Real-life has been keeping me from any sort of meaningful work on this kit. However, some progress was made this week. I had decided to do my own take on the colour scheme that appeared in the episode called “War Games”. Instead of the orange trim, I would do it in a deep purple colour
As the masking can be moderately complex and challenging once the kit is together, I decided to build as many sub-components as possible and mask and paint those sub-components before assembly.
I assembled the engine and gun pods. In both cases the fit was snug but there was some sanding to do on seam lines. The remaining pars went together in a similar manner.
I then put them in the paint booth for the primer coat.
Once that had dried fully. I selected Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey to use for the base coat. Once that dried for 24 hours I could commence masking.
After quite a bit of time masking, It was ready for Tamiya X-16 Purple.
The masking worked well with only one small area of bleed-thru which can be fixed very easily.
Onto assembly next.