Meh

bottomside is even worse, intakes especially. not sure what they were thinking, if at all, with the parts break-down the way they went... 

underside painted with tamiya sky grey toned down a bit with tamiya med. grey and masked off.

topside 1st color down: tamiya royal blue toned down with tamiya sky blue. both paints being glossy is a bit concerning. thinned them with regular mr thinner, hopefully they'll cure fast enough for the upcoming masking frenzy.  

after hours of masking, camo is complete.

radome, antiglare and dielectric panels will be next.

notice something with the lightest blue? 

check the dorsal spine, as well the opposite view which is the project album cover taken by same photographer.

nose section and aft section look like they are 2 different batches of the same paint - the difference in tone is significant especially on the front. the effects do seem to extend to the wings however without a proper top shot it's impossible to tell.  

paintjob completed. decals followed over tamiya gloss coat.

don't know what to do next... :/

i'll keep the pitot and radome until the last possible moment. kit's track record indicates that pitot won't fit into the nose and will require putty and blending work, so no reason to paint the radome beforehand. 

hind legs are on and setting on a machine cut marble slab for proper levels with the help of the biggest invention of mankind: lego.

took care of the radome and pitot beforehand, fit wasn't as horrible as i'd imagined.

nose gear, exhausts, pylons and archers to go...

also a lesson learned, the black pen on the left side of the screen is an acetate marker which i use on tamiya tape before cutting the masks. obviously it's capable of bleeding tru ever so slightly and leaving mark on the paintjob somehow. i am aware it's probably not noticeable in these cell phone shots but you'll see them on the proper shots especially on edges of the medium blue sections. what's worst is they became visible after the gloss coat which was a bummer... 🙁