Greek Firefighters

The Greek subject of the project 

It's Spanish counterpart 

Two times the 415, but not the correct model I really wanted to build. 

Because it was difficult to convert a CL-415 back into a CL-215, I looked for a real CL-215 and I was so lucky to find one! 

Starting to build the Firefighters, three at the same time 

Starting the build. 

Added another firefighter, this time a real CL-215 

And then the problem started, which made me finally decide to postpone the build. When I started, quite soon after, I bought an airbrush. I soon discovered the advantages and the disadvantages of the airbrush. The result is much better than with a brush, but some colours are almost impossible and one of them is yellow! Although two of the kits were yellow, it was very difficult to get the paint cover everything. And the masking and painting the red stripes left me with a mess and made me stop with it, until January 2022. I decided to start painting them completely new. I first primed them with white primer and then applied several coats of white. I then masked the red lines with the new Tamiya flextape and this worked out, Still some touching up to do, but I'm making progress on at least one of the three models. To be continued! 

The end 🙁 After finally removing the masking tape and preparing for decalling, I discovered I made a mistake. I forgot to leave space for the Greek national insignia. I painted the red markings from nose to tail. So another fight with the yellow paint. After trying to overspray the red with several coats of yellow, the red was still visible. So I removed the fresh painted and used a white primer and a single layer of yellow. When I removed the tape, it was very clear what I had painted. It looked as if I had put on a strip of masking tape and painted it yellow. The only option was to remove all the paint and start at new. But my wife said, why don't you buy a new kit? I expected it would be difficult to find, but Heller had done a re-issue! 

So I ordered a new kit at Most Models and two days later I received the new kit. And then came the surprise: instead of giving only one option to build with a tiny sheet of decals, hardly visible on the left, they now offer four different options, including a Greek version with red decals for the side and black decals for the walkways! So this is really a big surprise. Not sure what to do with the old kit, but at least I will use all my experience to make a nice model! 

A new destination for the almost written-off CL-215: a Canadian version with white and green and no more red and yellow. 

The new colours of the CL-215 

The final result 

The beauty or the beast? This is absolutely not my best build. It has at least six layers of primer and paint, possibly more. Normally, when I mask the plane and airbrush it, the result is fine, but this kit kept resisting. Paint crept on many places under the masking tape, a decal was damaged in the process and I couldn't find the bulged windows any more. But I solved all the problems and as long as you don't look too closely, it is quite a nice model. 

The second one in progress. Fortunately, this time not much red seepage so only a bit of touching up needed!
 

This pictures shows the real one (copyright redstar.gr) 

Because I now knew that that the CL215 has the correct decals, I asked GLOW2B if I could get an extra set of decals, which they sent me. So I now had two sets of decals, but three aircraft to build. So I scanned the decals and with much trial and error, I managed to make the red stripes, the most important decals. I used the decals from the original CL415 kit to add all the special service markings and the walkways. And so I finished the first Greek CL415 a CL415GR/MP. This version is also used for search and rescue and maritime patrol. It had a radar in the nose, two slars on the side of the fuselage and a FLIR. 

And then there were three. After finishing the CL415GR/MP, finishing the normal CL415 would be easier, only the red surfaces to paint. The problem with masking the CL415 is the load of rivets, which makes it almost impossible to mask. The paint goes everywhere and had been the reason why I almost gave up on this kit. But this time I first applied a coat of liquid mask and than using tape along the edges. And this turned out alright: almost no paint in the wrong place! And this time no self-made decals, but the originals. So a mix of CL215 and CL415 decals and the planes are (almost) ready. I only need to do some touching up and weathering. The paint is not everywhere the same. The yellow looks darker in some spots, although I used the same paint all the time, But lets say that's due to wear and tear 

The first finished aircraft: the Canadian CL215 

The second aircraft: the Greek Cl415GR/MP 

And the third the Greek CL415. Only one more to go, but that's for a later moment.