johnd

It does but luckily the Quickboost one-piece resin replacement intended for the Fujimi kit fits. Well, I say 'fits', it fits as well as it does on the Fujimi model so needs a little shimming. John.

Not pointless at all, a wash is thinned paint so entirely relevant. John

During my time using enamel paints I used nothing but white spirit and found it fine, in the main. It wasn't too 'hot' and drying times were good. The cheap stuff I tried once thinned ok but gave a chalky finish. Low odour white spirit, however, was completely useless to the point where one of them wouldn't even clean a brush properly. I haven't tried proprietary thinners but Jamie's comments above are interesting, particularly the bit about returning thinned paint to the tin. It was something I never did with white spirit as received wisdom told me it was to be avoided. John.

Good stuff! I think this is the first build of this kit I've seen where the glazing has actually fitted properly. John.

There, some pictures. Only took an hour too. These are the sprue shots promised in the original post, though actually, due to the erudition of Britmodeller, I now know that they're really runners and the sprue is the channel that supplies the plastic to the mould. Apologies for the fuzziness of the shots. They're only there to show that it's not been started really, I mean, no-one actually looks at the parts, do they? John.

Cheers, Peter! The IS tanks were introduced due to dissatisfaction with the performance of the KV. The measure of a tank design depends on three things; speed, protection and firepower. The Russians got this right with the T-34, not so with the KV-1. The latter was substantially heavier and therefore slower and its thicker armour was not seen as adequate compensation by the crews. The armament was the same for both vehicles. Attempts were made to up-gun the KV with an 85mm weapon but this was not entirely successful. The final solution was the IS-2, featuring a redesigned hull and turret accommodating a massive 122mm gun. This turned out to be a much bet than its predecessors to the extent that the Russians referred to it as the "Victory Tank". John.

I'd have thought a short pointy de Havilland spinner would be appropriate for a Va but haven't seen a photo. The trouble is that photos of Bader's Spitfires are often miscaptioned so it's not easy to know anyway whether the picture is of a Mk.II or V. John.

Carry on doing them to death! John.

Thanks, Duncan. Another item for the shopping list. John.

Interesting sets... Does the 'Air Series' refer to the fact they're for aircraft or that they are intended for airbrushes? John.

Well done Mrs kpnuts! I can heartily recommend Parkrun, great atmosphere, inclusive and helpful. I'd have done a lot more of them if it wasn't for the 9.00 a.m. start. John.

It's a starter set and the colour call-outs have to work within the small number of paint pots included in the set. Photos of the original show that it was not black. PlaStix has decided on Sky, which is plausible, though others disagree and suggest other colours such as red with a yellow back plate. There's a discussion here. This modelling lark is never simple. John.

For those preferring acrylics, Hataka do a six pot set for the "early French WW2 air force". I can vouch for the quality of the paint but not for the colour accuracy in this instance, though I'd put money on it being a lot closer than Vallejo. John.

Makes you appreciate George Best all the more.

It doesn't. Lower tier sides are continually ground into the dirt. To quote a Tweet from an ex-professional footballer: "on the day a player is demanding a £198 million pound move, my local non league club require £40 This is the problem with football"