Clever design saves on masking tape

The biggest challenge I could see from looking at the box artwork for the Ford Truck, was painting. The thing that initially attracted me to the model was the pretty picture but I suspected that replicating the design was going to stretch my masking abilities.

But no, the designer has made things easy. All the major parts are split along the colour lines. Thus, the cab makes up into two sub-assemblies. One is painted dark blue, the other, white.

Better still, the trailer splits the same. This is more impressive as it would be much easier to mould, and simpler to build, if the sides were in single slabs of plastic. However, we get a tub for the bottom, sides, and roof. Each is dark blue, light blue and silver respectively. I wish many model locomotive kits were as well designed.

Spraying was fun. My stock of blues isn't large so I had to use gloss colours for these. In theory, this is A Good Thing as the smooth surface should be more decal-friendly than a matt one is. Trouble is, I'm not very good at spraying gloss. Coverage always seems very poor and the only way to hide the white plastic is lots and lots of very thin coats, each given a shot of hair drier before the next one is laid down. Tedious and prone to attracting dust.

In the end, I have mostly got away with it. However, there and hour and a half of work to produce a finish that in truth isn't as good in some ways (I win on paint thickness, they win on finish) as you will find on a 4 quid diecast lorry.