1/600th Aircraft - USN MiG Killers Nearly Finished

There gets to a place in any project when suddenly you can see the finishing post.  The MiG Killer project is no different.  I have now got to the place where I am now missing the decals for one aircraft (VMFA-333) and when I say missing I mean correctly sized.  They are made up but the test model didn't come out the way I wanted it so have to reduce it slightly and then get a reprint sorted out.

A big chunk of decals were added last weekend which included the VF-114 Aardvark schemes

VF-161 decals were also worked up as black decals on white decal paper and then blended in.  Black trim still to be done by hand

The new printer produces a deep red which stands out quite well on the VJ Deck Tan for these later VF-51 aircraft.

The last 3 aircraft which needed decals.  VF-31, VMFA-333 and VF-213.  The Light reflecting doesn't help

You can just see that the VMFA-333 decal is too big

Quite happy with how the Black Lion came out.  I am beginning to like GIMP but like most things I don't set and play with it enough so there are probably a lot of short cuts or better way to do things.  That said the support network is excellent 

So with the last steps on the main decals nearly over, it then remains to go back and check each aircraft in turn and fix decals that have fallen off due to rough handling and add the warning triangles to the fronts.  A couple also need new Modex numbers as well as for some reason the ones I printed out on one of the jobs are too small.  Then it will be a varnish session to seal everything together and then matt things back down (but as these are gaming models that last step may never get done)