Under the influence

Now that I am finally starting to get time for gaming related activities again (and having finished the Jagevingen 'side project'), I took the opportunity to sit down to continue with the Dorniners. The next step after finishing the belly coat was to do the first of two layers on the top coat in 979 Vallejo German Camo Dark Green. This step was something I had not particularily looked forward to, as it would involve placing some rather long horizontal lines along the tail section where the top coat meets the belly coat. Where excatly would I put the line? Could I make it straight enough on all 11 aircraft? Even having my finished 'prototype' to consult did not seem to calm my nerves.

As chance would have it (I hesitate to say 'fortunately'), just prior to painting I downed a pint of beer while watching the half of an episode of Game of Thrones that I missed last week. Not having had much alcohol for the last month due to refurbishing, this left me with a small buzz that persisted when I started to paint. Of course, deciding to have a few glasses of liqueur might also have had something to do with it...

At any rate, there I was, tipsy and with brushes in hand, and the anxiety I had about the top coat had vanished completely. Painting went like a breeze, and I only twice had to go back and touch up where I had missed the line slightly. About half-way through, I even remembered to do some checks on how symmetrical the lines were on either side of the models - and could find no faults. It remains to be seen if I am as satisfied with the lines today, though!

All in all a very curious experience, yet I am very happy to be done with this particular stage of the paint job - though I certainly would not reccomend painting during the influence in general, detail work would certainly suffer and quality control becomes spotty... At some point about half-way through the painting session I realised that I was no longer applying 979 German Camo Dark Green - a few drops from a bottle of 896 German Camo Extra Dark Green had snuck in beside it on the palette! Being the base coat I had no worries, though I would likely not have been equally relaxed had it been the top coat...