I think it looks pretty close. Take the thrust line, wing, and other visual cues and place the black, white, and red stripes accordingly. If the plane is right, it will look like Ed's, (the various stripe widths will be the same as Ed's, and will fall on the same places on your plane as Ed's. Just be sure to print out and refer to these pictures when you mask off your Simla.

Attached is the best side view we have of Ed's Simla to date, and the top view that made the whole project possible in the first place...these pictures are personal photos belonging to Ed that came out of his estate, and are the most important pictures when it comes to masking off the plane to exactly capture Ed's color scheme. Because we didn't have a direct side view to measure, we did our best to come up with the proper fuselage shape based on what we had, but as you will see, there were a couple small inaccuricies with the fuselage of the prototype. These have been corrected to the best of our collective ability in the kit.

Note the position of the top of the black stripe, and where it falls on the fuselage...just below the wing L.E. Note where it disappears into the rear section. Secondly, note the length and position of the black "dash" above the wing, and how it cuts through the top of the wing half. The top line of the "dash" essentially goes through the thrust line and spinner...that places it exactly on the fuselage. As close as we tried to get our prototype to be, when I put the dash topline on the thrustline, my "dash" is too high in relation to the wing...the wing had to be raised, and it was for the final kit. That's how we knew it had to be moved, and by how muchIF I put the top of the black stripe, and the dash where they were supposed to be, (under the L.E. and through the thrustline). You can see how all the lines are inter-dependant on each other...the paint scheme won't look exactly like Ed's unless everything is right.

The top red stripe tucks just below the stab, and look where it begins below the engine cut-out, you will be able to figure it from its position to the spinner. Using all the cues, when the striping is completed, it turns out my white stripe is too "tall" or thick, (I have no alternative if I use the other cues...that's why the paint scheme is such a good measure of the accuracy of the model), but yours should be about right.

You will notice that all the lines fall properly on the wing, stab, and fin....that's because they are accurate. Everything falls exactly where it should to match Ed's picture. Good luck with your painting when you do it...but first we need to discuss the WING TIPS...MORE TO COME.

Duane