The Shooting Star (Arado Ar 196)

Been looking at this box for a while… time to bring it down off the shelf. 

Normally I’d be thinking about rescribing these sprues, but let’s just keep it simple. 

A little clean up needed on the interior. 

Always do a dry fit. Looks like it’ll need a bit of work. 

The Tintin plane has seats for two, so I’ll need a bit more floor… and an extra seat! 

Main fuselage glued together. Only a bit of sanding required, surprisingly. 

A brown interior… well, that’s how Hergé drew it, so good enough for me. 

Cockpit mainly put together. Still a few details to add later. 

The pontoons and supports needed a bit of sanding, but everything is ready for a paint test. 

I've learned from experience, if you want to paint something yellow... paint it pink first! 

A few imperfections or detritus on the plastic, so a bit of sanding needed to try and clean it up a bit. 

Yeah! That's the yellow I'm looking for! Also got the engine and propeller painted Tamiya XF-16 Aluminium. 

With the struts and the canopy painted XF-01 Flat black and attached, and the engine cowling put together, we're getting close to the end. Time to get working on some silicone water using a few drops of Tamiya X-23 Clear Blue and X-25 Clear Green to give it the right colouring. 

The canopy doesn't fit as well as I hoped, but oh well, good enough is good enough. Engine on and base almost ready. 

A clear coat of Future and some homemade decals for the base and the Blue Rider Tintin decals for the side and we're all done. Went with the original French (F.E.R.S) markings.