Hasegawa 1/72 CV-22B Osprey

That’s the model sprayed and all that is left to do prior to varnishing is some touch up work where the top coat has found gaps in the masking tape for the undersides. The props need re-spraying as a couple of areas were missed, the wing de-icing boots need painting black plus the dome on the upper rear fuselage needs masking and spraying with light grey.

I was thinking of re-spraying the upper surfaces as it looked a bit too light, however I decided against it as a couple of coats of varnish will darken the grey.

The particular airframe I wanted to model is CV-22B 12-0065, based here in the UK at RAF Mildenhall and assigned to the 7th SOS (Special Operations Squadron), 352nd SOW (Special Operations Wing). Markings for this particular machine can be found on a Wolfpak decal sheet (number 72-137) and depicts it during June 2019 when it carried D-Day commemorative markings. After searching online for images of this particular Osprey, I found a couple from around the same time-frame that showed various replacement panels and rudders. The port rudder was showing a fresh coat of Gunship Grey applied while the starboard rudder was a light grey (presumably a replacement part from a US Marine Corps Osprey). Using some artistic licence I masked off a couple of other panels on the airframe as well as the rudders and sprayed them to match the photo’s. For the fresh FS36118 Gunship Grey I used LP-15 from the Tamiya Lacquer range while the starboard rudder and satellite antenna were sprayed with a lightened coat of the underside colour (LP-35).

I’m quite pleased with the results so far as to me, the colours are a pretty good match to the reference pictures I have. I’ve run out of time now as I’m back to work but hopefully on my next days off I can get it finished.