At the end of my previous post, I’d got my two Junkers models as far along as I cared to take them before applying decals. And, after two months in some sort of Covid-plus-Brexit-induced postal limbo, my decals from Mika at Arctic Decals finally arrived.

These featured the typographically correct letter “N” for LN-ABH, as well as a set of custom decals for D 260.

The decals are delicate, and the finely corrugated surface of the models challenging. Mika provides very detailed instructions on how to prepare and apply them, which I followed to the letter … and got excellent results.

With a layer of gloss enamel varnish applied to the kit surface, and left to dry for a week, I slid the decals on to a mix of Micro Set and slightly soapy water. They’re very thin, but pretty tough, and they held together well for positioning and then bedded down pretty well spontaneous. After they’d dried in place, I gently pressed them into the corrugations after brushing them with Micro Sol. They softened extremely quickly, so the trick was to apply Micro Sol to a small area and immediately roll a cotton bud firmly across the surface, following the line of the corrugations. As you can see, the final “painted on” effect was excellent.

So I can’t recommend these highly enough—Mika’s Arctic Decals provide markings for a variety of obscure civilian aircraft, and they’re also distributed through Lima November Decals.

With the decals in place, given time to dry, and then sealed with a coat of satin varnish, it was time to make final assembly, adding the door to D 260 and attaching the fuselage to the wings, as well as adding a few bits and bobs of final detailing.

So here they both are, posed on display bases from Coastal Kits. First, LN-ABH taking off on its final flight:

And D 260 hauled up out of the water:

And finally, a couple of views of the pair together:

Now. What next, I wonder?