Hi all,
The fuselage has now been prepared for application of the decals, which hopefully will be a combination of wood effect decals and kit decals.
If that doesn't work out I'll revert to creating the wood effects using oil paints.
The actual aircraft had a Latin legend along both sides of the fuselage - ‘FRANGAR NON FLECTAR’.
Some translation for this are:
'I am broken, I am not deflected'
’I’ll break but will not bend’
'I will break, not bow'
'I am broken, I am not deflected'
This is not supplied as a decal in the kit, which is not surprising given it's not even shown on the kit colour illustrations!!
As there is no aftermarket for this I have to resort to creating a mask set, which I've done on my 'Cricut Air 2' cutting machine.
Hopefully the mask won't peel off and decals or paint when I remove them, as airbrushing this legend is literally the last job on the fuselage.

I've added the 'dome' in front of the windscreen and what appears to be a rudimentary gun sight. The purpose of this 'dome' is unclear.
I've primed the fuselage in white as the decals are somewhat 'see through', so need a white base under the roundels.
Also the wood effect decals need a white background.
I've added pre-shading along the wood panel nail lines, which I created with a 'Rosie the Riveter' tool.

Mike