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Showing content with the highest reputation on 29/12/17 in Posts

  1. Hello all, I’ve built this Wildcat and base as this year saw the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Coral_Sea), and a tribute to the USS Lexington (CV-2) and her crew. Apologies if the post is a bit text– and photo-heavy… there are a few images of modifications/progress at the end of the post. Although there has been subsequent debate on how much the fate of Australia depended upon the outcome of this battle, it stopped the Japanese from trying to take Port Moresby, New Guinea, by sea (they then attempted to take it from an overland route). It is also considered a strategic defeat for Imperial Japan that affected the outcome of the Battle of Midway one month later. During the battle, the USS Lexington (CV-2), A.K.A. Lady Lex, was lost along with 216 of her crewmen. In May this year, my family attended a commemoration on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea held in Brisbane. We were very lucky to meet, Cecil Wiswell, 92 years of age (and his son), who had served on the ill-fated Lexington. They had travelled to Australia for commemorations held in a number of cities for the battle. For those interested, here is a snippet featuring Mr Wiswell at the Townsville commemoration: http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/honour-for-our-heroes/news-story/fcfc6657b1aeb3725e627227bd77b957 Anyway, I wanted to do a model that in a small way commemorated the battle, particularly those who perished aboard the Lexington. The model represents the aircraft of John Thach (as this was the only option for a Lexington-embarked plane). He did not take part in the Battle of the Coral Sea, but this plane is reported to have been lost with the Lexington in the battle: The decals were from a Wildcat/Martlet aces set from Printscale, with the exception of the wing insignia (pilfered from the Airfix kit as they were a better size. They also behaved much better). Paints: Vallejo Modelair, followed by gloss coat and oil washes. Modifications: Riveting added; Intercooler air intakes inside the cowl were scratch-built from PE; Wiring added to the engine; Scratch-built gunsight and painted decal strips for the canopy framing; Hollowed-out sprue for exhausts to replace the kit’s (left), and drilled out holes in the fuselage for them: The kit tailwheel was pretty ordinary, so I modified one from another kit, and drilled out a hole for it. The navigation and formation lights were coloured, transparent plastic that was glued into place and sanded to shape: The carrier deck was painted with a mix of royal blue and some RLM?? grey to represent USN deck blue 20-B, and Vallejo primer for the light blue-grey flight deck markings. This was the scheme the Lexington received in Hawaii in April 1942, the month before the Battle of the Coral Sea. USN WWII tiedowns were PE from Tom’s Modelworks. Cockpit and landing gear bay details: FWIW, I had tried pre-shading for the first time, but I don’t think it made any difference: And in its new home: There, a third model finished for 2017. Happy New Year to all BMers! Comments and criticism welcome, and thanks for looking. Regards, David
    23 points
  2. Hi all! As a break from cramming detail into Matchbox biplanes, I embarked on one of my Telford buys, the AZ Chipmunk - on the suggestion that I needed a bit of a rest and a mojo restorer! It's quite a nice kit, with very delicate surface detail and a well-detailed interior. It's rather lacking in some of the finer details however- I added tie-down rings, actuator jacks for the flaps, pitot probe, catches for the sliding portion of the canopy, two blade aerials, a scoop on the cowling, the little strakes on the wing leading edges, brake lines, etc, plus drilling out the exhaust and all the scoops. Fit is questionable - it's been a while since I built a "proper" short-run kit and it was a bit of a shock! There's thick flash, the wing-fuselage joint needs a shim, and the cockpit won't close up unless you shave off some of the sidewall detail to admit the sides of the seats. You need to shave a goodly amount off the fuselage decking sections under the canopy Also, the tailplanes fit much better the wrong way up - I thought this was the correct way of fitting them until I noticed that the elevator trim tab was on the wrong side! Nothing a bit of filler and a rescribe couldn't fix... Decals are a right mix, on account of the kit schemes being a bit uninspiring and quite a few of the stencils being inaccurate. I raided the spares bank for an old Airfix kit sheet, which provided most of the stencils and the wing walkways (AZ provide these but they're the wrong shape and don't follow the panel lines). The markings for WP901/B of 6 Air Experience Flight (based at Abingdon in the 1970s-1980s) came from the excellent S&M "Post War Piston Trainers" sheet - although they're super thin and settle down like a dream I had to double up all the roundels in order to get them remotely opaque! The most outlandish decal source is the red First Aid cross - which is part of a 41sq insignia from the Italeri Jaguar! So a bit of a mixed bag - Not as easy to build as the Airfix, and like that kit is a bit of a blank canvas for added external details - but if you've got the skills to make it fit, it's a considerably more refined starting point, and you don't have to attack it with sandpaper to get rid of hundreds of scale fist-sized rivets!
    17 points
  3. Hi all, this kit was kindly donated to my stash by Kayell, my fourth completed armour build(usually shiny four wheeled things}. Hope I've done it justice mate. Kit is straight from the box with a few bits and piece's of stowage added. Base is cast from plaster using different bits I have until I got the shape and size I required. 'Weathering' is different dust coats made from dried clay and ink pigments. The crew is various parts bent,chopped,glued and sworn at until I got them to sit how i wanted to the best of my ability. As always comments,tips and advice welcome. Cheers Dave.
