Yeah, it sounds like patience is going to be required either way. I’d just logic that since you’re going to be taking a while doing this? Might as well make it look as good as you can and paint will always look better than a decal.
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no worries, this is scale modeling thread. if there is no frustration, from time to time, then we are not doing it right 
agree with that gloss coat before decaling mentioned by MiG. plus will add that cotton stick can be used to remove the bubbles after decal application.
next is some kind of ‘decal set’ or ‘mark fit’ on top of the decals to make them softer and hug the surface better.
and after decal work is finished another layer of varnish coat. I would say that satin coat may work for 1:72.
its just whole alchemy sometimes 
I am back to scale modeling also after cca 20 years but fortunately my eyes and hands aged subtle. so I am thinking about going full 1:144 
but 1:48 is really popular scale, lot of kits available and the detail is usualy much much better.
but still have some 1:72 kits in my stash.
actually started Zlin 226
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Thanks for the encouragement and advice. You guys are awesome.
Your standards are very high. I would be proud of this.
Still, I understand the frustration when things are not going as you’d hoped. Congrats for pushing through! Some people would have binned the project, I just shelved one indefinitely. You finished it!
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I thank you for your compliments. If you look at the first photo you can see the edges of the rotor blades where the decals are not joined - and I was unable to get them to join. It’s a bit of a mess.
This is why I say it’s sub-par - that alone looks terrible and spoils the model. I think other than that I didn’t do too bad a job, but I should have rubbed down those blades and painted them. As I got to the end of the build, when it was too late to do anything with the blades, I actually started really enjoying it and did a bit of scratch-building and adding detail i hadn’t planned. Was pleased with how those turned out (wipers, antennae, cables etc).
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I was going to say the paint looked a little thick, but those are decals! In that situation, I’d be just mixing paint, laying down tape as a guide, and throwing on some nice long brushstrokes. It’d be so much easier and I bet the end product would look better.
But, it’s important to also look at what IS good. Like your cockpit, that looks nice. And, as Freak stated, you finished! I outright binned a B-57 I didn’t care how it was turning out many years ago.
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found on scalemates
https://www.scalemates.com/profiles/mate.php?id=41967&p=albums&album=88512&i=13#13
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Especially when your moisture trap quickly accumulated water in it without you knowing…
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thats why I am paintbrushing not airbrushing (it can get similarly ‘entertaining’) 
some prog
1:72
1:144
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My dad gifted me a Kinetic A-6E a while back but the fitment is terrible and it’s been sitting on my desk for months.
But I’ve been in a WW2 mood, wanting to work on a Tamiya P-51 or Bf109 that’s in my stash…and ended up impulse-buying these at a local mom-and-pop store in Akihabara.
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Nice find. With the exhaust shrouds I would be tempted to do the Mossie as a night fighter.
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Not a fan of the shrouds to be honest. I like to show off the exhaust pipes. Unless I bungle them up, then I’ll put the shrouds on 
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There was a resin kit for the AI radar shroud that fit that… hmm I wonder if I still have one around somewhere 
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OMFGWTFBBQ! Best plane ever!
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Is that 1:48? Where will you put it? Even in 1:72 finding the place to put an A-6 with extended wings is tough. I understand why you’re building it with folded wings.
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Probably in my office, but yeah 1/48 makes folded wings almost mandatory.
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I would have been as enthusiastic as @komemiute (I LOOOOVE the A-6!), but I always feel a weird pang of jealousy when I see someone else build a kit that I have in my stash and am looking forward to building. As if I have to be the first person ever to build it, it’s weird. There is an A-6E waiting for me in my stash. 1:72 Italeri kit from a great year. I already bought masks and a metal detail set for it. I’m glad yours is a larger scale 
Not doing a lot of model building anyways at the moment, as I really need something non-fidgety to relax from all the 1:1 scale sanding, masking, painting and assembling in the new house.
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Thanks for the encouragement, but I’m afraid I’ll mess it up, especially with the brushes now, such large areas. I don’t think I’ll have the space for a second A-6, not with extended wings.
The plan is:
- move house
- finish the Sea King
- Build the KLu (RNLAF) set: F-104G and T-33. I also got metal detail for the F-104G, allowing me to practice how best to apply those. Also this will be a little hommage to my late grandfather.
- At some point during or after the previous step, buy an airbrush
- Do the Lynx or Super Étendard with the airbrush
- Use my skills that I have built up with metal detail and airbrush to build the A-6E
This way, it will be very interesting to see who finishes the A-6E first: me or Heatblur.
If I start the A-6 right after the Sea King, it’s not fair.
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