What You Don’t See…
One of the lessons I learned building the Dauntless was the futility of super-detailing cockpits. Even on a plane with as large a greenhouse as the Dauntless, everything but the seats, control stick and instrument panel is obscured by the fuselage and more-or-less impossible to see.
With the Wildcats, I decided to take a much more lax approach. No photo etch accessories. No super-detail painting. Instead, I airbrushed everything bronze green, painted the necessary bits black, drybrushed with silver to bring out some details, laid down a dark wash to add shadow detail, then added a few touches of red for various controls. I also added seatbelts made out of painted strips of masking tape and buckles snagged from some spare PE belts. That’s it. All in all, I spent probably a fifth the time on both cockpits combined that I spent agonizing over the Dauntless’ office.
Overall, I think they look pretty damn good.
But now that they’re closed up in the fuselages…you can’t see much more than the headrest and seats…
How do you get the headrest to look like worn leather? Great job!