    13 points
  4. Had some spare time over the Christmas period and managed to finish. Overall I’m quite happy with the results. A couple of little bits that I would do differently in the future, but you live and learn! I really enjoyed this build and despite some things I have read on the internet about this kit, everything went together pretty well with only minimal filling and sanding needed. I would recommend this kit. Now the pics! Apologies if Flikr is still on the blink and not embedding. Thabks for looking and happy modeling!
    13 points
  5. Hi all. Been doing this over the past few days on and off. Airfix BAC 1-11 in 1/144th. Replacement resin nose from "26 Decals as are the decals. My reason to replicate this one was to represent my ATC camp to RAF Germany in 1970. Flight from Gatwick to RAF Wildenrath and then bussed to RAF Bruggen. The flight over was in 'STJ and return was in 'SJE. The nose replacement was straight forward with only a little blending in, rescribed some of the lines on the wings, filled the windows from behind with scrap plastic card and filler on the outside. There was enough room between the cut off nose and bulkhead for some weight... just in case but fortuitous. Light aircraft grey and Halfords appliance white for main paintwork. Silver colour decal stripes for the leading edges of the wings and tailplanes. Not visible on photos of full sized aircraft so not used on the fin. T the tailI attempted to replicate the APU with a tiny section of aerofoil strut to depict the APU exhaust. The baggage tag is a survivor over all the past years I found in my memorobilia. Well thats it for 2017. My last build. I have a nother subject to come but still needs a little to do and is 1/48th. But not got much time to sort it at the moment. See you all in 2018 with more!!!
    11 points
  6. Finally finished it! Quite an awful kit which requires lots of extra work and some aftermarket goodies - Eduard PE's and Matra Magic II missiles, Master pitot tube, L'Arsenal resin Raphael SLAR pod and Colorado decals. But in the end it's a great looking jet Best regards from Czech and happy New Year to everyone. Andrew
    10 points
  7. Hi All, This is my completed Italeri Jaguar GR1. It was built OOB with no extras. Build Summary There were quite a lot of fit issues with this kit, many gaps and indents that needed to be sanded. Once the problem areas were fixed this kit isnt too bad. I like the detail and weapons load out. I chose to keep weathering to a minimum with panel lines and some basic fading. As always I am always concerned with the build, paint job and finish and not with historical inaccuracies or rivet counting. I hope you all take the time to watch the reveal and build videos, as they do take quite some time to make. Final Reveal Build Video Final Photos I hope you all liked the post. As always all comments welcome.
    10 points
  8. Paint always fills me with a certain trepidation Bill - I think I recall talking with Crisp and Steve about this factor at Telford - and being so new to the modelling game I just don't have the refined instincts about the varying qualities of various manufacturer's paint that so many others have. Hopefully that will change with time. At the moment I just have a pile of Tamiya acrylics and still finding my way with them - they seem quite forgiving so any problems thus far stem from a mixture of carelessness and naïveté on my part. If anything I've a tendency to over-dilute them at times that I need to curb. That said, today went a lot better. You hit the nub of the matter Johnny - irrespective of hue differences between 72 & 73, they are very similar tonally. There was some paint lifting Ced, but not enough on its own to account for the shift in colour. I think it's partly an interesting cognitive issue along the lines of those maddening dress images etc that people keep posting on the internet regarding relative colouration. With the darker RLM72 tone covered up again by masking today, the lighter RLM73 no longer looks as pale as it did yesterday when seen in isolation again: Bonkers eh? Bridget Riley eat yer heart out... I took your advice over muling the problem Johnny: Just playing around with largely raw greens using varying psi and distances. Nothing really floated my boat compared to the references from iModelkit I've been using: So I decided to revert to a process I've come to enjoy on more and more - simply mixing the various colours on the aircraft itself by eye. Not to everyone's taste I'll admit but I like the freedom and level of variation that such a process allows. Which is the other issue of course Jaime - calibration of varying displays. The LCD screen of my camera for example shows far higher contrast than the laptop I'm typing on, both of which are different again from what I see with my eyes.. Looking forward to those results with interest! The initially snortings today then were varying combinations Tamiya 63/69/73 to start bringing some green back: Contrary to some of the advice on mixing paints, I do this in quite small amounts in the cup of the airbrush - enough for only a few seconds' spraying - allowing for (hopefully subtle) variations around the airframe in the base colour. Peeling back for a quick tonal comparison shows that there's still a way to go at this stage it terms of darkening the 73 pattern: After a few more minutes using Tamiya 1 & 73 in the same fashion as above, the darker variations had kicked in enough that it was time to slow down and take stock: I liked the way the streaking was starting to develop at this stage but it needed just a few more sweeps to avoid overstepping that rather instinctive boundary where streaks turn into stripes... Much happier with the subsequent blending after a few minutes' more attention: Time to halt now though before it goes over the score. Prior to redoing the 73 areas I'd remembered to do the hairspray routine again around the same areas as before, and I finished off today by bringing those back into view (with wire wool and a cocktail stick): Nice n' scuffed. I'm far happier now this afternoon with the way the tonality of those two colours have been drawn closer together at last: That can have the night to cure now. One minor irritation was managing at the last knockings to brush-off a couple of hinges from the starboard aileron during de-masking: It's ungrateful to complain - it's a miracle I hadn't done that earlier. I'll knock up a couple of replacements tomorrow and add them before sealing all of today's work under a layer of Future. Then it's time to break out the Maketar Balkenkreuz and put together a decal sheet. This baby is going to keep throwing up challenges right to the end! Have a nice evening fellows! Tony
    10 points
  9. Thanks Giorgio, Johnny, Bill and Cookie Some masking mojo tonight that has to be taken advantage of. You remember we discussed masking props and whether to do the yellow first? You remember I recently had trouble with 'overspray' well outside the masked area? I'm taking no chances: Yellow first is easier, methinks, unless you're very sure you won't get overspray (which I'm not). LE masked with tape for curves: Sorry about the blurry shot. Then overspray protection applied: No airbrushing mojo tonight. Hopefully tomorrow. I have started hanging the Supermarines: One down... by Ced Bufton, on Flickr Ten to go by Ced Bufton, on Flickr Another job I've been putting off.
