The balloon project is lifting off!

the 1/144 Cacquot Type M balloon is coming along slowly. The gasbag has been assembled and several coats of primer have been applied.

This particular model was painted in Black, Strong and Flexible (BSF). Unlike it's cheaper cousin, White, Strong and Flexible, BSF appears to be much less porous material. So as an experiement, unlike all previous models I am not expending time on using PVA and gloss spray coats to prepare the surface.

Several coats of white gesso were applied to the model. I allowed each coat to dry for about a day before applying the next coat. The end result yields a relatively smooth surface than should accept paint with no challenges. (Fingers crossed on this one!)

Here's the primed gasbag being supported by two bottles of paint. The grid is in 1" blocks.

In the foreground is the bridle that supports the basket.

A close up of the bridle. This still needs a couple of coats of thinned down gesso for priming. The full strength stuff is too think as you can see from this picture. 

For a better sense of scale, here's a 1/144 Phonix C.I from Shapeways for comparisonn. The C.1 is almost exactly the same size as the D.1.