Ian McQue Inspired Flying rig part 3

I finally found a suitable 1:35 pilot. I painted him up and installed him in the cab. 

I tried to make him look a little less "modern armour" and a bit more "guy from the future."  

The windows were glued in and the cab was sealed up. Unfortunately, while taping up the windows,

The drivers side window came loose and fell into the sealed cabin (!)

I was able to fish it out after much effort. I'll try to repair it, but if I can't, it will make masking interesting.

Next, I started to add some more surface details. These were mostly kit parts, but I also cut some square holes and fit some square Evergreen tubes. I'm not sure what they're supposed to be, but there were some details in the original drawing that were suggestive of these. I think they'll look cool with some rusty stains running from them. 

I also tried scribing some flame cut marks on the edge of the "steel" plates that make up the bottom of the ship. A stippled coat of Tamiya putty will hopefully look like a rolled steel texture.

For the details on the rear of the ship, I glued up an arrangement of kit parts. I'm trying to keep a heavy industrial look throughout. The smooth hoses are 20 gauge wire. The convoluted hose is a styrene kit part, formed with a heat gun. 

The round radar shroud was made from two fenders glued together from a Flakvierling 38.

More soon...

Airship part 5

Sub-assemblies have been base coated with Vallejo acrylics. The orange sprayed very transparent and took a ridiculous number of coats to achieve a saturated, opaque hue.

The pilot was brush painted with acrylics and given a quick wash to bring out some of the details.

The orange suit and yellow helmet is a nod to Space:1999.

I carefully masked any color breaks with Tamiya brand tape. It's expensive, but it's the only tape I'll trust to not lift paint. At this point, the model has a very toy-like appearance.  I let the base coats dry for a few days, before beginning weathering.

To break up the monotone orange finish, I applied small dabs of red, white, yellow, and brown oil paints and blended them with a touch of thinner. The transparent oil paint layers helps create a subtly mottled appearance. Some streaks and grime were also added using oils.