    10 points
  10. For the first half of the Second World War the Panzer III Medium Tank was the main German battle tank and only started to lose that reputation after the appearance of the Panzer IV Ausf F2 in March 1942. Until then the Panzer III had been the only German designed tank armed with a gun designed to penetrate enemy armour. The Ausf L version was in production from June to December 1942, with a total of 653 vehicles being manufactured. It was in production while attempts were being made to fit a 7.5cm gun to the Panzer III were under way. The L version was armed with the 5cm KwK39 L/60, although that gun was proving to be increasingly ineffective against thicker Soviet tank armour. The Ausf L was given 20mm spaced armour on the superstructure front and mantlet, and thicker frontal turret armour. This was the first 1/35 Dragon kit I have made and, I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the build. This was also the first kit I have attempted a whitewash finish on. Up until this project I have avoided any AFV builds that required this. The Dragon instructions suggest a worn whitewash appearance for this vehicle so that is what I have attempted. As I don’t have or use an airbrush I had to work out the worn areas as I applied the whitewash. I have included a photo of the brushes I used for applying the whitewash and weathering at the end of the photos. Kit: 1/35 Dragon - Kit no. 6387 Paints: Humbrol, Revell, Citadel, Railmatch acrylics all applied with brushes Finishes: Vallejo Snow and Mig European Mud applied by cocktail stick Figures: MiniArt Extras: Tamiya Jerry Cans and lead wire for cables WIP thread: Here As usual I need to apologise in advance for the number of photos - there are a lot!: Some closer views: And with the MiniArt figures: The stippling and fine paintbrush I used to apply the whitewash and weathering: Well, as I mentioned above, I thoroughly enjoyed this project and intend to make a small scenic base at some point – probably after the Sherman STGB. I want to thank everyone who provided assistance, support and encouragement in my WIP thread – as always it wouldn’t have turned out like this without everyone’s comments and suggestions. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix
    9 points
  11. Another oldie from a couple of years ago, hope you like. Built oob, another great little kit from Hasegawa don't remember any problems with it apart from my own. (Silvering under decals for one). Cheers Darryl
    9 points
  12. Hi, here’s my recently completed Zvezda 109F-2. Nice kit with plenty of details but a bit of a bugger to complete if wanting the cowling closed! Special thanks to Modelling Minion for the gratis Aeromaster decals, cheers mate. Anyway don’t overlook this kit now Eduard have theirs available as it can be built in to something much nicer than what I present below!
    9 points
  13. Hi All, this is my last off the bench for 2017; Heller's 1/72 Me-163 Komet with Scheuch-Schlepper. The Komet seat is a resin addition originally for an Fw-190 and the pitot is Albion Alloys tube. In other respects it is as Heller intended. Paints are Lifecolor finished with Xtracrylix satin varnish and the decals are the kit's own, with the exception of the swastikas. Happy modelling.
    8 points
  14. Hi Folks Recently completed Revell (ICM rebox) T34/76 This was a treat vto make, as its the newish ICM kit in a Revell box and a few quid cheaper. Made OOB addition being stowage. commander and masterclub resin tracks. Paintwork is supposed to represent a two tone green/brown camo Cheers Keith
    8 points
  15. Hi all, My attempt at the tamiya corsair. this time used a resin cockpit detail and eduard photoetch for external and engine detailing. learnt a lot regarding the resin detail especially how brittle it can be when removing flash. A few things could have been better and maybe put some more effort into detail prep as i got caught out a few times with the pipe /conduit detail. It took a while to build but i like the look of the finished article so the time was worth it critiques welcome Thanks Kev pics below
    8 points
  16. The output this year was three models, one below average. The RIAT Su-27 keeps me more busy than expected. Anyway, I’m happy with the three new kids on the block. First one, A Hasegawa A-7E as it participated in the Gulf of Sydra incident in 1981. This one is part 3 in the a project related to that incident. Next the Hobby Boss F-14A disguised as Persian 'Cat. Finally a WhatIf from Kinetic. What if the F-16XL won the strike fighter contest, and not the F-15E Strike Eagle.... Let me present you the F-16E Strike Falcon! Hope you like, and Happy 2018!
