modelmaker

Great ideas all! There is a source of very strong, straight steel wire which I regularly use as a splint or pin for jobs like repairing broken off undercarriage legs. It is the central wire core of Bowden cable (for example bicycle brake or gear cable). I have some 6" lengths left over from my pre retirement days, and by carefully un-peeling the twisted outer wire you are left with a very useful piece of hardened steel wire (please use goggles when cutting!!)

A minefield of confusion! Many thanks.

I apologise in advance because I know Red Arrow colours have been done to death, but I'm concerned that having read TONS of occasionally contradictory and sometimes confusing advice the otherwise very enjoyable 1/72nd Revell Hawk I am building is looking distinctly orange. Whether artificial or daylight my wife actually asked "should a Red Arrow be orange?" I made a little test piece of the various model paints I've accumulated for this one tiny aircraft, namely Xtracolour enamel 'Red Arrows signal red', Humbrol 174 'signal red', and Humbrol 238 (which I've seen mentioned as a very good match in various places). These were the enamels (which I prefer for gloss finishes). To a greater or lesser extent they look like orange to me. Worst of all was a bottle of Xtracryics XA1014 which really IS orange, perhaps with a touch of red. I haven't got a real Red Arrow residing anywhere near me as far I know, but trying to picture a Hawk in the distance (remember I'm building the tiny '72nd Arrow) I can't remember thinking "they're orange". I know colours and scale colour and light and shade and distance and eyesight (I'm officially not colourblind) etc are also subjective, but I'll likely get laughed out it Britmodeller if I present an orange arrow. Or I THINK I will. Or am ii wrong about all these carefully formulated paints? Any advice appreciated, many thanks.

Personally I gave up on the green toothpaste years ago. It's crumbling through models I built 20 years ago. I've long used superglue with a touch of talc mixed in to make a thin-ish paste which can be sanded, drilled, scribed and more. I HAVE just recently begun using UV curing glue (a bit like dentists use nowadays) for all sorts of jobs. It's quite a thick consistency and dries REALLY slowly until you point a UV torch at it, after which it will dry in seconds. It is a very useful filler. Hopefully you will get many many replies. Hope this helps.

I needed a very thin circle on an Me-163 nose, so similar to a spinner. I have something called a compass cutter, just a cheap thing I bought from 'the Works' shop in town a few years ago. Take a piece of masking tape and try to mask round the spinner. You can't actually do a proper job of it, but just do a rough job. Scribe a pencil line round the tape at about the level where you want the band to be on the spinner. Now take the tape off, and lay it flat on a cutting mat. This gives you a rough but reasonable idea of the radius of your 1mm band. Now, I didn't try to mask anything, but rather I cut a circle with my compass cutter on a piece of red transfer (or decal) sheet (I save all my old transfers) then increased the radius by a mm or so and cut a second circle. It wasn't quite right when I I tried it so I tried again until I got it right. If you get it reasonably right it will just wrap round beautifully. The BIGGEST issue will be whether the compass cutter will cut a small enough circle for the small scale we use. If you get it right it's a really handy trick. Best of luck!

Well, I thank you all for your help. Researching any Luftwaffe colour scheme is always full of joy! I'm planning to do the unpowered version in British markings because I've got a spare set, I'm building 3 of these little beasties, and it'll add a bit of variety. Thanks for everyone's help, any more thoughts gratefully received.

I promise I tried the search! Got results for tanks and B17s and more! Google searching often brings me here of course, but I can't find a reasonably confident answer to what colour scheme the Devil's Sled that he flew was wearing. There are many models pictured, and b/w pics, and a painting by Michael Turner. I'm sure in the grand scheme of life it won't matter whether I paint it in RAF colours or the Luftwaffe, although the painting suggests perhaps at least the fuselage had a 74 and/order over 76. Any thoughts gratefully received.

Thanks Mr Hook, beats the heck out of Revell's paint instructions. I'm slightly cross I didn't think of Cyber modeller myself! Very kind.

Too flipping right! A pal yesterday was recounting how I'd given him an old Airfix B57 years ago, then posted a missing part to him. Not a clue, CANNOT remember.

One day, if I live long enough, I'll get it right! DOH! Many thanks.

Top man! I thought that might be the case, but woe betide if I got it wrong! Very kind.

Good morning! I've got a nice 1/72nd Revell A10 which I started ages ago; like most Revell kits I've ever built I've teleported it into a proper box with a lid (why do they continue to use them??????). Similarly, although I realise they want to sell you their paint, I can't imagine anyone actually follows their mixing recipes. It seems surprising difficult to find what colours I might choose for a Gulf war A10. The option they list appears to be a two tone green and an light olive. I've drawn a bit of a blank regarding what 'real' colours these might be, although I wonder if they might be the European (lizard? I forget) used on my old Tamiya '48th kit. Any words of wisdom gratefully received!

Exactly what Mike said. I've got various bespoke modelling sponges, which cut beautifully and don't clog, but they will tend to follow the shape of what's already there. I've got just one 'wood' nail stick, a beautiful fine grit which I cannot equal, or replace, but carefully cut back with whatever stick or files you've got (but be careful) and just get progressively finer. When I was an apprentice in the 70s we learned how to scrape joints and surfaces (crankshafts and lord knows what else) which I never ever used in all my life until a member of Milton Keynes IPMS suggested it as a technique for cleaning and otherwise attacking joints and seams, and this can be very very useful when dealing with very precise areas which need attention, especially if you use superglue as a go-to filler. For gap filling try mixing a 'weak' mix of a drop of superglue and a small amount of talc. Use a drop of accelerator and repeat and don't worry about it building up a bit too much, because you're going to cut it back one way or another. Best of luck!

Actually, I am at this moment building Revell's Voodoo, and have painted it in H 61, going on the strength of Urban's reference charts. There seems to be no end of opinion regarding the correct model paint for 'ADC' grey (like many other colours). Any advice greatly accepted!

Hello to all, I'm just reading this really interesting book then happened upon this thread (god bless Google for knowing everything about us......) I've not read to the end of either the book or the thread, but it sounds like a really good idea for a themed build program. Reading the book I was struck by the sometimes perilous scrapes herr Lerche got into (flying a Lancaster over a Luftwaffe night fighter base in the dark with a dead radio for example) and the humorous way he recounts it all. Superb. Good luck with any future build progress.