The paint is on the JL-9. It looks white, but it is actually a very, very light gray. I could not find what the exact color was, and the PLAAF Help Desk did not return my calls. And processing the photos was difficult- to get them looking properly bright and clear, the finish looked white. But to show the light gray ended up looking sort of wonky. In the end, I settled for wonky.
The scheme is pretty simple- lots of very light gray, the typical MiG-21 style green dielectric panel on the tail, and the black nose cone. I did find a photo of a JL-9 that had red tips on the pointy dealies (technical term) hanging off the horizontal stabilizers, so I replicated that. The markings will be mostly red, so they’ll add additional color.
I did have one small disaster. After I initially completed painting the model, I was using tweezers to remove the paper towels from the wheel wells that I had used for masking material. As I grabbed the material from the left main wheel well, the wheel wells interior wall popped loose, and fell inside the model. I shook it like it owed me money for half an hour, all to no avail. That part was in there to stay. And I didn’t see a good option for cutting the lower fuselage open to retrieve the part, install it again, and close off the surgery area- all without destroying the rather complicated underside detail.
Thankfully, a modeling acquaintance had a suggestion- why not simply install the main gear doors as closed? While the JL-9 does not have those doors closed on the ground, many jets do, so it would not look odd except to the sharp eyed observer. (Or anyone who has read this.)
So I applied the brilliant suggestion- and it worked great! No need to fling the model across the yard and stomp a mud hole in it. (What is it with me and parts dropping in models?)
Next up will be a gloss coat and decals. I don’t really plan to do much if any weathering on this model. Photos show them to be quite clean, so finishing up should be fairly easy.
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