    8 points
  17. Thanks John On with the white primer and then yellow: Yellow by Ced Bufton, on Flickr
    8 points
  18. Here we go - time for the big reveal.... After about an hour I decided it was time to pull the brass out of the etchant. The fret on the right had been out of the solution for a while and the blue photo resist started peeling back by itself. Both frets were then dunked in an acetone bath until the blue areas weren't blue any longer Which left me with these... Okay, so they're not perfect, but they are probably a heck of a lot better than if I'd tried to hack these shapes out of brass sheet by myself. There would have been absolutely no way that I could have carved/hacked/filed those 4 cut outs (on the right hand side) so close together without seriously damaging the surrounding areas. They are a bit bland i.e. no rivet patterns, but the basic shapes are there and for a first attempt(s), I'm going to call this a win. Also note that my trademark labeling did not really etch at all, whereas it etched perfectly on my very first attempt (way up top of page). I found that there is a critical relationship between how long the fret is exposed under the UV lamp, and how long it is dunked in the developer solution. Since I followed the 5% solution for the Sodium Hydroxide developer and found that a 5 second dunk was about right, I'm going to add some more water to dilute it down to a 2% - 3% solution to allow me more time/control when in the developer. My first attempts took me almost a full day from start to finish and as with most things I found that after I had repeated the exercise a few times, I became a lot more efficient with the process, particularly applying the photo resist film. - I just ran another fret this morning and it took me about half an hour from cleaning the brass to dunking the fret into the etchant. This mornings attempt also had an additional 2 seconds in the developer and was cleaned off with a stiff brush in the hope that I got the developer out of the rivet patterns. That fret should be ready in about an hour from now. For those of you that are so far gone on glue fumes that you are seriously considering joining the ranks of the BM Alchemist Society (I'm sure another 'S' could be added there), I'll recap the main points of my last few days adventures Design artwork. Ink should be in the areas you want to remove ! 'doh! Print artwork on good quality film. This has a large effect on the quality of your final product. I used a standard Epson printer with print settings at the highest they would go ("Best Photo") and selected semi-gloss paper - this gave me good results. I used Waterproof Color Separation Film for T-Shirt printing from KimberlyUSA.com. It appears that this is designed to work with Epson inks so that was a bit of a bonus. Print color does not need to be black. I used a dark green. All that matters is that you get a good solid coverage on the sheet. Clean brass with IPA and wet and dry. I used 400 grit. Wear some kind of rubber glove to prevent handling the brass. Run it under the tap when finished to ensure all the crud is removed/washed off. Apply film resist to one side of brass. I laid the brass on a sheet of kitchen roll to help wick away excess water. (Make sure nothing is caught between the film and the brass as you are pressing it down.) When one side is covered, trim back the excess film with sharp scissors. My method was to use another (dry) piece of kitchen roll to apply light pressure to lay the film down and once I was sure I had got rid of all the bubbles, I used more and more pressure in a circular motion starting from the center and working my way out to the edges to fix the film in place. I used kitchen roll as I found that when using my finger alone, it stretched the film quite easily - dry kitchen roll slides effortlessly across the surface. Apply second layer of film on the opposite side of the fret, again laid on a piece of kitchen roll. Once the brass has photo resist on both sides, slip it inside a piece of folded paper and run it through the laminator. (I used a cheapo Amazon branded laminator set on 5 mil thickness). Run it through twice. Check the fret for any surface irregularities as these will impact your final product. Prepare the artwork ensuring it is properly aligned - take extra care at this point as any misalignment will (as always) affect the final output Once you're satisfied the fret is ready for production, sandwich it between your two pieces of artwork. When I am happy with the positioning of the fret, I secure it in place with another piece of tape - this prevents the fret moving between the two pieces of artwork when you are moving it about, or when you turn it over during exposure to the UV lamp. I ended up using a 50 seconds exposure each side Remember to remove the additional protective layer off the film at this stage, if you haven't already done so. Now it's time for the developing. As mentioned above I found that a dunk of about 5 seconds was enough in a 5% solution. Immediately after removing it from the tank I stuck the fret under a cold running tap - don't use warm/hot water as it softens the film. I quickly doused both sides of the fret and gave a quick brush just to ensure I had got rid of any excess developer. Then still under the tap I continued rubbing with a reasonably stiff brush - after a few seconds you will see bright brass appearing as the resist is removed. Remember - you can always dunk it back in the developer solution for another second or so if you have to. Once you are satisfied that all the necessary resist is removed it's time to drop it into the etchant tank. Sit back and relax - but remember to agitate the etchant tank every 15 or 20 minutes With those settings I found it took roughly an hour to etch the fret sufficiently. Don't just rely on my ramblings for this type of thing - I thoroughly recommend studying @Cheshiretaurus tutorial as well as the trials and tribulations of @Fritag starting from somewhere around here... With all that information, I'm sure you can manage to produce some quality etchwork. and special thanks to Fritag and Cheshiretaurus for goading me into the ranks of Alchemy
    8 points
  19. Hello I decided to blow the Christmas cobwebs away with a visit to Duxford, hoping for some interesting images due to the recent snow. I'm pleased to say that the museum was reasonably busy (primarily with menfolk of different generations!) In my opinion, the shop is a shadow of its former self, with fewer aviation-related objects, and more kitchen-related items! The last time I visited, there was still a reasonable selection of Airfix and Revell model kits, but today, there was nothing more than a handful of Airfix Starter Kits. I wonder who the product buyers are, as they are not targetting the current and budding aviation enthusiasts! I generally don't pay much attention to the Duxford Aviation Society's collection of airliners, but as they are (thankfully) now the only exhibits displayed outside, I decided to take some pictures. I was pleased to see the Trislander for the first time and also some Ground Service Equipment to add some visual interest to the airframes. I hope you like the wintry images! Thanks for looking and I wish everyone a Happy New Year.
