Beautifully fiddly work, Thomas, and it will pay off in the end. I agree with Rory - with repetitive and tiresome evolutions such as this… beer is your friend! 
This build has been one of my favorites on MSW for a while now. Take a breather, have a few, and then come back and hit it again! 
@McRunty: Rory it was a Störtebecker (named after a feared german pirate in the medieval time) dark brew. Strong enough to forget everything 
@The_Snowman: Hello Gavin, thanks for your comment, nice to have you aboard 
@TimReynaga; Hey Tim, I am glad I like the taste of the audience with my choice 
. Actually I am glad when I finished all the remaining aircraft. It is still a way to go though.
First I started with this
Today I sealed of the cockpit windows in preparation for painting the surfaces
Cheers
Continueing with spraypainting, masking, spraypainting, masking… again very tiresome and difficult work during the needed size of the maskings.
First I spraypainted and masked the propeller warning line atop of the aircraft hulls
then I cutted and applied dilligently mask for the black step (?) markings. It was not easy as some of the horizontal etched struts broke again during the installation of the masks… 
after this was finished I applied the squadron colors and mask the cevrons
then I masked the upper wing surfaces and spraypainted all yellow
Thats it for the weekend, I need to relax my eyes now - need a look at a big Pirelli calendar or something like this 
That’s insane!!! Or at least I would have ended up that way had I attempted what you’ve done. Incredible.
@Namabiiru: Marc yes its a bit insane. It feels as if you are modelling twelve (or how many are they?!) 1:48 scale planes simultaneuosly
I am glad I have just one small escort carrier in my stash left
Yes its getting hard now with these wingys but me never stop or give up 
today I removed the upper wing top maskings to seal the chevrons with matt lacquer in preparation of the last sealing for painting the underside of the wings and the aircraft itself. Before I put over the matt laquer over the top wing areas I applied all the national stars at the outer wings, too
then it was, for the hopefully very last time, masking time again to protect the finished upper wing areas against the grey coat for the main body of the aircrafts
Then I pushed on and applied ALCLAD FS36495 light grey with the airbrush at the remaining upper surfaces
Need to clean the airbrush now and send the painters home finally
You’re a braver modeller than I, Thomas! There’s no way I’d attempt masking of a 1/350 plane-usually I resort to the hairy stick for the painting of them 
Those planes are phenomenal Thomas. They add so much colour and the time consuming effort you are putting in is going to pay dividends in the end once they are done and on display… fantastic work and painting 
Hmm, yep that masking prep really paid off. The crisp contrasting colors are exceptional!
Marty
Guys, I am glad I can report that Langley´s airwing is finally finished : I can tell you it felt for me as I am finished 12 planes in 1:72 scale simultaneuosly so I can tell you my next project will not be an aircraft carrier…
This is the final result after removing of all mask, painting the cockpit details, the propellers and the black bows:
and finally some zoomed pics of the one aircraft with complete wings
I am very satisfied what I achieved with these small planes. Now I just have to attach the stored dismantled wings and finally all the aircrafts to Langley´s flightdeck
Cheers
Thomas
Not much left to do now… I made an underconstruction out of evergreen for the dismantled wings and glued the wings evenly onto it. The fixing belts were made out of thinly cutted masking tape, painted in vallejo 332
next comes finally the aircraft on their final resting place
Finally crossed the finish line and commissioned my USS Langley today. I think this (and maybe my heavy cruiser Zara) is the biggest ship so far I have accomplished. It was a demanding build with that much etched and extra 3D-printed parts and extra planes but in the end it paid off and I am extremely proud of the outcome of this “little” kit. I like the colorful look of the whole and enjoy looking at the details.
Building the kit without all this extra would let down the whole enterprise as the girders would look toyish and with just the six Consolidated P2Y planes provided inside the kit the deck would look sparsely. If you really like something different out of the “usual” grey fleet and are prepared to add some ellbow grease and upgrade parts than you can add a stunning model into your showroom stash!
But enough talking - these are the final pictures:
I would like to thank you all who watched my build and stayed along my side with good advices, very useful pictures and constructive comments. You all kept my Mojo high (I needed your support at the end when I had to finish all these tiny aircrafts…). I hope I have not dissappointed your expectations
After this I feel prepared for something more bigger - I am not sure at this moment which candidate I will choose for my next victim but it will surely not yet be my only remaining aircraft carrier in stash 
. But before I start a new ship I will need some distraction with a wingy thing or something on tracks again
Thanks again and best regards to you all 
Thomas
Thomas, just WoW, it has been enjoyable to watch your build and the end result is glorious. A masterpiece to be very proud of.
Sea and Air Mojo of the Highest Degree Awards.
This is one of the most impressive builds I’ve seen on this site. Period. Your attention to detail is outstanding.
Real excited for whatever your next project is.
Beautiful job in every aspect Thomas - particularly the assembly and painting of all the tiny aircraft . Thanks for sharing.
Thomas,
Amazing job, something to be proud of - I for myself aspire to be able to build something as phenomenal as your AV-3 Langley - my hat is off to you sir!!
A superlative build; I am beyond impressed. It gives me an urge to build something that carries aircraft with yellow wings, but I don’t go bigger than 1:700th scale these days. But there is the Trumpeter USS Saratoga…
Cheers,
M
