Removing the bandages

My paintjob got an overnight curing again before I tore off the masking tapes. I was surprisingly confident that everything had gone well and that the tapes would not be taking half the paint with them. It was a bit unusual.

While I was removing the other tape bits I also poked the edges of the canopy masks with the tip of the xacto knife, then took them off by hand. None of those had leaked anywhere. Not a single piece of masking tape had gotten too stuck onto the painted surfaces. This was a really successful moment in the project!

Only now I reglued the missing engine exhaust nozzle back, because now it wasn't going to make me work more with the maskings. That was as far as the rest of the plane was concerned, as the nozzles still needed some looking at.

As if completed

Right now my Flanker was, in principle at least, completed. Of course it was missing its teeth, the weathering and the markings. But as a plane it was done.

I found it really good looking already. Adding the sixpack of missiles was going to affect the look in its own way. *cough* of course I managed to knock a sensor thingy off of the right side of the plane, because why couldn't things just go smoothly from start to finish?