    7 points
  20. Decided to leave this as it is. Mostly happy with how it turned out but made a few silly errors. My first military subject for a looooong time. Will add the turret markings at some point. Hope you like it.
    7 points
  21. My latest effort and one that has been in the loft for a year or two. Not the easiest kit but goes together fairly quickly. Some of the instructions were a bit vague and sometimes plain wrong and the kit decals are pretty poor. The model is finished as XV233 of 42Sqn as it appeared in 1998. Painted with Xtracrylix Hemp and Light Aircraft Grey and Model Alliance decals Part III. 20171226_143033_edit by dereknferguson, on Flickr 20171226_143024_edit by dereknferguson, on Flickr 20171226_143004_edit by dereknferguson, on Flickr 20171226_143000_edit by dereknferguson, on Flickr 20171226_142951_edit by dereknferguson, on Flickr
    7 points
  22. My 2017 has seen an increase of one model on my measly total of three each for 2015 and 2016! Much of the year has been spent on the Matchbox Stranraer and Heyford, but those are mammoth builds that will stretch well into next year. As usual all of these are 1/72 and largely brush-painted. From January to March I built the Revell Hunter (while at work in Borneo!) in the colours of the little-seen 63 Squadron RAF. From April to June (and at least partly in Borneo) I built the Airfix Swift, with lots of extra Eduard PE. On return from the Orient, and after finishing the Swift I attended to some unfinished business from 2016: the restoration of an old MPM Defiant I'd built back in 2008 - using lots of Airfix kit parts and a fair amount of scratcbuilding and modifications to make it look a bit more like an actual Defiant. Then it was on with the big Matchbox projects, but I paused in November-December to tackle the AZ Chipmunk, one of those "two weeks-maximum" builds that turned out to be less simple than I thought! That's it, and thanks for looking! As usual, I intend to built more next year. As usual, I shall probably fail!
    7 points
  23. I am not modelling snow for anyone... I have however been lazily making new jetpipes for the exhausty end of the ducts And getting my baggage pods ready for casting, moulding to begin over the weekend if I can get the garage ambient up a tad towards b**** freezing so the latex will set - brrr Postimage is running very slowly today... really slowly Frog's jetpipe ends are a little bit "OK ish but needs definition... and a hole out the back" This ought to look OK when the paint is on it Soon, now they are done I will be bunging the wings and tail surfaces on
    7 points
  24. Hello,Friends - Whichever Festive Gremlin had created issues with posting photos on the Forum has been rectified.I use iPad and can now post as easily as before without routing via any Apps. All I have to do now is get some models built and finished!!😳 All The Very Best,Paul.😉👍
    7 points
  25. Hiya Folks, A bit o an update; I started to add the Dark Green camouflage pattern today; DSCF2228_NEW by Tony OToole, on Flickr And since then have `hopefully' finished after 3 thin coats,.... and attached the canopy into place tonight, Cheers Tony
    7 points
  26. Hello all, Here is my recently completed 1/48 Hobbyboss Su-30MKK Flanker, marked as an MK2 of the Venezuelan Air Force. The build thread is here Extras used included Wolfpack Designs K-36 ejection seats, Caracal decals, Master pitot tube, Eduard Brassin OFAB-250 bombs and Quickboost intake covers (modified F-14 examples). Overall the Hobbyboss kit is decent, with some lovely details, but a few niggling points, but nothing major. With my Vietnamese and Indonesian examples (both Academy kits): Thanks for looking. Dave
    6 points
  27. My final build of 2017. This is the second half of the Dual Combo Kit that was gifted to me by my mentor Ken Henderson. The model is built OOB using only the kit supplied p/e m/g mount and windscreen. (I really loathe p/e) Painted with MM Aluminum lacquer and enamels. No decals were used. It is rigged with .005 Ethicon stainless steel. I hope you like #28 for the year.
