, and unlabeled switches :D
When the masking is finally done, I will apply another light coat of silver, followed by polished aluminum. Hopefully, the result will knock my socks off.
