The Arado was a commission piece built for a customer who essentially wanted it done as an Out of Box model, but with the inclusion of an Aires cockpit set, all of which he supplied. The latter is a big improvement on the kit supplied parts and once assembled and painted looks really great under all that glazing. The Aires cockpit set went together without any dramas, fitted into the fuselage perfectly and only required a small amount of sanding around its circumference to allow the forward fuselage glazing to fit snugly. The rest of the kit went together without any problems and only required a small amount of filler at the wing to fuselage and wing to engine nacelle joins, which was a pleasant surprise. With construction completed the canopy was then masked and the model given a wipe down with Methylated Spirits and then sprayed with a coat of Tamiya surface primer. The engine intakes, exhausts and exhaust shrouds were then brush painted, using paints and washes from the Games Workshop/Citadel range. The wheel wells and undercarriage components were then sprayed using paints from the Gunze Mr Hobby range and the main fuselage colors were then applied using Vallejo Air acrylics - these were also used to paint the cockpit interior and details. The model was then sprayed with a coat of Future in preparation for the application of decals and panel line washes. As the kit decals looked pretty ordinary to me I elected to replace them with a set from Eagle Strike (48169) as they were far more comprehensive, but unfortunately they did silver in few places - something I've not experienced before. After the panel line washes were applied the model was then sprayed with Vallejo Air Satin varnish, which gives it just a slight sheen. Any weathering, paint chips and scratches were then kept to a minimum as most of the photos I referred to showed these aircraft to be very well maintained. The only other details I added were:
- Pitot tube from brass rod and tube.
- Brake lines from fuse wire.
- Under wing aerial from wire, and
- Aerial lead from mono-filament thread.
Overall the kit of the Arado was a very easy model to build, however, I did find the painting to be quite a challenge especially when compared to my usual fare of Japanese WWII aircraft.