    6 points
  28. I haven't finished many this year, but enjoyed making them so I don't mind! First one is Eduard's bf109e1 in 1:48 The second one is again an Eduard model but it's a spitfire mkviii in Australian markings And the last one is a kit I started last year but finished this year it's the MENG whippet kit which was a pleasure to build! That's it for this year thanks for looking!! Happy modelling Joss
    6 points
  29. Presented by subject this year, rather than chronology 1. 1/72 1930's Yugoslav aircraft 1.1 Potez 29 (Lift Here! resin kit) 1.2 Puss Moth (Omega resin kit) 1.3 Fox Moth (Aeropoxy resin kit) 1.4 Dragon Rapide (Heller kit) 1.5 Caudron 'Goeland' (Classic Plane kit) 1.6 Aerostatoplan Zhuchenko (Kora resin kit) 2. 1/100 Military Jets (hopefully more to come in 2018....) 2.1 F-104 J (Tamiya kit) 3. 1/200 Rear-engined Airliners 3.1 Tu-134 (Aeropoxy resin kit) 3.2 Boeing 727 (Hasegawa kit) 3.3 MD-82 (Hasegawa kit) 3.4 Boeing 717 (Retro Wings resin kit) All the best for 2018 Cliff
    6 points
  30. Hi. It's time for me to sum up 2017. I managed to complete seven kits, and that's the same as 2016. The German Eurofighter was the first one out. (Please excuse the dusty shelves. ) 2017-01 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr The I completed three leftovers from 2016, Sabre Mk6, Sabre Dog and Su-22m4 all in German liveries. 2017-02 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 2017-03 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr After that is was the East German MiG-21 SPS/K that I hadn't planed to build. It should have been an Egyptian PFM, but I discovered during my ongoing Six Days War build that Egypt had the FL version at that time. So I hade to re-educate the PFM to an DDR LSK/NVA SPS/K instead. 2017-04 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And with that said, I did build an Egpytian MiG-21FL. I cross kitted Eduards PF and PFM boxes to make the FL. 2017-05 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr Last out is my Finnish MiG-21 bis. It's isn't exactly finished yet as I havn't glued the pitot tube in place yet, but that will be done by New Years Eve. 2017-06 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And that was all seven of my completed builds for 2017. Left on my worktable I have the following to occupy me during the winter. Mirage III B Alouette Super Mystere Fouga Magister MiG-17 And I've also just started on AMK's fantastic MiG-31. Planned for next year is a bunch of new MiG-21's starting with the LanceR C and two R-versions. But I'm sure there will be somwthing else of Russian origin in some Middle Eastern livery. Thanks for looking and a Happy New Year to you All. /Bosse
    6 points
  31. Hi Folks, here's what I managed to finish this year: All the best for 2018! Nick
    6 points
  32. Thanks Hendie, very kind of you I have some of that masking sheet (of course, we tool tarts have to keep up appearances) but it's REALLY BIG - in the pictures it looks to be about 5cm (A handy size for 1/72) but the plastic sheet is sort of folded under and, when opened out, it's a bit of a handful: Also, to be honest, I'd forgotten I had it - senior moment, again! After de-masking, a bit of polishing with MM and a bit of touching up, the yellow's done: Yellow done by Ced Bufton, on Flickr More masking and Sky band / spinner next. I must get on with the transfers - learning Inkscape is imminent.
    6 points
  33. Construction Part 7 So with some further study of my reference materials - namely ADFSerials.com I established there was a small pitot in the nose that needed to be added prior to paint. I also established that A84-501 & 502 wore different versions of this scheme. Some had the dayglo painted right up to the canopy frame and various combinations down to the actual T4/Mk21 nose cone. I elected to follow one particular black and white image for mine. Interesting what research turns up. With the decisions made it was on to the masking. Relatively straight forward using Tamiya's yellow tape and some 1mm Low Tack Masking Tape from Jammydog. I am working with some fairly old images so some interpretation was required here. Overall I think I am fairly accurate for 501 which is my chosen subject. Some triangles were cut to help me get into some of the corners for masking. A good solution for this challenge and one I use a lot on Mirage windscreens. I spent a bit of extra time on the nose. Given the size of the circumference getting the line straight was important. With the masks on a fair number of post it notes it was back tot he paint shop/laundry. The white base coat was decanted Tamiya Fine Surface Primer L - White. It provides quick coverage and dries rock hard in minutes. At a constant 70 degrees F the time between base coat and color was 15 minutes. With the white down it was time to apply the Dayglo Orange. As you can see the first application looked pink. The second wasn't much better. I thought this would be the case as I've used this before. It takes literally a 1,000 coats and after a period of time fades to more of a pink. To fix this I added 25 drops of Gunze Orange to a jar of their Flouro Orange and thinned before applying by airbrush. While the photos don't do it justice it looks somewhat mottled given the base coat and initial coat. Handling the model and painting this number of sections was a bit of a challenge and required a stretch after I was finished. With about 10 minutes for the Dayglo to set up it was time to remove the masks. All good and no over spray. Off the drying cupboard/Wardrobe for the rest of the day ahead of some Future later today. With a couple of shades of paint on i am noticing how nice the panel lines are on this kit. Looking forward to getting it over the finish line on the weekend. Cheers, AGW..
