Black 13 – That was to be expected! | Part Three

Weathering

The main emphasis of black 13´s finish is, of course, the dirt and mud stains. Black 13 slithered over the frozen ground so I decided to add mud stains to the lower engine cowling, center fuselage, and lower wing surfaces with successively less mud staining towards the wing tips and rear fuselage.

Photos of bent propeller blades revealed that the paintwork on the concave inner side of the bending chips due to the compression of the paintwork. On the convex outside of the bending, the paintwork remains almost undamaged due to its ductility.

13 Brass barrels for the MG131.

14 Heavily weathered and cracked insignias achieved by
brushing on solvents, carefully ...!

15 All three propeller blades show mud stains
as the engine was still running on impact
with the ground. To create the mud stains
and scuff markings, I placed a few drops
of AK interactive dark mud color on a plastic card.
I added some pigments of different shades
and slightly (!) mixed them to get a paste of
paint and pigments.

16 The mud paste was applied to the blades
using a spatula and striking longitudinally along
the propeller blades. I left this to dry
for around 30 minutes and then removed
some of the semi-dry paste with the
backside of a scalpel, again striking
longitudinally along the blade to create the
scuff markings on the propeller blades.
The paste was also splashed onto the spinner
using an old brush.

17 Spinner, propeller blades and the upper
forward area of the engine cowling
show traces of spilled oil.
I used MODELMATES oil brown weathering
fluid for this purpose. I sprinkled
it on using an old brush and let it
dry for a few minutes. I repeated
the process a few times to build up
the stain in several layers. Finally, I added
the oil runs with a fine brush.