    6 points
  34. and the results are just in.... Some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the quality of the etching has been much improved though still not perfect. You can clearly see that some rivets have started forming, but a lot just didn't make it through the process. However, I believe I now have a grasp (albeit very slight) on the process. The bad news is that the fuel filler strengthening plate (top left) went awry during the hatching process. During my rework of the plans I never noticed that the hatching had filled in the interior of the fuel filler point - this should have been fully etched through. Live and learn huh. The really good news is that the vertical line I mentioned earlier has been fully etched and can be clearly seen as a slot. That was an important part as the almost rectangular thingy adjacent to it is intended to be folded and inserted through the slot to make the support rib. That task would have been impossible to accomplish using conventional means. So, what were the differences in this attempt? The vertical slot width was increased to 0.4 mm and rivet sizes were increased to Ø0.35 mm. UV lamp exposure 50 seconds. Dunk in developer solution 7 - 8 seconds. This is certainly good enough for me to work with though I may still have another attempt. I think I should go for rivets at Ø0.4 mm with less of them, and correct that fuel filler stuffup. The biggest question still remains though - Does anything actually fit ??? stay tuned
    6 points
  35. Nice one Simon - thanks for the heads-up! It's a nice feeling to get this part rolling Giorgio - the paint stage always gives me a certain level of anxiety, partly I suspect because of the rapidity/immediacy of the process. More on the way hendie - thanks for that. One of my main concerns at present is making it through the painting stage without snapping anything off of the gun mountings... Thanks for that Keith. The forum has been rather temperamental of late hasn't it? I'm regularly finding it close to unusable on a tablet at times, whereas on a desktop it's nowhere near as bad. You'll excuse I hope the fact that I didn't do the hinges Ced- even for me there's a level of door furniture I will not countenance! Thanks for that Bill. It was almost proceeding to good to be true. In fact it was too good to be true! (see below) Recoverable though.... You have my word sir. You have inflatable socks?! Them's posh in that Midlands. Something very apposite about the intended use of sea salt in the process later. It's a moot point isn't it Jaime. Certainly the '18s seem to have had a lot of people clambering over them as much as if they were ships with decks as much as being aircraft, but I haven't seen as many shots of crew swarming over 24s to the same extent. There'd better be Cc or else I'll be drummed out of the GB for operating under a false flag! Nothing went as anticipated today. Not in a bad way, just one of those occasional days where you seem to be out of sync with the cosmos. Idling on the old palliasse with a rum-dark brew of oolong this morning I'd mentally worked out a painting plan for the day ahead before Mrs. B reminded me that we were heading out to meet some old and dear friends for lunch. That was that plan gone then. The lunch was great, the conversation good, and after a walk beneath the ghost-sun I promptly fell asleep for a few hours when we got home. Conked out completely. I'm not a natural evening-worker but decided to salvage some of the day at least, as the beast had the masking finished the previous evening: On with the homebrew RLM 72 (Tamiya XF 17 & 61): Quite pleased with the closeness of the colour I'd managed to achieve, pulled of all the masking to reveal: That looks...wrong. Colour me nonplussed but without a Jeeves to lean over the shoulder and point out the source of wrongliness, my first thought was 'Flipping drat* - I've got RLM72 & 73 round the wrong way in my masking layout.' No. Not the order. I'm guessing what happened was that despite using low-tack tape (the blue stuff you saw in the masked shot above), it seems to have lifted much of the RLM 73 I sprayed previously. If I pop up a shot of the paint when it was fresh on: ..and you compare it to how that looks tonight: One of these things is not like the other one... That grey isn't quite as light as it appears in the photos here, but it's still not green-dark enough. RLM 73 & 73 are both a species of green quite similar to each other tonally, which makes them very difficult to distinguish between where in many contemporary black and white photographs. A b/w version of the above shot shows the problem in my work at the moment: Far too much difference between the two in tonality. Maybe I kinda shoulda only used paint thinned with water on the small hairsprayed regions, rather than all over. Maybe. Looks like I'll be getting more painting practice in tomorrow then. I do however like the 'shabby' effect I've been getting: ...and want to retain that variation. Which leads me to wonder whether to repaint that pale grey with an opaque RLM 73 mixture? Or to modulate it with a translucent dark green filter layer? I'm veering to the latter, it's something I've not tried before to change a colour in that way and new territory is always appealing - especially when it carries the extra frisson of failure as a possible outcome. Better seal what's there first to stop lifting what's already painted-on or it'll get a bit: Ourobouros-like. Not going to rush any decisions tonight though. I found a packet of Cornish fudge just now and am going to go eat the whole packet to make myself feel better. More tomorrow. Tony *Not entirely verbatim
    6 points
  36. To quote an old Rap song from the early 90ies....Whoomp, there it is! After the Lancaster this is the second 4-Mot my dad built. Revell USA kit with Superscale decals and Gunze/Tamiya acrylics. Regarding that the molds are 39 years old the fit was surprisingly good, only the clear parts aren´t the best anymore. The model shows an aircraft of the 416th BS in Italy 1944. Respect for those young men who climbed into these flying coffins mission for mission.....the Luftwaffe was not that threat anymore but the Vienna area (to which they often headed) had the second dense flak defence after Berlin. After being awarded with a Distinguished Unit Citation while serving with the 12th AF for a mission during the Big Week, the 99th BG earned a second one with the 15th AF for a successful bombing mission against the Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (20km away from our hometown) on April 23 1944 without any losses. After a fellow modeller pointed out that the oil streaks in the hot air outlet area on the upper wings don´t go with the openings but the small space between the openings because the oil gets divided by the air, I did a quick fix with the help of Tamiya´s weathering sets. Does not look optimal but ok. Gotta fix this maybe someday with airbrush.
    5 points
  37. High This is my last built for this year An Alphajet in "Patrouille de France" scheme The decals come from caracal and ejection seats from wolfpack. I haven't add nothing more Even if the kit requiere some attention; the final result is not bad and looks like an Alphajet. Some pics in this galery Galerie photos
    5 points
  38. 29/12 update. Camo applied. Detail paintwork being done before weathering and rusting starts:
    5 points
  39. Cheers chaps I picked up this book over the Crimbo period and its a well worth the money I would say a must if you are converting to a HU5 . A bit of a tidy up for the GPS mount. Not had much time in the workshop but hope to sort that out soon Dan
    5 points
  40. Thank you Lloyd for your very (way too) kind comments. I actually really enjoyed the weathering on this project. I was quite concerned about doing a whitewash finish and have avoided doing any up until now on purpose. Hi Julian. Like Lloyd you are way too kind!! Okay - first couple of photos of the finished Panzer III: As usual I have taken quite a few photos over the past couple of days and now have far too many to pick from. I'll try and pick a couple to post here with the figures on and then I'll post the rest in the RFI section. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix
    5 points
  41. Hawker Tempest F.2, 33 Sqd, Butterworth, Malaya c. May/June 1951, Operation Firedog
    5 points
  42. Hello all, Here is my entry for this Group Build - Tamiya's 1/35 M4 'Early Production.' Will be marked as a vehicle from the US Army in Normandy 1944, though the kit decals do not specify which unit. Kit: Extras: I know this set states it is for a Firefly, but most of it will fit onto the regular vehicle. To spice things up and to make the diorama I have planned, i'll be adding these: The plan is for the Sherman to come across an advance party of the 2nd SAS Regiment, who are returning from 'behind the lines' to report on Panzer movements and strengths. I'll be building the jeep and figures as part of this thread. Dave
    4 points
  43. Hello mates, a Happy New Year to You! Hasegawa Tweet 1:72 built 1999 (there was a big bubble in the Hasegawa canopy). 937th IBAP Наu Giang VPAF as seen in Air International : this was really an old issue! The tarmac model picture is quite old on film... You can send a Tweet as letter.... so flat (and so nice)! Cheers, Thomas
    4 points
  44. Hi lads. I've started painting my first ship ever. Started from the hull. Red is mixed from Tamiya XF-7 x 4 +XF9 x 1, grey - XF-19 x 2 + XF54 x 1. Highlights done bay mixing grey with white. Happy New Year to all.
    4 points
  45. some painting done... if this is close enough for ADC grey, I do not know..... colors depend much on the light, background etc...... tbc!
    4 points
  46. The wing was fitted in its final place one last time before solvent glue was run into the joints on the bottom of the fuselage. The whole thing was then left to dry until the next session.
    4 points
  47. As promised here are the photos of the decals in place - this is after I've give it another coat of Klear There are over 50 decals on the main fuselage! Here is the underside which hasn't had its second coat of Klear yet Next will be completing the assembly of the pod and applying the outer decals for that as well. TB 4 will be built after that...
    4 points
  48. G'day Chums, Time and mojo have eluded me this year so just the one from me,RFI is here. Thanks for looking,all the best for next year.
    4 points
  49. Construction Part 6 With all the filling and re-scribing completed it was time to remove the tape protecting the canopy. They served their purpose well with no blemishes on the canopy or navigators windows. The undercoat layers needed some feathering out ahead of masking which was done with some wet and dry down to 1200. Painted Aluminum is very unforgiving when it comes to different levels and scratches. Masking was done - slowly - using a combination of Tamiya tape and a Canopy Survival Kit. The little circles and circle outlines made much shorter work of the port hole windows on the front of the canopy. Well worth the investment... With the masks on it was time to add some Gunze flat black to the canopy frame so that the inside looks black. With a little time to dry, I decanted some warmed up Tamiya AS-12 from its rattle can and ran it through my airbrush. The paint behaves very well and you can apply a very wet coat straight up that results in a very even and consistent painted aluminum finish. An appropriate sized straw over the nozzle sprayed into the lid makes for a good decanter for your airbrush cup. A quick inspection and all looked as it should. Now for some drying time... Although AS-12 doesn't take long to harden up and once dry is as tough as nails... AGW..
    4 points
  50. Well, here she is. Finally done. Just some very small touch ups here and there.....but overall complete. Awaiting it's undercoat. That's when I'll see all the "issues" to fix............. I still have to add the tow cable along with a second shackle pin and chain. Looking forward to getting the undercoat on and have it all in one colour. The last thing to add will be the arial. It won't last the painting and weathering stage. Managed to drill out the pin location for the spare tracks that came with the kit. Didn't fancy using the Friuls, I'll keep the excess for later kit's if I need spares. Panzer III chassis will be common in my panzer division.........Well, hope you like it so far. Time to figure out the painting now. All the best. Simon.
    4 points
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